US updates: Court orders Palestinian student's release

The chair of Tesla's board has denied reports that the company started hunting for successor to CEO Elon Musk, who has been heavily involved with the Trump administration. 

Tesla chair Robyn Denholm said the reports were "absolutely false."

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the Tesla board reached out to several executive search firms about a month ago.

The US newspaper cites people familiar with the discussions as the basis for its report.

The current status of the board's push could not be determined, the US newspaper says.

Musk stepping back from DOGE

Musk said last week that he would spend more time running the electrical carmaker and only work one or two days a week at the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

The WSJ report said it was unclear if Musk's recent pledge influenced the board's efforts to replace him.

Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January, Musk has been leading DOGE's efforts to slash the federal workforce.

His time away from Tesla has been an additional concern for investors as sales of its vehicles slumped. 

Musk's embrace of Trump, as well as of far-right politics in Europe, has triggered protests against Musk and Tesla as well as vandalism at its showrooms and charging stations across the US and Europe.

Former US Vice President Kamala Harris has hit out at Donald Trump and his backers in her first major speech since losing the November election.

Speaking on Wednesday in San Francisco, Harris said that the Trump administration was working on the "wholesale abandonment" of America's highest ideals. 

In her 15-minute speech, she spoke of the anxiety felt by many of her supporters since Trump took office in January.

But she warned against despair.

"They are counting on the notion that if they can make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others," she said, adding that "fear is not the only thing that's contagious."

"Courage is contagious."

Chaos by design

Harris also cautioned Americans against viewing Trump's administration as merely chaotic. 

Instead she cast it as a "high-velocity event" that is the culmination of extensive work on the right to remake the government.

"A vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making," she said. 

"An agenda to slash public education. An agenda to shrink government and then privatize its services. All while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest among us."

Harris's speech came a day after Trump celebrated 100 days in office.

The former Democratic vice president has largely stayed out of the limelight since leaving office in January.

Before Wednesday, she had barely mentioned Trump by name since she conceded defeat to him in November.

The head of the UN's International Seabed Authority (ISA) criticized US President Donald Trump's executive order on deep-sea mining in the ocean outside US territory.

"No state has the right to unilaterally exploit the mineral resources of the area outside the legal framework established by UNCLOS. It is common understanding that this prohibition is binding on all States, including those that have not ratified UNCLOS," ISA head Leticia Carvalho said in a statement.

She was referring to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea established in 1982, of which the United States is not a signatory.

The US wants to mine ocean floors for mineral-rich nodules, despite risks of potential damage. Trump's executive order is seemingly based on an old law that allows the government to issue seabed mining permits, drawing international criticism.

In her statement, Carvalho said it "sets a dangerous precedent that could destabilize the entire system of global ocean governance."

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he has "potential" trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan. He said he was in no rush as the US was benefiting from the tariffs he imposed.

He was speaking at a town hall on the NewsNation television network.

"I'm in less of a hurry than you are. We are sitting on the catbird seat. They want us. We don't need them," he said.

He did not clarify what a "potential" trade deal could involve or how it would differ from an actual agreement.

A US federal judge in Oakland, California, ruled on Wednesday that Apple violated a court order requiring it to allow more competition for app downloads and payment methods on its App Store.

District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said Apple had failed to comply with a prior injunction order imposed after an antitrust lawsuit by Epic Games. The case will now be referred to federal prosecutors.

"Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated. This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order," she said.

Epic Games had accused Apple of stifling competition and charging more commissions for in-app purchases. The company had said in 2024 that Apple had violated the court's previous order.

Apple has denied any wrongdoing in the case.

An increase in imports to the US ahead of the implementation of President Donald Trump's new tariffs contributed to the US economy unexpectedly sliding in the first quarter of 2025.

But Trump put the blame at the feet of his predecessor, Joe Biden.

At a Cabinet meeting in Washington, Trump said the downturn was the economic legacy he inherited when taking office.

"That's Biden, that's not Trump," he said, speaking of himself in the third person.

Annual economic growth stayed above 2% in every year of Biden's presidency, reaching 2.8% in 2024.

Trump's tariffs against most countries prompted a selloff in financial markets and led to levels of volatility unseen since the COVID pandemic.

"This decline in GDP is a blaring warning to everyone that Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans' failed MAGA experiment is killing our economy," leading Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

A late rally pushed US stocks slightly higher by the close of trading on Wednesday. After opening sharply down (see entry below), the Dow and S&P 500 recovered from the early drop, despite data showing that the economy contracted in the first quarter for the first time in years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 40,669.36, up 0.4% and more than 920 points above its session lows. 

The S&P 500 closed up 0.2% to 5,569.06, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.1% to 17,446.34.

US President Donald Trump says Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney would visit Washington in the coming week, describing him as "very nice" despite tensions over US tariffs and annexation threats.

"He's a very nice gentleman and he's going to come to the White House very shortly, within the next week or less," Trump said after Carney, the leader of Canada's Liberal Party clinched his election victory in part by vowing to stand up to the US president.

"I spoke to him yesterday, couldn't have been nicer and I congratulated him," Trump told reporters in a cabinet meeting.

Pierre Poilievre's Conservative Party had been on track to win the vote. However, a combination of Trump's attacks and the departure of unpopular former premier Justin Trudeau vastly altered the race.

Former UK and Canadian central bank chief Carney, who took over from Trudeau last month, convinced voters he would be the ideal candidate to defy Trump.

The US president downplayed any possible tensions with the, despite repeatedly calling for Canada to become the 51st US state.

"I think we're going to have a great relationship. He called me up yesterday, he said 'Let's make a deal'," Trump said before referring to himself in the third person to talk about the Canadian rival candidates.

"They both hated Trump, and it was the one that hated Trump, I think, the least that won. I actually think the Conservative hated me much more than the so-called Liberal."

US President Donald Trump has convened a meeting of his cabinet, which he began by trumpeting his record on immigration and the economy in his first 100 days.

During the meeting, Trump said Musk was invited to stay in his administration indefinitely. The Tesla billionaire is said to be preparing to return to focusing on his companies, which also include SpaceX.

"You're invited to stay as long as you want," Trump said, adding that Musk had been "treated unfairly" for his role inhelping cut the size and scope of the federal government. "You really have sacrificed a lot."

Musk's net worth has dropped significantly, with Tesla car sales falling amid a public backlash to the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency cuts.

Wall Street stocks have opened sharply lower after a weak growth report fueled concerns about an economic slowdown amid uncertainty over US President Donald Trump's trade policy.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 39,877.96, down 1.6%.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.0% to 5,449.09, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.6% to 17,005.71. 

The gross domestic product decreased at an annual rate of 0.3% in the first quarter, far below analyst expectations of 0.4% growth.

Part of the contraction was due to a surge in imports from businesses seeking to stock up ahead of tariffs. 

Investors will also await key US inflation data later Wednesday to see how these are impacted by tariffs. The results could determine whether the Federal Reserve will cut rates as Trump has vociferously urged.

Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi has been released from US immigration custody.

The release came after a judge ruled that he should be allowed to challenge the Trump administration's efforts to deport him over his participation in pro-Palestinian protests.

Mahdawi, born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, was arrested earlier this month when he arrived for an interview for his US citizenship petition.

A judge quickly ordered the Trump administration not to deport him from the United States or move him out of the state of Vermont.

Mahdawi walked out of the federal courthouse in Burlington, Vermont, after two weeks in detention after US District Judge Geoffrey Crawford ordered his release at a court hearing on Wednesday.

"I am not afraid of you," Madhawi said, addressing US President Donald Trump.

Mahdawi has been a legal US permanent resident since 2015. He is co-founder of a Palestinian student group at Columbia along with  Mahmoud Khalil, who Trump has also been trying to deport since he was arrested in March.

"Mohsen has committed no crime, and the government’s only supposed justification for holding him in prison is the content of his speech," Lia Ernst, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who is representing Mahdawi, said.

The US Commerce Department says the world's largest economy declined contrary to expectations in the first quarter, according to preliminary data.

The first gross domestic product (GDP) figures for US President Donald  Trump's second term had been highly anticipated, especially after the sweeping tariffs he has implemented since taking office.

GDP dipped at an annual rate of 0.3% in the first quarter, having grown by 2.4% in the final months of 2024. 

The data was far below a market consensus estimate of 0.4% growth.

"The downturn in real GDP in the first quarter reflected an upturn in imports, a deceleration in consumer spending, and a downturn in government spending," the Commerce Department said. 

Welcome to DW's coverage of developments in the United States on Tuesday, April 29, as the investors react to weaker-than-expected growth data for the first quarter.

Gross domestic product has fallen by 0.3%, 0.7%  below the expected moderate growth that had been predicted.

Stock indices took a hit amid the market uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump's tariffs on trading partners.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian student who immigration officials detained after helping to lead a protest about Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, has been released.

Here are the latest developments from the United States on Wednesday, April 4.