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Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the United States that supplies of long-range missiles to Ukraine will seriously damage relations between Moscow and Washington but will not change the situation on the battlefield. At the same time, Putin hailed U.S.…
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By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV – Associated Press
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TOKYO — Japan’s chief trade negotiator has defended a tariffs deal with the U.S., expressing respect for President Donald Trump and calling him a “tough negotiator.”
Trade envoy Ryosei Akazawa noted that the pact setting on most Japanese exports to the U.S. at 15% was comparable to a deal between Washington and the European Union. Unlike the EU, Japan did not have to lower its tariffs on U.S. goods, he noted.
Japan has also committed to investing $550 billion in U.S. projects.
Trump initially set Japan’s tariff rate to increase by 25%.
Critics in Japan had ridiculed Akazawa’s repeated trips to the U.S. to work toward a deal as a waste of taxpayer money, saying he should pitch a tent on the White House lawn.
Akazawa said talks with his counterpart, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trump and others in his administration were tense at first. By the time of his eighth trip, a rapport was established enabling the two sides to set an agreement by July.
“President Trump was a tough negotiator, but I kept insisting, and he would listen graciously. I have all the respect for him,” he told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. “It was a good round of negotiations.”
“It goes without saying that, with any government negotiations, there will always be someone who says Japan lost out, no matter what,” Akazawa said.
The double-digit tariffs Trump has imposed on imports from various nations were a bitter blow to Japan, a key U.S. ally in Asia. Tokyo especially objected to 25% tariffs Trump ordered for imports of steel and aluminum and automobiles.
Japan’s economy depends heavily on exports. Shipments to the United States sank nearly 14% in August compared to a year earlier, the fifth straight month of declines, as auto exports were dented by the tariffs.
U.S. tariffs on Japanese automobiles and auto parts are now set at 15%, way higher than the original 2.5%. Japanese automakers also produce many of the vehicles they sell in the U.S. in North America.
The friction with the U.S. over tariffs was an added burden for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s administration. He is due to be replaced as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party later this week.
The Liberal Democrats have ruled Japan almost continuously since the 1950s but they have lost their majority in the lower house, which chooses the prime minister, and will need coalition partners.
Akazawa brushed off concerns the U.S. understanding of the deal may differ from Japan’s. He said whoever becomes a next prime minister, Japan has an established tradition of respecting agreements, especially those forged with a foreign country.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
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SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico’s Democratic lawmakers were set to meet Wednesday to begin shoring up safety net spending in response to President Donald Trump’s recent cuts in a top state for participation in Medicaid and federal food assistance.
Legislators are seeking new food assistance spending, while Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is calling for a quick response to federal Medicaid and tax cuts signed by Trump. She wants to provide state grants that can stabilize health care services in rural areas where clinics and hospitals often rely heavily on Medicaid.
The governor also wants to expand state insurance subsidies on the Affordable Care Act exchange. Exchange subsidies are a sticking point in the federal budget standoff in Washington.
“We’re not going stand by while Washington abandons New Mexico families,” Lujan Grisham said Tuesday. “This special session is about protecting the people who need help most.”
Leading Democratic legislators also want to backfill federal spending cuts to public broadcasting. New Mexico could also become the latest state to break with the federal government on vaccine policy and recommendations.
Nearly one-fourth of New Mexico residents receive food assistance through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.
“It’s really the first line of defense. It’s not our only solution to food insecurity, but it’s a big one,” said Sovereign Hager, legal director at the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.
New Mexico legislators are considering a quick infusion of state spending on food assistance through SNAP, as well as support for food banks and distribution networks.
Trump plans to expand work and reporting requirements for SNAP participants, end eligibility for many noncitizens, and alter deductions.
Jasmin Jaquez of Sunland Park says SNAP changes are looming over her final year at New Mexico State University. She said she and her 7-year-old son rely on the program.
“It’s one big, huge help that’s getting me through college, and attending full-time,” she said.
Grants have been proposed to help services continue at rural health clinics and hospitals that rely heavily on Medicaid spending. Rural health care providers across the country are preparing to lose billions of dollars from Trump’s signature tax and spending cut bill signed into law this summer.
Trump’s bill sets aside $50 billion over five years for rural hospitals, providers and clinics — but that doesn’t offset significant cuts. The stakes are high in New Mexico, where about 38% of residents rely on Medicaid.
New Mexico may also expand subsidies toward the federal insurance exchange that covers about 75,000 state residents.
Democratic House Speaker Javier Martínez of Albuquerque acknowledges that many federal health care changes don’t kick in until 2027 or later, but says that funds for rural health care and to offset other cuts are urgent.
New Mexico expects to lose about $200 million annually because of new federal tax cuts, but starting this fiscal year, it still has a large surplus thanks to booming oil production.
Many Democratic-led states have begun making their own recommendations for who should be vaccinated for seasonal respiratory viruses, including the flu and COVID-19, saying the Trump administration has jeopardized public health by politicizing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New Mexico lawmakers are considering a similar shift to state standards for the immunization of children and adults.
Changes are needed for access, consistency on childhood vaccines and to give the state’s health department flexibility so that residents can have options, said Democratic state Sen. Majority Leader Peter Wirth of Santa Fe.
New Mexico legislators are considering spending millions of dollars for public broadcasters in television and radio as federal funds dry up.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which finances NPR and PBS, has announced its closure after being defunded by Congress. Trump also signed federal legislation in July that rescinds more than $1 billion earmarked for public broadcasters.
The claw-back sent shock waves through at least 13 public public radio and television broadcasters across New Mexico, said Franz Joachim, General Manager at New Mexico PBS.
“We no longer had two years to figure out how to survive, we had two months,” said Joachim, who oversees a staff of 50.
Small public radio stations serving remote areas of the country, often beyond internet or cell service, are confronting an uncertain future. Many, including five tribal radio stations in New Mexico, relied on community public service grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, said Loris Taylor, president of Native Public Media.
She warned of stark consequences for public safety initiatives, including the recent deployment of emergency broadcast alert systems for missing and murdered Indigenous people.
“They’re communication hubs, and they’re also safety hubs,” she said of New Mexico’s public radio stations. “What you want are informed citizens.”
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — U.S. House members visited North Carolina’s largest city on Monday to hear from family members of violent-crime victims who pleaded for tougher criminal justice policies in the wake of last month’s stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte commuter train.
A judiciary subcommittee meeting convened in Charlotte to listen to many speakers who described local court systems in North Carolina and South Carolina that they say have failed to protect the public and keep defendants in jail while awaiting trials.
The meeting was prompted by the Aug. 22 stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska on a light rail car and the resulting apprehension of a suspect who had been previously arrested more than a dozen times.
“The same system that failed Mary failed Iryna. Our hearts are broken for her family and her friends and we grieve with them,” Mia Alderman, the grandmother of 2020 murder victim Mary Santina Collins in Charlotte, told panelists. Alderman said defendants in her granddaughter’s case still haven’t been tried: “We need accountability. We need reform. We need to ensure that those accused of heinous crimes are swiftly prosecuted.”
A magistrate had allowed the commuter train defendant, Decarlos Brown Jr., to be released on a misdemeanor charge in January on a written promise to appear, without any bond. Now Brown is charged with both first-degree murder in state court and a federal count in connection with Zarutska’s death. Both crimes can be punishable by the death penalty.
Public outrage intensified with the release of security video showing the attack, leading to accusations from Republicans all the way to President Donald Trump that policies by Democratic leaders in Charlotte and statewide are more focused on helping criminals than victims. Democratic committee members argued that Republicans are the ones who have reduced crime-control funds or failed to provide funding for more district attorneys and mental health services.
“The hearing for me is not really about public safety,” Democratic Rep. Alma Adams, who represents most of Charlotte. “It’s about my colleagues trying to paint Democrats as soft on crime — and we’re not — and engaging in political theater, probably to score some headlines.”
Dena King, a former U.S. attorney for western North Carolina during Joe Biden’s administration, testified that Mecklenburg County, which includes Charlotte, needs dozens of additional prosecutors to cover a county of 1.2 million people. And a crime statistician said that rates of murder and violent crime are falling nationwide and in Charlotte after increases early in the 2020s.
Republicans, in turn, blasted Democratic members, saying additional funding wouldn’t have prevented the deaths of Zarutska or the other homicide victims highlighted Monday. And they attempted to question the crime figures as misleading.
“This is not time for politics. This is not time for any race. It’s not time of any party. It’s about a time of justice,” said GOP Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, representing in part Charlotte’s suburbs. He spoke while holding a poster of a screenshot of the video showing Zarutska and her attacker. Adams protested Norman’s use of the placard.
In response to Zarutska’s death, the Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature last week approved a criminal justice package that would bar cashless bail in many circumstances, limit the discretion magistrates and judges have in making pretrial release decisions and seek to ensure more defendants undergo mental health evaluations. The bill now sits on Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s desk for his consideration.
Committee Republicans also cited the need for more restrictive bail policies for magistrates and aggressive prosecutors not willing to drop charges for violent crimes.
Another speaker, Steve Federico, from suburban Charlotte, demanded justice for his 22-year-old daughter, Logan, who was shot to death in May at a home in Columbia, South Carolina, while visiting friends. The suspect charged in her killing had faced nearly 40 charges within the last decade, WIS-TV reported.
“I’’m not going to be quiet until somebody helps. Logan deserves to be heard,” Steve Federico told the representatives. “Everyone on this panel deserves to be heard. And we will — trust me.”
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Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Shares were mostly higher Monday in Asia after Wall Street broke its three-day losing streak, trimming its losses for last week.
China factory data are due out on Tuesday and a quarterly business sentiment survey by the Bank of Japan comes on Wednesday.
The next big event for Wall Street could be a looming shutdown of the U.S. government, with a deadline set for this week. But such political impasses have had limited impact on the market before.
U.S. jobs data also will be in the spotlight.
U.S. futures edged higher early Monday and oil prices fell.
Tokyo’s Nikkei was the regional outlier, giving up 1% to 44,892.52.
Chinese markets advanced, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong adding 1.5% to 26,518.03, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.1% to 3,832.65.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 8,545.70, while the Kospi in South Korea surged 1.3% to 3,430.57.
On Friday, U.S. stocks trimmed their losses for the week after a report showed that inflation is behaving roughly as economists expected, even if it’s still high.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 6,643.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7% to 46,247.29, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.4% to 22,484.07. All three indexes pulled closer to the all-time highs they set at the start of the week.
Stocks got some help from the report showing inflation in the United States accelerated to 2.7% last month from 2.6% in July, according to the measure of prices that the Federal Reserve likes to use. While that’s above the Fed’s 2% target, it was precisely what economists had forecast.
That offered some hope that the Fed could continue cutting interest rates in order to give the economy a boost. Without such cuts, growing criticism that stock prices have become too expensive by rising too quickly would become even more powerful.
The Fed just delivered its first rate cut of the year last week but is not promising more because they could worsen inflation.
Another report said sentiment among U.S. consumers was weaker than economists expected. The survey from the University of Michigan said consumers are frustrated with high prices, but their expectations for inflation over the coming 12 months also ticked down to 4.7% from 4.8%.
One factor threatening to push inflation higher, adding to consumer woes, is President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and he announced more late Thursday. They include taxes on imports of some pharmaceutical drugs, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, upholstered furniture and heavy trucks starting on Oct. 1.
Details were sparse about the coming tariffs, as is often the case with Trump’s pronouncements on his social media network. That left analysts unsure of their ultimate effects, and the announcement created ripples in the U.S. stock market instead of huge waves.
Paccar, the company based in Bellevue, Washington, that’s behind the market-dominant Peterbilt and Kenworth truck brands, revved 5.2% higher, for example.
Big U.S. pharmaceutical companies nudged higher. Eli Lilly rose 1.4%, and Pfizer added 0.7%.
In other trading early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 49 cents to $65.23 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, declined 42 cents to $68.80 per barrel.
Reports that the OPEC plus oil producing nations might raise their production limits next month have added to worries over oversupply, analysts said.
The U.S. dollar slipped to 148.93 Japanese yen from 149.51 yen. The euro rose to $1.1727 from $1.1703.
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WASHINGTON — Naturepedic, a mattress and furniture company based outside Cleveland, has been planning to introduce an upscale upholstered headboard late this year or early in 2026.
But President Donald Trump has thrown those plans into disarray. On Thursday night, the president announced on social media that he was slapping a 30% tax on imported upholstered furniture. Naturepedic ships its headboards in from India and Vietnam.
So what is the company to do?
“Do we continue forth … and hope for the best?’’ asked Arin Schultz, Naturepedic’s chief growth officer. “Or do we feel like we’re priced out and drop it altogether?’’ And if Naturepedic decides to continue with the rollout, “do we eat the cost or pass it on’’ to customers?
Across the United States, lots of executives were asking themselves similar questions as they came to work Friday morning.
Upholstered furniture, after all, wasn’t the only import in Trump’s crosshairs Thursday night. In addition, the president posted on his Truth Social platform, he’s plastering import taxes – tariffs – of 100% on pharmaceutical drugs, 50% on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities and 25% on heavy trucks.
And he’s not waiting around to do it. The tariffs, he said, would take effect Wednesday.
Trump also raised eyebrows by justifying the levy on vanities and sofas as necessary for national security. “It’s hard to see how a kitchen cabinet industry is essential to winning the next war,’’ said Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Thursday’s social media barrage was j ust the latest in Trump’s push to upend American trade policy, which for decades pushed for lower trade barriers around the world.
In place of an open market, Trump has built a tariff wall around the U.S. economy, slapping double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country on earth and targeting products (steel, aluminum, autos) with specific taxes of their own.
Trump says the tariffs will protect U.S. industries from foreign competition, encourage companies to bring production to the United States and raise money for the U.S. Treasury.
They certainly have become a moneymaker for the federal government. Since fiscal year 2025 began last Oct. 1, the U.S. Treasury has collected $172 billion in customs duties, up by $96 billion (or 126%) from the same period in fiscal 2024. Still, tariffs account for less than 4% of federal revenue.
Businesses, lawyers and trade analysts are still wondering what to make of Trump’s Thursday night tariffs. “We’ve only seen the President’s Truth Social posts,” said Dan McCarthy, principal in McCarthy Consulting and a former official with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in the Biden administration. “We need to see the details.’’
For example, Naturepedic isn’t sure whether the 30% levy on upholstered furniture will be stacked atop a separate and earlier 50% tariff on goods from India.
Here’s what we know so far:
The president has been threatening tariffs of 200% or more on pharmaceuticals. “It’s to force Big Pharma to move jobs and put new factories into the U.S,’’ said Barry Appleton, a senior fellow at the Center for International Law at New York Law School. “So it’s industrial policy.”
In recent decades, drugmakers have moved many operations overseas – to take advantage of lower costs in China and India and tax breaks in Ireland and Switzerland.
The COVID-19 experience – when countries were desperate to hang onto their own medicine and medical supplies — underscored the dangers of relying on foreign countries in a crisis, especially when a key supplier is America’s geopolitical rival China.
The stock prices of pharmaceutical companies actually rose after Trump’s announcement Thursday night. The 100% tariff was lower than it might have been. And Trump said the tariffs would not apply to companies “breaking ground” or being “under construction.”
Several big drugmakers like Merck & Co. Inc., Eli Lilly and Co. and Johnson & Johnson have already announced U.S. expansion plans.
In his tariff announcement, Trump did not mention generic drugs, which account for the vast majority of U.S. prescriptions.
Still, analysts warn, the tariffs are likely to mean higher prices. “The people who are punished the most are Americans who need the drugs so badly, especially those who don’t have full health care plans,” Appleton said. He called the tariff is a “simplistic but drastic” approach to a complicated problem. “We don’t know how it’s going to go, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to do well for consumers,” he said.
The tariffs on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and upholstered furniture come as the White House is investigating whether imports of lumber and other wood products pose a threat to U.S. national security. A report on that investigation is due Nov. 26 and could mean more and broader tariffs.
The levies are likely to hurt big furniture exporters China and Vietnam.
But they’re also likely to drive up the cost of new homes and apartments and of do-it-yourself redecorating projects.
Homeowners are already scaling back due to high costs and a shaky economy. According to the Labor Department, the price of living room, kitchen and dining room furniture has risen nearly 10% over the past year.
“Adding significant costs to furniture, cabinets, vanities and building materials will make the American dream of owning a home significantly more expensive,” said Jonathan Gold, the National Retail Federation’s vice president of supply chain and customs policy. “The speed at which these tariff announcements are made and implemented continues to wreak havoc on retail supply chains. The uncertainty makes it difficult for retailers to properly plan and mitigate the impact of tariffs.”
Charles Clevenger, a supply chain specialist at the consultancy UHY, said tariffs on pharmaceuticals make sense because so much production has shifted away from the United States to Europe and Asia. Likewise, North Carolina and other states in the American South have also lost furniture factories to cheaper competitors in the China.
But he was surprised by the tariffs on heavy trucks because “we do have a rather robust industry’’ – with manufacturers like Paccar (parent company of Peterbilt and Kenworth).
But Appleton at New York Law School suspects the tariff is aimed at Mexico, where many heavy trucks are made. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a trade deal negotiated in Trump’s first term, is coming up for negotiation. “I don’t think that (the tariff) was done by accident, Appleton said. “They wanted to put some more pressure onto the Mexicans” to make concessions in the talks.
Using Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Trump had launched investigations into whether imports of pharmaceuticals, lumber and heavy trucks posed a threat to U.S. national security.
He’d justified his broader tariffs another way: by declaring national emergencies under a 1977 law. But two courts have ruled that Trump overstepped his authority by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose import taxes. The Supreme Court is hearing the case on appeal.
Robert Lawrence, a professor of International trade and investment at Harvard University, said that using Section 232 gives the president a Plan B if the courts strike down his IEEPA tariffs. “He now has insurance and shows that he’s going to be able to get away with raising tariffs, even if he loses that case.”
But Ted Murphy, co-leader of the trade practice at the Sidley Austin law firm, said: “It’s hard to discern much of a plan … What the administration does is they identify a problem and then the solution is a big tariff. The question is whether that’s really as nuanced or strategic as it could be. There could be a strategy but it’s hard to discern from a tweet.’’
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Anderson reported from New York.
AP Health Writer Tom Murphy contributed to this story.
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Shares of some big drugmakers jumped ahead of broader indexes Friday as Wall Street started sorting out President Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcement.
The president said late Thursday that he would place 100% import taxes on pharmaceuticals starting Oct. 1, but those tariffs would not apply to companies building U.S. manufacturing plants. He defined that as either “breaking ground” or being “under construction.”
Several big drugmakers like Merck & Co. Inc., Eli Lilly and Co. and Johnson & Johnson have announced U.S. expansion plans.
Trump has talked about pharmaceutical tariffs for months, but he has said he would delay them for a year or a year and a half to give companies time to stockpile medicines here and shift manufacturing.
Analysts have said companies started stockpiling medicines in the U.S. earlier this year.
Jefferies analyst Akash Tewari said in a research note that Thursday’s announcement shouldn’t have a material impact on the big drugmakers, given their construction plans.
Brand-name drug companies also have fat profit margins that can provide some flexibility to make investments and absorb tariff costs. Manufacturers of cheaper generic drugs — which account for most U.S. prescriptions — do not. Researchers and patient advocates have worried about the impact of any tariffs on those companies.
David Risinger of Leerink Partners said smaller drugmakers also may be vulnerable to the new taxes, although he noted that it was hard to predict which ones.
He said several questions remain unanswered after Thursday’s announcement. Those include whether the action will survive legal challenges and how the phrases “breaking ground” and “under construction” are defined for tariff enforcement.
Risinger also questioned whether the new taxes might be a negotiating tactic tied to an investigation the administration launched in the spring over how importing drugs and their ingredients affects national security.
Shares of Merck and Lilly both climbed more than 1% Friday morning, while J&J’s stock rose slightly. The S&P 500 also edged slightly higher.
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BEIJING — China has opened an investigation into whether import tariffs being imposed by Mexico are a trade and investment barrier.
Mexico plans to impose taxes as high as 50% on more than 1,400 products from Asia to protect factories at home, which are facing stiff tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on exports to the United States.
A Chinese Commerce Ministry statement posted Thursday said the tariffs would harm the interests of affected countries.
“China believes that, against the backdrop of the current U.S. abuse of tariffs, all countries should jointly oppose all forms of unilateralism and protectionism and must not sacrifice the interests of third parties because of coercion,” the statement said.
The Commerce Ministry also announced Thursday that it was launching an anti-dumping investigation into pecans imported from Mexico and the United States.
Mexico has been under pressure from the Trump administration to limit Chinese imports, some of which the U.S. says use Mexico as a backdoor to the American market.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that the tariffs are not the result of U.S. pressure.
China will be the most affected as Mexico imported $130 billion worth of products from the country in 2024, second only to the what Mexico bought from the United States. Other countries hit will include South Korea, Thailand, India, Philippines and Indonesia.
It’s not clear if the investigation into the Mexican tariffs would result in any concrete steps against Mexico.
Under the regulation governing such investigations, a finding that a trade barrier exists can can lead to consultations with the other country, a settlement under a multilateral framework and other appropriate measures.
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s appointee to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors said Monday that the central bank’s key interest rate should be much lower than its current 4.1% level, staking out a position far different than his colleagues.
Stephen Miran, who is also a top economic adviser to Trump, said in remarks to the Economic Club of New York that sharp declines in immigration, rising tariff revenue, and an aging population all suggest that the Fed’s rate should be closer to 2.5% instead. According to projections released last week, that’s almost a full percentage point lower than any of his 18 colleagues on the Fed’s rate-setting committee, an unusually high divergence.
Miran’s comments underscore the different perspective he brings to the Fed’s deliberations over interest rate policy. His appointment has been controversial because he has kept his position as the head of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers while taking unpaid leave, raising concerns about the Fed’s traditional independence from day-to-day politics.
His term on the Fed’s board expires in January, and Miran has said he expects to return to the White House after that, and is keeping his position because his Fed term is so short. But he could remain on the board until a successor is appointed. There hasn’t been a member of the executive branch on the Fed’s board since the 1930s.
Concerns about the Fed’s independence are heightened because Trump has also repeatedly attacked Chair Jerome Powell and has called for the Fed to reduce its rate to as low as 1.2%. He he is now seeking to fire Lisa Cook, a Fed governor, who has fought her removal in the courts. It is the first time that a president has tried to fire a Fed governor.
So far, courts have ruled that Cook can keep her job while her suit seeking to overturn her firing is considered. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court.
During a question and answer session Monday, Miran said he would operate independently, and that Trump had not pushed him to follow any specific policy.
“At the end of the day, I make my own analysis based on my own understanding of economics and how the economy works,” Miran said. In his conversations with Trump, the president “never asked me to set policy in a specific way.”
In his speech, Miran said, “it should be clear that my view of appropriate monetary policy diverges from those of other” members of the committee. “I view policy as very restrictive,” he added, meaning that it is holding back the economy and “poses material risks” to the Fed’s congressional mandate of seeking maximum employment.
Miran said that fewer immigrants should free up more housing and lower rental costs, reducing inflationary pressures. And tariff revenues — which may top $300 billion a year, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates — should reduce the deficit, he added. Over time, that would mean the Fed doesn’t have to keep its benchmark interest rate as high as it is now to bring inflation down.
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WASHINGTON — The Indian government expressed concern Saturday about President Donald Trump’s latest push to upend American immigration policy, dramatically raising the fee for visas that bring tech workers from India and other countries to the United States.
The president on Friday signed a proclamation that will require a $100,000 annual fee for H-1B visas — meant for high-skilled jobs that tech companies find hard to fill. He also rolled out a $1 million “gold card” visa for wealthy individuals, moves that face near-certain legal challenges amid widespread criticism he is sidestepping Congress.
If the moves survive legal muster, they will deliver staggering price increases. The visa fee for skilled workers would jump from $215.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said Saturday that Trump’s plan “was being studied by all concerned, including by Indian industry.″ The ministry warned that ”this measure is likely to have humanitarian consequences by way of the disruption caused for families. Government hopes that these disruptions can be addressed suitably by the U.S. authorities.″
H-1B visas, which require at least a bachelor’s degree, are meant for high-skilled jobs that tech companies find difficult to fill. Critics say the program undercuts American workers, luring people from overseas who are often willing to work for as little as $60,000 annually. That is well below the $100,000-plus salaries typically paid to U.S. technology workers.
Trump on Friday insisted that the tech industry would not oppose the move. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said “all big companies” are on board.
Representatives for the biggest tech companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta, did not immediately respond to messages for comment. Microsoft declined to comment.
Lutnick said the change will likely result in far fewer H-1B visas than the 85,000 annual cap allows because “it’s just not economic anymore.”
“If you’re going to train people, you’re going to train Americans,” Lutnick said on a conference call with reporters. “If you have a very sophisticated engineer and you want to bring them in … then you can pay $100,000 a year for your H-1B visa.”
Trump also announced he will start selling a “gold card” visa with a path to U.S. citizenship for $1 million after vetting. For companies, it will cost $2 million to sponsor an employee.
The “Trump Platinum Card” will be available for $5 million and allow foreigners to spend up to 270 days in the U.S. without being subject to U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income. Trump announced a $5 million gold card in February to replace an existing investor visa — this is now the platinum card.
Lutnick said the gold and platinum cards would replace employment-based visas that offer paths to citizenship, including for professors, scientists, artists and athletes.
Critics of H-1Bs visas who say they are used to replace American workers applauded the move. U.S. Tech Workers, an advocacy group, called it “the next best thing” to abolishing the visas altogether.
Doug Rand, a senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration, said the proposed fee increase was “ludicrously lawless.”
“This isn’t real policy — it’s fan service for immigration restrictionists,” Rand said. “Trump gets his headlines, and inflicts a jolt of panic, and doesn’t care whether this survives first contact with the courts.”
Lutnick said the H-1B fees and gold card could be introduced by the president but the platinum card needs congressional approval.
Historically, H-1B visas have been doled out through lottery. This year, Amazon was by far the top recipient of H-1B visas with more than 10,000 awarded, followed by Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple and Google. Geographically, California has the highest number of H-1B workers.
Critics say H-1B spots often go to entry-level jobs, rather than senior positions with unique skill requirements. And while the program isn’t supposed to undercut U.S. wages or displace U.S. workers, critics say companies can pay less by classifying jobs at the lowest skill levels, even if the specific workers hired have more experience.
As a result, many U.S. companies find it cheaper to contract out help desks, programming and other basic tasks to consulting companies such as Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Tata in India and IBM and Cognizant in the U.S. These consulting companies hire foreign workers, often from India, and contract them out to U.S. employers looking to save money.
Ron Hira, a professor in the political science department at Howard University and a longtime critic of H-1B visas, said the plan was a move in the right direction.
“It’s a recognition that the program is abused,’’ he said.
Raising the visa fee, he said, was an unusual way to address the H-1B program’s shortcomings. Normally, he said, reformers seek ways to raise the pay of the foreign workers, eliminating the incentive to use them to replace higher-paid Americans. He noted approvingly that Trump’s proclamation calls for the U.S. Labor Department to “initiate a rulemaking to revise the prevailing wage levels’’ under the visa program.
Critics of H-1B visas have also called on the lottery to be replaced by an auction in which companies vie for the right to bring in foreign workers.
First lady Melania Trump, the former Melania Knauss, was granted an H-1B work visa in October 1996 to work as a model. She was born in Slovenia.
In 2024, lottery bids for the visas plunged nearly 40%, which authorities said was due to success against people who were “gaming the system” by submitting multiple, sometimes dubious, applications to unfairly increase chances of being selected.
Major technology companies that use H-1B visas sought changes after massive increases in bids left their employees and prospective hires with slimmer chances of winning the random lottery. Facing what it acknowledged was likely fraud and abuse, USCIS this year said each employee had only one shot at the lottery, whether the person had one job offer or 50.
Critics welcomed the change but said more needs to be done. The AFL-CIO wrote last year that while changes to the lottery “included some steps in the right direction,” it fell short of needed reforms. The labor group wants visas awarded to companies that pay the highest wages instead of by random lottery, a change that Trump sought during his first term in the White House.
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Ortutay reported from Oakland, Calif. Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.
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Delphine Cherry knows as well as anyone how intractable violent crime is in Chicago. In 1992, her teenage daughter was gunned down in one of the city’s toniest neighborhoods — a bystander caught up in a gang shootout. Twenty years later in a suburb just south of the city, it claimed her son.
“You don’t think it’s going to happen twice in your life,” she said.
Chicago has been bracing for weeks for President Donald Trump’s promised deployment of National Guard troops to the nation’s third-largest city. Although Trump said the troops would help fight crime in a city he described as a “hellhole,” his administration has been tightlipped about the operation’s details, including when it would start, how long it would last, how many troops would be used and what role they would play in civilian law enforcement.
Trump has also veered back and forth on sending troops to Chicago — at times insisting he would act unilaterally to deploy them and at other points suggesting he would rather send them to New Orleans or some other city in a state where their governor “wants us to come in.” Most recently, he said this week that Chicago is “probably next” after National Guard troops are sent to Memphis.
Although Chicago has had one of the highest rates of gun violence of any major American city for some time, city and state leaders overwhelmingly oppose the planned operation, calling it political theater. And even those most directly affected, including people who have lost loved ones to violent crime, wonder how sending in troops would have any lasting effect on the fight against it.
With plans for the Chicago deployment unknown, the ways National Guard troops have been used in Los Angeles and Washington this summer might offer clues.
In June, Trump deployed thousands of Guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests over his administration’s immigration crackdown there. Although the troops initially were assigned to guard federal property, they also provided protection for immigration agents during raids and took part in a show of force at a park in a heavily immigrant neighborhood of LA that local officials believe was meant to sow fear.
In August, Trump announced he was placing Washington’s police force under his control and mobilizing federal forces to reduce crime and homelessness there. The troops who were deployed have patrolled around Metro stations and in the most tourist-heavy parts of the nation’s capital. But they have also been spotted picking up trash and raking leaves in city parks.
The White House reported that more than 2,100 arrests had been made in Washington in the first few weeks after Trump announced he was mobilizing federal forces. And Mayor Muriel Bowser credited the federal deployment with a drop in crime, including an 87% decline in carjackings, but also criticized the frequent immigration arrests by masked ICE agents. However, an unusually high rate of cases being dropped has some, including at least one judge, wondering whether prosecutors are making charging decisions before cases are properly investigated and vetted.
Washington is unique in that it is a federal district subject to laws giving Trump power to take over the local police force for up to 30 days. The decision to use troops to try to fight crime in other Democratic-controlled cities would represent an important escalation.
Although the Trump administration hasn’t said what the troops would be doing and what parts of Chicago they would operate in, they have explicitly promised a surge of federal agents targeting immigration enforcement. The city’s so-called sanctuary policies are among the country’s strongest and bar local police from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement.
Chicago isn’t the only Democratic-led city in Trump’s sights — he’s also mentioned Baltimore as a likely target. But Trump seems to harbor particular scorn for the Windy City, warning in an “Apocalypse Now”-themed social media post earlier this month: “’I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
The president’s criticism, though, is more often focused on how the city’s and state’s Democratic leaders deal with crime.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have repeatedly pointed to a drop in crime in Chicago and have asked for more federal funding for prevention programs instead of sending in the National Guard.
Last year, the city had 573 homicides, or 21 per every 100,000 residents, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. That’s 25% fewer than in 2020 and was a lower rate than several other major U.S. cities. Like most big cities, violent crime isn’t evenly spread out in Chicago, with most shootings happening on the South and West sides.
“If it was about safety, then the Trump administration would not have slashed $158 million in federal funding for violence prevention programs this year,” said Yolanda Androzzo, executive director of gun violence prevention nonprofit One Aim Illinois.
After Cherry’s 16-year-old daughter, Tyesa, was killed in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood by a stray bullet that a 14-year-old fired at rival gang members, the devastated mother moved her family to Hazel Crest, a suburb just south of the city.
“We were planning for prom. She was going on to college to be a nurse,” Cherry said.
Her son, Tyler, was fatally shot in the driveway of the family’s suburban home in 2012, 20 years after Tyesa was killed.
Although her children’s deaths have made Cherry an antiviolence advocate — she sits on One Aim Illinois’ board — she doesn’t believe bringing in troops will do anything to fight crime in Chicago, and that it could making the streets more dangerous.
“They’re not going to ask questions,” Cherry said of the National Guard. “They are trained to kill on sight.”
Trevon Bosley, who was 7 years old when his 18-year-old brother, Terrell, was shot and killed in 2006 while unloading drums outside of a Church before band rehearsal, also thinks sending in troops isn’t the answer.
“There is so much love and so much community in Chicago,” said Bosley, whose brother’s killing remains unsolved. “There are communities that need help. When those resources are provided, they become just as beautiful as downtown, just as beautiful as the North Side.”
Like Johnson, Pritzker and other critics of the promised troop deployment, Bosley thinks better funding would make a real positive difference in parts of the city with the highest crime and poverty rates.
“It’s not like we have a police shortage,” Bosley said. “The National Guard and police show up after a shooting has occurred. They don’t show up before. That’s not stopping or saving anyone.”
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Associated Press reporter Christine Fernando contributed to this report.
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Japan’s central bank has kept its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5%, in a decision that was widely expected, given recent inflation trends that have stayed above target
TOKYO — Japan’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 0.5% Friday, in a decision that was widely expected, given recent inflation trends that have stayed above target.
The Bank of Japan issued its decision on the overnight call rate after a two-day meeting by its policy board.
“Japan’s economy has recovered moderately, although some weakness has been seen in part. Overseas economies have grown moderately on the whole,” it said in a statement.
The U.S. Federal Reserve cut its policy rate by 0.25 percentage points earlier this week, the Fed’s first cut since December, and lowered its short-term rate to about 4.1%, down from 4.3%.
Japan had been ailing from deflationary trends in recent years, but prices are gradually rising. Recent government data show consumer prices rising above the central bank’s target of 2%, at between 2.5% and 3%.
The Bank of Japan noted exports will be hit by higher tariffs, which have come about because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies. There was an increase in trade in anticipation of the tariffs, but those rises are now tapering off, it said.
Also mentioned as a risk factor was the uncertainty in domestic politics. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is stepping down, and the ruling party is holding an election to choose a new leader.
Five candidates are expected to enter the race, with a party vote coming early next month. The grip on power by the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled postwar Japan almost incessantly, appears to be unraveling lately.
The Japanese stock market has been booming recently, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 hitting another record Thursday, cheered by the Fed’s rate cut. Shares were falling slightly in Friday morning trading.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
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The world’s fondness for matcha is about to be tested by steep price increases.
Global demand for the powdered tea has skyrocketed around the world, fueled by consumer interest in its health benefits and by the bright green matcha lattes bubbling up on social media. In the U.S., retail sales of matcha are up 86% from three years ago, according to NIQ, a market research firm.
But the matcha market is troubled. In Japan, one of the biggest matcha producers, poor weather reduced this year’s harvest. Matcha is still plentiful in China, another major producer, but labor shortages and high demand have also raised prices there.
For Americans, there’s the added impact of tariffs. Imports from China are currently subject to a 37.5% tariff, while the U.S. has a 15% tariff on imports from Japan. It’s not clear if tea will be exempted from tariffs because it’s a natural product that’s not grown in significant quantities in the U.S. — an accommodation that the Trump administration has made for cork from the European Union. The Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative didn’t respond to messages left by The Associated Press.
Aaron Vick, a senior tea buyer with California-based tea importer G.S. Haly, says he paid 75% more for the highest-grade 2025 crop of Japanese matcha, which will arrive in the U.S. later this fall. He expects lower grades of matcha to cost 30% to 50% more. Chinese matcha — while generally cheaper than Japanese matcha — is also getting more expensive because of high demand, he said.
“People should expect an enormous increase in the price of matcha this year,” Vick said. “It’s going to be a bit of a tough ride for matcha devotees. They will have to show the depth of their commitment at the cash register.”
Even before this year’s harvest, growing demand was straining matcha supplies. Making matcha is precise and labor intensive. Farmers grow tencha — a green tea leaf — in the shade. In the spring, the leaves are harvested, steamed, de-stemmed and de-veined and then stone ground into a fine powder. Tencha can be harvested again in the summer and fall, but the later harvests are generally of lower quality.
There are ways to cut corners, like using a jet mill, which grinds the leaves with high pressure air. But Japan has other issues, including a rapidly aging workforce and limited tencha production. And despite Japanese agricultural ministry trying to coax tea growers to switch to tencha from regular green tea, many are reluctant to do so, concerned that the matcha boom will fade.
That’s giving an opening to China, where matcha originated but fell out of favor in the 14th century. Chinese matcha production has been growing in recent years to meet both domestic and international demand.
Chinese matcha has historically been considered inferior to Japanese matcha and used as a flavoring for things like matcha-flavored KitKat bars instead of as a drinking tea. But the quality is improving, according to Jason Walker, the marketing director at Firsd Tea, the New Jersey-based U.S. subsidiary of Zhejiang Tea Group, China’s largest tea exporter.
“We are seeing more and more interest in Chinese matcha because of capacity issues and changing perception,” Walker said. “It used to be the idea that it has to be Japanese matcha or nothing. But we have a good product too.”
Starbucks is among the companies using matcha from China for its lattes. The company said it also sources matcha from Japan and South Korea. Dunkin’ and Dutch Bros. didn’t respond when asked where they source the matcha.
Josh Mordecai, the supply chain director for London-based tea supplier Good & Proper Tea, said he is approached almost daily by Chinese matcha suppliers. For now, he only buys matcha from Japan, but the cost to acquire it has risen 40% so he’ll have to raise prices, he said.
Mordecai said he saw more demand for matcha in the last year than in the previous nine years combined. If matcha prices continue to rise, he wonders if consumers will switch to other tea varieties like hojicha, a roasted Japanese green tea.
“We’ll see if this is a bubble or not. Nothing stays on social media that long,” Mordecai said.
Julia Mills, a food and drink analyst for the market research company Mintel, expects the social media interest in matcha to die down. But she thinks matcha will remain on menus for a while.
Mills said matcha appeals to customers interested in wellness, since it contains antioxidants and l-theanine, an amino acid known for its calming effects, and it’s less caffeinated than coffee. Millennials and Generation Z customers are more likely to have tried matcha than others, Mills said.
The traditional way of preparing it, whisking the powder together with hot water in a small bowl, also appeals to drinkers who want to slow down and be more intentional, Mills said.
That’s true for Melissa Lindsay of San Francisco, who whisks up some matcha for herself every morning. Lindsay has noticed prices rising for her high-end matcha, but it’s a habit she’d find hard to quit.
“It’s not just a tea bag in water,” Lindsay said. “It’s a whole experience of making it to your liking.”
David Lau, the owner of Asha Tea House in San Francisco, hopes to keep customers drinking matcha by limiting price increases. Lau raised the price of his matcha latte by 50 cents after the cost the matcha he buys from Japan more than doubled. He’s also looking into alternate suppliers from China and elsewhere.
“We’re in the affordable luxury business, you know, just like any other specialty cafe. We want people to be able to come every day, and once you reach a certain price level, you start to price people out,” he said. “We want to be really cognizant and aware of not doing that.
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AP Video Journalist Haven Daley contributed from San Francisco.
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Wall Street inched a tad higher early Monday as markets look ahead to what most expect will be an interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve later this week.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrials each ticked up 0.2% before the bell, while futures for the Nasdaq were up just 0.1%.
Nvidia dipped 1.5% in premarket after China accused the company of violating the country’s antimonopoly laws. China said it would step up scrutiny of the world’s leading chipmaker, escalating tensions with Washington as the two countries hold trade talks this week.
Chinese regulators said a preliminary investigation found that Nvidia didn’t comply with conditions imposed for its $6.9 billion purchase of Mellanox Technologies, a network and data transmission company. The one-sentence statement from Chinese regulators didn’t mention punishment, but said it would carry out “further investigation.”
Tesla shares climbed 8.5% after CEO Elon Musk disclosed the purchase of more than 2.5 million shares worth approximately $1 billion.
Musk purchased various amounts of shares at different prices on Friday, according to a regulatory filing. Markets tend to view such insider purchases as the confidence in the company’s future.
With earnings season effectively wrapped up, investors are looking ahead to Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time this year, despite inflation that remains above the central bank’s 2% target.
Even as prices remain high, Fed officials have publicly acknowledged that a slowing labor market is now their biggest concern. That’s what is primarily driving market optimism for a rate cut this week.
The central bank will also release its quarterly economic projections Wednesday, and economists forecast that they will show one or two additional cuts this year followed by several more next year.
Also coming this week is the latest government data on retail sales, which will give a glimpse into whether Americans are still spending freely against the headwinds of still-elevated inflation and a weakening job market..
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 jumped 1.2%, while the German DAX gained 0.5%. Britain’s FTSE 100 was unchanged.
In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.2% to 26,446.56. The Shanghai Composite edged down 0.3% to 3,860.50.
Worries are simmering about China’s economy, as analysts say the data for August aren’t strong enough to reflect ongoing dynamic growth, especially given the damage from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
“China’s economy continued to slide in August, with all key activity readings falling short of market forecasts once more,” Lynn Song of ING Economics said in a report.
“Given the slowdown of the past few months, we expect that there’s a strong case for additional short-term stimulus efforts,”
China’s industrial production grew 5.2%, a 12-month low that was down from 5.7% in July and 6.8% in June. Retail sales rose 3.4%, the slowest pace since last November.
“The underlying flow is shifting. For years, Beijing leaned on exports as the carry trade that kept growth rolling even as property cracked. But with Trump’s tariffs slicing through supply chains, that leg of the trade is gone,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.1% to 8,853.00, while South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.4% to 3,407.31. Stock trading was closed Monday for a national holiday in Japan.
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Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, immigration crackdowns and sweeping tax and spending law are expected to increase jobless rates and inflation and lower overall growth this year before they improve next year, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO on Friday released new economic projections for the next three years, updating the outlook it originally released in January, before Trump’s inauguration.
The latest figures, which compare fourth quarter changes, show the unemployment rate, inflation and overall growth are expected to be worse this year than initially projected, while the economic picture is expected to steady in subsequent years.
The CBO outlooks attempt to set expectations for the economy in order to help choices made by congressional and executive branch policymakers. It does not forecast economic downturns or recessions, with its estimates generally reverting back to an expected average over time.
But Friday’s outlook showed the degree to which Trump’s choices are altering the path of the U.S. economy, suggesting that growth has been hampered in the near term by choices that have yet to show the promised upside of more jobs and lower budget deficits.
Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, told The Associated Press, “Americans heard similar doom-and-gloom forecasts during President Trump’s first term, when the President’s economic agenda unleashed historic job, wage, and economic growth and the first decline in wealth inequality in decades.”
“These same policies of tax cuts, tariffs, deregulation, and energy abundance are set to deliver — and prove the forecasters wrong — again in President Trump’s second term,” he said.
Overall, the CBO expects real GDP growth to decrease from 2.5% in 2024 to 1.4% this year, a downgrade from the initial projection of 1.9%. The CBO attributes the projected decline to a slowdown in consumer spending stemming from new tariffs and a decrease in immigration, which would also impact consumer spending.
The tariffs “raise prices for consumer goods and services, thereby eroding the purchasing power of households; they also increase costs for businesses that use imported and import-competing inputs in production,” the report says.
However, GDP is set to grow to 2.2% in 2026, which is higher than the CBO’s January prediction of 1.8%. GDP would then level off to 1.8% in 2027 and 2028, the CBO says in its latest report.
Additionally, unemployment is expected to hit 4.5% in 2025, higher than the 4.3% initially expected, according to the CBO. The jobless rate is expected to reach 4.2% in 2026 — slightly lower than the 4.4% originally anticipated — and even out at 4.4% in 2027 and 2028.
And inflation is now expected to hit 3.1% for the rest of 2025, according to the CBO, up from its 2.2% projection in January. Inflation would then lower to 2.4% in 2026, higher than the initial expectation of 2.1%, before leveling off at 2% the next two years.
The CBO on Wednesday issued a report that shows Trump’s plans for mass deportations and other hard-line immigration measures will result in roughly 320,000 people removed from the United States over the next ten years.
Coupled with a lower fertility rate in the U.S., the reduction in immigration means that the CBO’s projection of the U.S. population will be 4.5 million people lower by 2035 than the nonpartisan office had projected in January.
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Associated Press writer Josh Boak in New York contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will travel to Madrid this weekend for negotiations with his Chinese counterparts over tariffs and national security issues related to the ownership of social media platform TikTok.
Bessent is slated to meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Madrid to discuss national security and economic issues, a Treasury news release states.
This will be the fourth round of discussions between U.S. and Chinese counterparts after meetings in London, Geneva and Stockholm. The two governments have agreed to several 90-day pauses on a series of increasing reciprocal tariffs, staving off an all-out trade war.
During the last round of discussions in Stockholm, Bessent described his talks with the Chinese as “ very fulsome.”
“We just need to de-risk with certain, strategic industries, whether it’s the rare earths, semiconductors, medicines, and we talked about what we could do together to get into balance within the relationship,” Bessent said at the time.
China remains one of the biggest challenges for the Trump administration after it has struck deals over elevated tariff rates with other key trading partners, such as Britain, Japan and the European Union.
The U.S. and China delegations are also expected to continue discussions about ownership of TikTok.
Congress approved a U.S. ban on the popular video-sharing platform unless its parent company, ByteDance, sold its controlling stake. President Donald Trump said last month that he will keep extending the sale deadline until there’s a buyer.
But Trump has so far extended the deadline three times during his second term — with the next deadline coming up Wednesday.
A Pew Research Center survey conducted in late February and early March found that about one-third of Americans said they supported a TikTok ban, down from 50% in March 2023. Roughly one-third said they would oppose a ban, and a similar percentage said they weren’t sure.
The Treasury Department also says Bessent will meet Spanish government counterparts to discuss the relationship between Spain and the United States.
After his Spain trip, Bessent is expected to travel to the U.K. to join Trump for his official state visit with Britain’s King Charles at Windsor Castle.
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. will host next year’s Group of 20 summit at his golf club in Doral, Florida, arguing it was “the best location” for the high-stakes international gathering but insisting his family’s business “will not make any money on it.”
In his first term, Trump tried to host a separate global summit at the club, but backed down after criticism from his own party about the propriety of doing so. Now, though, Trump rarely travels domestically without golfing at or staying in properties bearing his name and has faced very little political blowback.
Trump’s sons have taken over running the Trump Organization while their father is in the White House. But the president has nonetheless prided himself in blurring the line between domestic and global policy and generating profits for the Trump brand.
He’s actively promoted his $TRUMP meme coin and even hosted the top 220 investors in it for a swanky dinner in May at his golf property in Virginia. The president made his first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia, after his sons crisscrossed the region drumming up business for the family’s other cryptocurrency ventures. Trump also went to Scotland to inaugurate his new golf course there.
The G20 is made up of some of the world’s major economies, the European Union and the African Union. Hosting the G20 at Doral would be an especially striking example of using the presidency to enrich his family, but Trump wasted little time defending it.
“I think everybody wants it there,” he said when asked if the global summit would be at his golf club and spa. Trump noted that the conference would be occurring in December 2026, a time of year when hotels in South Florida are often more full, and said that Doral had the space and was ideally suited because of its close proximity to the city’s airport.
The United States hasn’t hosted a G20 since it was held in Pittsburgh in 2009. The president suggested that organizers had requested the summit be at his property, but didn’t elaborate. He said each delegation from different countries “will have its own building.”
“It’s the best location, it’s beautiful, beautiful everything,” Trump said, while adding, “We will not make any money on it.”
“We’re doing a deal where it’s not going to be money, there’s no money in it. I just want it to go well,” Trump said. “I think it’ll be really a beautiful thing.”
He also called Doral “very, very successful, one of the most successful properties in the country.”
Miami Mayor Frances Suarez, who attended Friday’s G20 site announcement in the Oval Office, said it “puts us on the global map” but also acknowledged that, for the area, “It’s a tremendous boom for your economy.”
“As the president knows,” Suarez added. “He has multiple hospitality assets.”
Trump also said Friday that he would not be attending this year’s G20 in South Africa, but planned to send Vice President JD Vance in his place.
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TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is delaying a requirement for automakers to begin hitting minimum sales levels for electric vehicles next year, an official familiar with the matter said Friday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly ahead of Carney’s announcement.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau set the target, requiring that in 2026 20% of passenger vehicles sold should be zero-emission vehicles.
Removing the requirement comes as automakers deal with the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Carney is set to announce later Friday measures for workers and businesses in those sectors most impacted by the U.S. tariffs and trade disruptions.
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