Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Friday, April 4

Trump shocks global economy with highest tariffs since Smoot Hawley Act of 1930; Europe & Australia protest & plan retaliation; Luxon more relaxed; Goff speaks out; Gisborne Hospital crisis revealed

In short this morning in our political economy:

1. Donald Trump has shocked the global economy and markets with the biggest tariffs since the Smoot Hawley Act of 1930, which worsened the Great Depression.

2. Global stocks slumped 4-5% overnight and key US bond yields briefly fell below 4% as investors fear a recession with higher inflation.

3. Two extraordinary letters from Gisborne Hospital’s doctors have been published by Newsroom, in which the doctors plead repeatedly for hiring freezes to be lifted and warn of a collapse in services, similar to warnings made from Nelson Hospital’s doctors earlier this week.

4. Phil Goff has defended his comments about Donald Trump that got him sacked, releasing a statement this morning describing Trump as '“an emperor without clothes” and his “lies about Ukraine” as “like something out of an Orwell novel.”

5. MSD is declining almost a third of applications for housing support, just as Kāinga Ora sacks most of its staff that work with MSD to find places for homeless families, RNZ reports this morning.

6. Today’s must-read is an investigation updated this morning by RNZ’s Anusha Bradley into how dairy lobbyists watered down baby formula standards.

Here’s my selection¹ of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$², The Press−$, Newsroom/$³, NZ Herald/$, Stuff, BusinessDesk/$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, AP, FT/$, WSJ/$, Bloomberg/$, New York Times/$, Washington Post/$, The Guardian, Wired/$, The Atlantic/$ and The Economist-$, on the morning of Friday, April 4.

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My Top Pick n’ Mix Six for Friday, April 4