Trump’s tariffs send shivers across world markets as economists warn of recession risk

Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the new U.S. tariffs may violate NATO’s Article 2, which stresses the importance of economic cooperation among allies to avoid conflict.

“If you want a strong NATO, you should ensure that there is as much economic growth as possible in the NATO countries. That was the insight of those who established NATO, that economic cooperation would be good for the entire alliance,” Eide said during a visit to Brussels for a NATO meeting, according to the NRK broadcaster.

Eide told NRK that he will raise the tariff war with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the meeting.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the new U.S. tariffs many reduce Poland’s GDP by 0.4%.

He said it was “a severe and unpleasant blow, because it comes from the closest ally, but we will survive it.” The Polish-U.S. friendship, he added, “must also survive this test.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Thursday that his government will implement a $15.6 billion (14.1 billion euro) spending package to mitigate the effects of U.S. tariffs on the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy.

The Spanish leader called the tariffs “19th-century protectionism,” against which the European Union and Spain had to act proactively and diversify their economic ties with the rest of the world.

Sánchez also called for a negotiated solution with the U.S. “We’re once again asking President Trump to reconsider, to sit down at the negotiating table with the European Union and also with the rest of the world.”

The local government leader of Christmas Island, one of several Australian external island territories that like Australia have been assigned a 10% U.S. tariff, said his Indian Ocean atoll exported nothing to the United States.

The Australian outpost of fewer than 2,000 people 360 kilometers (225 miles) south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta has used U.S. heavy machinery to mine phosphate for decades, Christmas Island Shire President Gordon Thomson said.

The uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands in the remote Antarctic are another Australian territory included in the 10% tariff. The mostly barren islands include two active volcanoes and can only be reached by sea.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia imposes no tariffs on U.S. imports. The U.S. and Australia have a free trade agreement.

Hong Kong strongly opposed the extra tariffs announced by Trump and urged the U.S. to withdraw them. It said Hong Kong, as a free port, always practices free trade and doesn’t impose tariffs on imported goods, including those from the U.S.

It said the U.S. had a trade surplus of $271.5 billion with the semiautonomous Chinese territory over the past decade, the highest among its global trading partners.

“The U.S. imposing tariffs on Hong Kong products as so-called reciprocal tariffs defies logic,” Hong Kong’s government said in a statement, adding that it would take measures including filing complaints with the WTO.

Hong Kong, a former British colony returned to China in 1997, has a different economic and political system from mainland China that allows it to set its own policies most of the time.

India’s Trade Ministry is assessing the latest U.S. tariffs announced by President Donald Trump. It said the Indian government strives to expedite the negotiations for a trade agreement with the U.S. to potentially garner some concessions and offset the impact of higher import taxes.

The agreement, first tranche of which is expected to be in place by the fall, would focus on enabling both nations to boost trade, investments and technology transfers in addition to deepening supply chain integrations, it said.

“We remain in touch with the Trump administration and expect to take them forward in the coming days,” it said.

The U.S was New Delhi’s biggest trading partner in 2024 with trade estimated at $129 billion. The countries have now set an ambitious target of more than doubling their bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.

Vietnam’s stock market plunged Thursday while gold prices reached a record high after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped 46% tariffs on Vietnam’s exports. Meanwhile people lined up to buy gold in Hanoi despite the high prices.

“Investing in gold would be at lower risk because the economy is very uncertain at the moment,” said Nguyen Trung, a buyer.

Vietnam has long realized that it was too reliant on the U.S. and has been diversifying its trade relations by signing free trade agreements with over a dozen countries, said Dan Martin, international business adviser of Dezan Shira & Associates.

“The lesson is clear now, the reliance that Vietnam had as a U.S. export market, it’s not safe,” he said.
Especially hard-hit will be the garments and sportswear section, including household names like Adidas and Nike. Nike made of its shoes and about a third of its clothes in Vietnam last year, while factories in Vietnam made 39% of Adidas’s shoes and 18% of its clothes.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that the country still hoped to reach its economic growth target of at least 8% despite the Trump administration imposing 46% tariffs on its exports.

Chinh chaired a Cabinet meeting Thursday to assess the impact of the tariffs, among the highest imposed on any country, and said that Vietnam hoped that U.S. policy would be “consistent with the good relations between the two countries.” He added that Vietnam was still overcoming the consequences of the long war between the two nations.

The tariffs will deal a severe blow to Vietnam since the U.S. is its largest export market. Exports to the U.S., valued at $142 billion, in 2021 made up a third of the country’s GDP.

Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, said that these are “the most disruptive tariff increases for 90 years.” He also drew a comparison with the fallout from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“I think this is an extraordinary day for the world economy, comparable with the situation after the Russian aggression on Ukraine, where we knew that something new was happening and we were not prepared in Europe to cope with the challenge,” Habeck told reporters in Berlin. “And we looked in(to) the abyss in that time, but we worked it out and we managed it by putting aside everything that was restricting economic strength and energy security.”

“I think a similar reaction is necessary now from the European Union and its world partners,” Habeck said.

Ukraine is working to get better tariff conditions from the United States, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko wrote on her X account.

Svyrydenko says Ukrainian tariffs on U.S. goods are “quite low” and that Ukraine imported more goods from the U.S. in 2024 than exported to the country.

She said the 10% tariff Trump imposed on Ukrainian goods will mainly impact small producers. “Ukraine has something to offer the United States as a reliable ally and partner. Both our countries will benefit from fair tariffs,” she wrote.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said it was “extremely regrettable” that the United States slapped the 25% auto tariff on Japan despite its huge contribution to the U.S. economy.

Japanese companies have been the world’s biggest investors in the U.S. since 2019, especially automakers, creating jobs for millions of Americans, Ishiba said.

Ishiba said Japan will continue to strongly request the United States to reconsider its tariffs measures and that he will directly negotiate with Trump, whenever it is considered appropriate. “I will do so at a most appropriate time and method without hesitation.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says the tariffs are an “attack” on a trading system that brought global prosperity and that America itself helped design.

Scholz said Thursday “the whole global economy will suffer from these decisions that haven’t been thought through.” He added that “the U.S. administration is setting off on a road at the end of which there will only be losers.”

Scholz said in Berlin that “this is an attack on a trading order that has created prosperity across the globe – a trading order that is also to a very significant extent the result of American efforts.”

Among the small island nations of the South Pacific Ocean, a few were singled out for higher tariff rates than the 10% baseline. Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad on Thursday criticized as “disproportionate” and “unfair” the 32% tariffs announced on Fiji’s exports to the U.S.

The U.S. is a major trading partner for the nation of 924,000 people, accounting for 10% of total imports and exports, Prasad said Thursday on social media. Fiji’s biggest export to the U.S. is bottled water, with its most famous brand — Fiji Water — owned by a U.S. conglomerate.

The U.S. administration justified Fiji’s higher tariffs with a claim that the Pacific nation imposes 63% tariffs on American goods arriving on its shores. Prasad rejected that figure, telling reporters that Fiji does not impose such tariff rates on any country.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson says “there are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars, and protectionism is not a way out. What the U.S. should do is to correct its wrong practices and resolve trade disputes with all countries, including China, through consultations based on equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit.”

Guo Jiakun added that the tariffs violate WTO rules, “harm the common interests of people of all countries, and do not help solve the problems of the U.S. itself. It is clear to everyone that more and more countries are opposing the U.S.'s unilateral bullying actions, such as imposing tariffs.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says his office is studying Trump’s tariff order and “analyzing its implications for the economy,” in the country’s first reaction to Trump’s announcement of a 17% tariff on imports from Israel.

On Wednesday, ahead of Trump’s announcement, Israel cancelled all remaining tariffs on imports from the U.S. The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement the move would go into effect after final approval by the economy minister and the parliament’s finance committee.

Smotrich said in a statement on X he was talking with industry leaders about Trump’s new order and would meet Thursday with the Finance Ministry leadership to decide on “courses of action” in response to it.

Spain’s Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said a negotiated solution with the United States was essential for the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy, but that Spain was prepared to take steps to protect its companies and industries.

“We have a lot at stake. We have to protect the very important trade and economic relationship we have between the planet’s two biggest partners,” Cuerpo said in an interview Thursday with the RNE radio station after the U.S. announced 20% tariffs against the European Union.

“This day is not going to become Liberation Day for consumers in the U.S., but Inflation Day,” said Germany’s vice chancellor and economy minister, Robert Habeck. “The U.S. mania for tariffs could set off a spiral that could also pull countries into recession and cause massive damage worldwide.”

“We have always pushed for negotiations, not confrontation. That remains right,” Habeck said. “So it is good that the European Commission still aims for a negotiated solution with the U.S. There is still some time for that. But if the U.S. doesn’t want a negotiated solution, the EU will give a balanced, clear and determined answer. We have prepared for this.”

Germany’s main industry lobby group, the Federation of German Industries, said that “the EU must now strengthen its alliances with other major trading partners and should coordinate its reaction with them. A coordinated reaction is also necessary to counter diversionary effects in international trade.”

The group, known by its German acronym BDI, said that the tariffs are “an unprecedented attack on the international trade system, free trade and global supply chains. The reasoning for this protectionist escalation is incomprehensible.”

The United States was Germany’s biggest single trading partner last year for the first time since 2015, displacing China.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. government would react with “cool and calm heads” to Trump’s announcement of a 10% tariff on imports from Britain.

Starmer told business leaders gathered in 10 Downing St. that “clearly there will be an economic impact,” but that he still hoped to get tariffs lifted through a trade deal with Washington.

“Negotiations on an economic prosperity deal — one that strengthens our existing trading relationship — they continue and we will fight for the best deal for Britain,” Starmer said.

“Nobody wins in a trade war. That is not in our national interest,” he added.

Honda Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe says the Japanese automaker will take some time to look at the market situation and other factors to determine the right way to respond to Trump’s tariffs.

“Sudden changes like this are tough as it’s hard to respond speedily,” he told reporters on Thursday.

Taiwan responded to the imposition of a 32% tariff on its high-tech economy by calling it “strongly unreasonable and highly regrettable,” adding it would “lodge solemn representations with the United States.”

“The proposed tax rate does not reflect the actual economic and trade situation between Taiwan and the United States (and) is unfair to Taiwan,” Cabinet spokesperson Lee Hui-chih said in an official news release.

Lee said the tariff calculation method was unscientific and unclear and “cannot reflect the high degree of complementarity in the trade structure between Taiwan and the U.S. and the actual trade relationship.”

Taiwan’s exports to the U.S. and corresponding trade surplus have risen significantly in recent years, mainly reflecting the surge in demand from U.S. customers for semiconductors and related products, especially AI products, Lee said.

The British government says it will push to secure a free trade deal with the United States rather than retaliate after Trump slapped a 10% tariff on U.K. goods.

Labelling the announcement a “disappointment,” Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said “I’m pleased the U.K. is in a better position than other countries, but I’m not satisfied.”

Reynolds told Sky News that the message he was hearing from businesses was “remain at the table, don’t overreact.”

Britain argues that it has a broadly balanced trade relationship with the U.S., and has been negotiating with Washington on a trade deal in hope of escaping import taxes.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba says the tariffs are a matter of great concern and stressed that Japan’s contributions to the American economy are significant both in terms of investment and jobs.

He said he repeatedly made his case with the Trump administration not to move ahead with the tariffs.

“They will have a great impact not only on U.S.-Japanese economic relations but also on the global economy and various trade relations overall,” Ishiba told reporters Thursday.

“We as the government will work as one to decisively protect people’s lives, jobs and industries,” he added.

The Thai prime minister says her country is ready to negotiate with the U.S. to find a fair trade balance for both sides, after Trump announced 36% tariffs on Thailand.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra said Thursday that Thailand is committed to working with the U.S. to achieve sustainable economic growth.

She added that Thai exporters should also look for additional markets for their products to reduce their risk of relying on one main market.

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Indian exporters and analysts say Trump’s new tariffs are a mixed bag for the country.

Trump announced a reciprocal tariff of 26% for India, as compared to 34% for China, 46% for Vietnam, 37% for Bangladesh and 36% for Thailand.

Observers said Thursday the move will likely impact Indian industry and pressure jobs, but that there is room for new business to come in since India is in a lower band than its Asian peers.

“These tariffs do present challenges, but India’s position remains comparatively favorable,” said S.C Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Exports Organisations.

Ajay Srivastava, a former Indian trade official and founder of the New Delhi-based think tank Global Trade Research Initiative, said the protectionist tariff regime could be a catalyst for India to gain from global supply chain realignments.

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Vietnam, Sri Lanka and other countries across South and Southeast Asia are the targets of some of the highest tariff rates.

Trump imposed 46% “reciprocal” duties on goods from Vietnam, 49% on products from Cambodia, 37% on Bangladesh and 44% on Sri Lanka.

The duties will affect domestic exporters to the U.S. but also Chinese, Japanese and South Korean companies that have over the past few years shifted production to Southeast Asian nations to escape the trade frictions during Trump’s first term in office.

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Automaker Stellantis will shut down its assembly plant in Windsor, Canada, for two weeks from April 7, the local union said late Wednesday.

The president of Unifor Local 444, James Stewart, said more scheduling changes were expected in coming weeks.

“The company said there are multiple factors at play, with the primary driver behind the final decision being this afternoon’s announcement from U.S. President Donald Trump of the U.S. tariffs,” Stewart said. “This has and continues to create uncertainty across the entire auto industry. This is not just affecting our plant—it’s impacting facilities in the U.S. and Mexico as well.”

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the tariffs are a “major blow to the world economy.”

“The consequences will be dire for millions of people around the globe,” von der Leyen said. Groceries, transport and medicines will cost more, she said, “And this is hurting, in particular, the most vulnerable citizens.”

Von der Leyen acknowledged that the world trading system has “serious deficiencies” and said the EU was ready to negotiate with the U.S.

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Japan’s chief cabinet secretary has called the tariffs “extremely regrettable,” saying officials thought the country deserved an exemption, after Trump slapped 24% additional tariffs on Japan.

Yoshimasa Hayashi on Thursday also questioned whether the tariffs are compatible with Japan-U.S. bilateral trade agreements and said the move would likely impact their economic ties, as well as the global economy and multilateral trade system.

He said Japanese officials are continuing to negotiate with Washington seeking an exemption. Asked if Japan would consider retaliatory tariffs or file complaints with the World Trade Organization, Hayashi declined to comment.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index dipped more than 3.4%, while the Kospi in South Korea dropped 1.8%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 also sank 1.8%.

U.S. stocks whipped through another dizzying day before Trump’s unveiled the tariffs Wednesday. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, and the Dow gained 0.6%. The Nasdaq composite surged 0.9%.

Tesla swung from a sharp loss in the morning to a gain later in the day to help pull the market higher. Treasury yields also veered from lower to higher following a better-than-expected report on the job market.

▶ Read more about markets’ reaction to the tariffs

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer fielded mostly friendly questions during an hourlong telephone town hall with constituents in Minnesota.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has encouraged Republican lawmakers to avoid holding in-person town halls where they’d run the risk of hostile questioning and protesters.

Emmer extensively praised the actions that Trump has been taking in his first months back in office, including the tariffs he announced earlier Wednesday.

“How about we give this guy some grace while he tried to actually do what he’s been campaigning on for years and his mission to protect American companies and workers?” Emmer said. “There’s still going to be some choppy waters, but when we come out the other side, it’s going to be much better than it was beforehand, and certainly much better than it was the last four years.”

South Korea’s acting leader called for swift emergency measures to support the auto industry and other businesses potentially affected by the Trump administration’s new tariffs, pledging full government efforts to address what he described as a looming “global tariff war.”

During an emergency government meeting, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo also instructed officials to work with business groups to analyze the impact of the U.S. tariff increases and actively engage in negotiations with Washington to “minimize damage” to South Korea’s economy, the trade ministry said.

Han, serving as South Korea’s acting leader while President Yoon Suk Yeol remains impeached over his December imposition of martial law, convened the meeting with trade and foreign policy officials after Trump announced a 25% tariff on South Korea.

The Republican from Pennsylvania said allies and enemies alike have taken advantage of the U.S. for far too long but also suggested that some products should be exempt.

Perry, whose district is home to the candy-making Hershey Company, said products like cocoa and coffee — which cannot be grown domestically in most of the U.S. — should get an exemption.

“We don’t really have much of a choice except to buy them from somebody, from the countries that produce those things,” Perry said during a nearly 90-minute telephone town hall.

He acknowledged that Trump’s tariffs would cause “some market disruptions” but said there can be a “sweet spot” in which the U.S. evens the tariff scales with trading partners.

“I do think that our country has been taken advantage of for a long time by enemies and by allies alike, and I think that we should have more of a level playing field,” Perry said.

The resolution delivers the president a rare rebuke just hours after he unveiled sweeping plans to clamp down on international trade. It would end the presidential emergency declaration on fentanyl that underpins tariffs on Canada.

The legislation has little chance of passing the Republican-controlled House and being signed by Trump, but it shows the limits of Republican support for Trump’s vision of remaking the U.S. economy by restricting free trade.

▶ Read more about the vote

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Mike Pence is not a fan of Trump’s new tariffs.

The former vice president posted on the social platform X, “The Trump Tariff Tax is the largest peacetime tax hike in U.S. history.”

“These Tariffs are nearly 10x the size of those imposed during the Trump-Pence Administration and will cost American families over $3,500 per year,” Pence wrote.

Pence was once among Trump’s fiercest loyalists. The pair have feuded since Pence refused to heed Trump’s calls to ignore the Constitution and attempt to help overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

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Trump’s tariffs have initially been met with measured reactions from key trading partners, highlighting the lack of appetite for a full-fledged trade war.

The fact that the tariffs fell most heavily on parts of the world sleeping through the night appeared to at least temporarily delay some of the potential outrage.

Trump presented the import taxes in the simplest terms: The U.S. would do to its trading partners what he said they had been doing to the U.S. for decades. Some countries have taken issue with the White House’s calculations.

▶ Read more about some of the reactions

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says Trump’s measures are going to fundamentally change the international trading system but preserved a number of important elements of the commercial relationship between Canada and the U.S.

Spared for the moment from the latest round of tariffs were Canada and Mexico, so far as goods that already qualified under their free trade agreement with the United States.

The previously announced 25% steel and aluminum tariffs remain in place. Carney says the impact on the U.S. economy will be negative and that will impact Canada. Carney says the measures will impact millions of Canadians and his government will fight it with countermeasures.

He says he will meet with his Cabinet committee on U.S. Canada relations Wednesday evening and with the premiers of Canada’s provinces Thursday morning before he has more to say.

Tom Wark, the executive director of the National Association of Wine Retailers, said the tariffs will hurt wine sellers because many of the products they sell — like Champagne and prosecco — can only be made overseas.

Wark said higher prices for a discretionary item like wine will further challenge the industry, which has already been hurt by inflation and downturns in consumption.

“Tariffs on imported wines aid no one,” Wark said.

The new duties could raise the average U.S. tariff rate to as high as 25%, according to calculations by two different economists, from about 3%. Such an increase, if it remains in force, would leave U.S. duties at their highest level in decades.

Omair Sharif, an economist and founder of Inflation Insights, said the duties would even top the 20% rate put in place by the Smoot-Hawley tariffs that were imposed in 1933 and are widely blamed for worsening the Great Depression.

Still, economists said the fact that the tariffs won’t take effect until April 5 at least leaves room for some last-minute negotiations that could delay or alter the import taxes.

House Republicans wasted little time adding to their thin majority Wednesday with Speaker Mike Johnson swearing in the chamber’s two newest members less than 24 hours after their special election victories.

Reps. Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine of Florida took the oath of office on the House floor during a pro-forma session in which no roll call votes are held.

They are filling vacant seats in two reliably Republican congressional districts. The partisan breakdown in the House is now 220 Republicans to 213 Democrats, with two vacancies due to the deaths of Democratic Reps. Sylvester Turner of Texas and Raul Grijalva of Arizona.

Patronis said in a brief speech that he’s “ready to get to work to support President Trump’s agenda.”

Fine, who recalled working as a Capitol page some 35 years ago, said for those who haven’t followed him, “‘fighter’ will be the word that you know soon enough.”

An advocacy group for electric vehicles says Trump’s tariffs will increase costs to consumers and make it more difficult for the U.S. to attract investment for electric vehicles and battery supply chains.

Albert Gore, executive director of the Zero Emission Transportation Association, said the tariffs introduce “uncertainty and risk into an industry that is creating jobs and bringing new economic opportunities to communities across the country.”

The plan will likely harm long-standing U.S. trade partners such as Canada, Mexico and South Korea that have committed billions in direct investment in electric vehicles and battery supply chains, Gore said.

Building new manufacturing capacity and securing supply chains for components and hardrock minerals needed for EVs and other technology is essential to help the U.S. compete with China, he said.

The entire 17-member U.S. government team responsible for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health received layoff notices Tuesday, as part of the overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

It’s not clear whether there’s an alternative plan for analyzing the survey data, which local and state governments use to develop prevention measures and treatment services.

The federal government distributes grant money to fight the opioid addiction crisis based on it. Researchers use it to study trends in depression, alcoholism and tobacco use.
Before the layoffs, the government team was preparing to analyze 2024 data.

▶ Read more about the layoffs

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Democratic leaders are sharing a rare moment of relief — if not celebration — as they cling to election results from Wisconsin and Florida that offered a glimmer of hope for their party.

For a day, at least, there was an overwhelming sense that the Democratic Party’s comeback may have begun.

And it wasn’t just the election results. Some Democrats highlighted New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s marathon 25-hour Senate speech as a rallying point that could inspire frustrated voters.

Some party officials are warning that it’s far too early to draw sweeping conclusions from a series of off-year elections with polls still showing that the party’s brand is deeply unpopular.

▶ Read more about Democrats’ boost

New Zealand’s trade minister, Todd McClay, said the 10% tariffs announced on his country’s goods were “not unexpected” and would “have an impact” on exporters.

McClay told reporters that officials were awaiting more detail about what the announcement meant for the Pacific nation of 5 million people and how it would be implemented.

“It is important to note that many other countries around the world are facing much higher tariff rates than New Zealand exporters will be,” he said.

McClay said New Zealand “won’t be looking to retaliate.”

“That would put up prices on New Zealand consumers, and it would be inflationary,” he said.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said strategic tariffs can be an effective tool for supporting U.S. industries and protecting jobs, but they must be accompanied by policies that invest in manufacturing and promote workers’ right to organize.

“Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s attacks on trade union workers’ rights at home, gutting of the government agency that works to discourage the outsourcing of American jobs and efforts to erode critical investments in U.S. manufacturing take us backward,” Shuler said in a statement. “We will continue to fight for trade policy that prioritizes the interests of working people without causing unnecessary economic pain for America’s working families.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News that one of the purposes of the tariffs “is setting the stage for long-term economic growth”

“With our gigantic government spending, it was unsustainable,” Bessent said. “We have taken us off that trajectory, and we’re putting us back on a sound trajectory.”

When asked how countries like China, which will see a 54% total tariff rate on imports, should respond, Bessent said, “We’ll see what they do.”

“My advice to every country right now: Do not retaliate,” he said. “If you retaliate, there will be escalation.”

A group of scientists and health groups are suing the National Institutes of Health, arguing that an “ideological purge” of research funding is illegal and threatens medical cures.

Since Trump took office, hundreds of NIH research grants have been abruptly canceled for science that mentions the words diversity, gender and vaccine hesitancy, as well as other politically charged topics.

That has led to grants being cut that fund studies of HIV prevention, violence prevention in children, pregnancy health disparities and Alzheimer’s disease, among others, according to the lawsuit.

The suit aims to restore the money and end the terminations, arguing they violate NIH’s usual science-based review process, specific orders from Congress to tackle health equity and disparities, and federal regulations.

The suit was filed by the American Public Health Association, unions representing scientists and some researchers who were stripped of grants. The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment.