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The Federal Reserve held interbank lending rates steady on Wednesday at a range of 4.25 to 4.5 percent despite some signs that the economy may be heading for a slowdown. The decision to keep rates where they are was in line with market expectations. The CME FedWatch prediction algorithm based on futures contract prices registered Wednesday a 99 percent probability that the Fed would hold rates steady. The Fed has paused rate cuts for the second straight meeting since January. The central bank cut rates three times during the end of 2024 in response to weakening employment data and easing...

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. firms are buying cobalt metal produced in Indonesia by China's Lygend Resources that does not incur the tariffs placed by the Trump administration on imports direct from China, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed extra import tariffs on Chinese goods since taking office in January, as well as placing levies on key trading partner Canada, another key source of cobalt, used in aerospace, for the U.S. Lygend's cobalt metal production in Indonesia pre-dates the latest tariffs, industry sources say, with cobalt produced by the group in the...

"One of the nastiest countries to deal with is Canada. Now, this was Trudeau — good old Justin. I call him 'Governor Trudeau.' His people were nasty and they weren't telling the truth," the Republican leader told Fox News host Laura Ingraham during an interview. When Ingraham suggested that Trump's policies could benefit the Carney-led Liberal Party's electoral prospects - Canada is to hold federal polls by October - the latter responded that it would be easier to work with the Liberals than the Conservatives, Canada's main opposition party which has consistently led opinion polls. "I don't care. I think...

You see, at first, when someone says, 'Let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports,' it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs. And sometimes for a short while it works – but only for a short time. What eventually occurs is: First, homegrown industries start relying on government protection in the form of high tariffs. They stop competing and stop making the innovative management and technological changes they need to succeed in world markets. And then, while all this is going on, something even worse occurs. High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries...

An iconic 354-year-old Canadian retailer is going out of business and shutting down all of its stores. And it's pointing the finger at America and the ongoing tariff war. Hudson’s Bay, a retailer and an anchor to dozens of malls across Canada, is preparing for an 'immediate' liquidation after failing to secure enough money to stay afloat. Clearance sales will begin as early as next week at all 80 Hudson’s Bay locations, as well as three Saks Fifth Avenue and 12 Saks Off 5th stores it operates in Canada. Hudson’s Bay blames its collapse on sluggish consumer spending, post-pandemic declines...

The European Union has reacted swiftly to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports that came into effect Wednesday, retaliating with its own punitive countermeasures that it said were needed to protect consumers and businesses. The White House confirmed the duties — which will affect Canada, Australia, the EU and others — late Tuesday, but said that Trump no longer planned to raise tariffs on metals from Canada to 50%. The EU responded swiftly, saying it would impose counter-tariffs on 26 billion euros ($28.33 billion) worth of U.S. goods starting in April. European Commission President Ursula...

When the U.S. was attacked by Al Qaeda on September 11, 2001, Brazil’s president at the time, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, immediately invoked the Rio Treaty – a pillar of the Inter-American system upon which the Organization of American States was founded. It has a simple and important premise: if any member country in the Americas is attacked militarily by an outside force, that constitutes an attack on all member states. Brazil stood firmly by the United States after the 9/11 attacks. But times have changed. President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim is now attempting to remove...

Donald Trump’s tariff policies remain a lightning rod for debate. Democrats are sounding the alarm, warning of dire economic fallout and painting a picture of looming catastrophe. Batya Ungar-Sargon, deputy opinion editor of Newsweek, made one of the strongest, most effective cases yet for former President Donald Trump’s tariffs during the latest episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher.” She broke down exactly why these tariffs are necessary, and by the end, she left Bill Maher flustered. Ungar-Sargon’s explanation couldn’t have been clearer: manufacturing jobs and economic nationalism are crucial for the American middle class. When the conversation turned to...

p class="a9d-pre">If you’re looking for an explanation of why the stock market has been stumbling, the financial press has a ready-made answer: blame Trump’s tariffs. The claim is familiar, convenient, and utterly predictable. It also happens to be wrong. Markets don’t move in neat response to political narratives, and the idea that investors suddenly woke up to the perils of trade policy months after Trump was elected is as laughable as it is lazy.If the press had a better explanation, they’d use it—so long as it made President Trump look bad. Instead, they’re dusting off the same script they used...

that, because they drive up prices, which makes manufacturers and consumers very sad. However, I’m not worried (I’ll explain why) and Michael Lind is even less worried (and he does a great job of explaining why ). I won’t rehash all of Trump’s tariff actions here. I’ll just make three points that are why I’m sanguine about what he’s doing: First, Trump’s focus in pushing tariffs isn’t to benefit specific industries at home, although he certainly hopes they will benefit. That’s been the traditional approach to tariffs. Trump, instead, is using tariffs as a non-military cudgel against foreign nations that...

Victor Davis Hanson explains the strategy of using tariffs against Mexico to stop the spread of fentanyl and U.S. money going to cartels. From The Daily Signal's 'Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words' series: VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Donald Trump has threatened all sorts of trade sanctions on Mexico at 25% tariff, but why is he doing this? And I think the answer is there's four things that Mexico knows it has been doing to us with impunity, especially under Joe Biden, that are not sustainable. The first, it used to run under NAFTA, 10 to $20 billion trade surplus....

We aren’t fans of the trade war, but blaming Trump (as the media and the Left are doing) ignores one key point: He’s right that other countries impose outrageous tariffs on American exports. Is there a path to reciprocal low or zero rates? We wouldn’t count Trump out. One idea we like would be to start immediately with a zero-zero trade agreement with Argentina, which Javier Milei is reportedly interested in. That would knock our trading partners off their high horse.

Vietnam is reviewing its duties on U.S. goods, including on liquefied natural gas, agriculture and high-tech products, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told the U.S. ambassador to the country, a report on the government's website said. The Southeast Asian industrial hub, which is heavily reliant on exports to the United States and has a large trade surplus with Washington, is scrambling to avoid reciprocal tariffs that the Trump administration has threatened globally to reduce America's trade deficit. Chinh said "relevant ministries, sectors and agencies are actively reviewing import tariffs on goods from the United States, encouraging increased imports of key...

Audie Cornish wants Trump's tariffs cast in the most negative possible light. On today's CNN This Morning, host Cornish played a clip of a plain-spoken Iowa soybean farmer saying, "You know, it's just a p---ing match, you know? And nobody's going to win." The p-word was muted but it's clear what he said. A bit later, when panelist Kevin Frey [a Spectrum News reporter] launched an earnest, factual description of the effects of tariffs, Cornish eventually cut him off, saying: "We just got a deep dive into commodities from you, which, you know, I like it. You're bringing some good...

TORONTO (AP) — The premier of Canada’s most populous province said Tuesday he was suspending the 25% surcharge that Ontario imposed earlier this week on electricity exports to the United States after speaking with the U.S. Commerce Secretary and agreeing to meet with him in Washington. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have agreed to meet on Thursday to “discuss a renewed” United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline. “They call you and they hand over an olive branch, the worst thing I could do as premier of...

The European Union is reportedly seeking to put pressure specifically on Republican-controlled states as it enacts so-called retaliatory tariff measures on American businesses amid the trade war with the Trump administration.As an order from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose global 25 per cent tariffs on aluminium and steel products, which are expected to impact an estimated €26 ($28) billion worth of EU exports to America, Brussels announced on Wednesday a package of countermeasures covering about the same in American exports to the bloc.According to the Associated Press, EU officials admitted that their tariffs would be “aimed at products made...

Former Trump Senior Economic Adviser Stephen Moore told Newsmax on Wednesday that the United States might be in for "a little rough sledding" over the next few weeks, when it comes to President Donald Trump's tariffs, but they will ultimately bring about "freer and fairer trade." "I'm an old-fashioned free trade guy and I've always believed in the kind of [former President Ronald] Reagan vision that North America should be one big free-trade zone," Moore said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "Trump did negotiate a good trade deal in his first term, the [United States-Mexico-Canada] free trade deal, so I'd...

Years ago, Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, was roundly condemned for shutting off energy exports to Ukraine and much of Europe in the dead of winter over payment disputes. I recall reading that someone in Serbia, which got its energy from pipelines from Ukraine, froze to death. Putin was unmoved. Then, after full blown war was declared in 2014, Putin went for electricity shutoffs, in 2015, and in the past year, through cyberattacks on the country's grid. It was terrible for Ukraine, which had to scramble for alternative suppliers as well as turn to its nuclear reactors to get what it...

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears on CBS News to outline how the MAGAnomic tariff program immediately creates positive outcomes when President Trump identifies the specific targets.As Lutnick appropriately notes, the EU has received one-way tariff benefit since the creation of the Marshal Plan in 1945. President Trump is on track to finally end this exfiltration of American wealth. Lutnick cuts through the nonsense and delivers a very non-pretending reality as he outlines how Canada doesn’t stop fentanyl, and Mexico doesn’t stop migration caravans.This is an excellent explanatory outline of how President Trump paints the target, then Commerce Secretary Lutnick supports...

Investors are trying to make sense of President Trump's willingness to shrug off market losses in recent days. A review of the president's commentary suggests perhaps a simple answer: He just cares more about tariffs during his second go-around in the White House so far. "Markets are going to go up, and they're going to go down, but you know what: We have to rebuild our country," he said Tuesday afternoon in a trade-focused refrain that the president has sharpened in recent days even as market pressure has mounted. And the economic fallout is clearly in evidence with markets in...