WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE — President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries took effect on Wednesday, including massive 104% duties on Chinese goods, deepening his global trade war and spurring more widespread selling across financial markets.

Mr. Trump’s punishing tariffs have shaken a global trading order that has persisted for decades, raised fears of recession and wiped trillions of dollars off the market value of major firms.

Since Mr. Trump unveiled his tariffs last Wednesday, the S&P 500 has suffered its deepest loss since the benchmark’s creation in the 1950s. It is now nearing a bear market, defined as 20% below its most recent high.

Global benchmark bonds, assets perceived as relatively safe, were also caught up in the market turmoil on Wednesday, an unnerving turn towards forced selling and a dash for the safety of cash.

European and US stock futures pointed to more pain ahead following a grim session for most of Asia. Chinese stocks held firm, however, as state support propped up the ailing market.

Mr. Trump has shrugged off the market rout and offered investors mixed signals about whether the tariffs will remain in the long term, describing them as “permanent” but also boasting that they are pressuring other leaders to ask for negotiations.

“We have a lot of countries coming in that want to make deals,” he said at a White House event on Tuesday afternoon. He said at a later event that he expected China to pursue an agreement as well.

Mr. Trump’s administration has scheduled talks with South Korea and Japan, two close allies and major trading partners, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is due to visit next week.

The deputy prime minister of Vietnam, the low-cost Asian manufacturing hub hit with some of the highest duties globally, is set to talk with Mr. Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later on Wednesday.

The prospect of deals with other countries had pushed stock markets up earlier on Tuesday, but US stocks had ceded their gains by the end of the trading day.

German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies said on Wednesday that Europe’s largest economy is at risk of another recession as a result of the trade tensions. Investment bank JP Morgan estimates there is a 60% chance of the world economy entering recession by year-end.

CHINA VOWS TO FIGHT
Mr. Trump nearly doubled duties on Chinese imports, which had been set at 54% last week, in response to counter-tariffs that Beijing announced last week. China has vowed to fight what it views as blackmail.

Top Chinese brokerages pledged to join efforts by Chinese state holding companies to help steady domestic share prices in response to the tariff-induced turmoil.

Central banks in New Zealand and India cut rates on Wednesday in what could presage a broader move by policymakers to try and cushion the tariff hit to their economies.

Other nations are funneling fiscal support to key export sectors with South Korea announcing a raft of emergency measures for automakers, including tax cuts and subsidies.

Some economists have warned that ultimately US consumers are likely to bear the brunt of the trade war, facing higher prices on everything from sneakers to wine.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans expect the prices of everyday items to rise in the next six months, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The full effects of Wednesday’s tariffs may not be felt for some time, as any goods already in transit as of midnight will be exempt from the new levies as long as they arrive in the US by May 27.

Mr. Trump’s earlier across-the-board 10% tariffs on all imports from many countries began on Saturday.

The latest round of duties, which took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT), is aimed at countries that are “ripping off” the US, according to Mr. Trump.

That list includes many of the United States’ closest allies, including the European Union, which was hit with a 20% tariff as well as industry-specific duties. The 27-member bloc will vote on initial counter-measures later on Wednesday.

Mr. Trump has said the tariffs are a response to barriers put on US goods and are needed to fix America’s trade imbalances. He has also accused countries including Japan of devaluing their currencies to gain a trade advantage, something Tokyo denies.

Japan’s finance minister on Wednesday said trade negotiations with Washington could include foreign exchange rates.

Mr. Trump has signaled he may not be finished on tariffs.

In remarks to Republican lawmakers on Tuesday evening, he said he would soon announce “major” tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, one of a handful of categories of goods that have been exempted from the new taxes. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Tuesday that aim to boost coal production in his latest action that runs counter to global efforts to curb carbon emissions.

Coal-burning plants generate less than 20% of US electricity, a drop from 50% in 2000, according to the Energy Information Administration, as fracking and other drilling techniques have hiked production of natural gas. Growth in solar and wind power has also cut coal use.

“We’re bringing back an industry that was abandoned,” Mr. Trump said at the White House, standing in front of about three dozen mostly male coal miners wearing hard hats.

“We’re going to put the miners back to work,” Mr. Trump said about a workforce that has sunk to about 40,000 from 70,000 ten years ago.

Mr. Trump, a Republican, campaigned on a promise to increase US energy output and has sought to roll back energy and environmental regulations since taking office on Jan. 20.

US electricity demand is rising for the first time in two decades on growth in power-hungry data centers for artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and cryptocurrencies.

The orders include efforts to save coal plants that were likely to be retired, including by unlocking authorities in the 1950 Defense Production Act to boost coal production.

They also direct Energy Secretary Chris Wright to determine whether coal used in steel production is a “critical mineral.” Allowing that classification, typically reserved for minerals needed for high-tech defense systems, for metallurgical coal could set the table for use of emergency powers to raise production.

Another order asked the US Attorney General to identify state climate laws that are an obstacle to developing energy resources like coal, and try to stop them from being enforced.

After Mr. Trump signed the orders, Mr. Wright’s department made $200 billion in financing available for its loan programs office including for new coal technologies.

Under previous presidents, the loans have only rarely been used for carbon capture at coal plants.

The orders direct Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to acknowledge the end of a moratorium that paused new coal leasing, which allows private companies to buy the right to extract coal, on federal lands, and to prioritize the leasing.

Shares in US coal producers Peabody BTU.N and Core Natural Resources CNR.N each shot up about 9% after the news.

Still, it is uncertain what demand there is for any greater US coal output, with hundreds of domestic coal-burning plants having closed this decade on cheaper fuels and concerns about future regulations even if Mr. Trump’s administration dismantles current ones.

When burned, coal releases more of the main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide than any other fossil fuel. It also emits pollutants linked to lung and heart diseases. Much of its use has declined due to regulations from Democrats, including former President Joe Biden.

‘STUCK IN THE PAST’
Existing US coal plants only provide power to the grid about 40% of the time. Backers say that number can be boosted through deregulation and other measures.

In his first administration, Mr. Trump tried to prop up coal by having his then energy secretary direct federal energy regulators to subsidize coal plants for their contribution in making power grids more reliable and resilient. The regulators rejected the plan in 2018.

Coal backers were hopeful about the new approach. Mr. Trump’s orders will “clearly prioritize how to responsibly keep the lights on, recognize the enormous strategic value of American mined coal and embrace the economic opportunity that comes from American energy abundance,” said Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association.

Environmental groups slammed Mr. Trump’s coal plan. “Coal plants are old and dirty, uncompetitive and unreliable,” said Kit Kennedy, managing director for Power at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“The Trump administration is stuck in the past, trying to make utility customers pay more for yesterday’s energy. Instead, it should be doing all it can to build the electricity grid of the future.” — Reuters

WASHINGTON — The dire wolf was one of the most formidable predators in the Americas during the last Ice Age, possessing a body more stout and a skull more robust than those of modern wolves. The species went extinct along with many others as the Ice Age ended.

Roughly 13,000 years later, a US company has taken a step aimed at bringing the dire wolf back from oblivion — aside from the TV versions in the popular Game of Thrones fantasy series. Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences has announced the birth of three genetically engineered wolf pups — all with striking white fur — created with the help of ancient DNA obtained from fossilized remains of dire wolves.

The company is calling them dire wolves and is referring to this as the world’s first successfully “de-extincted” animal. The same approach can be used to resurrect other extinct species for which ancient DNA is available, according to the company.

Outside experts are more cautious, describing the pups as genetically modified gray wolves because the process used to create them involved editing the genes of that species to add dire wolf traits. The gray wolf is the closest living relative of the dire wolf.

There are two male pups, named Romulus and Remus after Rome’s legendary founders who were suckled by a she-wolf, and one female, named Khaleesi in honor of a  Game of Thrones character.

All three are large for their age compared to gray wolves, according to Beth Shapiro, Colossal’s chief science officer. Romulus and Remus, both six months old, are around 80 pounds (36 kg) while Khaleesi, at two months old, is around 25 pounds (11 kg).

Dire wolves were as much as 25% bigger than gray wolves, with a slightly wider head and a stronger jaw, the company said.

Company scientists extracted ancient DNA from two dire wolf fossils — a tooth from Sheridan Pit, Ohio, approximately 13,000 years old, and an inner ear bone from American Falls, Idaho, roughly 72,000 years old.

Twenty genes of gray wolves were edited with this DNA to include dire wolf traits in gray wolf cells. Through cloning, embryos were created from the edited gray wolf cells, and these were implanted in surrogate domesticated dog mothers. Three different dogs gave birth to the pups.

“We define de-extinction success as bringing back the functional ecological traits that made dire wolves unique contributors to their ecosystem, and our dire wolves are an example of that,” Ms. Shapiro said.

Asked whether it is proper to call the pups dire wolves, Ms. Shapiro said, “I feel like this debate misses the point a bit. Remember that species classifications are human constructs that often don’t map well onto natural populations. We invented them to help make sense of the natural world.”

“De-extinction is not creating perfect genetic copies of individual animals. It’s about restoring lost ecological functions and enhancing biodiversity,” Ms. Shapiro added.

‘SLIGHT MODIFICATIONS’
Corey Bradshaw, a professor of global ecology at Flinders University in Australia, voiced skepticism about the company’s announcement and the practicality of reviving an extinct species.

“So yes, they have slightly genetically modified wolves, maybe. And that’s probably the best that you’re going to get. And those slight modifications seem to have been derived from retrieved dire wolf material. Does that make it a dire wolf? No. Does it make a slightly modified gray wolf? Yes,” Mr. Bradshaw told Reuters TV.

Ms. Shapiro said the pups are thriving on a secure ecological preserve spanning more than 2,000 acres (810 hectares). The company did not give the location. Ms. Shapiro said they eventually could weigh 100 to 150 pounds (45-68 kg) and stand 32 to 40 inches (81-102 cm) at the shoulder.

Dire wolves once roamed widely in North and South America as one of the most successful Ice Age predators, alongside the likes of saber-toothed cats and giant short-faced bears. In North America, their fossils have been discovered as far north as Alaska and down into southern Mexico. Numerous dire wolf fossils have been found at the Rancho La Brea tar pits site in Los Angeles.

Previous research could not resolve their evolutionary origin, causing speculation that jackals may be their closest living relative. Colossal said its high-quality dire wolf genome revealed that the gray wolf is the closest living relative, sharing 99.5% of their DNA code with dire wolves.

Its scientists also determined that the dire wolf lineage emerged between 3.5 and 2.5 million years ago as a consequence of hybridization between two ancient lineages of canids.

“Some extinct species, like the dire wolf, hold deep cultural significance for indigenous peoples or played important roles in human history. Their restoration could help preserve cultural heritage and traditional ecological knowledge,” Ms. Shapiro said. — Reuters