Thursday morning news: April 5, 2018

U.S.-China trade latest » China continues to hit back on trade. Following a Monday tariffs announcement, yesterday China proposed a tariff hike on $50 billion of U.S. goods.

The news came just hours after the U.S. listed products it will hit with higher duties. China’s list covers 106 products ranging from whiskey to jet engines and soybeans, which will hit core Trump constituencies in places like Iowa and Indiana.

With that news, stocks fell amid growing fears of a trade war.

KUDLOW: Blame China, not President Trump.

Incoming White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow says China’s been taking advantage of the U.S. for years.

KUDLOW: Trump is really the first president to fight back and put a shot across the bow that stealing intellectual property rights, technology transfers, high barriers, investment limitations, high tariffs, this stuff is not just unfair, it’s unlawful.  

But Kudlow says it’s just the start of negotiating changes on trade between the two countries and he added that backchannel talks are already happening.

President Trump continues to call out past administrations for the trade deficit.

TRUMP: I really blame I representatives and frankly our preceding presidents for this.

But the president also declared on Wednesday that the two countries have “very good” relationship, and–his words:“We are not in a trade war with China.”

Trump wants troops out of Syria » The White House is walking back comments President Trump made threatening to pull U.S. troops out of Syria.

On Wednesday press secretary Sarah Sanders said ISIS is almost defeated, but the U.S. is committed to staying until victory is complete.

Earlier this week the president lamented the cost of military wars, telling reporters the U.S. was close to pulling troops out of Syria.

TRUMP: Think of it, $7 trillion over a 17-year period. We have nothing, nothing, except death and destruction. It’s a horrible thing, so it’s time. It’s time.

Pulling troops out soon would put the commander in chief at odds with the Pentagon and his national security team who say an American presence is necessary to ensure what has been gained is not lost.

General Joe Votel, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East said, “the hard part is in front of us.”

VOTEL: Stabilizing these areas, consolidating our gains, getting people back into their homes, reconstruction and other things that have to be done, and there is a military role in this — certainly in the stabilization phase.  

The White House has not given a time table for a drawdown of troops in the region.

National Guard to border » While the president wants to pull troops out of the Middle East, he’s deploying troops the U.S.-Mexico border. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced Wednesday:

NIELSEN: The president has directed that the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security work together with our governors to deploy the National Guard to our southwest border to assist the Border Patrol.

Nielsen did not say how many troops will head to the border, saying only that the deployment “will be strong.” By law, military personnel cannot enforce domestic laws on U.S. soil, so the troops would mainly help with surveillance.

President Trump says he wants to keep the troops there until the U.S. is able to build a border wall.

Marine helicopter crash » A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet crashed at a Nevada test and training range on Wednesday. The crash occurred during routine exercises. No word yet on the condition of the pilot.

The crash came just one day after a Marine helicopter crashed during a training mission in Southern California, killing all four crew members. The CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter out of Miramar Air Station in San Diego went down west of El Centro, just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash. They have not released the names of those on board.

The Super Stallion is the largest helicopter in the U.S. military. It’s largely used for transport and minesweeping.

Facebook » Facebook’s privacy scandal is bigger than originally reported. WORLD Radio’s Kristen Flavin has that story.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Facebook revealed Wednesday that the data of as many as 87 million people may have been exposed. That’s an increase from the 50 million disclosed in earlier published reports.

That announcement followed news that that CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify on Capitol Hill next week. Lawmakers in Washington and in the UK want answers about how British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed user data.

Facebook also announced Wednesday that it plans to restrict the user data that outsiders can access. And users will soon receive a link to a page showing them what apps they use and what information they’ve shared with those apps. The company will also notify users who might have had their data shared with Cambridge Analytica.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: Mindy Belz on Iraq rebuilding. Plus, homelessness in Colorado. This is The World and Everything in It.

(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) In this March 29, 2018, file photo, the logo for Facebook appears on screens at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York’s Times Square. 

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.