Hiring surged in March as the labor market blew past Wall Street's predictions, defying uncertainty over President Trump's tariff hikes, federal worker layoffs and spending cuts.

U.S. employers added a surprising 228,000 jobs last month, as the American labor market continues to show resilience as President Trump wages trade wars, purges federal workers and deports immigrants working in the United States illegally. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%.

China is slapping a 34% tariff on goods it imports from the U.S. in direct retaliation for President Trump's sweeping trade crackdown.

Top congressional Democrats on Thursday protested the reported firing of Gen. Tim Haugh as director of the National Security Agency, with one lawmaker saying the decision "makes all of us less safe."

The Trump administration is planning to halt more than half a billion dollars in contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, adding to a list of Ivy League colleges that have had their federal money threatened as a result of their responses to antisemitism, a White House official said.