AFP USA

Sean “Diddy” Combs’s legal team sought to cast doubt Thursday on a witness who claimed the hip-hop mogul dangled her off a balcony before throwing her onto furniture.Bryana Bongolan testified in the music icon’s ongoing federal criminal trial in New York that she was staying over with her friend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura — Combs’s ex and a key trial witness — when the alleged assault happened.Bongolan, a designer, said Combs repeatedly shouted with expletives that “you know what you did” — and she said she repeatedly told him she did not.Defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland probed inconsistencies between civil lawsuits, pre-trial interviews with the government and Bongolan’s testimony this week — a common tactic defense teams deploy when trying to portray witnesses as unreliable.Westmoreland even suggested Combs could have been on tour on the East Coast when Bongolan had said the balcony incident took place.”You came in here and you lied to the ladies and gentleman of the jury, isn’t that true?” Westmoreland asked.”I can”t agree with you,” Bongolan retorted.The prosecution asked Bongolan if she had an exact memory of when the event took place, to which she replied that she did not.But she said that “I have no doubt” when asked if she was certain Combs had dangled her off a balcony.Bongolan told prosecutors she did not go to the police out of fear: “I was just scared of Puff,” she told the court, using another nickname for Combs.The defense team for the musician, who faces racketeering and sex trafficking charges, has sought to cast Bongolan as a drug abuser.- ‘Seek justice’ -Bongolan is among dozens of people who have filed civil suits against Combs in recent years, legal action she told jurors Wednesday she took “because I wanted to seek justice for what happened to me on the balcony.”Bongolan, who remains friends with Ventura, said the incident left her with post-traumatic stress, including recurring nightmares and paranoia. “Sometimes I scream in my sleep,” she told jurors, testifying under an immunity order that protects her from prosecution for anything she discloses in her testimony.Ventura alleged that she suffered harrowing abuse under Combs, her former on-and-off partner of more than a decade, opening the floodgates against the one-time music powerhouse when she first filed suit against him in November 2023.That suit was settled out of court in less than 24 hours.Combs, 55, faces upwards of life in prison if convicted of crimes of sex trafficking and racketeering.On Tuesday, a hotel security guard said he received $100,000 in a brown paper bag from Combs in exchange for now-infamous surveillance footage that showed the artist-entrepreneur violently kicking and dragging Ventura in a hotel.The prosecution is next expected to call Jane, a woman who will speak under a pseudonym in relation to one of the sex trafficking charges against Combs.Combs, 55, faces upwards of life in prison if convicted of crimes of sex trafficking and racketeering. Prosecutors say he ran a criminal enterprise of high-ranking employees and bodyguards who enforced his power with illicit acts including kidnapping, bribery and arson. 

Jurors began deliberating their verdict in Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault retrial Thursday after hearing from three women who allege the cinema power broker preyed on them.A New York state appeals court had thrown out Weinstein’s 2020 convictions, citing irregularities in the presentation of witnesses at his original trial, which resulted in two victims of his alleged abuse testifying for a second time.Judge Curtis Farber issued instructions Thursday to jurors, one of whom had to be swapped out for an alternate after falling ill, before they retired to consider their verdict.He called on the panel to use their “common sense” for this “very important decision” and reminded them that Weinstein was “presumed innocent.”After six weeks of deliberations, the jury must decide whether Weinstein, accused by dozens of women of being a sexual predator, is guilty of sexual assaults in 2006 on former production assistant Miriam Haley and former model Kaja Sokola, and of rape in 2013 of aspiring actress Jessica Mann.”He raped three women, they all said no,” prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said Wednesday as she recounted the evidence of the three alleged victims of Weinstein who testified at the trial.- ‘All the power’ -The Hollywood figure had “all the power” and “all the control” over the alleged victims, which is why jurors should find him guilty, she said.”The defendant thought the rules did not apply to him, now it is the time to let him know that the rules apply to him.”There is no reasonable doubt; tell the defendant what he already knows — that he is guilty of the three crimes.”Weinstein’s defense attorney insisted the sexual encounters were consensual, pointing to a “casting couch” dynamic between the movie mogul and the women.”We don’t want to police the bedroom” except in cases of rape, Blumberg fired back.Weinstein, the producer of box office hits “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” has never acknowledged wrongdoing.The cinema magnate, whose downfall in 2017 sparked the global #MeToo movement, has been on trial again since April 15 in a scruffy Manhattan courtroom.He is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted in California of raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago.Two of the accusers in this case — Haley and Mann — testified at Weinstein’s original trial.Their accounts helped galvanize the #MeToo movement nearly a decade ago, but the case is being re-prosecuted at a new trial in New York.His 2020 convictions on charges relating to Haley and Mann, and his 23-year prison term, were overturned last year by the New York Court of Appeals.The tribunal ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original trial was improper.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz came through his Oval Office encounter with Donald Trump relatively unscathed Thursday — despite differences over Ukraine as the US president said it might be better to let Moscow and Kyiv fight it out like children.A month into his job, Merz unleashed a charm offensive on the 78-year-old Trump, presenting him with a framed copy of the birth certificate of his grandfather Frederick, who was born in Germany in 1869.Merz also hailed Trump as being the “key person in the world” when it came to ending the Ukraine war, saying the US leader could “really do that now by putting pressure on Russia.”It was a backhanded way of urging Trump to overcome his aversion to putting sanctions on Russia over its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as the more than three-year-old war grinds on.The polite meeting showed that the conservative German leader had done his homework as he sought to avoid ambushes like those that Trump unleashed on Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa’s president.But they did not see eye to eye on everything.- ‘Fighting in a park’ -Trump — who spoke to Russian leader Vladimir Putin a day earlier — said it might be better to let the two sides fight it out, comparing the war that has left thousands dead and swathes of Ukraine in ruins to a children’s brawl.”Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy. They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart,” Trump told reporters.”Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while.”Trump said however that he had urged Putin not to retaliate after Ukraine launched daring drone attacks on its airbases, destroying several nuclear capable bombers.”I said ‘don’t do it,'” Trump told reporters, adding that Putin had told him he had no choice but to respond and it was “not going to be pretty.”Trump did make a series of off-color references to the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II — still a deeply sensitive subject in modern-day Germany.Praising Merz for Germany raising its defense spending in line with his demands for NATO members to cough up, Trump said he was not sure World War II US general Douglas MacArthur would have agreed.Then, referring to the upcoming 80th anniversary of the allied D-Day landings that led to the end of the war, Trump said: “That was not a pleasant day for you?”Merz, 69, calmly replied: “This was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship. We know what we owe you.” – Tariffs deal possible -Merz avoided other possible pitfalls as Trump spent much of his time on a lengthy discourse against his billionaire former advisor Elon Musk.Topics like US tariffs on the EU and the prospect of a trade deal barely came up, with Trump saying he believed a deal was possible.On Trump’s threat to hammer the European Union with sharply higher tariffs, Merz, leader of the bloc’s biggest economy, had earlier argued that it must be self-confident in its negotiations with Washington.Nor did Trump confront Merz over free speech issues in Germany as US media had reported he might — a bugbear the administration has repeatedly brought up with European leaders despite its own record.Merz told reporters in Washington ahead of the meeting that if Trump brought up German domestic politics “I will state my opinion very clearly if necessary.”Trump and some in his administration have given vocal support to the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which came second in February elections.US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former Trump adviser Elon Musk have all weighed in in support of the AfD, which in Germany is shunned by all other political parties.Despite the tensions, Merz had said earlier that he was “looking forward” to his first face-to-face meeting with Trump.The German chancellor is believed to have studied videos of previous Oval Office ambushes and learned how to stay calm and let Trump talk.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he was “very disappointed” by Elon Musk’s criticism of his policy mega-bill, adding he didn’t know if his friendship with his billionaire former advisor would survive.In an extraordinary rant in the Oval Office as visiting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sat mutely beside him, Trump unloaded on SpaceX and Tesla boss Musk in his first comments on the issue.”Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore. I was surprised,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office after former advisor Musk slammed the bill as an “abomination”.”I’m very disappointed, because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here… All of a sudden, he had a problem,” Trump added.Musk hit back minutes later on his X social network, saying the 78-year-old president’s claims he had advance sight of the bill were “false.””Whatever,” he added above a video of Trump saying Musk was upset about the loss of subsidies for electric vehicles.The latest clash comes less than a week since Trump held a grand Oval Office farewell for Musk as he wrapped up his time leading the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).Musk stunned reporters at the time by turning up with a black eye that he said was caused by his son.”You saw a man who was very happy when he stood behind the Oval desk, and even with the black eye. I said, you want a little makeup? We’ll get you a little makeup,” Trump said. “But he said, ‘No, I don’t think so,’ which is interesting and very nice. He wants to be who he is.” Trump said he could understand why Musk was upset with some steps he had taken, including withdrawing a nominee to lead the NASA space agency whom the tech tycoon had backed.The US president’s “big, beautiful bill” on tax and spending — the centerpiece of his domestic agenda — could define his second term and make or break Republican prospects in the 2026 midterm elections.Musk however called it a “disgusting abomination” on Tuesday. A day later, the magnate called for Republicans to “kill the bill,” and for an alternative plan that “doesn’t massively grow the deficit.”

In banning most travel to the United States by citizens of 12 countries, President Donald Trump is fine-tuning a playbook popular with his base, even as his singling out of particular nations left many scratching their heads.Trump rose to power vowing a harsh line on non-European immigration to the United States, thrilling crowds during his 2016 campaign by vowing a wall with Mexico and stunning the then political establishment by urging a “complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the country.On entering the White House the first time in 2017, he swiftly banned travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, prompting mass protests at airports as critics derided his “Muslim ban.”With his new travel restrictions, Trump is again targeting US adversaries. But he has also made more exemptions and included travel from several small African countries that not major sources of visitors — Chad, the Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea.Chad maintains more cooperation with the West than military-run Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, which were not affected, and last year held elections, although their conduct was criticized.Several other small nations faced a partial ban including Burundi, Sierra Leone, Togo and, in Central Asia, Turkmenistan.The White House in said in a fact sheet that countries were put on the blacklist due to terrorism ties or because of high rates of their citizens overstaying visas. Others were targeted as they lack central governing authority. They include violence-ravaged and predominantly Black Haiti, whose migrants have long been maligned by Trump, who last year spread unfounded conspiracy theories that they were eating native-born Americans’ pets in Ohio.Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said Trump’s motivation was to decrease legal immigration and asked: “The only real mystery is what took him so long?””It’s not totally crazy to think that they chose countries that don’t matter much — in terms of not sending many migrants here — and that throwing them on the list probably helps their marketing,” Nowrasteh said.”It’s not going to have an enormous effect on our economy or society,” he said of the new ban. “What I think it really does is undermine the American reputation of standing with people around the world who are fighting for freedom.”- ‘Extreme dangers’? -Trump justified the new measures by pointing to an attack on a Jewish protest in Boulder, Colorado by an Egyptian man who had been seeking asylum.Trump in a message said the attack showed the “extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted.”But Egypt — a longstanding US ally and aid recipient due largely to its relations with Israel — was not targeted.Other major nations left off the blacklist included Pakistan, which India has long accused of supporting extremists, triggering a four-day conflict last month after a massacre of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.Pakistan maintains intelligence cooperation with the United States and Trump thanked Islamabad in March for arresting a suspect over an attack that killed US troops during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.On the other hand, Afghanistan was on the blacklist due to the Taliban government. An exemption was made for Afghans who helped the fallen Western-backed government, although Trump has cut funding to implement that program.”Let’s be clear: this policy is not a response to any new threat,” said Shawn VanDiver, head of the AfghanEvac group that supports Afghan allies.”It’s a long-planned political move, delayed until the aftermath of the Boulder attack to give it the appearance of urgency. This is about optics and fear, not safety,” he said.Among the chief targets both in the first term and now has been Iran, an arch-enemy of the United States since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Iranian-Americans have among the highest incomes of any ethnic group in the United States and the community is overwhelmingly critical of the government in Tehran.“National origin tells us nothing about whether an individual is a terrorist threat. Yet, that is precisely what Trump’s bans have been based on,” said Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Thursday that NATO allies were close to a deal on spending ahead of a summit later this month, in a bid to satisfy US President Donald Trump’s demand that it reach five percent of GDP.Trump is pressuring alliance members to announce a massive boost in the target for their military budgets at the June 24-25 summit in the Netherlands.”Countries in there are well exceeding two percent and we think very close, almost near consensus, on a five percent commitment for NATO in The Hague later this month,” Hegseth said after meeting his NATO counterparts in Brussels. NATO chief Mark Rutte has put forward a compromise agreement of 3.5 percent of GDP on core military spending by 2032, and 1.5 percent on broader security-related areas such as infrastructure.”This alliance, we believe, in a matter of weeks, will be committing to five percent — 3.5 percent in hard military and 1.5 percent in infrastructure and defence-related activities,” Hegseth said. “That combination constitutes a real commitment, and we think every country can step up.”The threat from Russia after more than three years of war in Ukraine and worries about US commitment to Europe’s security under Trump are driving up military budgets in Europe.Multiple diplomats say Rutte appears on track to secure the deal for the summit in The Hague, though a few allies are still hesitant about committing to such levels of spending.”I have total confidence we will get there,” Rutte said after the meeting. “Look at the Russian threat. The Chinese build-up. We live in a different world. We live in a more dangerous world.”Most vocal in its reluctance has been Spain, which is only set to reach NATO’s current target of two percent of GDP by the end of this year.But Defence Minister Margarita Robles said Madrid would not veto a deal, even if it did not agree with setting a “fixed percentage” figure. Diplomats say other countries are also haggling over making the timeline longer and dropping a demand for core defence spending to increase by 0.2 percentage points each year. The deal appears an acceptable compromise to most, which will allow Trump to claim that he has achieved his headline demand, while in reality setting the bar lower for struggling European allies.Currently only a handful of NATO countries most worried about Russia, such as Poland and the Baltics, are on target to spend five percent on defence. – ‘America can’t be everywhere’ -In a connected move, NATO ministers signed off at their meeting on new capability targets for the weaponry needed to deter Russia.German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius estimated the new requirements meant Berlin would need to add “around 50,000 to 60,000″ more soldiers to its army. His Dutch counterpart Ruben Brekelmans said reaching the level requested would cost the Netherlands at least 3.5 percent of GDP.”The new defence investment plan, of course, is rooted in what we need in terms of the hard capabilities,” Rutte said.Hegseth, a former TV presenter, rocked NATO on his last visit in February with a fiery warning that Washington could look to scale back its forces in Europe to focus on the threat from China.This time around Hegseth said he did not want to “get ahead” of any decisions from Trump as the United States conducts a review of its force deployments worldwide. “We’re going to make sure we shift properly to the Indo-Pacific and re-establish deterrence there, and then we’re going to increase burden-sharing across the world,” he said.”America can’t be everywhere all the time, nor should we be.”- Ukraine question -While US officials are focused on getting Trump a win on defence spending in The Hague, they have sidestepped talks on supporting Ukraine in its fight with Russia. Hegseth underscored the United States’ disengagement with Kyiv by skipping a meeting of Ukraine’s backers in Brussels on Wednesday, and is set to miss a second sit-down with Ukraine officials Thursday. Kyiv’s European allies are pressing to overcome US reluctance and invited Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Hague summit as a sign of support. So far, NATO has said only that Ukraine will be represented at the gathering, without confirming that Zelensky will be in attendance. 

The US Supreme Court on Thursday revived the lawsuit of a heterosexual Ohio woman who claims she was the victim of reverse discrimination because she was passed over twice for jobs for candidates who were gay.In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the top court ruled that members of a majority group cannot be held to a higher evidentiary standard than minorities in pursuing a discrimination claim.”The standard for proving disparate treatment… does not vary based on whether or not the plaintiff is a member of a majority group,” said Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who authored the opinion.The case comes at a time when President Donald Trump and a number of major corporations are rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion programs intended to combat systemic inequalities faced by minorities.It could potentially lead to a surge in the filing of “reverse discrimination” lawsuits around the country.Marlean Ames, an employee of the Ohio Department of Youth Services, had asked the court to revive a lawsuit she filed under the 1964 Civil Rights Act which bars discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.Ames, a heterosexual white woman, was appealing lower court decisions that rejected her discrimination suit on the basis that members of majority groups must meet a higher bar for proving workplace bias than minorities.In its ruling, the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said Ames had not established “background circumstances” showing that the Ohio state agency is “that unusual employer who discriminates against the majority.”The requirement that she present “background circumstances” is unconstitutional and being unfairly applied only to members of majority groups bringing job discrimination cases, Ames said.The six conservative and three liberal justices on the Supreme Court agreed, sending Ames’s case back down to lower courts for renewed consideration.America First Legal Foundation, a group founded by Stephen Miller, who is now the White House deputy chief of staff, filed a brief with the court in support of Ames.

Jurors prepared to consider a verdict in Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault retrial Thursday after hearing from three women who allege the cinema power broker preyed on them.A New York state appeals court had thrown out Weinstein’s 2020 convictions after irregularities in the presentation of witnesses at his original trial, forcing two victims of his alleged abuse to testify a second time.Judge Curtis Farber began giving instructions Thursday to jurors, one of whom had to be swapped out for an alternate after falling ill, before they retire to consider their verdict.After six weeks of deliberations, the jury must decide whether Weinstein, accused by dozens of women of being a sexual predator, is guilty of sexual assaults in 2006 on former production assistant Miriam Haley and former model Kaja Sokola, and of rape in 2013 of aspiring actress Jessica Mann.”He raped three women, they all said no,” said prosecutor Nicole Blumberg Wednesday as she recounted the evidence of the three alleged victims of Weinstein who testified at this trial.The Hollywood figure had “all the power” and “all the control” over the alleged victims which is why jurors should find him guilty, she said.”The defendant thought the rules did not apply to him, now it is the time to let him know that the rules apply to him.”There is no reasonable doubt; tell the defendant what he already knows — that he is guilty of the three crimes.”Weinstein’s defense attorney insisted the sexual encounters were consensual, pointing to a “casting couch” dynamic between the movie mogul and the women.”We don’t want to police the bedroom” — except in cases of rape, Blumberg fired back.Weinstein, the producer of box-office hits “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love,” has never acknowledged wrongdoing.The cinema magnate, whose downfall in 2017 sparked the global #MeToo movement, has been on trial again since April 15 in a scruffy Manhattan courtroom.He is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted in California of raping and assaulting a European actress more than a decade ago.Two of the accusers in this case — Haley and Mann — testified at Weinstein’s original trial.Their accounts helped galvanize the #MeToo movement nearly a decade ago, but the case is being re-prosecuted at a new trial in New York.His 2020 convictions on charges relating to Haley and Mann, and his 23-year prison term, were overturned last year by the New York Court of Appeals.The tribunal ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original trial was improper.

The US trade deficit more than halved in April as President Donald Trump’s global tariffs reversed an import surge that preceded the new duties.The White House is likely to frame the smaller deficit as a win, noting a report of its expected boost to GDP growth, although analysts warn that businesses had likely paused further imports while waiting for countries to strike deals.The world’s biggest economy logged a trade gap of $61.6 billion in the same month that Trump unveiled 10 percent levies on almost all trading partners. This was down by 55.5 percent from March, the largest decrease on record, said the Commerce Department.In March, the overall US trade deficit widened to $138.3 billion as businesses sought to get ahead of Trump’s promised duties.But imports slumped by 16.3 percent in April to $351 billion as the blanket tariffs on US allies and competitors alike kicked in.Goods imports in particular fell by the most on record as well.Apart from the 10 percent levy, Trump also announced -– before swiftly pausing –- higher rates on dozens of economies including the European Union and Japan. This halt, which allowed room for trade negotiations to take place, is due to expire in early July.Goods from China were the biggest target of Trump’s during the month as the world’s two biggest economies engaged in a tit-for-tat escalation that took both sides’ levies on each other’s products to three digits.This brought many shipments from China to a halt before the countries reached a temporary deal to de-escalate the situation.For now, all eyes are on talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, amid hopes that both leaders can help bring about a longer-lasting truce.But the state of a trade deal between both countries remains uncertain as Trump last week accused Beijing of violating the terms of their temporary agreement — which China denied.After a phone call with Xi on Thursday, Trump said there had been a “very positive conclusion for both countries.”Both April exports and imports involving China were the lowest since early 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Commerce Department.- ‘Hit pause’ -“The economy has essentially hit pause on discretionary imports and is now working off inventories as businesses and consumers delay spending and wait for clarity on tariffs,” said Nationwide financial markets economist Oren Klachkin.He added in a statement that the sharp drop in goods imports, stronger goods exports and larger services surplus narrowed the total April trade gap by the most on record.With imports plummeting, GDP growth in the second quarter is set to rebound, said Oxford Economics senior US economist Matthew Martin.But he warned in a note that headline growth figures “will overstate the true health of the economy.”Overall in April, US imports dropped by 16.3 percent to $351 billion on a retreat in goods shipments.In particular, imports of consumer goods fell by $33 billion, data showed, with pullbacks in pharmaceuticals and cell phones.US exports ticked up by 3 percent to $289.4 billion, helped by goods exports such as those of industrial supplies.But US exports of autos and parts dropped by $3.3 billion.Besides wide-ranging tariffs targeting different countries, businesses have also been contending with sector-specific duties that Trump has rolled out in recent months.In March and April, the president slapped tariffs on imports of steel, aluminum and automobiles and he has since doubled the duties on both metals this month.The overall US deficit was the smallest since 2023, according to government figures.

The US trade deficit more than halved in April, government data showed Thursday, pulling back from a record on a plunge in imports as President Donald Trump’s global tariffs kicked in.While the White House has framed the tariffs as a means to address perceived trade imbalances, it is unclear if the narrowing is sustainable as analysts believe businesses had merely paused further imports while waiting for countries to strike deals.The world’s biggest economy logged a trade gap of $61.6 billion in the same month that Trump unveiled 10 percent levies on almost all trading partners. This was down by 55.5 percent from March, said the Commerce Department.In March, the overall US trade deficit widened to a new record of $138.3 billion as businesses sought to get ahead of Trump’s promised duties.But imports slumped by 16.3 percent in April to $351 billion as the blanket tariffs on US allies and competitors alike kicked in.Apart from the 10 percent levy, Trump also announced -– before swiftly pausing –- higher rates on dozens of economies including the European Union and Japan. This halt, which allowed room for trade negotiations to take place, is due to expire in early July.Goods from China were the biggest target of Trump’s during the month as the world’s two biggest economies engaged in a tit-for-tat escalation that took both sides’ levies on each other’s products to three digits.This brought many shipments from China to a halt before the countries reached a temporary deal to de-escalate the situation.For now, all eyes are on a phone call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, amid hopes that both leaders can help bring about a longer-lasting truce.But the state of a trade deal between both countries remains uncertain as Trump last week accused Beijing of violating the terms of their temporary agreement — which China denied.Both April exports and imports involving China were the lowest since early 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Commerce Department.- ‘Hit pause’ -“The economy has essentially hit pause on discretionary imports and is now working off inventories as businesses and consumers delay spending and wait for clarity on tariffs,” said Nationwide financial markets economist Oren Klachkin.He added in a statement that the sharp drop in goods imports, stronger goods exports and larger services surplus narrowed the total April trade gap by the most on record.Overall in April, US imports dropped by 16.3 percent to $351 billion on a retreat in goods shipments.In particular, imports of consumer goods fell by $33 billion, data showed, with pullbacks in pharmaceuticals and cell phones.US exports ticked up by 3 percent to $289.4 billion, helped by goods exports such as those of industrial supplies.But US exports of autos and parts dropped by $3.3 billion.Besides wide-ranging tariffs targeting different countries, businesses have also been contending with sector-specific duties that Trump has rolled out in recent months.In March and April, the president slapped tariffs on imports of steel, aluminum and automobiles and he has since doubled the duties on both metals this month.The overall US deficit was the smallest since 2023, according to government figures.