When President Trump announced last week that an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods would take effect on Tuesday, Logan Vanghele immediately called the logistics company that was handling a $120,000 shipment of aquarium products for his small business. The cargo was on a ship en route to Boston from China. His message was … Read more
When President Trump threatened tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China in January, saying those countries needed to do more to stop the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States, Canadian and Mexican officials raced to Washington, bearing charts and videos detailing their efforts to toughen their borders. Canada created a “fentanyl czar” and … Read more
President Trump on Saturday initiated an investigation into whether imports of lumber threaten America’s national security, a step that is likely to further inflame relations with Canada, the largest exporter of wood to the United States. The president directed his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, to carry out the investigation. The results of the inquiry could … Read more
President Trump has issued an unremitting stream of tariff threats in his first month in office, accompanied by nearly as many reasons for why they should go into effect. Tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China are a cudgel to force those countries, America’s largest trading partners, to crack down on the flow drugs and migrants … Read more
A Senate committee voted on Thursday to advance President Trump’s nominee as labor secretary to a full Senate vote, with some crossing of party lines — a reflection of intraparty divisions over organized labor. The nominee, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a former Republican congresswoman from Oregon, faced pointed questions at her confirmation hearing last week over her … Read more
President Trump’s tough talk on China typically centers on tariffs. But a closer look at the decisions he has made since taking office shows that the president is considering a far wider set of economic restrictions on Beijing, ones that could hasten America’s split from a critical trading partner. The Trump administration has so far … Read more
Fresh off the worst inflation shock in decades, Americans are once again bracing for higher prices. Expectations about future inflation have started to move up, according to metrics closely watched by officials at the Federal Reserve. So far, the data, including a consumer survey from the University of Michigan and market-based measures of investors’ expectations, … Read more
In news about the Trump administration’s job-slashing effort, one class of federal workers comes up repeatedly: “probationary” employees. At the Internal Revenue Service, 6,700 people with that status are being let go. At the Department of Health and Human Services, reports indicated the total could be 5,200. The Pentagon announced last week it would terminate … Read more
Friedrich Merz and his center-right Christian Democrats emerged victorious in Germany’s election on Sunday, but the celebrations may be short. The next government, almost certainly led by Mr. Merz as chancellor, faces a stagnant economy, President Trump’s threat to put tariffs on the country’s crucial export industries, and a fourth year of war in Ukraine. … Read more
Even by Washington standards, the second Trump presidency has begun in frenetic fashion: mass firings at federal agencies, tariff threats against allies and foes alike, and haggling over how to get a Republican budget through a narrowly divided Congress. Business leaders and corporate investors are confident that things will turn out fine, at least for … Read more