Tariff whiplash, Trump’s legal cases and Romania treason plot
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Today, trade policy whiplash after Trump delays tariffs on Mexico and Canada. How the courts are hitting pause on the US's government-slashing agenda. And arrests in Romania over an alleged attempt to overthrow the state with Russia's help. It's Friday, March 7th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the frontlines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Tara Oakes in Liverpool.

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm

I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. Feeful terms at mintmobile.com. President Donald Trump has suspended the 25% tariffs he imposed just days ago on most goods from Canada and Mexico. The exemptions expire on April 2nd.

It's the latest twist in a fluctuating trade policy that's causing whiplash on financial markets and fanning worries over inflation and growth. Trump's announcement comes ahead of the latest jobs report out today, which could be an indication of how his rapidly shifting policies are affecting the US economy. Reporter Howard Schneider spoke to us from Penn Station in New York about the impact of the latest twist in US trade policy.

One thing that people at the Federal Reserve and economists generally are getting worried about is this steady drumbeat of news. You know, if you tell people tariffs are coming, well, no, they're not. Tariffs are coming, no, they're not. The natural reaction is to just like hold everything in place and wait.

Right. Or to actually pare back if you think prices are going to rise. Either way, it's kind of creating a different baseline in the minds of people that they no longer are assured inflation is under control. They might expect prices to rise. And when that starts to happen and it starts to show up in some of these

expectation surveys, I'll tell you, the Federal Reserve gets very, very nervous. And that's a recipe for them to overreact or be tighter than they really need to be and to end up with, you know, an unintended recession. And Howard, you've been reporting recently from Virginia on how all this uncertainty is affecting small businesses. What are they telling you?

They're not quite sure what to do. Take home builders, for example. I spoke with a builder down in Richmond and he said, listen, it's impossible to get prices. It's impossible for me to set prices. For the most part, they still think demand is strong. People are spending money. Banks are lending money and things are good. Or at least they were up to a point. Now they're kind of a little bit shakier on what the next six months to a year might hold.

So what can we expect from the jobs report being released today? It may tell you that they're firing a bunch of federal workers. We already saw a little bit of a jump in that in claims data, particularly for the Washington area. Whether that translates into lower job growth, you know, the government had been a strong source of hiring over the past couple of years. Over on markets, investors are feeling pretty shook by the continual shifts in trade policy. Carmel Crimmins is here with more.

So it's interesting that US stocks failed to stage a comeback after Trump suspended those tariffs on Canada and Mexico. It really speaks to how the psychodrama, as Canada's foreign minister described tariff talks, is just pulverizing investor confidence. Markets hate uncertainty, and they're confused right now over what happens next.

The scale and the speed of the drop in sentiment is pretty staggering. Like if you take the Nasdaq, just two weeks ago it was powering to yet another record high on the back of those mega cap tech stocks. Now it's in a correction, meaning it's down over 10% since December. Wow, that is so sad. Oh my God.

Eyewitness video capturing debris from SpaceX streaming across the night sky in the Bahamas. The Starship spacecraft exploded after liftoff, making this the second failure for Elon Musk's Mars rocket program this year. The FAA had to halt air traffic in parts of Florida because of the launch debris.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday for a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The MBS meeting comes ahead of talks in Saudi later this week with U.S. officials. The plan announced less than a week after Trump and Zelensky's Oval Office bust-up. And in Brussels, EU leaders have backed plans to spend more on defense after the U.S. froze aid to Ukraine.

This week, a divided Supreme Court said the Trump administration could not withhold payment to foreign aid groups for work they'd already performed. The 5-4 ruling was a legal setback for the president, whose controversial government-slashing agenda is increasingly getting tied up in the courts. Legal reporter Jack Queen is following it all.

In many important respects, the agenda has been kind of stalled in court, but not entirely. We've seen a wave of litigation, and we're now tracking well over 100 different lawsuits, and they cover a wide range of topics. And so far, the results have been mixed, but mostly against the Trump administration in the form of temporary restraining orders, injunctions, preliminary injunctions, which are fancy ways of saying the judge is telling them to hold up, pause,

Stop doing what you're doing. Let's preserve the status quo and figure this out, sort out these legal issues. And so these aren't final decisions, but they are pressing pause on the rollouts of these policies. Like what? I think a huge one potentially is ending automatic birthright citizenship in the U.S.,

That one's on pause. There's also the federal funding freeze pausing some $3 trillion worth of funds that go out to various groups and contractors and entities and so forth. That policy has been put on hold, so the money has continued to flow, and we'll see how that litigation plays out in the coming months.

But so far, the early indications are that judges are not siding with the Trump administration's perspective on this and seem to be skeptical of the idea that he can do this. And what about Trump's legal victories? So where the administration has enjoyed the most success, actually, is with Doge. There have been a lot of lawsuits seeking to block Musk and his deputies there.

from accessing these highly sensitive government databases at all these different agencies. And so far, two judges have blocked them from accessing the Treasury Department. But for the most part, all the other places they're trying to get into, they've basically gotten the blessings of the court. So that includes labor, health, education, agencies, things like that. So they've enjoyed their most success there.

Romanian prosecutors say they've detained six people on charges of trying to overthrow the state with Russia's help. A 101-year-old former army major general says his home was raided as part of the investigation. Russia's foreign ministry has dismissed the accusations as speculations. Luisa Ilia has been following the story in Bucharest. So, firstly, Luisa, sources have attributed quite a striking name to this group, right?

Yes, the organization is named the Vlad the Impaler Commandment. It's named after the medieval Romanian ruler who inspired Bram Stoker's Count Dracula and who is seen as a symbol for some hard right factions in the country. What are they accused of? Prosecutors said the group had taken steps to negotiate with the external forces.

regarding the potential withdrawal of Romania from NATO. They said the group aimed to install a new government and dissolve the current constitutional order.

introduce a new flag, national anthem, even changing the country's name. What about this 101-year-old former army general? Who is he? His name is Radu Teodorum, and prosecutors have said they consider him a suspect. They have raided his house. He is a Holocaust denier who has repeatedly praised Romania's fascist World War II leadership.

and he has previously belonged to a far-right party in Romania. In a recorded interview with his daughter, posted on his Facebook page,

After the raid and after prosecutors had announced that he was a suspect, he said that he believed the current government represented an anti-Romanian state, a system organized to rob this country, and I'm quoting here. He went on to say they wasted this country and now they defend themselves and find reasons to misinform the public.

In this recorded interview, the retired army major general pretty much confirmed his disdain for the current political system, but he did not address the accusations directly. The second measles death in the U.S. in more than a decade. An unvaccinated New Mexico adult has died. Crypto execs are set to meet Trump at the White House today. On the agenda: how to enact his vision to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world.

An unexploded World War II bomb has thrown a wrench in the morning traffic in Paris. It was discovered on Thursday night near Paris' busy Gare du Nord train station. The disruption is affecting local city lines as well as national and international trains.

This has been the honor of my life serving Canadians. A prime ministerial farewell from Justin Trudeau, who is stepping down on Sunday when Liberal Party members will select his successor. Canada's ruling party is capitalizing on a wave of patriotism and adopting policies designed to appeal to conservative-leaning voters turned off by Trump in America. This episode is brought to you by PDS Debt.

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As we head into the weekend, it's time for a recommendation, which is a recommended listen this week. We've got a special episode of the podcast coming out tomorrow, all about Greenland and why Trump wants it. Greenlanders are heading to the polls next week, and we talked to them about whether they want independence from Denmark and if they want to pivot to the US. You can catch up pod tomorrow and find out why the Arctic island is so strategically significant.

For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player, and we'll be back on Monday with our daily headline show.