Tariff ruling boosts global markets
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Global markets are rallying after a U.S. court blocked Donald Trump's sweeping new tariffs. Good morning. This is the Marketplace Morning Report and we're live from the BBC World Service. I'm Leanna Byrne.

So investors from Tokyo to Frankfurt are breathing a sigh of relief after judges in the US say President Trump overstepped his authority on tariffs. Instead, the Court of International Trade says only Congress can regulate international commerce. Markets in Japan and South Korea jumped nearly 2% while US futures climbed on the news. Here's the BBC's Katie Silver. We're already hearing, for example, from Hong Kong's finance secretary saying that this places Donald Trump back

in the world order the way that things should have been. There is a lot of questions. I guess there's still going to be negotiations. Governments here in Southeast Asia, particularly the likes of Vietnam, Cambodia, they're very cognizant of just how important the American market is for them. So there's no reason to stop these discussions. There is this appeals process. We saw the White House launch their appeal within minutes yesterday

And what experts have been telling me is that for the next 10 days, as part of this appeals process, the state of play continues. So tariffs, as they are, remain in place for at least the next 10 days. That is 10% for most countries. That was Katie Silver reporting. The White House, which is appealing the ruling, said it was not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency.

Now, here in the UK, the government is laying out bold plans to shake up its pension industry. This includes making megafunds worth billions, which are aimed at driving local investment and economic growth. The UK's Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, says the overhaul is inspired by Australia and Canada's huge pension funds and could also boost retirement savings. Chris Rould is the Chief Executive of the Local Pensions Partnership, one of the UK's public sector pension pools.

I think that the real strategy here is to try and encourage continued investment in growth assets. So not going down the pathway that perhaps corporate DB schemes have of de-risking and continue to invest for growth.

And we're encouraged that the government's been really clear around the timetable, as well as setting out their stall to say, look, these are the changes that we want to impose by March 26. That was Chris Rule, Chief Executive of the Local Pensions Partnership. Now, let's do the numbers. ♪

Oil prices rose by about a dollar a barrel after a U.S. court blocked most of Donald Trump's tariffs, which is easing fears of a global slowdown. And investors are also awaiting an OPEC Plus meeting this weekend, which could lead to a July production hike.

Now, China has condemned what it calls an unreasonable decision by the United States to crack down on Chinese student visas. It accuses the Trump administration of using ideology and national security as a pretext. Washington has announced that it will work aggressively to revoke the visas of Chinese students, with future applications, including those from Hong Kong, subject to enhanced scrutiny.

Being a trade unionist in Colombia can be deadly. Thousands of union members have been attacked in recent years. Membership has halved over the past two decades to just 4% of the workforce. That's the lowest rate in the Americas. By some measures, Colombia is now the most dangerous country in the world for organised labour. The BBC's Gideon Long has been there to find out why. Welcome to the southwest of Colombia and to the Cauca Valley.

And the Cauca Valley is home to Colombia's sugar industry. I'm on my way to meet some of the people who work in this industry. In a hotel in Cali, I meet these workers, all members of Sintra y Nagro, Colombia's biggest agricultural trade union, and all presidents of their local union branches in the Cauca Valley. They are Zenon Escobar and, first of all, Jesus Cometa.

Jesus tells me someone tried to kill him on the 12th of July last year. He was in a car and gunmen opened fire on him. Jesus escaped uninjured, but he says one of his bodyguards, and he travels with bodyguards all the time, was hit in the chest with a bullet and they still haven't been able to extract the bullet from his chest. He also says he's received a lot of threats.

I asked Hessels' colleague, Zenon, who's carrying out these attacks and who's ordering them. Zenon says it's a difficult question because in the Cauca Valley there are so many different armed groups, you never really know who's behind these attacks, who's carrying them out. Many people listening to this will ask the question, why do people in Colombia still join trade unions?

He says that if you go back a few years, the workers in this sector were marginalised. They were poorly paid and they worked long hours.

He says they then organised, they went on strike and they managed to win concessions and improve things. He says he's afraid for his life every time he leaves his house, but he says you have to do it because, in his words, in Colombia the only way to get something is to fight for it.

So what are the authorities doing about this? In 2022, Colombia elected arguably the first truly left-wing president in its history. For the first time, it formally recognised the trade union movement, collectively, as a victim of Colombia's armed conflict. Luc Triangla is from the International Trade Union Confederation, or ITUC. We consider this as an important step to recognise the violence against trade unionists in

in Colombia, which was not the case before. And of course, this is not just a question for the Colombian state, but it's also a question for the private sector. Absolutely. If I would be the CEO of a multinational, I would question my activities in Colombia if I see that

workers of my plant that try to organise trade unions are murdered. The ITUC's next global report on the threats to global trade unionists is due to be published next month. That should give us a further insight into whether the situation for unionised workers in Colombia is getting better or worse.

I'm the BBC's Gideon Long for Marketplace. And that's it from the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. Linda Walker is our producer today. Naomi Rainey is the editor. And I'm Leanna Byrne. Have a great day and thanks so much for listening. Personal finance isn't just about spreadsheets and investing. It's emotional. Talking to your partner about money, negotiating a raise. Even the smallest decisions, like splitting a bill, can bring up feelings of shame or anxiety.

I'm Rima Grace, host of This is Uncomfortable, a podcast from Marketplace about life and how money messes with it. In this season, we get into topics like workplace drama, tough financial trade-offs, and the quiet tension that builds when love and finances collide. Listen to This is Uncomfortable wherever you get your podcasts.