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In a showy speech at the White House yesterday, President Trump announced his most sweeping tariffs to dateand the news has sent the global economic order into chaos. The slew of tariffs impact more than 180 countries. Trump announced a minimum 10% tariff on almost every country worldwide, meaning that nearly every good imported into the U.S. will automatically receive a 10% tax. Dozens of countries have been hit with much higher rates: Goods from China will now have a 34% tariff added on top of a previous blanket tax imposed this year; Cambodia will face a 49% tariff; and Vietnams imports will be taxed at 46%. The Trump administration is framing this global trade war as a way to punish other countries in a trade surplus with the U.S., as well as a means to increase manufacturing jobs on American soil. Many experts, however, are warning that the move is likely to cause a spike in inflation, with some fearing an impending recession. Meanwhile, world leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, are denouncing the decision and calling for talks to rescind the fees. The news has already caused the American stock market to take a concerning nosedive. Trump announced his new tariff plan while wielding a series of difficult-to-parse charts that have been widely criticized for lacking any discernible organization. But data visualization should play a key role in simplifying and clarifying the confusion around the new policies. To that end, here are three graphics to help you actually understand the new tariffs. The tariffs This map, created by USA Today journalist Carlie Procell, provides a simple, comprehensive view of how Trumps tariffs are impacting targeted countries. The graphic is color-coded into five different segments based on the severity of the tariffs levied against each region: ultra light blue countries, for example, land somewhere between the baseline 10% tariff and 20%, while the darkest blue countries are getting hit the hardest with tariffs between 40% and 50%. By clicking on the various blue shades in the color key, users can isolate their view to examine each of the five tiers individually. Explore the interactive graphic here. [Image: USA Today] Procells map also comes with an alphabetized table organized by country. To determine the tariffs faced by a specific country, users can simply search its name in the attached toolbar. The fallout For a better look at the initial fallout of the tariff announcement, a group of reporters at The New York Times have created a graph tracking global stock markets trajectories from Trumps inauguration on January 17 to this morning. See the updates here [Image: The New York Times] The graph shows percentage change in major stock indexes for Germanys DAX, Chinas Shanghai SE Composite, the United Kingdoms FTSE 100, Canadas S&P/TSX Composite, the United States S&P 500, and Japans Nikkei 225. As of 9:30 a.m. Eastern, the S&P 500 plunged more than 4% since yesterdays market close (amounting to a total 9% drop since Trumps inauguration.) Major stocks in both Asian and European markets also slumped abruptly this morning. The graph suggests that Trumps new tariffs are even harsher than most economists and investors feared. Whats ahead Less than a day after the tariff announcement, many analysts are predicting that American consumers should prepare for a spike in inflation. To keep track of this rising cost of living, CBS News has created a price tracker for goods including groceries, new vehicles, used vehicles, parts, repairs, insurance premiums, and construction and manufacturing raw materials. According to the tools accompanying article, CBS plans to update the prices of groceries weekly (including heavily imported fruits and veggies like bananas and bell peppers), while the other categories will be updated every month. See the interactive tracker here. [Image: CBS News Data] Over the coming weeks, the price tracker could help consumers understand how the cost of essential goods is changing as a result of the new tariffs. In an interview with CNBC, David Rosenberg, president and founder of the market research firm Rosenberg Research, warned, were in for several months of a very significant price shock for the American household sector.
Category:
E-Commerce
TikTok is shutting down TikTok Noteswait, you didnt even know it existed? Well, that explains a lot. TikTok Notes, the platforms short-lived attempt to take on Instagram (just as Instagram Reels was built to mimic TikTok), is officially being retired. Launched in limited markets like Canada, Australia, and Vietnam last year, the photo-sharing app let users post images with captionssimple enough, but apparently not compelling enough. Users are now being notified that TikTok Notes will shut down on May 8, with TikTok instead shifting focus to another ByteDance-owned platform: Lemon8. Were excited to bring the feedback from TikTok Notes to Lemon8 as we continue building a dedicated space for our community to share and experience photo content, designed to complement and enhance the TikTok experience, a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. Lemon8think Instagram meets Pinteresthas quietly been gaining traction, tripling its U.S. user base since last summer and hitting 12 million downloads. It reportedly had around 12.5 million global monthly active users by December 2024. TikTok didnt spell out why Notes is getting the axe, but given how few people knew about it . . . the writing was on the wall. In a notice to users, TikTok is urging anyone who used Notes to download and save their content before the app disappears for good. Theyre also encouraging creators to continue their creative journey on Lemon8 instead. Unlike TikToks vertical video scroll, Lemon8 leans photo-first, allowing users to post curated carousels and slideshows. Still, it borrows TikToks dual-feed format, with both a Following and For You feed for discovery. Déj vu? Thats because TikTok already started plugging Lemon8 as a backup late last year when a potential U.S. ban first loomed. Now, with a fresh April 5 deadline hanging over TikToks head, the strategy looks familiarand unchanged. The short lesson of TikTok Notes: if it aint broke, dont fix it. And if the whole app banned, I guess everyone panic.
Category:
E-Commerce
On Wednesday, President Trump unveiled a series of sweeping tariffs that not only targeted major U.S. trading partners but also included small, remote islands and territories. Among the most unexpected entries on the list were the Heard and McDonald Islands, isolated sub-Antarctic volcanic islands located in the southern Indian Ocean, roughly halfway between Australia and South Africa. Though these islands are Australian territories, they are virtually uninhabited, with the only significant human presence occurring during Australian Antarctic Science expeditions. These expeditions generally take place every three years, lasting only a couple of months during the summer. For the majority of the time, the islands are left to their resident penguins and seals, with only occasional visits from commercial tourist groups, private expeditions, or fisheries and defense surveillance patrols. Despite their isolation, the islands appeared on a White House list of territories subject to new trade tariffs. According to the list, the Heard and McDonald Islands currently impose a 10 percent “Tariff to the U.S.A.,” with a small note specifying that this includes “currency manipulation and trade barriers.” In return, the U.S. has announced “discounted reciprocal tariffs” at the same 10% rate. A White House official explained that the inclusion of the Heard and McDonald Islands is due to their status as Australian territory, as reported by Axios. The islands reportedly had no trade with the U.S. last year, according to the most recent U.S. data. The export figures from the Heard and McDonald Islands are equally perplexing. Despite having no permanent human population and only a fishery, the islands were recorded as having exported $1.4 million worth of goods to the U.S. in 2022, mostly classified as “machinery and electrical” imports. The exact nature of these goods remains unclear. Over the previous five years, imports from the islands ranged between $15,000 and $325,000 annually, as reported by The Guardian. Another unusual entry on Trump’s tariff list is Jan Mayen, a volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean. Like the Heard and McDonald Islands, Jan Mayen has no permanent human inhabitants and is grouped with Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago known for its polar bears and small human population. Trump has set a 10 percent tariff for both Svalbard and Jan Mayen, while Norway itself faces a 15 percent tax on imports from the U.S.
Category:
E-Commerce
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