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China retaliates as Trump’s tariffs affect world markets

BANGKOK (AP) — Countries and industries were scrambling Friday to respond as President Donald ‘s latest tariffs hikes upend global and world markets.

China responded to the 34% tariffs imposed by the U.S. on imports from China by announcing it will impose a 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products beginning April 10.

‘s president promised to provide support to industries most vulnerable to the 32% tariffs Trump ordered in his “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs announcement.

Vietnam said its deputy prime minister would visit the U.S. for talks on trade. Some, like the head of the EU’s European Commission, have vowed to fight back while promising to improve the rules book for free trade. Others said they were hoping to negotiate with the Trump administration for relief.

Fighting back

As with earlier countermoves to U.S. trade penalties, Beijing hit back with targeted action, as well as its universal 34% tariff on all products from the U.S.

The Commerce Ministry in Beijing said it will impose more export controls on rare earths, which are materials used in high-tech products such as computer chips and electric vehicle batteries. Included in the list was samarium and its compounds, which are used in aerospace manufacturing and the defense sector. Another element called gadolinium is used in MRI scans.

China’s customs administration said it had suspended imports of chicken from two U.S. suppliers, Mountaire Farms of Delaware and Coastal Processing. It said Chinese customs had repeatedly detected furazolidone, a drug banned in China, in shipments from those companies.

Additionally, the Chinese government said it has added 27 firms to lists of companies subject to trade sanctions or export controls.

For good measure, China also filed a lawsuit with the , saying the U.S. tariffs were “a typical unilateral bullying practice that endangers the stability of the global economic and trade order.”

Seize the day

India was hit by a 26% tariff rate, lower than the 34% for Chinese exports and 46% for Vietnam. Its Commerce Ministry that it was “studying the opportunities that may arise due to this new development in U.S. trade policy.” It said talks were underway on a trade agreement, including “deepening supply chain integration.”

The U.S was New Delhi’s biggest trading partner in 2024 with two-way trade estimated at $129 billion, according to U.S. data. They have set an ambitious target of more than doubling their bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. Most pharmaceuticals and other medicines, important Indian exports to the U.S., are exempt from the reciprocal tariffs.

However, diamonds and other gems, another major export industry, are subject to the higher duties.

Business groups said they viewed the challenge as a chance to improve India’s competitiveness. “At a time when global trade dynamics are shifting rapidly, Indian exporters must be equipped with the right policies, strategies, and support to compete effectively,” S.C. Ralkan, head of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, said in a statement.

We need to talk

Most U.S. trading partners have emphasized they hope negotiations can help resolve trade friction with Washington. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he was prepared to fly to Washington, in a last-ditch effort to forestall the 24% tariffs Trump ordered for exports from the biggest Asian U.S. ally.

“The global trading system has serious deficiencies,” the president of the EU’s European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Thursday while on a visit to Uzbekistan. But she chided Trump, saying that “reaching for tariffs as your first and last tool will not fix it. This is why from the onset we have always been ready to negotiate with the United States.”

In , Premier Giorgia Meloni told state TV she believes the 20% U.S. tariffs on exports from were wrong, but “it is not the catastrophe that some are making it out to be.” Her government planned to meet next week with representatives of affected sectors to formulate plans. “We need to open an honest discussion on the matter with the Americans, with the goal, at least from my point of view, of removing tariffs, not multiplying them,” Meloni said.

Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Pham Thu Hang, said Hanoi would keep talking with the U.S. to “find practical solutions” as 46% U.S. tariffs threatened to decimate exports of footwear, electronics, textiles and seafood.

“If enforced, would negatively impact bilateral economic and trade relations as well as the interests of businesses and people in both countries,” Hang said in comments cited by state-run media, which reported that the deputy prime ninister and former finance minister Ho Duc Phoc was scheduled to visit the U.S. for trade talks next week.

A helping hand

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said he will offer the “greatest support” to industries most impacted by the new tariffs. Taiwan’s trade surplus with the U.S. is relatively high partly because the island is a major source of computer chips and other advanced technology. Lai said in a statement on his Facebook page that “We feel that this is unreasonable and are also worried about the subsequent impact these measures may have on the global .”

Lai said he instructed Premier Cho Jung-tai to work closely with industries that are impacted and to communicate with the public about their plans to stabilize the economy.

‘s leader Ishiba and other governments also said they were preparing countermeasures to help industries cope.

Likewise, von der Leyen said the EU was consulting with steel and makers, pharmaceutical companies and other industries about how to give them more “breathing space.”

Looking elsewhere

Trump’s decision to sharply raise tariffs on countries spanning the globe is “self-defeating,” Wang Huiyao, president of the Chinese think tank Center for China and Globalization, said in an interview.

The latest tariffs impose heavy burdens on some countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

It’s a with the world, Wang said, while China’s strategy is to trade more with Southeast Asia and Latin America, with Europe, the Middle East and other developing nations.

“The likely outcome is that China will become the largest trading nation and its economy will be trading more with other nations and the U.S. may … become more isolated,” Wang said.

Europe will work to build more bridges and as a regional economic bloc of 450 million people, larger than the United States, it also has its own huge market, said von der Leyen, the EC president.

The EU is its own “safe harbor in tumultuous times,” she said.

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AP journalists from around the world contributed to this report.

Trump says things are ‘going very well’ after worst stock market drop in years over tariffs

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald offered a rosy assessment after the stock market dropped sharply Thursday over his , saying, “I think it’s going very well.”

“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” he said when asked about the market as he left the White House to fly to one of his Florida golf clubs.

The Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,600 points on Thursday as U.S. led a selloff after the Republican president’s announcement of tariffs against much of the world ignited a shock like none seen since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump on Wednesday announced a minimum tariff of 10% on , with the tax rate running much higher on products from certain countries like and those from the European Union.

The announcement jolted markets worldwide, but Trump said that was to be expected. He compared the United States to a sick patient in need of surgery when asked by a reporter for his reaction to the worst drop in years.

“I think it’s going very well. We have an operation, like when a patient gets operated on and it’s a big thing. I said this would exactly be the way it is,” he said, an apparent reference to the selloff.

He talked about trillions of dollars in investment that is “coming into our country” from companies that want to make their products in the U.S. to avoid tariffs.

“The rest of the world wants to see is there any way they can make a deal,” he said.

Later, speaking with the reporters on aboard Air Force One, Trump said that he’d be open to using tariffs to negotiate with other countries and that it would depend on whether they had something “phenomenal” to offer in return.

He maintains that other countries have been taking advantage of the U.S. for a long time and he wants it to stop.

“For many years, we’ve been at the wrong side of the ball and I’ll tell you what, I think it’s going to be unbelievable,” Trump said as he left the White House to attend a Saudi-backed golf tournament at his club in Doral, Florida.

US electric vehicle industry is collateral damage in Trump’s escalating trade war

DETROIT (AP) — President Donald ‘s tariff blitz has sent shock waves throughout every aspect of the global , including the sector, where multi-billion-dollar plans to electrify in the United States are especially at risk.

Here’s what consumers should know about the impact of on .

Where does EV adoption stand in the U.S.?

EVs accounted for about 8% of new car sales in the U.S. in 2024, according to Motorintelligence.com.

Some of those sales can be attributed to expanded tax credits for EV purchases, a Biden-era policy that spurred car buyer interest.

Tesla held a majority of U.S. EV market share in 2024, at 48%. But that share has declined in recent years, as brands including Ford (7.5%), Chevrolet (5.2%) and Hyundai (4.7%) began to offer a wider variety of electric models at better price points, according to Kelley Blue Book.

Electric vehicles remain more expensive than their gasoline-powered equivalents. New gas vehicles sold for $48,039 on average last month, Kelly Blue Book data says, while EVs sold for $55,273 on average.

Tariffs add on to the costs of an EV transition that was already volatile and uncertain, said Vanessa Miller, a litigation partner focused on at law firm Foley & Lardner.

What makes U.S. EV manufacturing so challenging?

Biden’s tax credits essentially required automakers to get more and more of their EV content from the U.S. or allies over the coming years in order for their vehicles to qualify. Automakers have worked to build an EV supply chain across the country and significant investment has gone toward these efforts.

EVs assembled here include Tesla models, the Ford F-150 Lightning and more. Tesla actually might be least vulnerable given how much of its vehicles come from the U.S.

Though the industry is growing, tariffs mean costs for automakers and their buyers will stay high and might go higher, as well as hike up the prices of the many parts of EVs still coming from and elsewhere. From the critical minerals used in battery production to the vehicles themselves, China laps the U.S. industry.

Automakers were already pulling back on ambitious electrification plans amid shrinking federal support and are strapped for cash on what is the less lucrative side of their businesses.

What do the tariffs mean for EV pricing and inventory?

Higher prices might push car buyers to the used car market, but they aren’t likely to find much respite there.

If consumers don’t buy as many vehicles, automakers will have to prioritize their investments and manufacturing. That means the cars that buyers want and that are most profitable. Automakers still lose thousands of dollars on each EV they make and sell, but they make money from big, popular gas-guzzling pickup trucks and SUVs.

These manufacturers “have put a certain amount of investment into EVs, and it would probably be even more wasteful to completely walk away from them than it is to find the new level at which it makes sense to maintain production of them,” said Karl Brauer, executive analyst at auto research site iSeeCars.com. That level “will assuredly be lower than what it was,” he added.

Making fewer EVs won’t help bring their cost down further anytime soon.

Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, said in a statement the EV and battery sector is working to ensure that the American auto industry grows and that his group will work with the administration on productive trade policy.

“Tariffs on our longstanding trade partners, many of whom have committed billions in direct investment into U.S. factories, introduces uncertainty and risk into an industry that is creating and bringing new economic opportunities to communities across the country,” Gore said.

How else have Trump’s policies stifled U.S. EV growth?

Trump has already taken a hatchet to federal EV policy. He campaigned on a vow to end what he called former President Joe Biden’s “EV mandate.”

Biden’s EV policies did not require automakers to sell EVs or consumers to buy them, but they did incentivize manufacturers to increase their electric offerings in the coming years. Trump put an end to Biden’s target for 50% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2035 in his first days in office.

Also under Biden, Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rules on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy were to get increasingly tougher, but could be met by automakers selling a growing number of EVs alongside more fuel-efficient gasoline-powered vehicles. Trump’s administrators are already reevaluating emissions standards.

He’s also likely to seek to repeal the tax credits.

US added a surprising 228,000 jobs last month, as the American economy shows resilience amid Trump’s trade wars

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a surprising 228,000 last month, as the American labor market continues to show resilience as President Donald wages wars, purges federal workers and deports immigrants working in the United States illegally. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%.

The hiring numbers were up from 117,000 in February and were nearly double the 130,000 that economists had expected.

‘s trade wars – including the sweeping “Liberation Day” import taxes he announced Wednesday – threaten to drive up prices, disrupt commerce and invite retaliatory from America’s trading partners.

Another threat comes from the president’s promise to deport millions of immigrants who are working in the United States illegally. In the past several years, those workers have eased labor shortages and helped the keep growing. If they’re deported or frightened out of the , companies could have to cut back on what they do or increase wages and raise prices, potentially feeding inflation.

Likewise, purges of the federal by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency () to threaten weigh the labor market and push up unemployment.

Still, the impact of Musk’s firings is only starting to show up.

The job market has cooled from the red-hot hiring days of 2021-2023. Employers added 151,000 jobs in February and 125,000 in January. Not bad but down from monthly averages of 168,000 last year, 216,000 in 2023, 380,000 in 2022 and a record 603,000 in 2021 as the economy surged back from COVID-19 lockdowns.

The economy has been remarkably durable in the face high interest rates.

In 2022 and 2023, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times to combat inflation. Economists expected the higher borrowing costs to tip the United States into recession. But they didn’t. Consumers kept spending, employers kept hiring and the economy kept growing.

Inflation came down – allowing the Fed to cut rates three times last year. But then progress against inflation stalled, forcing the Fed to put off more rate cuts this year.

Now there are increasing worries about the health of the economy. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey last month showed that two-thirds of American consumers expected unemployment to rise over the next year — the highest reading in 16 years.

“The U.S. economy is in good shape at the start of the second quarter, but the ongoing has increased the risk of near-term recession dramatically,” Ershang Liang of PNC Economics wrote in a commentary Thursday.

Thomas Simons, chief economist at Jefferies, says the March numbers may be inflated by seasonal adjustments and end up getting revised lower in coming months. “After we see more data, and eventually a number of revisions, this period of time in the labor market will probably look quite a bit worse than it does now,” he wrote in a commentary Thursday.

Global markets, Wall Street continue to slide after China slaps retaliatory tariffs on imports

Global markets slid further and Wall Street was on track for another day of crushing losses Friday after China responded to U.S. ‘s latest set of with some of their own.

Futures for the fell 3.6% before the bell, while futures for the Jones Industrial Average shed 3.4%, falling below the 40,000 mark. Nasdaq futures tumbled 4%.

That follows Thursday’s losses for the three major U.S. indices, which ranged between 4% and 6%. Thursday’s wipeout was Wall Street’s worst day in five years.

Markets in Europe were having an even rougher time Friday. By midday, Germany’s DAX had lost 5%, the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 4.2% and Britain’s FTSE 100 gave up 3.8%.

Oil prices fell as much as 8%.

China announced early Friday that it will impose a 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products beginning April 10, part of a flurry of retaliatory measures following Trump’s “Liberation Day” slate of double-digit tariffs.

The new tariff matches the rate of the U.S. “reciprocal” tariff of 34% on Chinese exports Trump ordered this week.

The U.S. exports an array of goods to China, including machinery, soy, corn and aerospace products. Shares in companies that stand to suffer from China’s tariffs include Deere & Co., which fell 4.7% in premarket; and Boeing, which slid 6%.

Apple saw its shares decline 4.7%.

The Ministry in Beijing also said that it will impose more export controls on rare earths, which are materials used in high-tech products such as computer chips and electric vehicle batteries.

The Chinese government is also subjecting 27 additional U.S. companies to sanctions or export controls and filed a lawsuit with the over the tariffs.

Everything from crude oil to Big Tech to the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies has fallen since Trump’s tariff announcement Wednesday afternoon. Even gold, a traditional safe haven that recently hit record highs, pulled lower.

Trump announced a minimum tariff of 10% on global imports, with the tax rate running much higher on products from certain countries like China and those from the European Union. Smaller, poorer countries in Asia were slapped with tariffs as high as 49%.

Economists say the tariffs increases the risk of a potentially toxic mix of weakening economic growth and higher inflation.

It’s “plausible” the tariffs altogether, which would rival levels unseen in more than a century, could knock down U.S. economic growth by 2 percentage points this year and raise inflation close to 5%, according to UBS.

Later Friday the U.S. government offers up its March jobs report.

Yields on Treasurys tumbled in part on rising expectations for coming cuts to rates, along with general fear about the health of the U.S. . The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.89% from 4.01% late Thursday and from roughly 4.80% in January. The last time it had fallen below 4% was in October.

U.S. benchmark crude oil shed $5.32 to $61.63 a barrel, its lowest level since mid-2021. Brent crude, the international standard, was down $5.26 at $64.88 a barrel.

Shares of Exxon Mobil slid 4.2% and Chevron fell an even 4%.

Markets in Shanghai, , Hong Kong and Indonesia were closed for holidays, limiting the scope of Friday’s sell-offs in Asia.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 2.8% to 33,780.58, while South Korea’s Kospi sank 0.9% to 2,465.42.

The two U.S. allies said they were focused on negotiating lower tariffs with Trump’s administration.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 2.4%, closing at 7,667.80.

In other trading early Friday, the U.S. dollar fell to 144.89 Japanese yen from 146.06. The yen is often used as a refuge in uncertain times, while Trump’s policies are meant in part to weaken the dollar to make goods made in the U.S. more price competitive overseas. The euro rose to $1.1074 from $1.1055.

Dow drops 1,600 as US stocks lead worldwide sell-off after Trump’s tariffs cause a COVID-like shock

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street shuddered, and a level of shock unseen since COVID’s outbreak tore through markets Thursday on worries about the damage President Donald ‘s newest set of  could do to economies across continents, including his own.

The sank 4.8%, more than in major markets across Asia and Europe, for its worst day since the pandemic crashed the economy in 2020. The Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,679 points, or 4%, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 6%.

Little was spared in as fear flared about the potentially toxic mix of weakening economic growth and higher inflation that tariffs can create.

Everything from crude oil to Big Tech stocks to the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies fell. Even gold, which hit records recently as investors sought something safer to own, pulled lower. Some of the worst hits walloped smaller U.S. companies, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks dropped 6.6% to pull more than 20% below its record.

Investors worldwide knew Trump was going to announce a sweeping set of tariffs late Wednesday, and fears surrounding it had already pulled Wall Street’s main measure of health, the S&P 500 index, 10% below its all-time high. But Trump still managed to surprise them with “the worst case scenario for tariffs,” according to Mary Ann Bartels, chief investment officer at Sanctuary Wealth.

Trump announced a minimum tariff of 10% on imports, with the tax rate running much higher on products from certain countries like China and those from the European Union. It’s “plausible” the tariffs altogether, which would rival levels unseen in roughly a century, could knock down U.S. economic growth by 2 percentage points this year and raise inflation close to 5%, according to UBS.

Such a hit would be so big that it “makes one’s rational mind regard the possibility of them sticking as low,” according to Bhanu Baweja and other strategists at UBS.

Wall Street had long assumed Trump would use tariffs merely as a tool for negotiations with other countries, rather than as a long-term policy. But Wednesday’s announcement may suggest Trump sees tariffs more as helping to solve an ideological goal than as an opening bet in a poker game. Trump on Wednesday talked about wresting manufacturing jobs back to the United States, a process that could take years.

If Trump follows through on his tariffs, stock prices may need to fall much more than 10% from their all-time high in order to reflect the recession that could follow, along with the hit to profits that U.S. companies could take. The S&P 500 is now down 11.8% from its record set in February.

“Markets may actually be underreacting, especially if these rates turn out to be final, given the potential knock-on effects to global consumption and ,” said Sean Sun, portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, though he sees Trump’s announcement on Wednesday as more of an opening move than an endpoint for policy.

Trump offered an upbeat reaction after he was asked about the market’s drop as he left the White House to fly to his Florida golf club on Thursday.

“I think it’s going very well,” he said. “We have an operation, like when a patient gets operated on and it’s a big thing. I said this would exactly be the way it is.”

One wild card is that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates in order to support the economy. That’s what it had been doing late last year before pausing in 2025. Lower interest rates help by making it easier for U.S. companies and households to borrow and spend.

Yields on Treasurys tumbled in part on rising expectations for coming cuts to rates, along with general fear about the health of the U.S. economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.04% from 4.20% late Wednesday and from roughly 4.80% in January. That’s a huge move for the bond market.

The Fed may have less freedom to move than it would like, though. While lower rates can goose the economy, they can also push upward on inflation. And worries are already worsening about that because of tariffs, with U.S. households in particular bracing for sharp increases to their bills.

The U.S. economy at the moment is still growing, of course. A report on Thursday said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. Economist had been expecting to see an uptick in joblessness, and a relatively solid job market has been the linchpin keeping the economy out of recession.

A separate report said activity for U.S. transportation, finance and other businesses in the services industry grew last month. But the growth was weaker than expected, and businesses gave a mixed picture of how they see conditions.

Worries about a potentially stagnating economy and high inflation knocked down all kinds of stocks, leading to drops for four out of every five that make up the S&P 500.

Best Buy fell 17.8% because the electronics that it sells are made all over the world. United Airlines lost 15.6% because customers worried about the global economy may not fly as much for business or feel comfortable enough to take vacations. Target tumbled 10.9% amid worries that its customers, already squeezed by still-high inflation, may be under even more stress.

All told, the S&P 500 fell. 274.45 points to 5,396.52 The sank 1,679.39 to 40,545.93, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 1,050.44 to 16,550.61.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell sharply worldwide. France’s CAC 40 dropped 3.3%, and Germany’s DAX lost 3% in Europe.

‘s Nikkei 225 sank 2.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.5% and South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.8%.

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AP Writers Matt Ott, Elaine Kurtenbach and Darlene Superville contributed.

UPDATED: with close of US trading

Wawa plans massive expansion in western Virginia

Pennsylvania-based chain plans to massively expand in the western side of Virginia, potentially investing $450 million and opening 60 stores along within the next decade.

This week, Wawa held groundbreaking events to celebrate the official start of construction on a store in at 14039 Wards Road and a store located at 1135 Richmond Ave. in . Both stores are projected to open this fall.

Also this week, the company held a community event at the Salem Civic Center in Salem to share background on history and growth projections for the market. Salem Director Tommy Miller said that Wawa plans to open a location in Salem and a location in Roanoke sometime in 2026.

“We’re proud to have a brand and a company with a great history and service and reputation, so we’re [with] open arms welcoming them here to Salem,” Miller said.

According to Wawa, this week’s events introduced the chain to the community and were attended by VIP customers, local officials and charity partners. Wawa served fresh food and beverage favorites including freshly brewed coffee, pretzels, teas and lemonades.

“Wawa has been part of the Virginia community for more than 25 years and is proud to be expanding further west to the region,” Kim Dowgielewicz, Wawa’s director for store operations, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to continue growing in new markets to provide the community with our one-of-a-kind offer and commitment to supporting the community.”

Wawa plans to open six to eight new Wawa stores in 2025 and up to 60 over the next 10 years. The company says it’s working to find and finalize details for sites under contract and that once sites are fully permitted and ready to go under construction, it will share details and timelines for construction and openings.

Wawa plans to invest approximately $7.5 million to build each store and employ, on average, 140 contractors and local partners. Each store will employ an average of 35 people — which means that thousands of will be created statewide.

The company may also expand in Northern Virginia. According to the website for McLean-based commercial real estate firm Rappaport, Wawa is eyeing 1.5- to 3-acre pad sites and is wanting either purchases or ground leases and prefers lighted intersections. Desired locations include Arlington, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Madison and Rappahannock counties as well as the cities of Alexandria and Fairfax.

A Rappaport director of brokerage declined to comment, and a Wawa spokesperson said she didn’t have any details to provide regarding a potential Northern Virginia .

Headquartered in Wawa, Pennsylvania, Wawa has more than 1,100 convenience stores currently operating in nine states and Washington, D.C. It carries more than 6,000 items, including groceries, tobacco and candy, and employs 47,000 people, according to the company’s website. According to a news release, Wawa has been in Virginia since 1998, with more than 100 locations.

Supply chain co. plans $10M expansion in Pulaski

The Patton Group, a U.S. supply chain company, plans to expand with a $10 million, 100,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility in , Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday.

This is the company’s second in four years in Pulaski County and will allow Patton Logistics Group to expand its customer base across the Southeast, according to a news release. The project is expected to create 25 .

In 2020, Patton Logistics Group built a 250,000-square-foot logistics center in the New River Valley Park. The next year, the company expanded the warehouse by an additional 100,000 square feet and built a new trucking operations and maintenance center.

“2025 marks the fifth anniversary of our expansion into Pulaski County, Virginia,” Steve Patton, the company’s president, said in a statement.  “What started out in 2020 as a speculative real estate investment and a potential expansion of our logistics company into Southwest Virginia has turned into a significant supply chain solution for many of our clients.”

A family-owned company with headquarters in Pennsylvania, is made up of three affiliate companies that employ 1,000 people. It has operations in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey and North Carolina.

Watsontown Trucking, the original of the three businesses, operates a fleet of 525 trucks and 1,500 trailers, with a of over 600. Patton Logistics was founded in 2013 to provide transportation brokerage and third-party logistics services for Watsontown Trucking’s expanding customer base. In 2015, Patton Warehousing was formed. It manages 5.2 million square feet of warehouse space.

The new facility will be located on approximately 20 additional acres within the New River Valley Commerce Park, owned by Virginia’s First Regional Industrial Facility Authority.

Youngkin approved a $100,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Pulaski County with the project. Patton Logistics Group will also receive services through VEDP’s Virginia Jobs Investment Program, which provides services and funding for employee recruitment and training to companies creating jobs.

The Virginia Partnership worked with Pulaski County, Virginia’s First Regional Industrial Facility Authority and Onward New River Valley to secure the expansion. Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania also competed for the project.

“This $10 million investment not only reinforces the company’s confidence in the commonwealth’s strategic location and world-class logistics infrastructure, but it also creates new jobs and economic opportunity for hardworking Virginians in the New River Valley,” Youngkin said in a statement.

US energy department invites AI data center development at Los Alamos and other federal lands

The U.S. Department of Energy said it has identified 16 federal sites, including storied nuclear research laboratories such as Los Alamos, where tech companies could build data centers in a push to accelerate commercial development of artificial intelligence technology.

The sites are “uniquely positioned for rapid data center construction, including in-place energy infrastructure with the ability to fast-track permitting for new energy generation such as nuclear,” the agency said in a statement Thursday.

The move follows an executive order signed in January by outgoing President Joe Biden that sought to remove hurdles for AI data center in the U.S. while also encouraging those data centers, which require large amounts of electricity, to be powered with renewable energy.

While President Donald has since sought to erase most of Biden’s signature AI policies, he made clear after returning to the White House that he had no interest in rescinding Biden’s data center order.

“I’d like to see federal lands opened up for data centers,” Trump said in January. “I think they’re going to be very important.”

The lands identified as potential sites include a number of national laboratories, such as the New Mexico-centered Los Alamos and Sandia laboratories and Oak Ridge in Tennessee.

While the tech industry has long relied on data centers to run online services, from email and social media to transactions, new AI technology behind popular chatbots and generative AI tools requires even more powerful computation to build and operate.

A report released by the Department of Energy late last year estimated that the electricity needed for data centers in the U.S. tripled over the past decade and is projected to double or triple again by 2028 when it could consume up to 12% of the nation’s electricity.

The United States, under both presidents, has been speeding up efforts to license and build a new generation of nuclear reactors to supply carbon-free electricity.

While Biden’s executive order focused on powering AI infrastructure with clean energy sources such as “geothermal, solar, wind, and nuclear,” Thursday’s statement from Trump’s energy department focused only on nuclear. But in a lengthy request for information posted on data center and energy developers, it outlines a variety of electricity sources available at each site, from solar arrays to gas turbines.

Fear that Trump tariffs will spark recession slashes billions of dollars from US stock values

U.S. companies had billions of dollars in value wiped out after slapped sweeping on foreign .

Virtually every sector suffered big losses Thursday as U.S. careened toward their biggest one-day drop since COVID-19 flattened the global five years ago.

, retailers, clothing, airlines and technology companies were among the hardest hit, with consumers expected to cut spending if tariffs lead to higher prices for goods and services.

Many economists called the tariffs much worse than expected, and investors dumped shares in companies they predict will suffer most from what is effectively a business tax.

In many cases that tax will be passed on to consumers. If consumers pull back their spending because of higher prices, businesses will produce fewer goods and economic growth could stall or contract. Consumer spending makes up about 70% of economic activity in the U.S.

“This is a game changer, not only for the U.S. economy but for the global economy,” Olu Sonola, Fitch Ratings’ head of U.S. Economic Research, said in a report. “Many countries will likely end up in a recession.”

Here’s a breakdown of some of the market’s worst performing sectors and companies on Thursday.

Airlines

Airlines had been projecting a strong year for profits. However, if Americans are faced with higher prices for essentials, economists say that could put a crimp in their travel budgets.

United Airlines, down 11.6%

American Airlines, down 8.5%

Delta Air Lines, down 8.6%

Clothing and shoes

Most major shoe and clothing makers have their products made outside of the U.S., meaning they will have to pay a tariff, or import tax, on all the goods that are shipped back into the country for sale here.

Nike, down 10.4%

Under Armour, down 17.4%

Lululemon, down 11.1%

Ralph Lauren, down 15.6%

Levi Strauss, down 11.5%

Retailers

Big box and online retailers also import a massive amount of their inventory from outside the U.S.

Amazon, down 7%

Target, down 9.5%

Best Buy, down 14.8%

Dollar Tree, down 8.4%

Kohl’s, down 24.4%

Technology

Companies that make and sell computers, smartphones and other technology source many of their parts from abroad. Some manufacture their entire products overseas, meaning they will have to pay a tariff when those products are shipped back for sale to consumers.

Apple, down 8%

HP, down 13.1%

Dell, down 15.4%

Nvidia, down 6.3%

Banks

If the economy slips into a recession, households and businesses will be less likely to borrow money as demand for products and services decline.

Wells Fargo, down 7.5%

Bank of America, down 8.9%

JPMorgan Chase, down 5.7%

Restaurants

American consumers, feeling less confident about their futures this year, have already been pulling back on spending at restaurants as they tighten their budgets and prioritize only essential goods and services.

Starbucks, down 10.8%

Cracker Barrel, down 11.1%

Cheesecake Factory, down 7.3%

Automakers

Somewhat surprisingly, automakers didn’t get hit as hard most other sectors did on Thursday. That could be because most of Ford, GM and Stellantis’ steel and aluminum — which  previously announced tariffs on — already comes from the United States, reducing the direct impact the companies would feel from higher duties.

General Motors, down 3%

Ford, down 4%

Tesla, down 4.4%

Stellantis, down 7.9%