The value of global stock markets has fallen. It is the biggest fall in decades. Shanghai's market was down nearly 8%. Japan's Nikkei index was 7.8% down. An analyst called the situation a "bloodbath". Stock prices fell after the trade tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump on April the 2nd. He said that day "will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn…and the day that we began to make America wealthy again".
Some countries will take action over the tariffs. A Chinese newspaper said China has had "eight years of trade wars with the US" and that China would beat "US tariff bullying". China could increase its own tariffs on the USA. Japan's Prime Minister said he would ask the US to reduce the 24% tariffs on Japanese goods. Talking about the tariffs, Trump said: "Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something."
Try the same news story at these levels:
Trade Tariffs - Level 0, Trade Tariffs - Level 2 or Trade Tariffs - Level 3
Sources- https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/06/trump-says-he-doesnt-want-stocks-to-go-down-but-sometimes-you-have-to-take-medicine.html
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c934qzd094wo
- https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/06/business/japan-nikkei-plunges-hnk-intl/index.html
Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)