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GENEVA (AP) — With the normally brisk Easter season around the corner, the mood in Switzerland’s chocolate business is bittersweet, thanks to high cacao prices and — now — the newly added U.S. tariffs on imports.

Many Swiss, from the government to chocolatiers to watchmakers and other businesses, are sensing “shock” over the tougher American position on trade, but many are also taking a wait-and-see stance.

At the Festichoc chocolate festival in Geneva over the weekend, the Trump administration tariffs announced last week were on many minds, though they seemed to do little to sour the mood on Switzerland’s most famous sweets.

Julie Jammes, marketing manager for Canonica, a Geneva chocolatier with three stores in San Francisco, said her company hasn't yet made any decision on what actions might be taken. “We’re waiting a little longer, but it’s clearly a shock for us," Jammes said.

That meshes with Switzerland’s overall approach: Despite hefty 31% U.S. tariffs slapped on Swiss goods -- well more than the 20% faced by exports from European Union – the government in Bern is taking a cautious approach for now. But it has warned of the impact on crucial Swiss industries like watches, coffee capsules, cheese and chocolate.

“An increase in trade tensions is not in Switzerland’s interests. Countermeasures against US tariff increases would entail costs for the Swiss economy, in particular by making imports from the USA more expensive,” the government said last week, adding that the executive branch “is therefore not planning to impose any countermeasures at the present time.”

The government said Swiss exports to the United States on Saturday were subject to an additional 10% tariff, and another another 21% beginning Wednesday.

The United States is Switzerland’s second-biggest trading partner after the EU – a 27-member-country bloc that nearly surrounds the wealthy Alpine country of more than 9 million – and U.S.-Swiss trade in goods and services has quadrupled over the last two decades, the government said.

The Swiss government said Switzerland abolished all industrial tariffs on Jan. 1 last year, meaning that 99% of all goods from the United States can be imported into Switzerland duty-free.

The atmosphere remained bubbly at Festichoc, where eager shoppers nibbled chocolate squares and ogled at chocolate Easter bunny and egg sculptures at the annual gathering in the Geneva town of Versoix.

Jammes, of Canonica, expressed hope that the “loyal clientele” in the United States would remain faithful, but she said “I put myself in the consumer’s shoes” and realized a pocketbook pinch might dissuade many shoppers.

“I don’t see why I would pay $45 tomorrow for a box (of chocolates) that I’d pay $30 for today,” she said Saturday. “It’s still a very complicated issue.”

The Swiss chocolate industry association Chocosuisse has expressed its disappointment over the Trump tariffs, even though it can still count on the domestic market: The Swiss are among the world's top consumers of chocolate, scarfing down more than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) per year.

“It is completely incomprehensible that Switzerland is targeted by these tariffs,” Chocosuisse said, adding that it was taking the situation “very seriously” and decried how the U.S measure “hits our businesses hard and represents a heavy burden that will weigh on exports to the United States.”

Philippe Pascoet, a chocolatier from Geneva, lamented a sharp increase in cocoa prices over the last six months, and said the U.S. market has always been tricky for smaller producers.

“Trump now has wanted to impose taxes on imported products. But it has always been complicated to send chocolate to the United States, just for sanitary reasons," he said. "They want to control what is imported into their country. So even people who used to order chocolate from us online often found it blocked at customs.”

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Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this report.

LONDON (AP) — Apple is fighting a British government order for the iPhone maker to provide so-called backdoor access to its encrypted cloud storage service, a U.K. court confirmed on Monday.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal revealed the legal battle when it rejected a bid by Britain's Home Office to have the case heard in private.

Apple had said in February that it would stop offering its end-to-end encryption feature for British users after the government reportedly issued the demand, which raised fears of electronic spying by national security officials.

British media, citing unnamed sources, later reported that Apple was appealing the order but neither the company nor the British government have commented on the dispute.

The tribunal dismissed the Home Office's argument that the case should be held in secret, saying "bare details" such as the existence of the case and identities of the parties involved could be disclosed.

“We do not accept that the revelation of the bare details of the case would be damaging to the public interest or prejudicial to national security," two judges said, according to a summary of the ruling posted online.

British media organizations and civil liberty groups had asked the tribunal not to hold the case behind closed doors.

Apple declined to comment and referred inquiries to an earlier statement saying it was withdrawing its security option for users in the United Kingdom.

The feature, which has been available since 2022 and which users must opt in to, protects iCloud files, photos, notes and other data with end-to-end encryption when they’re stored in the cloud.

The dispute surfaced after the Washington Post reported, citing anonymous sources, that British security officials had issued the U.S. tech giant with a secret order requiring the creation of so-called backdoor access to view fully encrypted material.

The newspaper said the British government served Apple with what’s known as a “technical capability notice” ordering it to provide access under a sweeping law called the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which has been dubbed the Snoopers’ Charter.

The Home Office said in a statement that it does not comment on legal proceedings. “Nor do we comment on operational matters, including confirming or denying the existence of individual notices.”

The dispute has caught the attention of U.S. officials. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard wrote to members of Congress saying she has serious concerns about demand because it would violate Americans’ rights and raise concerns about a foreign government pressuring a U.S.-based technology company.

NEW YORK (AP) —

The huge swings rocking Wall Street and the global economy may feel far from normal. But, for investing at least, drops of this size have happened throughout history.

Stomaching them is the price investors have had to pay in order to get the bigger returns that stocks can offer over other investments in the long term. Here's a glimpse at what's behind the market's wild moves and what experts advise investors young and old to consider:

Wall Street's main benchmark, the S&P 500, has lost more than 16% since setting an all-time high on Feb. 19, mostly because of worries about President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Any kind of uncertainty around the economy will give Wall Street pause, but the trade war is making it more difficult for companies, households and others to feel confident enough to invest, spend and make long-term plans.

The tariffs announced on “Liberation Day” sent stocks reeling to their worst day since since the COVID crash of 2020 because they were much harsher than investors had been expecting. They also raised the fear that Trump may push through with them to win long-term gains, such as more manufacturing jobs in the United States.

The hope among investors had been that Trump was using tariffs merely as a bargaining chip to win concessions from other countries. Some big names on Wall Street still think that's the case, and a moderation of tariffs would help stocks recover, but it's less of a certainty now.

Regularly enough. The S&P 500 has seen declines of at least 10% every year or so. Often, experts view them as a culling of optimism that can otherwise run overboard, driving stock prices too high.

Before this recent downswing, many critics were saying the U.S. stock market was too expensive after prices rose faster than corporate profits. They also pointed to how only a handful of companies drove so much of the market's returns. A group of just seven Big Tech companies accounted for more than half of the S&P 500's total return last year, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Anytime an investor sees they’re losing money, it feels bad. This recent run feels particularly unnerving because of how incredibly calm the market had previously been. The S&P 500 is coming off a second straight year where it shot up by more than 20%, the first time that's happened since baggy pants were last in style before the millennium.

Selling may offer some feeling of relief. But it also locks in losses and prevents the chance of making the money back over time. Historically, the S&P 500 has come back from every one of its downturns to eventually make investors whole again. That includes after the Great Depression, the dot-com bust and the 2020 COVID crash.

Some recoveries take longer than others, but experts often recommend not putting money into stocks that you can't afford to lose for several years, up to 10. Emergency funds, for things like home repairs or medical bills, should not be invested in stocks.

“Data has shown, historically, that no one can time the market,” said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of WalletHub. “No one can consistently figure out the best time to buy and sell.”

For years, the U.S. stock market was the best by far to invest in worldwide. Now, more investors are questioning wither U.S. exceptionalism is dead.

But it could all be a reminder that investors often do best when they have a mixed set of investments rather than going all-in on just a few. And investors may no longer be as diversified as they thought after years of sheer dominance by the Magnificent Seven over the U.S. stock market and by Wall Street over global markets.

“It is hard to roll with the punches when some days you feel like your portfolio is being pummeled,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “But those moments should pass. A diversified strategy that is thoughtfully adapting to changing circumstances can’t prevent the punches, but it can help soften the blows.”

Phil Battin, CEO of Ambassador Wealth Management, advises investors to make sure they diversify their investments across regions and sectors to reduce risk. He says to lean towards “resilient sectors such as consumer staples, utilities and health care, which are less reliant on international trade.”

The proliferation of online trading platforms and the ease of smartphones has helped create a new generation of investors who may not be used to such volatility.

But the good news is younger investors often have the gift of time. With decades to go until retirement, they can afford to ride the waves and let their stock portfolios hopefully recover before compounding and eventually growing even bigger.

Stephen Kates, financial analyst at Bankrate, says “now is not the time to make emotional decisions.” Young investors should “re-anchor to your (long-term) goals,” and consider using a financial advisor to help navigate uncertain times. “Investors with ample time to stay invested should remember how lucrative patience has been over the last 15 years,” Kates said.

Older investors have less time than younger ones to allow their investments to bounce back. But even in retirement, some people will need their investments to last 30 years or more, said Niladri “Neel” Mukherjee, chief investment officer of TIAA Wealth Management.

People who have already retired may want to cut back on spending and withdrawals after sharp market downturns, because bigger withdrawals will remove more potential compounding ability in the future. But even retirees, at least in the early part of retirement, should still be invested in stocks to prepare for the possibility of decades of spending ahead.

“You may want to slow that down and pick that back up once the market recovers,” Mukherjee said, “but it all comes down to having that conversation with your adviser and your portfolio manager.”

No one knows, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Even as he grows older, Microsoft founder Bill Gates still fondly remembers the catalytic computer code he wrote 50 years ago that opened up a new frontier in technology.

Although the code that Gates printed out on a teletype machine may look crude compared to what's powering today's artificial intelligence platforms, it played a critical role in creating Microsoft in April 1975 — a golden anniversary that the Redmond, Washington, company will celebrate on Friday.

Gates, 69, set the stage for that jubilee with a blog post reminiscing on how he and his old high school friend — the late Paul Allen — scrambled to create the world's first “software factory” after reading an article in the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics magazine about the Altair 8800, a minicomputer that would be powered by a tiny chip made by the then-obscure technology company, Intel.

The article inspired Gates, who was just a freshman at Harvard University, and Allen to call Altair's maker, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, and promise the company's CEO Ed Roberts they had developed software that would enable consumers to control the hardware. There was just one hitch: Gates and Allen hadn't yet come up with the code they promised Roberts.

Gates and Allen tackled the challenge by latching onto the BASIC computer language that had been developed in 1964 at Dartmouth College, but they still had to figure out a way to make the technology compatible with the forthcoming Altair computer, even though they didn't even have a prototype of the machine.

After spending two months working on the program with little sleep, Gates finished the code that became the basis for the Altair's first operating system. “That code remains the coolest I’ve ever written,” Gates wrote in his blog post, which includes an option to download the original program.

The code would go on to provide the foundation for a business that would make personal computers a household staple, with a suite of software that include the Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs, as well as the Windows operating system that still powers most PCs today.

“That was the revolution,” Gates said of the code in a video accompanying his post. “That was the thing that ushered in personal computing.”

Gates' recollection of the code is part of a nostalgic kick that he has been on this year as he prepares to turn 70 in October.

The trip down memory lane included the February release of a memoir exploring his early years as an often-misunderstood child with few friends, and a hailing of the 25th anniversary of the philanthropic foundation he created after stepping down as Microsoft's CEO in 2000. The tech giant initially stumbled after Gates' departure but has been thriving under CEO Satya Nadella, and has amassed a market value of about $2.8 trillion.

In his memoir, Gates also reflected on his tempestuous relationship with fellow PC pioneer, the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, whose company will be celebrating its golden anniversary next year.

“Fifty years is a long time,” said Gates, whose personal fortune is estimated at $108 billion. “It’s crazy that the dream came true.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s expansive new tariffs reverse a decades-long global trend of lower trade barriers and are likely, economists say, to raise prices for Americans by thousands of dollars each year while sharply slowing the U.S. economy.

The White House is gambling that other countries will also suffer enough pain that they will open up their economies to more American exports, leading to negotiations that would reduce the tariffs imposed Wednesday.

Or, the White House hopes, companies will reverse their moves toward global supply chains and bring more production to the United States to avoid higher import taxes.

But a key question for the Trump administration will be how Americans react to the tariffs. If prices rise noticeably and jobs are lost, voters could turn against the duties and make it harder to keep them in place for the time needed to encourage companies to return to the U.S.

The Yale Budget Lab estimates the Trump administration's tariffs would cost the average household $3,800 in higher prices this year. That includes the 10% universal tariff plus much higher tariffs on about 60 countries announced Wednesday, as well as previous import taxes on steel, aluminum and cars. Inflation could top 4% this year, from 2.8% currently, while the economy may barely grow, according to estimates by Nationwide Financial.

Investors turned thumbs-down on the new duties Thursday, with the S&P 500 index dropping 4.8% at the close of trading, its worst day since the pandemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 1,600 points.

Still, Trump was upbeat Thursday when asked about the stock market drop.

“I think it’s going very well,” he said. “We have an operation, like when a patient gets operated on and it’s a big thing. I said this would exactly be the way it is."

The average U.S. tariff could rise to nearly 25% when the tariffs are fully implemented April 9, economists estimate, higher than in more than a century, and higher than the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs that are widely blamed for worsening the Great Depression.

“The president just announced the de facto separation of the U.S. economy from the global economy,” said Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Relations. “The stage is set for higher prices and slower growth over the long term."

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick argued the policies will help open markets overseas for U.S. exports.

“I expect most countries to start to really examine their trade policy towards the United States of America, and stop picking on us,” he said on CNBC Thursday. ”This is the reordering of fair trade.”

Bob Lehmann, 73, who stopped by a Best Buy in Portland, Oregon, Wednesday opposed the tariffs. “They’re going to raise prices and cause people to pay more for daily living,” he said.

Mathew Hall, a 64-year-old paint contractor, called the tariffs a “great idea” and said potential price increases in the short term were worth it.

“I believe in the long term, it’s going to be good,” he said, adding that he felt the U.S. had been taken advantage of.

But a former trade official from Trump’s first term, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk candidly about the impact, suggested that Americans, including those who voted for Trump, may have difficulty accepting the stiff duties.

Americans “have never faced tariffs like this,” the former official said Thursday. “The downstream impact on clothing and shoe stores, it’s going to be pretty significant. So we’ll have to see how the Trump voters view this ... and how long their support for these policies goes.”

On Thursday, automaker Stellantis, which owns the Jeep, Citroen and Ram brands, said it would temporarily halt production at plants in Canada and Mexico in response to Trump's 25% tax on imported cars. The reduced output means the company is temporarily laying off 900 workers at plants in Michigan and Indiana.

Some exporters overseas may cut their prices to offset some of the tariffs, and U.S. retailers could eat some of the cost as well. But most economists expect much of the tariffs to bring higher prices.

The tariffs will hit many Asian countries hard, with duties on Vietnamese imports rising to 46% and on Indonesia to 32%. Tariffs on some Chinese imports will be as high as 79%. Those three countries are the top sources of U.S. shoe imports, with Nike making about half its shoes last year and one-third of its clothes in Vietnam.

The Yale Budget Lab estimates all Trump’s tariffs this year will push clothing prices 17% higher.

On Thursday, the Home Furnishings Association, which represents more than 13,000 U.S. furniture stores, predicted the tariffs will increase prices between 10% and 46%. Vietnam and China are the top furniture exporters to the U.S.

It said manufacturers in Asia are offsetting some of the costs by discounting their products and lowering ocean freight rates, but that won't be enough to avoid price hikes. Even domestically made furniture often relies on imported components.

“While many in the industry support the long-term goal of reshoring manufacturing, the reality is that it will take at least a decade to scale domestic production,” Home Furnishings Association CEO Shannon Williams said in a statement. “Permitting, training a skilled workforce and managing the higher costs of U.S. manufacturing are significant hurdles.”

At Gethsemane Garden Center in Chicago, there are Canadian-grown tulip, daffodil and hyacinth bulbs, though only about 5% of center plants are imported. Thousands of lemon cypress trees from Canada are sold year-round and Canadian mums are sold in the fall.

Regas Chefas, whose family has owned Gethsemane for decades, says all the tariffs won't be passed onto customers.

“We’re going to absorb some of the increase. The growers will absorb some of the increases and then the customers will pay a little bit higher price,” he said.

The Consumer Brands Association, which represents Coca-Cola, General Mills, Nestle, Tyson and Del Monte as well as Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive, said its companies already make the majority of their goods in the U.S.

But there are critical ingredients and inputs — like wood pulp for toilet paper — that are imported because of scarce domestic availability. Cinnamon is harvested from trees that can’t survive in the U.S.. Domestic production of coffee and cocoa is also limited.

“We encourage President Trump and his trade advisers to fine-tune their approach and exempt key ingredients and inputs in order to protect manufacturing jobs and prevent unnecessary inflation at the grocery store,” said Tom Madrecki, the association’s vice president of supply chain resiliency.

Outside a Tractor Supply south of Denver, two family members on opposite sides of the political spectrum debated the tariffs.

Chris Theisen, a 62-year-old Republican, said: “I feel a good change coming on, I feel it’s going to be hard, but you don’t go to the gym and walk away and say, ’God, I feel great.”

Nayen Shakya, a Democrat and Theisen’s great nephew, said higher prices are already a hardship. At the restaurant where he works, menu prices have been raised to account for higher ingredient costs.

“It’s really easy sometimes to say some things in a vague way that everyone can agree with that is definitely more complex under the surface,” said Shakya. "The burden of the increased prices is already going to the consumer.”

Listening to his nephew, Theisen added: “I understand this side of it, too."

“I ain’t got no crystal ball. I hope it works out good.”

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AP Writers Paul Wiseman, Jesse Bedayn, Dee-Ann Durbin, and Claire Rush contributed to this report. Rush reported from Portland, Durbin from Detroit, and Bedayn from Colorado. AP Photographer Erin Hooley contributed from Chicago.