‘Hands off!’ Protests against Trump administration take off across US

Opponents of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk have started to rally across the US on Saturday to protest the administrationrsquos actions on government downsizing the economy human rights and other issuesMore than 1200 ldquoHands Offrdquo demonstrations have been planned by more than 150 groups including civil rights organisations labour unions LBGTQ advocates veterans and fairelections activists The protests are planned for the National Mall in Washington DC state capitals and other locations in all 50 statesThe White House did not return an email seeking comment about the protests Trump has promoted his policies as being in the best interest of the US Protesters are assailing the Trump administrationrsquos moves to fire thousands of federal workers close Social Security Administration field offices effectively shutter entire agencies deport immigrants scale back protections for transgender people and cut federal funding for health programmesActivists have staged nationwide demonstrations against Trump or Musk multiple times since the new administration took power But the opposition movement has yet to produce a mass mobilisation like the Black Lives Matter demonstrations that erupted in multiple cities after George Floydrsquos killing in 2020American farmers fear tariffs could cost them biggest markets in ChinaHeading into this year most US farmers were hoping to break even or maybe record a small profit if they could find a way to limit their skyhigh costs But now they are faced with losing the biggest export market for many of their crops after China retaliated against President Donald Trumprsquos tariffs ldquoTherersquos just not any margin for error in the current farm economyrdquo said Kentucky farmer Caleb Ragland who serves as president of the American Soybean AssociationWashington DC State Board of Education representative spoke during the rallyChina has bought a lot of soybean American corn beef chicken and other crops as part of spending 2465 billion on US agricultural products last year Now with China slapping 34 per cent tariffs on all American productsmdashon top of other tariffs it imposed earlier this yearmdashall of those products will be significantly more expensive in China One of the biggest longterm concerns is that American farmers and ranchers will lose market share as China turns to Brazil and other countries to buy goodsPakistan sees US tariffs as a chance for new negotiationsPakistanrsquos Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that the country is to set up two committees to tackle the economic implication of the new tariffs imposed by US ldquoYou should never let a good crisis go to wasterdquo he said explaining that while the situation created challenges it also would open doors for negotiation in the futureIranrsquos rial falls to a record lowIranrsquos rial currency traded on Saturday at a record low against the US dollar as the country returned to work after a long holiday costing over 1 million rials for a single greenback as tensions between Tehran and Washington likely will push it even lower The exchange rate had plunged to over 1 million rials during the Persian New Year Nowruz as currency shops closed creating additional pressure on the market But as traders resumed work on Saturday the rate fell even further to 1043000 to the dollarThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params