Watching Washington: The Trade War and Daylight Savings
As the nation nears the conclusion of President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office April 30, the administration remains busy working through major issues like the trade deficit and smaller issues such as Daylight Savings Time.
The Trade War
Arguably, the main focus of news networks since the beginning of the month has been Trump’s declaration of April 2 as “Liberation Day” in conjunction with his press conference reviewing the new tariffs he would impose on foreign countries to “free the U.S. from a reliance on foreign goods,” according to the AP.
The White House declared an economic emergency April 2, coupled with the administration implementing a 10% tariff on all imports to the U.S., while several other countries, notably, China, faced significantly higher percentages due to the reciprocal tariffs.
According to CBS News Trump defined reciprocal tariffs as, “Reciprocal. That means they do it to us, and we do it to them.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt spoke further on the matter during a White House press briefing April 8.
“ … (Trump) is very much focused on ensuring that these deals are good for the American worker, that they are good for American manufacturing and again, that they tackle these crippling deficits with these countries,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt also said Trump asked his administration to be willing to create individual trade deals with any country willing to negotiate.
Trump then announced April 9 on Truth Social that he would create a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs that would decrease all greater tariffs to 10% except for China, which was increased to 125%, according to CBS News.
Due to the ongoing “trade war” between the U.S. and China, April 14 tariffs on imports from China reached 145% according to the New York Times.
After the original enforcement of these tariffs, the stock market began to experience a sharp decline. According to the BBC, this action resulted in the worst week for the market since the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020.
According to CBS News, economists are bracing for impact as they believe inflation will continue to rise in congruence with these new policies, possibly causing a recession.
However, the stock market appeared to be in recovery after Trump placed a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs with all countries except China, according to CNN. The countries will be tariffed at the 10% mark until the pause is over.
At the end of the market week April 11, Reuters announced that stocks were “whipsawed” for the duration of the week, with the S&P 500 seeing the largest difference between its weekly high and low since March 2020. But this hasn’t stopped some investors in the market from ending the week on top.
“The S&P 500 and the Dow notched their largest weekly percentage gains since November 2023, while the Nasdaq registered its biggest weekly percentage advance since November 2022,” the Reuters article said.
The economic uncertainty continued into the week of April 13 as stocks rose Monday but fell again Tuesday as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vietnam’s Communist Party leader, To Lam, reportedly met during Xi’s tour of southeast Asia, according to Fox Business.
Despite tensions with China, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said they are making progress on deals with other trade partners, and he is not concerned about the possibility of a recession, according to FOX Business.
Daylight Savings
In other news, Democrats and Republicans found a rare common ground in a Senate hearing April 10, as both parties appeared ready to consider the impacts of Daylight Savings Time. The parties seemed to conclude that the practice is no longer relevant to modern-day America, according to Fox News.
Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), has spoken against Daylight Savings for decades.
“We know that changing the clock disrupts sleep, which can lead to negative health outcomes,” Sen. Lisa Blunt-Rochester (D-Del.) said according to Fox News. “Several studies have noted issues with mood disturbances increase hospital admissions, and even heart attacks and strokes.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), agreed with the negative effects of Daylight Savings Time and provided his own reasoning behind his support to end the act.
“The idea was simple. Fewer hours of darkness meant less electricity consumption for lighting and heating,” Cruz said according to Fox News.
Trump is a staunch advocate for abolishing the practice of Daylight Savings time and posted April 11 on Truth Social to support the end of the practice: “The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!! DJT”
According to NPR, the Sunshine Protection Act was introduced in 2022 but never made it to a house vote after passing the Senate. Now H.R. 139 or the Sunshine Protection Act of 2025 is providing another opportunity for Americans to avoid changing their clocks twice each year. However, only time will tell what will happen next.
McKinnon is the off-campus news editor for the Liberty Champion.