Image: Four people died in a pile-up of 46 cars on an icy Ohio road. Pic: State Highway Patrol Ohio
Warning of 90mph winds and 20cm of snow
Icy conditions on the roads prompted many authorities to warn against non-essential travel, and hundreds of people who did venture out found themselves stranded in their vehicles.
Among those who have died are three people in car crashes in Kentucky, and another three in Oklahoma, two of which happened as winds blew the drifting snow.
In Montana, the National Weather Service warned that the eastern slope of Glacier National Park and nearby foothills and plains could see up to 20.3cm of snow and winds of up to 90mph.
Montana saw a temperature of -45.6C (-50F) earlier in the storm, while yesterday’s low belonged to the remote town of Havre – also in Montana – which saw -39C (38F).
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In Maine, more than 125,000 properties are without power and utility bosses have warned it could take days before supply is restored, while some other states have asked customers to cut back on their usage to avoid rolling blackouts.
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0:53
Planes struggle to land in US
Fears rise for homeless
One company told its 65 million customers in 13 states that power plants were struggling to operate under the pressure of the weather and the extreme demand.
Another power company asked customers to drop their thermostats from 15.6C to 16.7C because a pipeline equipment failure had temporarily cut the gas coming from one of its suppliers by 30%.
Emergency shelters are being opened for those who are homeless or have no power at home, and there are also urgent efforts to get firewood to some Native American tribes who live in isolated areas.
At least 24 people have died in the storm
• Colorado: Two “environmental exposure” deaths
• Kansas: three traffic accidents – in Republic County a 60-year-old man died after his car was struck by another vehicle that had lost control and jack-knifed; A 33-year-old man died after he lost control of his truck and spun across the median of Interstate 70 in Geary County; and in Saline County, a 21-year-old man died after the SUV he was a passenger in went into a ditch
• Kentucky: Two vehicle-related deaths and one homeless person who died from exposure
• Four deaths in a 46-car pile-up near Sandusky, and a further four deaths after a crash in Franklin Township when a tractor-trailer driver went through the barrier and hit cars coming the opposite direction
• Nebraska: One weather-related vehicle death
• Missouri: A man died after losing control of his vehicle on an icy road, going down an embankment, over a cement wall and landing upside down in a creek
• New York: Four deaths
• Oklahoma: Three road deaths
• Michigan: An 82-year-old woman in Lansing died after being found curled up in the snow outside her assisted living community
• Tennessee: A man was found dead in Memphis. Authorities have not given details but say the death is weather-related
• Wisconsin: Troopers were at the scene of an accident and passing drivers were slowing down when a second crash occurred – a pick-up truck left the road and struck a tractor-trailer unit. The truck driver died
In Portland, Oregon, severe weather shelters gave out tarpaulins and tents to people as the centres themselves closed due to a break in the bad weather.
More than 1,100 people had sought warmth at the city’s five emergency weather shelters, officials said.
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1:55
‘I don’t know how they’ll survive’
‘One of the worst storms in history’
In Buffalo, New York, deep snow, freezing temperatures and power cuts encouraged people to seek churches, police stations and anywhere else that might have heating.
Erie County executive Mark Poloncarz said ambulances needed more than three hours for a single trip to a hospital, with roads still hampered by snow, abandoned cars and downed power lines.
New York governor Kathy Hochul said the storm was “one of the worst in history”, and Timothy Carney of the Erie County Sheriff’s Office said: “It’s essentially a category 3 hurricane with a bunch of snow mixed in. It’s been like that for the past 24 hours.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
Image: The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
More on Donald Trump
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Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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5:07
The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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3:27
How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”
Tanking stock markets, collapsing world orders, devastating trade wars; economists with their hair ablaze are scrambling to keep up.
But as we try to make sense of Donald Trumps’s tariff tsunami, economic theory only goes so far. In the end this surely is about something more primal.
Power.
Understanding that may be crucial to how the world responds.
Yes, economics helps explain the impact. The world’s economy has after all shifted on its axis, the way it’s been run for decades turned on its head.
Instead of driving world trade, America is creating a trade war. We will all feel the impact.
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0:58
PM will ‘fight’ for deal with US
Donald Trump says he is settling scores, righting wrongs. America has been raped, looted and pillaged by the world trading system.
More from US
But don’t be distracted by the hyperbole – and if you think this is about economics alone, you may be missing the point.
Above all, tariffs give Donald Trump power. They strike fear into allies and enemies, from governments to corporations.
This is a president who runs his presidency like a medieval emperor or mafia don.
It is one reason why since his election we have seen what one statesman called a conga line of sycophants make their way to the White House, from world leaders to titans of industry.
The conga line will grow longer as they now redouble their efforts hoping to special treatment from Trump’s tariffs. Sir Keir Starmer among them.
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President Trump’s using similar tactics at home, deploying presidential power to extract concessions and deter dissent in corporate America, academia and the US media. Those who offer favours are spared punishment.
His critics say he seeks a form power for the executive or presidential branch of government that the founding fathers deliberately sought to prevent.
Whether or not that is true, the same playbook of divide and rule through intimidation can now be applied internationally. Thanks to tariffs
Each country will seek exceptions but on Trump’s terms. Those who retaliate may meet escalation.
This is the unforgiving calculus for governments including our own plotting their next moves.
The temptation will be to give Trump whatever he wants to spare their economies, but there is a jeopardy that compounds the longer this goes on.
Image: Could America’s traditional allies turn to China? Pic: AP
Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian prime minister who coined the conga line comparison, put it this way: “Pretty much all the international leaders I have seen that have sucked up to Trump have been run over. The reality is if you suck up to bullies, whether it’s global affairs or in the playground, you just get more bullying.”
Trading partners may be able to mitigate the impact of these tariffs through negotiation, but that may only encourage this unorthodox president to demand ever more?
Ultimately the world will need a more reliable superpower than that.
In the hands of such a president, America cannot be counted on.
When it comes to security, stability and prosperity, allies will need to fend for themselves.
And they will need new friends. If Washington can’t be relied on, Beijing beckons.
America First will, more and more, mean America on its own.