When an important policy is implemented, the market will react. Trump's tariff policy caused the US stock market to plummet for two consecutive days, losing about $640 million (nearly 50 trillion Hong Kong dollars) in market value. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell publicly admitted that the tariff shock exceeded expectations, and Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics, a well-known expert on international trade theory, even bluntly said that Trump was crazy. He pointed out that his tariff policy is not only a mistake in economic logic, but also likely to trigger a global trade war and cause far-reaching damage to the US and world economies.
Many people have pointed out that Trump's tariffs are similar to the tariff laws passed by the United States in 1930. The 1930 Act, which was notorious in the United States, was introduced in response to the Great Depression, but it caused an even greater economic crisis, a sharp contraction of American international trade, and an even worse Great Depression in the world.
There are two major differences between Trump's global tariff campaign and the 1930 tariff laws. First, the 1930 Tariff Act was a protectionist policy, raising tariffs on more than 20,000 imports, while Trump imposed so-called "reciprocal tariffs" on the world's trade rivals, regardless of what goods they had. Second, the Tariff Act of 1930 was passed by Congress; Trump, however, is on his own, Congress has no role at all, and Trump is doing whatever he wants.
Seeing Trump lightly holding a piece of cardboard at a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House, saying that tariffs would be imposed on this country by 34% and tariffs on that country by 49%, many people sweated on their foreheads and couldn't help but worry about the return of the Great Depression.
Trump stressed that the tariffs are "reciprocal tariffs”, and he will impose the tariffs on imports into the United States the same level as the other countries impose on goods imported from the United States. However, the comments seen on the internet all believe that the data does not reflect the facts. Krugman bluntly said that the tariff data cited by Trump was grossly inaccurate. For example, he said, Trump claims that the European Union imposes 39 percent tariffs on American goods, but the actual average tax rate is only 1.7 percent. In addition, China's tariffs are exaggerated at 67 percent, but WTO data show an average tax rate of only 4.9 percent in 2024.
A financial reporter in the United States also found that Trump's tariff calculation was wrong. There is a free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea, but why is South Korea's tariff rate calculated at 50%? Naturally, he also noticed that the EU did not impose a 39% tariff on the United States at all, where did this figure come from?
Ocean
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MALINDI, Kenya (AP) — The unfinished restaurant is still little more than concrete walls and wooden beams. As her daughter sweeps away the last piles of sand, 54-year-old Nuru Mohammed directs women hanging fishing nets to serve as décor. In a few days, the beachside restaurant on Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast will open, offering another way to earn a living.
“For us women, this is hope,” says Mohammed, who for most of her life was one of the few fisherwomen in Malindi, a town northeast of the port city of Mombasa. “It will help support many families that have depended on the ocean for decades.”
Across East Africa’s coast, fisherfolk are increasingly turning to tourism, ecosystem restoration and other conservation-based businesses, reinventing their relationship with the sea as climate change, overfishing and declining ocean health threaten their livelihoods.
In Kenya, women are turning restored mangrove forests into sources of income through beekeeping and ecotourism. In Tanzania’s Zanzibar archipelago, fishing communities are protecting coral reefs through locally managed closures. In Mozambique, sea grass restoration is creating jobs while reviving marine habitats. Together, these efforts are redefining resilience, not as leaving the ocean behind, but as restoring it while building enduring livelihoods.
“Communities that depend on the ocean are also its best stewards,” said Andreane Martel, project director for a conservation program dubbed ReSea. “When local people, especially women, lead conservation, they protect biodiversity while creating more resilient and inclusive livelihoods.”
Mohammed said she has lost boats to theft and now struggles to compete with industrial trawlers. A nearby Chinese-owned fish processing facility reflects the dramatic changes for the industry.
“I can’t compete with that kind of power or scale,” she says.
“It has been tough,” Mohammed says, looking toward the ocean. “I fought to remain a fisherwoman. But I think it’s a fight I can no longer win.”
Ten kilometers (six miles) away, where the Sabaki River meets the Indian Ocean, Beatrice Mwanyiro oversees a mangrove nursery and restaurant built by ReSea, a 30-member women’s self-help group supported by the Canadian government.
“We have to adapt to the changing times,” Mwanyiro says. “The number of fish coming into the shallow waters are falling every year. Without another source of income, we won’t be able to feed our families.”
Mangroves, coral reefs, sea grass meadows and nearshore fisheries provide food, protect coastlines from storms and store vast amounts of carbon. But those ecosystems are imperiled by warming oceans, pollution, habitat loss and overfishing.
Mohamed Somo, a leader of fishermen in Lamu, a UNESCO heritage site, says boats that used to come in with catches of up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of fish now often bring home less than 30 kilograms (66 pounds).
Kenyan law restricts trawlers to waters at least 5 nautical miles (9 kilometers) offshore, but fishers say some vessels routinely operate much closer. The challenge extends beyond Kenya. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing costs the global economy an estimated $23 billion annually while threatening marine biodiversity and the food security of billions who depend on fish as a primary source of protein, according to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization.
“The trawlers fish offshore during the day, but at night they move into the shallow waters where artisanal fishers work,” Somo says. “By morning, there’s very little left for us.”
The growing pressure on coastal communities has pushed ocean conservation higher on the political agenda as communities struggle for survival and try to protect their ocean economies.
“Coastal communities are on the frontlines of climate change and declining ocean health, but they are also among the strongest drivers of resilience,” said Jerry Mang’ena, co-founder and executive director of Action for Ocean, a Tanzania-based organization that restores mangroves along its coastline.
“Supporting sustainable livelihoods, from aquaculture and eco-tourism to ecosystem restoration, helps families adapt while reducing pressure on the ocean. If we’re serious about protecting our seas, we must invest in the people who have cared for them for generations.”
At the recent Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, conservation groups urged African governments to ratify the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, or “High Seas” treaty, a landmark U.N. pact establishing marine protected areas in international waters and fair sharing of marine resources. It entered into force in January, and as of April had been signed by 145 countries and ratified by 81.
The outcome of negotiations over additional ratifications of the treaty could have a profound impact on the lives of fisher people like Mohammed as they try to build futures that no longer depend entirely on increasingly uncertain catches.
“The BBNJ Agreement gives African governments a historic opportunity to protect the high seas and safeguard the future of our fisheries,” said Aliou Ba, oceans campaign lead at Greenpeace Africa.
“But protecting the ocean also means confronting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that is stripping African waters of marine life and robbing coastal communities of food and income," he said. "Governments cannot afford to delay.”
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
The Samito Women Group's restaurant under construction is seen in Sabaki, Malindi, Kenya, on June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Allan Olingo)
Beatrice Mwanyiro, chair of the Samito Women Group, is interviewed outside the group's unfinished restaurant and mangrove restoration center in Sabaki, Malindi, Kenya, on June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Allan Olingo)
Nuru Mohammed, a fisherwoman speaks inside an unfinished restaurant being built by a women's group of fishmongers in Sabaki, Malindi, Kenya, on June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Allan Olingo)
The Samito Women Group's restaurant under construction is seen in Sabaki, Malindi, Kenya, on June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Allan Olingo)
An unfinished restaurant under construction by a women's group led by Nuru Mohammed is seen in Sabaki, Malindi, Kenya, on June 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Allan Olingo)
