--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Friday, April 4th.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for tuning in, Georgia. Let's get started.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The U.S. added 228,000 jobs in March, far surpassing expectations and beating February's numbers by more than 100,000. The robust job growth signals strength in the labor market despite growing economic uncertainty. But the unemployment rate did tick up to 4.2%.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right, Georgia. And Wall Street took a hit Thursday with major indexes posting their worst drops since 2020. That comes amid uncertainty over President Trump's tariffs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, China will impose a 34 tariff on all U imports starting April 10th. The move mirrors the 34 levy announced by Trump earlier this week and adds to existing duties already in place. Beijing also introduced export controls on key rare earth elements and filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization.
--:-- John Bickley: Trump's new tariffs will have a massive effect on Timu and Xi'an shoppers. The president has ended the loophole that allows individuals to directly receive orders from the Chinese online retailers as long as they're less than $800. The new executive order places a 30% tax on those items or $25 per item.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The change could spell the end of discount retailers like Sheehan and Timu, who have been taking advantage of the de minimis loophole. The order takes effect on June 1st.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, let's talk about Joe Biden. Two new books by Biden aides describe the former president as increasingly confused and fatigued during his final year in office. Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has the details.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The books describe the former president as increasingly confused and fatigued during his final year in office, as White House staffers continue to conceal that decline. One of the more startling claims says that Biden thought of himself more as the president of NATO than the United States.
--:-- John Bickley: Staffers also use fluorescent tape on the carpet to try to guide Biden at events, and they struggled to keep him focused ahead of that fateful debate with Donald Trump last summer.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Former Chief of Staff Ron Klain said that Biden appeared out of touch and exhausted, raising private concerns among top Democrats. The debate performance set off alarm bells within the party and eventually led to Biden's withdrawal from the race in July.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hungary rolled out the red carpet for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and announced its withdrawal from an international group. Daily Wire reporter Cassie Akiva has the details.
--:-- Cassie Akiva: Hungary says it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court just hours after welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Budapest. The ICC issued an international arrest warrant for Netanyahu in November, accusing him of war crimes.
--:-- John Bickley: Hungary's Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, ignored its legal obligation to detain Netanyahu and instead greeted him with full honors at Budapest. The move makes Hungary the first European member to announce plans to leave the court.
--:-- Cassie Akiva: Officials say the withdrawal process will follow legal protocols, but could take up to a year to finalize. The ICC confirmed Hungary remains obligated to cooperate until its exit is complete.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by Good Ranchers. Support the tradition of American farmers and ranchers who have spent generations working to feed Americans with high-quality meat exclusively and locally sourced right here in the USA.
--:-- John Bickley: Subscribe now at GoodRanchers.com for free bacon, ground beef, seed oil-free chicken nuggets or salmon in every order for a year, plus $40 off with code WIRE. Good Ranchers, American meat delivered.
--:-- Georgia Howe: YouTube is stepping up its short-form social media game as TikTok faces a possible U.S. ban. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has the story.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The company announced new editing tools for shorts on Thursday, including AI stickers, beat-synced cuts, and a revamped editor to give creators more control.
--:-- John Bickley: The updates come just days before TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance faces a deadline to sell its U.S. operations or risks being banned. YouTube also changed how short's views are counted, now including replays with no minimum watch time, bringing it in line with TikTok and Instagram Reels.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The new features will roll out later this spring.
--:-- John Bickley: Get ready to fight for overhead bin space Southwest Airlines is ditching its beloved bags fly free policy after more than 50 years with new fees for checked luggage kicking in May 28th.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Executives say carry-on bag volume could surge by 30%, forcing a five-fold increase in gate checks and risking delays. The move comes as the airline cuts 1,750 jobs and looks for new revenue under pressure from Wall Street.
--:-- John Bickley: And for those of you following March Madness, The final four features Auburn versus Florida Saturday evening, followed by Houston versus Duke. Morning Wire sat down with Auburn coach Bruce Pearl before the big game this week.
--:-- Bruce Pearl: When I try to explain to people how Auburn basketball is back in the final four again, or how our team, or why our team has won five different championships in the SEC in the last eight years, the only way I can explain it is it's a God thing. Like God's got his hand all over this.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And why me and why us. God reminds me all the time who I am, where I came from, and my love of my country and my love of my faith and my ancestral homeland, Israel, means as much to me as life itself.
--:-- Bruce Pearl: And so, you know, it just bothers me tremendously that people are going to pay attention to a basketball coach, you know, winning a basketball game when we have an American held hostage in Gaza named Medan Alexander, and nobody knows his name.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for tuning in, Georgia. We'll be back tomorrow morning with a weekend edition of Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
