In New Caledonia, Macron Says Priority is a Return to Calm

French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS
French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS
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In New Caledonia, Macron Says Priority is a Return to Calm

French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS
French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, France's Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN/Pool via REUTERS

French President Emmanuel Macron pushed Thursday for a lifting of protesters' barricades in riot-hit New Caledonia and pledged that reinforced police forces battling deadly unrest on the Pacific archipelago “will stay as long as necessary.”

Pro-independence Kanak leaders, who a week earlier declined Macron's offer of talks by video, turned out Thursday to greet him in person, bringing them together at a meeting in the capital Nouméa, with rival loyalist leaders who want New Caledonia, which became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III, to remain part of France.

Macron opened the meeting by calling for a minute of silence for the six people killed in shootings during the violence, including two gendarmes, and read out their names. He subsequently urged local leaders to use their clout to help restore order. He said a state of emergency imposed by Paris the previous week to boost police powers could be lifted only if local leaders call for a clearing away of barricades that demonstrators and people trying to protect their neighborhoods have erected in Nouméa and beyond.

“It's a simple phrase and it's best to say because it can have an effect,” Macron said.

Barricades have turned some parts of Nouméa into no-go zones and made traveling around perilous, including for the sick requiring medical treatment and for families fretting about where to find food and water after shops were pillaged and torched. Unrest continued to simmer even as Macron jetted in, despite a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and more than 1,000 reinforcements for the archipelago's police and gendarmes, now 3,000-strong, the French leader said.

“I will be very clear here. These forces will remain as long as necessary. Even during the Olympic Games and Paralympics," which open in Paris on July 26, Macron said.

At Nouméa's La Tontouta International Airport, used for special evacuation flights for stranded tourists but still closed to commercial services, Macron said on arrival that he wanted "to be alongside the people and see a return to peace, calm and security as soon as possible.”

Macron added that he would discuss the resources needed to repair the damage wrought by days of shootings, arson and other violence that has left at least six dead. The destruction is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of euros (dollars).

“We will discuss questions of economic reconstruction, support and rapid response, and the most delicate political questions, as we talk about the future of New Caledonia,” he said. “By the end of the day, decisions will be taken and announcements will be made.”

When asked by a reporter whether he thought a 12-hour visit was enough, Macron responded: “We will see. I don’t have a limit.”

Accompanied by his defense and interior security ministers, Macron later met police at Noumea’s central police station.
"Thank you for being here, thank you very much," Macron told a uniformed officer, before going into a closed-door meeting.



Trump Pauses Tariffs on Most Nations for 90 Days, Raises Taxes on Chinese Imports

A crane lifts an imports container from the cargo ship Epaminondas while it is docked at the Port of Baltimore, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP)
A crane lifts an imports container from the cargo ship Epaminondas while it is docked at the Port of Baltimore, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP)
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Trump Pauses Tariffs on Most Nations for 90 Days, Raises Taxes on Chinese Imports

A crane lifts an imports container from the cargo ship Epaminondas while it is docked at the Port of Baltimore, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP)
A crane lifts an imports container from the cargo ship Epaminondas while it is docked at the Port of Baltimore, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP)

Facing a global market meltdown, President Donald Trump on Wednesday abruptly backed down on his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, but raised the tax rate on Chinese imports to 125%.

It was seemingly an attempt to narrow what had been an unprecedented trade war between the US and most of the world to a showdown between the US and China. The S&P 500 stock index jumped nearly 7% after the announcement, but the precise details of Trump's plans to ease tariffs on non-China trade partners were not immediately clear.

Trump posted on Truth Social that because "more than 75 Countries" had reached out to the US government for trade talks and have not retaliated in meaningful way "I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately."

The 10% tariff was the baseline rate for most nations that went into effect on Saturday. It's meaningfully lower than the 20% tariff that Trump had set for goods from the European Union, 24% on imports from Japan and 25% on products from South Korea. Still, 10% would represent an increase in the tariffs previously charged by the US government.

The announcement came after the global economy appeared to be in open rebellion against Trump's tariffs as they took effect Wednesday, a signal that the US president was not immune from market pressures.

Business executives were warning of a potential recession caused by his policies, some of the top US trading partners are retaliating with their own import taxes and the stock market is quivering after days of decline.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the walk back was part of some grand negotiating strategy by Trump.

"President Trump created maximum negotiating leverage for himself," she said, adding that the news media "clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here. You tried to say that the rest of the world would be moved closer to China, when in fact, we’ve seen the opposite effect the entire world is calling the United States of America, not China, because they need our markets."

But market pressures had been building for weeks ahead of Trump's move.

Particularly worrisome was that US government debt had lost some of its luster with investors, who usually treat Treasury notes as a safe haven when there's economic turbulence. Government bond prices had been falling, pushing up the interest rate on the 10-year US Treasury note to 4.45%. That rate eased after Trump's reversal.

Gennadiy Goldberg, head of US rates strategy at TD Securities, said before the announcement that markets wanted to see a truce in the trade disputes.

"Markets more broadly, not just the Treasury market, are looking for signs that a trade de-escalation is coming," he said. "Absent any de-escalation, it’s going to be difficult for markets to stabilize."

John Canavan, lead analyst at the consultancy Oxford Economics, noted that while Trump said he changed course due to possible negotiations, he had previously indicated that the tariffs would stay in place.

"There have been very mixed messages on whether there would be negotiations," Canavan said. "Given what's been going on with the markets, he realized the safest thing to do is negotiate and put things on pause."

Presidents often receive undue credit or blame for the state of the US economy as their time in the White House is subject to financial and geopolitical forces beyond their direct control.

But by unilaterally imposing tariffs, Trump is exerting extraordinary influence over the flow of commerce, creating political risks and pulling the market in different directions based on his remarks and social media posts. There still appears to be 25% tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, with more imports set to be tariffed in the weeks ahead.

On CNBC, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the administration was being less strategic than it was during Trump's first term. His company had in January projected it would have its best financial year in history, only to scrap its expectations for 2025 due to the economic uncertainty.

"Trying to do it all at the same time has created chaos in terms of being able to make plans," he said, noting that demand for air travel has weakened.

Before Trump's reversal, economic forecasters say his second term has had a series of negative and cascading impacts that could put the country into a downturn.

"Simultaneous shocks to consumer sentiment, corporate confidence, trade, financial markets as well as to prices, new orders and the labor market will tip the economy into recession in the current quarter," said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at the consultancy RSM.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has previously said it could take months to strike deals with countries on tariff rates, and the administration has not been clear on whether the baseline 10% tariffs imposed on most countries will stay in place. But in an appearance on "Mornings with Maria," Bessent said the economy would "be back to firing on all cylinders" at a point in the "not too distant future."

He said there has been an "overwhelming" response by "the countries who want to come and sit at the table rather than escalate." Bessent mentioned Japan, South Korea, and India. "I will note that they are all around China. We have Vietnam coming today," he said.

What's not yet known is what Trump does with the rest of his tariff agenda. In a Tuesday night speech, he said taxes on imported drugs would happen soon.