as e.u. shudders tumult in italy · a. williams, the show jumping hall of fame trainer, at the...

VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,978 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2018

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WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump, stung by criticism that hehas gone soft on China and lessworried about Beijing’s ability todisrupt a potential summit meet-ing with North Korea, reversedcourse on Tuesday and declaredthat the United States would im-pose tariffs and other punitivemeasures on China.

Barely a week after TreasurySecretary Steven Mnuchin saidthat the trade war was “on hold”and that tariffs would be sus-pended as negotiations continued,the White House issued a state-ment saying the United Stateswould move ahead with its plan toimpose 25 percent tariffs on $50billion worth of imported Chinesegoods within the next month.

Mr. Trump’s reversal was yetanother twist in a long-runningideological battle in the West Wingbetween economic nationalists,who channel Mr. Trump’s protec-tionist instincts, and more main-stream advisers like Mr. Mnuchin,who worry that tariffs and invest-ment restrictions will hurt thestock market and hobble long-term growth.

The nationalists seem to havewon this round. While Mr. Trumpis sending Wilbur Ross, the com-merce secretary, to Beijing thisweekend to try again to resolvethe dispute, people briefed on thetalks said Mr. Trump was frus-trated with the first round of tradenegotiations and wary of givingDemocrats an opening on one ofhis core issues.

The trade offensive comes at asensitive moment, days after Mr.Trump pulled out of his plannedJune 12 meeting with the North’sleader, Kim Jong-un, after sug-gesting that China played a role inderailing the encounter. But thepresident has since expressedmore optimism about the meet-ing, and negotiators from Wash-ington and Pyongyang havescrambled to reinstate it, givingMr. Trump a freer hand to resumehis tough approach to America’sgreatest economic adversary.

In addition to the renewed tradethreat, the United States has hard-ened its military posture towardChina, canceling an invitation forthe Chinese to take part in a largePacific naval exercise and sailingtwo Navy warships past a handfulof disputed islands in the SouthChina Sea. The administration ispushing back against China’s in-stallation of military facilities inthe heavily trafficked waterway.

“On every issue, the balance ofpower in this administration leanstoward a more hostile and adver-

Continued on Page A6

U.S. Resumes Trade DisputeAgainst China

Trump Plans to ImposeTariffs Once Again

By MARK LANDLERand ANA SWANSON

LISBON — Through more thantwo months of tough negotiationsto form a government in Italy af-ter inconclusive March elections,global financial markets re-mained relatively calm. Italy’s un-certainties seemed contained toItaly, and Europe’s economy keptgrowing.

That changed this week whenItaly’s president, SergioMattarella, effectively blockedtwo populist parties from forminga government. He judged that acrucial member of their proposedcabinet was intent on having Italyabandon the euro, though theyhad not explicitly campaigned onthat issue.

In doing so, Mr. Mattarella mayhave laid the groundwork for anew election, one that amounts toa referendum on the euro. The Eu-ropean Union and financial mar-kets reacted with dread. On Tues-day, the Dow plunged almost 400points, the value of the euro plum-meted and the cost of borrowingfor Italy shot up.

For the European Union, an-other Italian election would be ter-rifically bad timing.

Chancellor Angela Merkel ofGermany, a linchpin of the bloc, isweakened; she needed sixmonths to form a government af-ter a rough election of her own lastyear that was marked by a far-right, populist surge. Spain’s gov-ernment could face a no-confi-dence vote as early as this weekand possible new elections aswell.

However unlikely an Italianwithdrawal from the eurozonemay be, the mere prospect is moredangerous to the future of the Eu-ropean Union than the bailout ofGreece, whose economy isdwarfed by Italy’s; Britain's voteto leave the bloc; or the squabblesover the rule of law with Hungaryand Poland.

Italy is a founding member ofboth the European Union and theeuro and the bloc’s fourth-largesteconomy, and psychology counts.

After all, it was Brussels thatwarned Greece in 2011 that a pro-posed referendum on its bailoutand the euro would actually be a

Continued on Page A8

TUMULT IN ITALY ROCKS MARKETSAS E.U. SHUDDERS

ANXIETY OVER THE EURO

Dreading a New Election,and Its Effect on a Bloc

and a Currency

By STEVEN ERLANGER

JEENAH MOON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

The chain closed most of its stores in the United States for four hours Tuesday to give 175,000 employees anti-bias training. Page B1.Starbucks Pauses

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE,Calif. — There’s no trace of JimmyA. Williams, the Show JumpingHall of Fame trainer, at the eques-trian club where he was an in-structor for nearly four decades,cultivating young riders, some ofwhom went on to Olympic fame.

The pictures and paintings ofMr. Williams, who died in 1993,and the sterling trophies he wonall vanished without a word re-cently from the clubhouse wherehe had spent many afternoons tip-ping back Champagne with someof Los Angeles County’s biggestand richest names: the parents ofhis young charges. Last month,the club removed his name fromthe grand show jumping stadiumat the heart of the sprawling prop-erty at the foot of the San GabrielMountains, once the Jimmy A.Williams Oval. Today it is justRing 1.

But his former riders cannotforget Mr. Williams. Across thecountry, in her New Jersey barnadorned with her Olympic med-als, Anne Kursinski, one of thecountry’s most decorated showjumpers, remembered her formercoach.

How he tasted of alcohol when-ever he pinned her in a horse stalland crammed his tongue into hermouth. And far more. “He pene-trated me when I was 11,” Ms.Kursinski said, revealing publiclyfor the first time the details ofwhat she said became six years ofcontinual rape and molestation. “Iwas a little kid,” she said. “And hewas God.”

The equestrian community has

been rocked by the revelations ofabuse made by Ms. Kursinski andfour other students, the broadstrokes of which were first re-ported last month by The Chroni-cle of the Horse, an industry publi-cation. It has shaken an insularuniverse in which Mr. Williams, inlife and after, was a mythic figure,revered for his knack with difficult

Behind an Equestrian Legend, a Legacy of AbuseBy SARAH MASLIN NIR

Jimmy A. Williams, in an undated photograph. He died in 1993.GIGI GASTON

Continued on Page A12

Two months ago, RoseanneBarr was a star again.

Her sitcom “Roseanne” re-turned in March after a two-dec-ade absence to enormous ratingson ABC. Network executives werecelebrating their strategy of ap-pealing to wider swaths of thecountry after Donald J. Trump’ssurprising election win, and thepresident himself called Ms. Barrto congratulate her on the show’slarge audience.

But on Tuesday, that all camecrashing down. ABC abruptly can-celed “Roseanne” hours after Ms.Barr, the show’s star and co-cre-ator, posted a racist tweet aboutValerie Jarrett, an African-Ameri-can woman who was a senior ad-viser to Barack Obama through-out his presidency and consideredone of his most influential aides.Ms. Barr wrote if the “muslimbrotherhood & planet of the apeshad a baby=vj.”

Ms. Barr later apologized, but itwas too late. In announcing the

show’s cancellation, ABC’s enter-tainment president, ChanningDungey, said in a statement that“Roseanne’s Twitter statement isabhorrent, repugnant and incon-sistent with our values.”

The show had ended its suc-cessful comeback season last

week and was expected to returnin September for a 13-episode run.Robert A. Iger, the chief executiveof the Walt Disney Company,ABC’s corporate parent, sharedMs. Dungey’s statement on hisown Twitter account, adding,“There was only one thing to dohere, and that was the right thing.”

The sudden cancellation of a hitshow — it had the highest ratingsof a new TV series in years — be-cause of offscreen controversywas almost without precedent.

The show brought in an esti-mated $45 million of advertisingrevenue for ABC this year, and thenetwork probably would have col-lected more than $60 million nextseason, according to Kantar Me-dia.

The move was decided by topDisney and ABC executives, in-cluding Ms. Dungey, who was ap-pointed to her role in February2016, becoming the first black en-tertainment president of a majorbroadcast television network. Shehad the backing of Ben Sherwood,

‘Roseanne’ Self-Destructs With a Racist TweetBy JOHN KOBLIN

Roseanne Barr’s sitcom drewtens of millions in ad dollars.

ABC/ADAM ROSE

Continued on Page A18

WASHINGTON — By the timeAttorney General Jeff Sessions ar-rived at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for dinner one Satur-day evening in March 2017, he hadbeen receiving the presidential si-lent treatment for two days. Mr.Sessions had flown to Florida be-cause Mr. Trump was refusing totake his calls about a pressing de-cision on his travel ban.

When they met, Mr. Trump wasready to talk — but not about thetravel ban. His grievance waswith Mr. Sessions: The presidentobjected to his decision to recusehimself from the Russia investiga-tion. Mr. Trump, who had toldaides that he needed a loyalistoverseeing the inquiry, beratedMr. Sessions and told him heshould reverse his decision, an un-usual and potentially inappropri-ate request.

Mr. Sessions refused.The confrontation, which has

not been previously reported, isbeing investigated by the specialcounsel, Robert S. Mueller III, asare the president’s public and pri-vate attacks on Mr. Sessions andefforts to get him to resign. Mr.Trump dwelled on the recusal formonths, according to confidantsand current and former adminis-tration officials who described hisbehavior toward the attorney gen-eral.

The special counsel’s interestdemonstrates Mr. Sessions’s over-looked role as a key witness in theinvestigation into whether Mr.Trump tried to obstruct the inqui-ry itself. It also suggests that theobstruction investigation isbroader than it is widely under-stood to be — encompassing notonly the president’s interactionswith and firing of the former F.B.I.director, James B. Comey, but alsohis relationship with Mr. Sessions.

Investigators have pressed cur-rent and former White House offi-cials about Mr. Trump’s treatmentof Mr. Sessions and whether theybelieve the president was tryingto impede the Russia investiga-tion by pressuring him. The attor-ney general was also interviewedat length by Mr. Mueller’s investi-gators in January. And of the fourdozen or so questions Mr. Muellerwants to ask Mr. Trump, eight re-

Trump PressedSessions to EndRussia Recusal

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTand JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

Continued on Page A17

Eric Greitens was a decoratedmember of the Navy SEALs whoserved in Afghanistan and Iraq,the founder of a veterans’ charityin Missouri and a Rhodes scholar.Chiseled and charismatic, he waselected governor of Missouri andseen by his fellow Republicans asa potential superstar in the party,someone with the brains and poli-tical instincts to perhaps rise allthe way to the White House.

But on Tuesday, Mr. Greitensabruptly resigned, more than fourmonths into a scandal involving asexual relationship with his for-mer hairdresser and claims thathe had taken an explicit photo-graph of her without her permis-sion. He was also accused by pros-ecutors of misusing his charity’s

donor list for political purposes.Defiant but somber, Mr. Greit-

ens, who was voted into office in2016, insisted that he had commit-ted no crimes or “any offense wor-thy of this treatment.” He de-scribed “legal harassment of col-leagues, friends and campaignworkers” and said “it’s clear thatfor the forces that oppose us thatthere is no end in sight.”

“This ordeal has been designedto cause an incredible amount ofstrain on my family,” Mr. Greitenssaid. He added: “I cannot allowthose forces to continue to causepain and difficulty to the peoplethat I love.”

It was both a shocking end to hisgovernorship and a kind of cathar-

Missouri Governor, Rising StarSwamped by Scandal, Resigns

By MITCH SMITH and JULIE BOSMAN

Continued on Page A16

THE UPSHOT What the politicalcrisis in Rome means for theglobal economy. PAGE B1

Extreme heat has left people in a fever-like haze, even in the shade. Scoreshave died. Karachi Journal. PAGE A9

INTERNATIONAL A4-9

Heat Cripples Pakistani CityAs the era of sprawling office parksends, some New Jersey towns seeredevelopment possibilities. PAGE A20

NEW YORK A19-21

Transforming Suburban RelicsAlexei Ratmansky is restaging MariusPetipa’s “Harlequinade” by consulting aHarvard trove of century-old dancenotations. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

A Ballet Reassembled

Fund-raising at the Mayor’s Fund hasslowed with New York’s first lady,Chirlane McCray, at the helm. PAGE A19

City-Run Charity SputtersCanada said it would buy an oil pipelineto its west coast, ensuring a protestedexpansion will proceed. PAGE A4

Deal on Controversial Pipeline

As Puerto Rico prepares for anotherhurricane season, a new study findsthat the island’s death toll from Hurri-cane Maria may exceed 4,600. PAGE A13

NATIONAL A10-18

Seeing a Far Deadlier Storm

Community workers who used to beincarcerated themselves help otherex-prisoners get care for addiction andother health problems. PAGE A10

Expert Guides to Life After Jail

Twenty years ago, President Bill Clin-ton was interrogated by prosecutors.People in the room and watching else-where share recollections. PAGE A11

When the President Testified

Serena Williams said she felt she was“on the right track” after winning herfirst match at a Grand Slam tourna-ment in nearly 16 months. PAGE B7

SPORTSWEDNESDAY B7-11

At French Open, a First Step

Dolester Miles, whose coconut pecancake sets her apart, has been named thenation’s best pastry chef, but she isn’tmaking a big deal about it. PAGE D1

FOOD D1-8

Her Desserts Are Just the Best

Beppe Severgnini PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

Late EditionToday, mixed clouds and sunshine,cooler, high 75. Tonight, mostlycloudy, low 60. Tomorrow, variablycloudy, a few showers in the area,high 70. Weather map, Page A24.

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