MILAN (AP) — Overall World Cup skiing champion Federica Brignone was still smiling Friday despite the very real possibility that her Olympic dream could be over.
Barely 24 hours after breaking multiple bones in her left leg during a giant slalom crash, Brignone posted a photo from the hospital of her grinning and holding up two fingers in a victory sign.
Brignone underwent an operation at La Madonnina clinic in Milan on Thursday night after a crash at the Italian championships earlier in the day.
Surgeons found that she had also torn her ACL in a further setback for the 34-year-old Italian's hopes of competing at a home Olympics in 10 months. She was expected to be one of her country's stars of the Milan-Cortina Games.
“As usual, I do things big or I don’t do them!” Brignone wrote in an Instagram post. "This time I did it huge (negatively).
Brignone also thanked those who had treated her on the slope, as well as the surgeons and other medical staff, and her friends for “keeping me company and making me laugh.”
The Italian Winter Sports Federation described the surgery as a “complete success,” but said the “rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament was also highlighted” and would be evaluated in the coming weeks.
The Italian star was diagnosed with multiple fractures in her tibial plateau and fibula bone, the federation said.
Surgeons also made a “ligament repair of the medial compartment of the knee,” the federation's statement said late Thursday.
The operation was led by federation medical chief Andrea Panzeri.
Brignone was the race leader at the Lusia ski area in Val di Fassa but in her second run she crashed through a gate and lost control, prompting her to tumble and crash through the next gate, too. She was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Trento before being transferred to Milan.
Before the surgery, Panzeri had estimated that Brignone would be out for “months.”
“In the happiest moment of my career that was really the last thing I needed,” Italian news agency ANSA quoted Brignone as saying earlier Friday. “There was still a month of work ahead of me and I couldn’t wait to do it.
“Instead I will have to face a new challenge into which I will put my all, as always.”
Brignone, who won the giant slalom at the world championships in February, also won 10 World Cup races across three different disciplines (five giant slaloms, three super-Gs and two downhills) this season. At 34, she became the oldest woman to win a World Cup race.
One of those World Cup wins came in a super-G on the Olympia delle Tofane course in Cortina that will host women’s Alpine skiing at the Milan-Cortina Olympics next February — her first career victory at the venue.
“I am sure she will be back on the slopes, in a month – and I’m talking from experience – she will already feel better,” said Italian former skier Deborah Compagnoni, who won two of her three Olympic gold medals after a serious injury.
“She has grit and character, she’s a tiger, she knows how to fight, she will give her all to return and manage this period as best as possible. I had some wonderful races after my injuries, and I wish that for her too.”
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Italy's Federica Brignone speeds down the course during a giant slalom at the Italian championships in the Lusia ski area, in Val di Fassa, Italy, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Elvis Piazzi)
Italy's Federica Brignone is assisted before being flown by helicopter to an hospital, after she broke multiple bones in her left leg during a giant slalom crash at the Italian championships in the Lusia ski area, in Val di Fassa, Italy, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Elvis Piazzi)
Italy's Federica Brignone is carried away on a toboga after she broke multiple bones in her left leg during a giant slalom crash at the Italian championships in the Lusia ski area, in Val di Fassa, Italy, Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Elvis Piazzi)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump delivered another jarring reversal in American trade policy Wednesday, suspending for 90 days import taxes he’d imposed barely 13 hours earlier on dozens of countries while escalating his trade war with China. The moves triggered a powerful stock market rally on Wall Street but left businesses, investors and America’s trading partners bewildered about what the president is attempting to achieve.
The U-turn came after the sweeping global tariffs Trump announced last week set off a four-day route in global financial markets, paralyzed businesses and raised fears the U.S. and world economies would tumble into recession.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to characterize the sudden change in policy as part of a grand negotiating strategy. But to those outside the Trump administration, it looked like a cave-in to market pressure and to growing fears that the president’s impetuous use of import taxes — tariffs — would cause massive collateral economic damage.
“Other countries will welcome the 90-day stay of execution — if it lasts — but the whiplash from constant zig-zags creates more of the uncertainty that businesses and governments hate,” said Daniel Russel, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “The Administration’s blunt-force tactics have rattled allies, who see the sudden reversal as damage control following the market meltdown, rather than a pivot to respectful, balanced negotiations.’’
Trump’s turnaround Wednesday capped a wild week in U.S. trade policy. On Wednesday April 2 — which Trump labeled “Liberation Day’’ — the president announced plans to impose tariffs on almost every country on earth, upending the world trading system. The first of his new tariffs — a 10% “baseline’’ tax on imports from most countries — went into effect Saturday.
At midnight Wednesday, he upped the ante by slapping what he called “reciprocal’’ taxes on countries he accused of unfair trading practices and adding to U.S. trade deficits. Those are the tariffs he suspended for 90 days, saying the pause would give countries time to negotiate with him and his trade team.
There was one exception to the reprieve: He raised the tariff on Chinese imports to a staggering 125%, punishing Beijing for announcing retaliatory tariffs on the United States. Meanwhile, the 10% baseline tariffs – a substantial act of protectionism in their own right – remain in place.
Trump’s ever-changing trade war tactics — which include earlier levies on cars, steel and aluminum, and Mexico and Canada — have already done damage, forcing dazed companies to delay or cancel plans as they tried to figure out what Trump was doing and how they should respond.
Some companies temporarily laid off workers after Trump’s widespread tariffs were announced, while there were signs that many firms held off on hiring amid the widespread uncertainty the tariffs created.
Carmaker Stellantis temporarily cut 900 jobs at factories in Michigan and Indiana after production was halted at two plants in Canada and Mexico in the wake of Trump's 25% duties on imported cars.
And Cleveland-Cliffs laid off 1,200 workers at a factory in Michigan and an iron ore mine in Minnesota in response to a drop in demand from auto companies. Cleveland-Cliffs said it would resume production at the two facilities once auto production returned to the U.S.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s March 18-19 meeting, released Wednesday, showed that many of its policymakers said that their business contacts “reported pausing hiring decisions because of elevated policy uncertainty."
And Delta Air Lines said earlier Wednesday that demand for domestic leisure trips and corporate travel has stalled because of the uncertainty around global trade. In a conference call with investors, the company said it was cutting capacity. It also declined to provide a full-year financial forecast.
“Right now, it’s hard to know how this is going to play out, given that this is somewhat self-imposed,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. “I’m hopeful that sanity will prevail and we’ll move through this period of time on the global trade front relatively quickly.”
Businesses have sought greater clarity around Trump's ultimate tariff policies for weeks. It's not clear that the 90-day pause has reduced their uncertainty.
Jeff Jaisli, CEO of the New Jersey-based importer/exporter Jagro, said Trump’s Truth Social post on Wednesday had made things “even worse’’ and more confusing. He was trying to figure out which tariffs applied to which countries.
“We’re scrambling to find correct information and procedures for entries we’re processing NOW in real time,’’ he said by email. He could find no guidance on the websites of the White House or the Customs and Border Protection agency, which collects tariffs. Earlier, Jaisli called Trump's tariffs "a grenade that was thrown into the room that’s going to cause chaos.''
Trump's tariffs have set off a tit-for-tat trade war with China, the world's second-biggest economy. Even before Trump upped his taxes on China to 125%, the Chinese had set their own tariffs on the United States at 84%.
The World Trade Organization's director-general, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, warned that the rising tension could reduce U.S.-China merchandise trade by 80% and "severely damage the global economic outlook.”
“Of particular concern is the potential fragmentation of global trade along geopolitical lines,” she wrote in a statement late Wednesday. “A division of the global economy into two blocs could lead to a long-term reduction in global real GDP by nearly 7%.”
Citing WTO projections, she warned the negative effects could ripple through to other economies, especially developing ones. She urged countries to ensure an open global trading system and resolve differences through cooperation.
Meanwhile, U.S. companies struggled to figure out how to respond to huge levies on Chinese products they'd come to rely on.
Jessica Bettencourt is CEO of Klem’s, a third-generation store in Spencer, Massachusetts that sells everything from lawn and garden items to workwear and gifts. She said that the escalation of tariffs from China have made her stop ordering any new fourth-quarter product that is holiday, gifts or toys. She is also reconsidering any fall apparel and footwear orders that aren’t already placed.
“The worst thing is uncertainty and we have massive uncertainty,” said Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis Groupe, a global marketing and communications company. “No one can make any moves. Everybody is trying to save as much cash and defer any unnecessary expense. People are getting laid off. Orders are getting cancelled. Expansion plans are being put on hold.”
Robert Bumsted and Anne D'Innocenzio in New York, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this story.
People walk past the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, April 7, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
James Lamb works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The YM Uniform container ship is docked at the Port of Los Angeles Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Truck await to load shipping containers at the Port of Los Angeles Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
