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Tag: Tariffs

  • Tariffs hurting Italian goods shop in San Francisco

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    A San Francisco business owner who imports Italian items says she’s struggling to survive because of the current tariffs.

    “These tariffs, they’re killing us,” Biordi Art Imports co-owner Deborah Baldini said. “It’s absolutely impacted our business.”

    For nearly 80 years, Biordi Art Imports has been known for its unique stock of Italian-made dishes, busts and all manner of decorations. Because Biordi’s merchandise is all imported from Italy, most of Biordi’s increased costs are clear cut.

    Baldini showed NBC Bay Area a bill she received from a recent FedEx shipment – $241.98 was the additional cost of tariffs for that shipment. That, along with the price of the weakening dollar, means her expenses now are about 25% more than last year. She’s struggling to survive.

    “It’s going to be difficult,” Baldini said. “We have to do a lot of other things a lot better. We’re incorporating AI where we can. We’re trying to really, really manage our inventory really, really closely.”

    Along with the increased costs, there are also increased times in customs inspections, which is the reason why Baldini has already put out Christmas ornaments. She ordered them earlier this year because she wasn’t sure how long it was going to take to get them through customs.

    At the moment, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering President Donald Trump’s authority to unilaterally impose tariffs. Baldini is keeping tabs on what happens there.

    While she said San Francisco is rebounding, that doesn’t necessarily mean more business.

    “Our prices are going up,” she said. “We’re already, I would consider, luxury priced because everything is hand-crafted, hand-painted. There’s a point where people just aren’t going to purchase anymore. So even though there’s more people on the street walking around does not necessarily mean that our sales are increasing.”

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    Sergio Quintana

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  • A 100% tariff on some imported drugs is coming October 1, Trump says

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    (CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that brand-name or patented pharmaceutical products will be subject to a 100% tariff starting October 1 – unless the drugmaker is building a manufacturing plant in the US.

    Trump has been promising for months to levy tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, which avoided tariffs during his first term. The president sees tariffs as a way to pressure drug manufacturers to ramp up production in the US and to strengthen the supply chain for essential medicines.

    Also, Trump has pointed to tariffs as a way to fulfill his vow to lower drug costs, though experts say that is unlikely to happen.

    Drugmakers have taken Trump’s tariff threats seriously, unveiling hundreds of billions of dollars of commitments to build or expand US manufacturing operations in the coming years. Just this week Eli Lilly announced it would construct a $6.5 billion manufacturing facility in Houston, shortly after saying it would build a $5 billion plant outside of Richmond, Virginia.

    Trump indicated in a Truth Social post Thursday what would be needed to avoid the tariffs.

    “‘IS BUILDING’ will be defined as, ‘breaking ground’ and/or ‘under construction,’” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “There will, therefore, be no Tariff on these Pharmaceutical Products if construction has started.”

    The White House told CNN on Friday that “companies that are in the process of setting up manufacturing for a pharma product in the U.S. will not be subject to tariffs on that specific product until plant construction, etc. is completed.” That exemption will apply to projects that predate the Trump administration.

    Several industry analysts downplayed the impact of the announcement on drugmakers but noted that Trump’s post raises many questions.

    “The actual comment from the President is direct but its impact may be somewhere between nebulous and negligible,” Jared Holz, an analyst with Mizuho, said in a note to clients. “All major players have some production presence domestically and almost all have announced increased investment directly tied towards local manufacturing.”

    The tariffs should not affect many larger pharmaceutical companies because they have construction projects underway, David Risinger, an analyst with Leerink Partners, wrote in a note to clients. But it is difficult to know which smaller manufacturers may face exposure.

    That’s likely why most major foreign drug manufacturer stocks were not roiled on Friday, following Trump’s announcement. European drugmakers AstraZeneca (AZN), GSK (GSK), Novartis (NVS) and Sanofi (SNY), all of which are building or have plans to build US factories, closed higher on Friday, while Novo Nordisk (NVO) closed down slightly. But drugmakers Alibaba Health, Chugai, Daiichi, JD Health, Samsung Biologics, Sankyo, Sankyo and WuXi AppTec fell somewhat more substantially on Asian stock exchanges, even though they may be exempt from the tariffs or make up a relatively insignificant portion of the US market.

    A leading pharmaceutical industry association warned that medicines have previously been exempt from tariffs because of increased cost and shortage concerns.

    “PhRMA companies continue to announce hundreds of billions in new US investments thanks to President Trump’s pro-growth tax and regulatory policies,” Alex Schriver, senior vice president at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, said in a statement.

    “Tariffs risk those plans because every dollar spent on tariffs is a dollar that cannot be invested in American manufacturing or the development of future treatments and cures.”

    Global manufacturing

    The pharma companies’ moves are not expected to decrease the United States’ reliance on foreign sources for key pharmaceutical ingredients and drugs, experts say. The pharmaceutical industry is a global web, with ingredients and finished drugs being manufactured in a multitude of locations around the world.

    These products may have also seen “significant” stockpiling by US importers this year as the companies braced for the expected tariffs, which should soften the new levies’ impact, said Neil Shearing, chief economist at consultancy Capital Economics. Those cheaper inventories will be eventually run down, however.

    The impact on exporting countries is likely to be relatively limited too, Shearing wrote in a note Friday. The countries most reliant on pharmaceutical exports to the US are in the European Union, he noted, while in July Trump announced a much lower, 15% levy on most imports from the 27-nation bloc, including pharmaceuticals, with exemptions for generic drugs.

    The lower tariff should still apply, according to the EU. “This clear all-inclusive 15% tariff ceiling for EU exports represents an insurance policy that no higher tariffs will emerge for European economic operators,” a European Commission spokesperson told CNN Friday. “The EU is the only trade partner to achieve this outcome with the US.”

    The White House confirmed Friday that it will honor the 15% tariff cap it agreed to in its trade deals with the European Union and Japan.

    Notably, Trump did not mention Thursday levying tariffs on generic pharmaceutical imports, which experts have said could worsen drug shortages. Generic drugmakers have much thinner profit margins, which would make it much more difficult for them to absorb tariffs. Instead, they may opt to stop selling their products in the US.

    India, for example, is spared for now, given that its pharmaceutical exports concentrate on generics, even though it supplies nearly 47% of the required pharmaceuticals in the US, according to Namit Joshi, chairman of the Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India.

    The proposed tariff is “unlikely to have an immediate impact on Indian exports, as the bulk of our contribution lies in simple generics and most large Indian companies already operate US manufacturing or repackaging units and are exploring further acquisitions,” he said.

    The Trump administration has yet to release the findings of its investigation into national security implications of drug imports, which is expected to set the stage for broader tariffs on the industry.

    The president last month told CNBC that he would levy tariffs of up to 250% of drug imports, but that they would ramp up over time.

    Thursday’s pharmaceutical tariff announcement came the same day as he announced a 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities and a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture, as well as a 25% tariff on heavy trucks made outside the US.

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    Tami Luhby and CNN

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  • U.S. to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs, kitchen cabinets, furniture and heavy trucks

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    President Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. would impose a new round of tariffs, including a 100% tariff on pharmaceutical drugs, a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture, a 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, and a 30% tariff on heavy trucks.

    In social media posts to Truth Social, Mr. Trump said the new tariffs would take effect Oct. 1. 

    Mr. Trump said in his posts that the 100% tariff on “any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product” would not apply to companies building manufacturing plants in the U.S., which he defined as either “breaking ground” or being “under construction.”

    In 2024, America imported nearly $233 billion in pharmaceutical and medicinal products, according to the Census Bureau. The prospect of prices doubling for some medicines could send shockwaves to voters as health care expenses, as well as the costs of Medicare and Medicaid, potentially increase.

    Trump argued that foreign manufacturers of furniture and cabinetry were “flooding” the U.S. with their products and that tariffs must be applied “for National Security and other reasons.” 

    The new tariffs on cabinetry could further increase the costs for homebuilders at a time when many people seeking to buy a house feel priced out by the mix of housing shortages and high mortgage rates.

    Last month, Mr. Trump announced on social media that a “major Tariff Investigation” was being conducted on furniture coming into the U.S. and said that within the next 50 days, the investigation would be completed, and a tariff rate would be announced. 

    The president said the 25% tariff on on “all ‘Heavy (Big!) Trucks’ made in other parts of the world” was “in order to protect our Great Heavy Truck Manufacturers from unfair outside competition.” 

    “Large Truck Company Manufacturers, such as Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks, and others, will be protected from the onslaught of outside interruptions,” Trump posted.

    Throughout much of 2025, the Trump administration’s broad tariffs defied predictions that they would fuel inflation, but that respite seems to have ended after economic data this month showed the duties are now driving prices upward. The Consumer Price Index in August rose at a rate of 2.9% from a year ago, up from an annual pace of 2.3% in April, when Mr. Trump first launched a sweeping set of import taxes.

    Nor is there evidence that the tariffs are creating factory jobs or more construction of manufacturing facilities. Since April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that manufacturers cut 42,000 jobs and builders have downsized by 8,000.

    “There’s no inflation,” Mr. Trump told reporters Thursday. “We’re having unbelievable success.”

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  • Trump announces a 25% tariff on trucks and a 30% tariff on furniture

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    (CNN) — President Donald Trump on Thursday announced sweeping tariffs on various household products, including imported kitchen cabinets and certain kinds of furniture – potentially adding even more costs to a category that has surged in price in recent months. Trump also announced heavy truck tariffs and pharmaceutical tariffs Thursday.

    “We will be imposing a 50% Tariff on all Kitchen Cabinets, Bathroom Vanities, and associated products, starting October 1st, 2025. Additionally, we will be charging a 30% Tariff on Upholstered Furniture,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Thursday evening.

    Various tariffs that Trump has imposed have already boosted furniture prices considerably over the past year. Overall, furniture last month cost 4.7% more than in August 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Living room and dining room furniture in particular has grown more expensive – rising 9.5% over the past 12 months, the BLS reported.

    Furniture prices have surged as Trump hiked tariffs on China and Vietnam, the top two sources of imported furniture. Both countries exported $12 billion worth of furniture and fixtures last year, according to US Commerce Department data.

    Furniture prices had largely fallen for the past two and a half years prior to Trump’s tariffs. But Trump said Thursday that foreign manufacturers have oversupplied the US market, and the tariffs were necessary to regain US manufacturing prowess.

    “The reason for this is the large scale ‘FLOODING’ of these products into the United States by other outside Countries,” Trump said. “It is a very unfair practice, but we must protect, for National Security and other reasons, our Manufacturing process.”

    Shares of Wayfair (W), RH (RH) and Williams-Sonoma (WSM) tumbled in after-hours trading.

    Trucks

    Trump on Thursday also announced a 25% tariff on heavy trucks imported into the United States, a trade levy designed to level the playing field for America’s truck-making industry that has been hit relentlessly by the White House’s compounding tariffs.

    “In order to protect our Great Heavy Truck Manufacturers from unfair outside competition, I will be imposing, as of October 1st, 2025, a 25% Tariff on all ‘Heavy (Big!) Trucks’ made in other parts of the World,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Thursday.

    Previous tariffs that Trump has levied — including 50% tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper — have raised costs considerably for US truck manufacturers. Foreign-built trucks, including those made by Germany’s Daimler Truck and International Motors, are typically manufactured in Mexico and imported tariff-free because of the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement — so long as roughly two-thirds of the truck’s parts were made in North America.

    Tariffs were, in part, designed to boost US manufacturing and give American factories a leg up over foreign-made products. But steel and aluminum tariffs have shifted the supply-demand balance, raising the price of all metals — both imported and domestic. That means Trump’s tariffs have made some US-built trucks more costly than trucks made by foreign manufacturers.

    “Our Great Large Truck Company Manufacturers, such as Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks, and others, will be protected from the onslaught of outside interruptions,” Trump said in his post on Thursday. “We need our Truckers to be financially healthy and strong, for many reasons, but above all else, for National Security purposes!”

    It’s not clear, however, whether the 25% tariff would apply to all heavy-duty trucks or only those that do not comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

    If there is no such exemption for Mexico, then it will be the country most severely affected by these tariffs, as 78% of imported heavy trucks come into the US from Mexico, Neil Shearing, chief economist at consultancy Capital Economics, wrote in a note Friday.

    Thursday’s announcement follows an investigation that Trump ordered the Commerce Department to begin in April to determine whether medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks imports pose a national security threat.

    Trump has also threatened several other tariffs, including on lumber, semiconductors and other products.

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    David Goldman and CNN

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  • Trump holds talks with Pakistan’s prime minister in the latest sign of warming relations

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    By AAMER MADHANI

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hosted Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, for talks Thursday at the White House in the latest sign of warming relations between the United States and the South Asian nuclear power.

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    Associated Press

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  • Seasonal hiring could fall to lowest level since 2009, new analysis finds

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    Retailers around the U.S. are expected to sharply reduce the number of workers they add for the holidays, a shift from their usual seasonal hiring sprees to help cope with the annual crush of customers. 

    Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas attributes the weak demand for extra workers this year to companies bearing the heavier costs from U.S. tariffs on foreign goods, as well as on rising inflation and their growing reliance on technology to improve efficiency. 

    The firm expects retail hiring fo the holidays to fall to its lowest level since 2009, when the economy was emerging from a recession caused by the global financial crisis. 

    “Seasonal employers are facing a confluence of factors this year: tariffs loom, inflationary pressures linger, and many companies continue to rely on automation and permanent staff instead of large waves of seasonal hires,” Andy Challenger, workplace expert and senior vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in a statement.

    The weaker seasonal hiring forecast comes as the U.S. job market is faltering. Employers added only 22,000 jobs in August, falling far short of economists’ expectations.

    Inflation has also edged up in recent months. The Consumer Price Index, which in March had sunk to an annual rate of 2.3%, in August rose at a 2.9% pace from a year ago.

    In the last quarter of 2024, retailers added just over 543,000 seasonal workers, down roughly 4% compared to 2023. Companies are projected to add fewer than 500,000 jobs during the last three months of 2025, according to Challenger. Such a figure would mark the smallest seasonal gain in 16 years. 

    Challenger pointed to fewer seasonal hiring announcements than usual from retailers as a sign they plan to hire fewer workers for the holidays.

    “While we could see a late hiring push if holiday sales surprise to the upside, the cautious pace of announcements so far suggests that companies are not betting on a big seasonal surge. This year may be more about doing more with less,” Challenger said. 

    Tariffs are causing some consumers to pull back on spending, recent data shows. An August survey of consumers from the University of Michigan found that most U.S. adults plan to spend less on goods that see tariff-driven price hikes. Just 24% of consumers surveyed said they expected to spend as usual on items that rise substantially in price, according to the report.

    Tariffs have already driven up the cost of some categories of goods for U.S. consumers. For example, in August, audio equipment rose in price by 12% compared to one year earlier,  while the cost of household goods rose 10%, the latest Consumer Price Index report shows.

    “A wave of uncertainty is impacting not just retailers, but also consumers heading into the final quarter of the year. With hiring slowing across the board, Retailers may hire fewer workers themselves, while many of their shoppers slow spending,” Challenger added. 

    Megan Cerullo

    Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

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  • What oil CEOs really think about Trump’s management of the oil sector: ‘Those who can are running for the exits’ | Fortune

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    Oil companies may have President Donald Trump cheering them on from the bully pulpit. But in the oil patch, the mood is anything but celebratory.

    New data on Wednesday from the Dallas Fed Energy Survey,  which polled oil and gas executives at 139 firms across Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico in mid-September, shows oil and gas activity slipped again in the third quarter of 2025, weighed down by soaring costs, policy uncertainty, and the chaos of new tariffs.

    The survey’s broadest measure of business conditions, the business activity index, came in at –6.5, marking the second consecutive quarter of contraction.

    The outlook was even gloomier. The company outlook index plunged to –17.6 from –6.4, while more than 44% of firms said uncertainty remains elevated. Production of both oil and natural gas ticked lower, while costs for everything from drilling to equipment leasing surged.

    ‘The noise and chaos is deafening‘

    Executives were blunt in the anonymous comments that come out with the survey each quarter.

    “The uncertainty from the administration’s policies has put a damper on all investment in the oilpatch,” one wrote. “Those who can are running for the exits.”

    Another added that “the administration’s tariffs, particularly on steel and aluminum at fifty percent, are increasing our cost of business.”

    For exploration and production firms, finding and development costs doubled this quarter, while lease operating expenses also jumped sharply.

    Oilfield services firms reported their margins are still deeply negative, with one describing the sector as “bleeding.”

    The tariffs are cutting deep: operators said higher costs for tubular steel, heavy material, and imported components are making wells uneconomic.

    “Tariffs continue to increase the cost of production. We are suffering from a combination of increased cost due to tariffs and downward pricing pressure from end users,” one services executive said.

    A grim investment climate

    That mix of weak prices and high costs has throttled capital spending. The survey found capital expenditures are falling sharply, with the index dropping to –11.6 from –3.0.

    One operator emphasized that the uncertainty from regulatory policy was putting a damper on the spending.

    “Day-to-day changes to energy policy is no way for us to win as a country,” the operator said. “Investors avoid investing in energy because of the volatility … and the ‘stroke of pen’ risk that the federal government wields.”

    The gloom is reflected in price expectations. Respondents now see West Texas Intermediate crude ending 2025 at just $63 a barrel,  barely above where it traded during the survey period. Two years out, the consensus rises modestly to $69, and to $77 five years from now, levels many independents say are too low to justify new drilling.

    The shale dream frays

    A decade ago, U.S. shale was hailed as the world’s most dynamic energy engine. Now, industry insiders describe it as broken, even as Trump removes tax credits for renewables.

    “The collapse of capital availability has fueled consolidation by the majors, pushing out independents and entrepreneurs who once defined the shale revolution,” one respondent said. “In their place, a handful of giants now dominate but at the cost of enormous job loss and the destruction of the innovative, risk-taking culture that made the U.S. shale industry great.”

    Others warned that the sector is being whipsawed by politics from both parties.

    “The sword being wielded against the renewables industry right now will likely boomerang back in 3.5 years against traditional energy,” one said, pointing to methane penalties and permitting fights that could return with a vengeance.

    While Trump insists domestic drilling will fuel an American energy renaissance, the very policies his administration is pushing are raising costs, curbing investment, and leaving many operators sitting on their hands.

    “The oil industry is once again going to lose valuable employees,” one executive lamented. “Drilling is going to disappear.”

    Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.

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    Eva Roytburg

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  • Trump’s tariffs have already hurt the economy—and the pain is only beginning

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    The U.S. economy is already feeling the effects of Trump’s tariffs, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) projects that things could get worse.

    The OECD’s biannual interim economic outlook, published on Tuesday, forecasts U.S. growth will fall by a full percentage point from its 2024 rate. While this might not sound like much, this will translate to Americans missing out on trillions of dollars of goods and services by 2035 if this decrease in growth persists.

    From 2010 to 2019, American gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an average of 2.4 percent per year. In 2024, it grew by 2.8 percent. Now, the OECD projects that the economy will grow by only 1.8 percent in 2025 and 1.5 percent in 2026, “owing to higher tariff rates [and] moderating net immigration,” among other factors. Assuming that yearly GDP growth neither rebounds nor falls further but persists at 1.8 percent, the U.S. economy will be $2.2 trillion smaller in 2035 than it would be had President Donald Trump not adopted his protectionist policies and growth remained at 2.4 percent.

    Even though the OECD’s growth projections show the long-run macroeconomic damage of Trump’s tariffs, the American economy has remained relatively strong since he took office. The stock market is at an all-time high while inflation has been about the same as that experienced during the last year of the Biden administration: The average monthly inflation from January 2024 to August 2024, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), was 0.2 percent. From January 2025 to August 2025, monthly CPI growth was not much higher: 0.225 percent. Meanwhile, the average monthly increase in the producer price index (PPI), which measures changes in expenses borne by American businesses, was 36 percent lower compared to the same time last year.

    The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) explains that “imports are excluded from PPI.” The experimental BLS index, which incorporates imports, tells a story similar to regular PPI: this index experienced 38 percent lower inflation from January 2025 to July 2025 than it did during the same period a year ago.

    Relatively stable consumer price inflation and lower producer price inflation—excluding and including imports—under Trump are surprising. After all, the president has more than tripled the average effective tariff rate to 11.6 percent on approximately $2.2 trillion worth of imports, according to the Tax Foundation. Therefore, all things being equal, CPI and PPI should be elevated. So, why aren’t they? The answer lies in the delayed implementation of Trump’s tariffs: Although “Liberation Day” was April 2, the “reciprocal tariffs” announced then were postponed for months, finally taking effect on August 7, meaning “the full effects of tariff increases have yet to be felt,” as the OECD explains.

    While most Americans have not yet felt the tariffs’ full effects, businesses have started to. An August survey administered by the Dallas Federal Reserve found that 60 percent and 70 percent of Texas retailers and manufacturers, respectively, said that Trump’s tariffs were negatively affecting their businesses. Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and aluminum have cost John Deere “$300 million so far, with nearly another $300 million expected by the end of the year.” The company has already laid off “238 employees across factories in Illinois and Iowa.” While anecdotal, John Deere’s struggles are reflected in the 48 percent lower growth in total nonfarm employment from January 2025 to August 2025 (598,000 jobs added) compared to those months last year (1.1 million jobs added).

    Trump can reverse course at any time by rolling back the Section 232 tariffs and reciprocal tariffs. Even if Trump insists on hobbling the economy with his pointless trade war, Americans could soon enjoy some relief when the Supreme Court convenes in November to hear arguments about the constitutionality of his “Liberation Day” tariffs.

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    Jack Nicastro

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  • Coffee prices spike 21% in 1 year due to tariffs, impacting local shops: “It’s a big unknown”

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    U.S. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are trying to make a bill to exempt coffee from tariffs, as prices are up 21% compared to last year.

    That’s because the U.S. gets most of its coffee from Brazil, and as of last month, the South American country is facing 50% tariffs. 

    The effect is trickling down to even local coffee shops like Roots Roasting in St. Paul. Owner Peter Poire-Odegard opened the cafe seven years ago. 

    “The margins used to be significantly higher,” he said. 

    After streamlining as much as he could he reluctantly made two price increases this year. A regular cup of coffee went from $3 to $3.80.

    “We spent half again as much on green coffee since the beginning of the year that we did the same period last year. So went up 50%,” he said.

    He credits a bad growing season and the tariffs.

    “Now that prices are changed, we’re in a wait-and-see. Do people start drinking less? Do people start going out less? What happens to traffic counts? Does this still financially work? It’s a big unknown,” he said. 

    So far he’s seen a cutback in the specialty drink orders. More people are ordering less expensive drip coffee but they’re still showing up.

    Poire-Odegard acknowledges that coffee is one of the last things people give up. Roughly two thirds of Americans have coffee every day, and most have three cups, according to the National Coffee Association. 

    He’s hoping that his shop will adapt. Even though the cost of supply is going up, the cost of demand isn’t drying up either. 

    The proposed bill by Congress to lower prices is called the “No Coffee Tax Act.”  It would have to be signed by President Trump. 

    As for tariffs in general, the White House said in a statement that “President Trump is strengthening the international economic position of the United States and protecting American workers.”

    Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield

    Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield loves sharing the good news. She hosts a show on Sunday mornings based on local “positivity and empowerment,” leading right into CBS Sunday Morning.

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  • Trump in speech to UN says world body ‘not even coming close to living up’ to its potential

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    President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday to boast of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lash out at the world body as a feckless institution, while warning Europe it would be ruined if it doesn’t turn away from a “double-tailed monster” of ill-conceived migration and green energy policies.His roughly hour-long speech was both grievance-filled and self-congratulatory as he used the platform to praise himself and lament that some of his fellow world leaders’ countries were “going to hell.”The address was also just the latest reminder for U.S. allies and foes that the United States — after a four-year interim under the more internationalist President Joe Biden — has returned to the unapologetically “America First” posture under Trump.“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”World leaders listened closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.Trump escalated that criticism on Tuesday, saying the international body’s “empty words don’t solve wars.”Trump offered a weave of jarring juxtapositions in his address to the assembly.He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker and enumerated successes of his administration’s efforts in several hotspots around the globe. At the same, Trump heralded his decisions to order the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iran and more recently against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela and argued that globalists are on the verge of destroying successful nations.The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.Warnings about ‘green scam’ and migrationTrump touted his administration’s policies allowing for expanded drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, and aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration, implicitly suggesting more countries should follow suit.He sharply warned that European nations that have more welcoming migration policies and commit to expensive energy projects aimed at reducing their carbon footprint were causing irreparable harm to their economies and cultures.“I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the ‘green energy’ scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said. “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with your country is going to fail.”Trump added, “I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.”The passage of the wide-ranging address elicited some groans and uncomfortable laughter from delegates.Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leadersTrump touted “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars. He peppered his speech with criticism of global institutions doing too little to end war and solve the world’s biggest problems.General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said that despite all the internal and external challenges facing the organization, it is not the time to walk away.“Sometimes we could’ve done more, but we cannot let this dishearten us. If we stop doing the right things, evil will prevail,” Baerbock said in her opening remarks.Following his speech, Trump met with Secretary-General António Guterres, telling the top U.N. official that the U.S. is behind the global body “100%” amid fears among members that he’s edging toward a full retreat.The White House says Trump will also meet on Tuesday with the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speechTrump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.Trump sharply criticized the statehood recognition push.“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists,” Trump said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7.”Trump also addressed Russia’s war in Ukraine.It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls on Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.Trump has Oslo dreamsDespite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the spurious claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars,” Trump offered.He again highlighted his administration’s efforts to end conflicts, including between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “Sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.”Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.___AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.

    UNITED NATIONS —

    President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday to boast of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lash out at the world body as a feckless institution, while warning Europe it would be ruined if it doesn’t turn away from a “double-tailed monster” of ill-conceived migration and green energy policies.

    His roughly hour-long speech was both grievance-filled and self-congratulatory as he used the platform to praise himself and lament that some of his fellow world leaders’ countries were “going to hell.”

    The address was also just the latest reminder for U.S. allies and foes that the United States — after a four-year interim under the more internationalist President Joe Biden — has returned to the unapologetically “America First” posture under Trump.

    “What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”

    World leaders listened closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.

    After his latest inauguration, he issued a first-day executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization. That was followed by his move to end U.S. participation in the U.N. Human Rights Council, and ordering up a review of U.S. membership in hundreds of intergovernmental organizations aimed at determining whether they align with the priorities of his “America First” agenda.

    Trump escalated that criticism on Tuesday, saying the international body’s “empty words don’t solve wars.”

    Trump offered a weave of jarring juxtapositions in his address to the assembly.

    He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker and enumerated successes of his administration’s efforts in several hotspots around the globe. At the same, Trump heralded his decisions to order the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iran and more recently against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela and argued that globalists are on the verge of destroying successful nations.

    The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.

    Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.

    The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

    Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.

    Warnings about ‘green scam’ and migration

    Trump touted his administration’s policies allowing for expanded drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, and aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration, implicitly suggesting more countries should follow suit.

    He sharply warned that European nations that have more welcoming migration policies and commit to expensive energy projects aimed at reducing their carbon footprint were causing irreparable harm to their economies and cultures.

    “I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the ‘green energy’ scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said. “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with your country is going to fail.”

    Trump added, “I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.”

    The passage of the wide-ranging address elicited some groans and uncomfortable laughter from delegates.

    Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leaders

    Trump touted “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars. He peppered his speech with criticism of global institutions doing too little to end war and solve the world’s biggest problems.

    General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said that despite all the internal and external challenges facing the organization, it is not the time to walk away.

    “Sometimes we could’ve done more, but we cannot let this dishearten us. If we stop doing the right things, evil will prevail,” Baerbock said in her opening remarks.

    Following his speech, Trump met with Secretary-General António Guterres, telling the top U.N. official that the U.S. is behind the global body “100%” amid fears among members that he’s edging toward a full retreat.

    The White House says Trump will also meet on Tuesday with the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

    He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.

    Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speech

    Trump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.

    France became the latest nation to recognize Palestinian statehood on Monday at the start of a high-profile meeting at the U.N. aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. More nations are expected to follow.

    Trump sharply criticized the statehood recognition push.

    “The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists,” Trump said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7.”

    Trump also addressed Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.

    European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.

    Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would “stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls on Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.

    Trump has Oslo dreams

    Despite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the spurious claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.

    “Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars,” Trump offered.

    He again highlighted his administration’s efforts to end conflicts, including between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.

    “It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “Sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.”

    Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.

    ___

    AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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  • Tim Cook Swears Tariffs Aren’t to Blame for iPhone 17 Pro Price Hike

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    Apple CEO Tim Cook wants everyone—especially Donald Trump—to know that the company’s new iPhone Pro price hike has nothing to do with tariffs.

    “There’s no increase for tariffs in the prices to be totally clear,” Cook told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday, the launch day for Apple’s iPhone 17 lineup. Earlier this month, Apple announced it would be raising the starting price for its most advanced iPhone by $100.

    For the first time since the iPhone X debuted in 2017, Apple’s entry-level Pro model starts above $999. Analysts had predicted the increase, noting that major gaming companies also recently raised prices on their consoles.

    For months, Cook and other executives have tried to stay on Trump’s good side in hopes of getting favorable policies for their respective businesses. But that has proven to be trickier than expected, as the president has shown no hesitation to involve himself in the affairs of private corporations, leaving top CEOs balancing on a very thin tightrope.

    Since Trump’s election in November, big names like OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg have all met with him. Cook even presented Trump with a glass sculpture and pledged to boost Apple’s U.S. investments to $600 billion in an attempt to navigate Trump’s tariff threats against China and India, where most iPhones are assembled.

    Apple isn’t alone in pledging huge investments. OpenAI, Eli Lilly, General Motors, and more have also promised billions in U.S. investments. But it seems these offerings of goodwill can only get you so far with Trump.

    Even after Hyundai pledged $26 billion in U.S. investments, federal immigration agents raided its under-construction battery plant in Georgia.

    For Apple, the tariffs have already cost it some money.

    “For the June quarter, we incurred approximately $800 million of tariff-related costs,” Cook admitted on an August earnings call. He said those costs could climb to $1.1 billion in the September quarter if Trump’s trade policies remain unchanged. But Cook maintains they played no role in the price hike.

    Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Gizmodo.

    But even if tariffs are nudging prices upward, Cook has little incentive to say so.

    Trump has been quick to attack companies that cite tariffs for raising consumer prices. In May, he blasted Walmart on Truth Social after its CEO warned it couldn’t keep absorbing rising costs, writing that the company should “EAT THE TARIFFS.”

    Since then, Trump has taken an even more direct approach with companies.

    Last month, the U.S. government bought a stake in struggling chipmaker Intel after Trump called for CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign.

    And this week, he told reporters that any TV network critical of him should lose its broadcasting license, a remark that came after ABC yanked Jimmy Kimmel Live from the air following pressure from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.

    We’re not even a year into Trump’s second term, yet CEOs are already buckling—and no one knows how much further they’ll cave without putting up a fight.

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    Bruce Gil

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  • 3 reasons why your grocery bill is getting more expensive

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    Americans’ grocery bills are growing, causing some shoppers to cut back on discretionary spending as they find themselves struggling to afford the basics. 

    Food prices grew by half a percent from July to August, marking the fastest monthly rate of change since the fall of 2022. Behind the rising cost of food items on store shelves are three main culprits, according to experts.

    The Trump administration’s wide-ranging tariffs, climate change and a shortage of agricultural workers in the U.S. are the leading causes of grocery inflation, Phil Lempert, a food industry analyst also known as the “Supermarket Guru,” told CBS News correspondent Jo Ling Kent. 

    Price hikes, he added, have been steepest on goods that the U.S. imports from nations facing higher levies. For example, the U.S. imports about 35% of its coffee from Brazil, whose exports are taxed at a rate of 50%.

    The latest Consumer Price Index data shows that coffee prices rose 21% in August compared with a year ago.

    As costs for companies rise, those burdens are passed along to consumers. 

    “There’s no question that what we’ve seen is, we’re seeing companies increase prices because of the impending tariffs,” Lempert said. “What they want to do is they want to protect themselves. A lot of these big food companies are public companies. So what they’ve gotta do is they’ve gotta report back to their shareholders on profit margins. So they’ve been hedging their bets,” Lempert said.

    Sometimes, packaged-goods companies offer consumers less product for the same amount of money, in order to disguise price hikes. The covert price-hike strategy has been dubbed “shrinkflation,” Lempert explained. 

    “What they’re doing is they’re trying to put less in the package, hoping that you and I are not gonna observe that and keep that price either stable or just slightly increased,” he said

    Climate change

    Increasing temperatures and shifts in weather patterns have made conditions for growing some fruits and vegetables in the U.S. inhospitable. As a result, a lot of domestic production has been moved to Central and Latin America, according to Lempert.

    “We can’t grow our food where we used to grow it,” he said.

    Labor shortage

    Additionally, Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, including raids on workplaces that employ large numbers of immigrants, plus waning interest in agricultural work, have led to an industrywide labor shortage, Lempert explained. 

    Consumers are reacting to higher prices by looking for deals, purchasing store brand goods instead of name-brands and buying shelf-stable groceries in bulk at shopping clubs like Costco. 

    Lempert said a little planning can go a long way to ensure that consumers can buy what they need. 

    “The number one thing that people want to do if they want to save money — stop wasting food,” Lempert said.

    “Forty percent of all of our food in this country is wasted. A lot of that’s in our homes. So, take doggy bags from restaurants, use leftovers, freeze leftovers, don’t waste food and you’ll save a substantial amount of money,” he said. 

    Megan Cerullo

    Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

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  • Trump may use tariff revenue to bail out farmers, agricultural secretary says. They’re reeling from challenges caused by the levies to begin with | Fortune

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    President Donald Trump is weighing a bailout program for farmers that would use tariff income, according to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The U.S. agricultural industry is preparing for a harvest season that will likely be characterized by dwindling export opportunities and more expensive tools and equipment as a result of the administration’s aggressive tariff policy.

    “There may be circumstances under which we will be very seriously looking to and announcing a package soon,” Rollins told the Financial Times on Wednesday, adding that using tariff income to finance the package would be “absolutely a potential.”

    In April, Rollins announced the Trump administration would consider providing aid to farmers after trade groups responded critically to tariff plans.

    The administration’s trade policies have already impacted the price of necessary tools for farmers, including a more-than-15% tariff rate on self-propelled machines like tractors and nearly 25% on herbicides and some pesticides, in part because of trade disputes with Canada, according to August data from the North Dakota State University Agricultural Trade Monitor. Agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere has warned of the adverse impact of tariffs on its own business, including a $600 million hit from the levies in fiscal 2025. 

    Retaliatory tariffs from China as a result of the trade war has also hobbled soybean farmers, who previously relied on China for more than 20% of its soybean exports. Chinese tariffs on the crop reached 34%, making U.S.-exported soybeans more expensive to Chinese importers than beans from Brazil. This effectively prices the U.S. out of the Chinese soybean market ahead of the autumn harvest season, according to the American Soybean Association.

    “Retaliatory tariffs have blunted U.S. soybean growers’ advantage, restricting their access to the very market where demand is growing fastest,” the trade group said in an August report.

    To be sure, not everyone in the agriculture industry is sour on Trump’s trade policies. Some farmers—such as shrimp farmers in Indiana—are celebrating the levies for blocking cheap foreign competitors from gaining U.S. market share. 

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture has laid the blame of today’s agriculture struggles on former President Joe Biden, saying his administration inherited a good farm economy, but “erased” Trump’s efforts to keep interest rates low and open new markets, resulting in a $50 billion agricultural trade deficit. 

    Agricultural exports reached an all-time high in 2022 under the Biden administration, according to USDA data. But despite the record, in 2023, imports exceeded exports by $21 billion.

    The USDA did not provide Fortune any additional information about what a potential farmer bailout program would look like.

    “We are constantly assessing the farm economy and exploring the need for further assistance but have not made a determination if an additional program is needed at this time,” a USDA spokesperson told Fortune in a statement.

    How will a potential bailout impact farmers?

    A bailout from the Trump administration may help to plug the economic holes left by trade dispute fallouts, but long-term erosion in certain agricultural markets will likely remain, according to Wendong Zhang, an associate professor of applied economics and policy at Cornell University’s SC Johnson School of Business.

    “It will compensate for the immediate economic losses due to tariffs, but it doesn’t necessarily improve the long-term competitiveness of agriculture on the global stage,” Zhang told Fortune. “This doesn’t help address the reliability of the U.S. in using these policies on the global stage as well.”

    A similar scenario played out in 2019, following the slew of tariffs Trump outlined in his first term, Zhang said. Between mid-2018 and 2019, U.S. farmers lost $27 billion in U.S. agricultural exports, according to a 2022 report from the USDA. As a result, Trump gave U.S. farmers $28 billion in subsidies, effectively making those losses whole, Zhang said.

    However, economic impacts lingered. While the U.S. regained some of China’s soybean market share from Brazil, that market share remained below pre-retaliatory tariff levels one year after a trade deal was made, according to the USDA report.

    Despite damage to the long-term health of the markets, farmers—a loyal constituency of Trump’s—have historically been supportive of tariffs and administrative aid, seeing the potential for long-term financial gain. According to a 2019 study from Zhang and his colleagues, more than half of farmers in Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois were somewhat or strongly supportive of Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products, despite 76% of them recognizing U.S. farmers would take a hit from the levies. More than 60% admitted U.S. agriculture would lose markets as a result of the tariffs.

    These farmers will likely maintain their attitudes about the Trump administration, but the impact of this round of tariffs will be harder to predict and parse through, Zhang explained. Unlike Trump’s first term, when the administration primarily went after trade with China, Trump has imposed tariffs on numerous countries, further complicating the U.S.’ place in global agricultural export markets.

    “There’s so many players and so many potential products, and there’s so many moving parts that…it’s really hard to to really know which ones will be affected,” Zhang said.

    Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.

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    Sasha Rogelberg

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  • L.A. cookie shop owner sees profits crumble under tariff burden:

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    Los Angeles — Cookie connoisseur Lara Adekoya started her baking business during the pandemic, selling cookies to masked customers out of her Los Angeles home. 

    Now, customers flock to her L.A. bakery, Fleurs et Sel, to get their hands on flavors like oatmeal chocolate chip walnut, peanut butter and Nutella, and matcha dark chocolate.

    Adekoya says she’s now paying $50 to $100 more per bag for premium ingredients imported from countries around the world, including France and Japan, due to President Trump’s tariffs. 

    She says that amounts to an extra $3,000 to $4,000 per month she is now spending on supplies.

    Adekoya says she has not yet passed on that extra cost to her customers, absorbing the entirety of it herself.

    “I guess the easy answer is like, raise your prices. I’m not at the point where I want to pass that on to my customers,” Adekoya told CBS News. 

    Two lower federal courts have ruled the Trump administration’s “reciprocal” tariffs, ranging from 15% to 50%, are illegal. The Trump administration has appealed the case to the Supreme Court.

    Small businesses involved in the case say the impacts of tariffs are “not survivable.”

    “Mom and pop shops, they don’t have the resources to absorb these high costs imposed by these tariffs,” said Brian Peck, executive director for the USC Center for Transnational Law and Business, and an adjunct assistant law professor who specializes in tariffs. “If these reciprocal tariffs are upheld by the Supreme Court, it gives the president unlimited authority to impose whatever tariffs he wants on different countries. It limits the choices you have in terms of trying to find alternative sources.”

    Higher tariffs have forced Adekoya to delay expanding her business, and she’s had to limit the availability of cookies that require imported ingredients.
     
    “I have those core flavors that I know I can get those ingredients. And then the specialty flavors, I can just throw them in and out based on being able to source them,” Adekoya explained. “I have to find a way to persevere. If I didn’t have that mindset when I started my business, I wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

    Elise Preston

    Elise Preston is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles. She reports for all broadcasts and platforms, including the “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Mornings,” “CBS Saturday Morning” and “CBS Weekend News.”

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  • Rising grocery prices could lead to shrinkflation, food industry analyst says

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    Santa Monica, California — It’s no secret that a trip to the grocery store is costing more these days. Food prices grew by a half-percent from July to August, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index — the fastest monthly change since the fall of 2022.

    And overall grocery prices in August rose 2.7% compared to one year ago, according to the CPI.

    “Tariffs have a huge impact on grocery prices,” food industry analyst Phil Lempert, editor of SupermarketGuru, told CBS News. 

    Lempert believes the Trump administration’s tariffs are one of three primary reasons that Americans are seeing a rise in grocery prices, with the others being climate change and labor shortages.

    “We can’t grow our food where we used to grow it,” Lempert said of the impact of climate change. “… Now it’s had to move to Central and Latin America… Number two is the labor shortage… And then third is our tariffs.” 

    One of the products that has seen some of the biggest price jumps is coffee, which has jumped 21.7% compared to one year ago, according to the CPI.

    “We got 50% tariffs on coffee from Brazil, and we import about 35% of our coffee beans, unroasted, from Brazil,” Lempert said. “… Yes, coffee’s going to get more expensive.”

    He also says the U.S. should brace for shrinkflation — when food and product manufacturers keep prices the same, but reduce the size of items, meaning consumers are ultimately paying more for the same amount.

    A September 2024 analysis from Lending Tree found that about one-third of approximately 100 common consumer products had shrunk in size or servings since the start of the pandemic.

    As an example, Lempert showed CBS News coffee bean packets in one grocery store in Santa Monica, California, that used to be sold in 16-ounce sizes, but are now 10.5 ounces. 

    “What they’re doing is they’re trying to put less in the package, hoping that you and I are not going to observe that, and keep that price either stable or just slightly increased,” Lempert explained.

    Lempert says shrinkflation is “absolutely not” going away. According to his analysis, higher prices are changing consumer behavior, with more shoppers choosing less expensive store brands, shopping at multiple stores in an effort to find deals, and buying in bulk. 

    “No. 1, always have a shopping list,” says Lempert on his advice on seeking out savings. “… Don’t waste food… Take doggy bags from restaurants, use leftovers, freeze leftovers. And then, obviously, use your coupons. Use your frequent shopper card. Do everything you can to compare prices before you head to the store.” 

    Jo Ling Kent

    Journalist Jo Ling Kent joined CBS News in July 2023 as the senior business and technology correspondent for CBS News. Kent has more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of technology and business in the U.S., as well as the emergence of China as a global economic power.

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  • L.A. cookie shop owner sees profits crumble under tariff burden

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    L.A. cookie shop owner sees profits crumble under tariff burden – CBS News










































    Watch CBS News



    Lara Adekoya says her Los Angeles bakery is now paying $50 to $100 more per bag for premium ingredients imported from countries around the world due to President Trump’s tariffs. Elise Preston reports.

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  • Tariffs could hike prices on Halloween products like costumes and candy, but experts say consumers aren’t scared

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    Tariffs could create scary prices on some of your Halloween favorites this year, from skeletons to pumpkins and costumes.

    But that isn’t deterring shoppers. The National Retail Federation expects Halloween spending to hit a record $13.1 billion this year, breaking the previous record of $12.2 billion.

    “We’ve seen actually a big focus on discount stores this year,” said Katherine Cullen of the National Retail Federation. “People are aware of what’s going on with tariffs and they’re gonna invest in what’s important to them, but they’re also gonna be very smart with their money.”

    Impact on businesses

    Derek Kennedy owns Magic etc Ft Worth Costume Inc. in north Texas. From masks and makeup to costumes, the Halloween season accounts for at least 25% of his yearly sales.

    This year, Kennedy said the tariffs have had a terrifying effect, like slower shipping time and higher wholesale prices.

    “Most of the costumes are made overseas and through the different manufacturers, the tariffs have ranged anywhere from 5% to 19%,” Kennedy explained.

    Kennedy is testing out a new trick by treating his loyal shoppers to low prices by absorbing most of the cost of tariffs.

    “Even though there was a surcharge at the bottom of the invoice of $300, $500, $700 sometimes, I kind of ignored it this year and just tried to price like normal because, you know, people only have so much money to spend,” he said.”

    But for some items, like fog machines, the price difference is too much for Kennedy to absorb. The machine last year was $58. This year, it will cost $74, he said.

    It’s not just costumes and decorations. Candy for your trick-or-treaters will also cost you more.

    According to online sales trackers, an average bag of fun-size chocolate bars is up approximately $5 compared to last year. An average bag of snack-sized chocolate bars is up about $2. Last year, a 48-count box of full-size chocolate bars cost about $40. This year it’s more than $50.

    Omar Villafranca

    Omar Villafranca is a CBS News correspondent based in Dallas. He joined CBS News in 2014 as a correspondent for Newspath. Before CBS, Villafranca worked at KXAS-TV Dallas-Fort Worth, at KOTV-TV the CBS affiliate in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and at KSWO-TV in Lawton, Oklahoma.

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  • Live updates: Trump’s U.K. visit turns from royalty to politics, as Brits focus on trade, Gaza and Ukraine

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    What to know about Chequers, the U.K. prime minister’s country house

    Chequers is the U.K. prime minister’s country house. Located about 40 miles northwest of London, it is a formidable estate, though no match for the environs of Windsor Castle where Mr. Trump spent Wednesday.

    The home was constructed in the mid-1500s, about 200 years before the United States came into being, and it has served as the official country residence of Britain’s prime ministers since 1921.

    Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (2nd left) and Lady Victoria Starmer greet President Trump at Chequers, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, on day two of the president’s second state visit to the U.K., Sept. 18, 2025.

    Stefan Rousseau/Pool via REUTERS


    Highly secured and well out of public view, Chequers has been the venue for a number of important meetings and negotiations. Famous visitors over the years have included many European leaders, U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

    In 1941, then-U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was at Chequers when he learned that the Japanese navy had attacked Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II.


    By Haley Ott

     

    Trump arrives at Chequers for meeting with U.K. leader Keir Starmer

    President Trump’s Marine One helicopter touched down on the grounds of the U.K. prime minister’s official country residence Thursday. 

    Mr. Trump was greeted by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria, and they walked into the house for a day of closed-door talks and a separate meeting with business leaders.


    By Tucker Reals

     

    What are Trump and the U.K.’s Starmer expected to discuss?

    Mr. Trump and Starmer are expected to discuss a range of issues Thursday, including trade. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said Starmer’s government is hoping to negotiate “a little bit better deal” to ease trade restrictions including U.S. tariffs.

    The leaders are expected to formally announce a U.S.-U.K. “Technology Prosperity Deal,” boosting ties in AI, quantum computing, and nuclear energy, with companies including Google, Microsoft and Nvidia on board to formalize some $42 billion of investments in the U.K. 

    The wars in Gaza and Ukraine are also likely to come up, as Starmer has joined several other countries in announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state if Israel fails to meet certain conditions, including agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas and letting in more humanitarian aid.

    President Trump meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer

    President Trump shakes hands with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Trump Turnberry golf club, July 28, 2025, in Turnberry, Scotland.

    Chris Furlong/Getty


    On the war in Ukraine, Starmer and other European leaders have pushed Mr. Trump to take a harder line on Vladimir Putin, who’s blown past a series of deadlines issued by the president for Putin to meet directly with Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate a ceasefire. 

    Mr. Trump has recently said “it takes two to tango,” suggesting he could still impose new sanctions against Russia, but he said America’s NATO allies first had to halt all purchases of Russian energy.

    By Tucker Reals and Sara Cook 


    By Tucker Reals

     

    What’s in store for Day 2 of President Trump’s second state visit to the U.K.

    President Trump bid farewell to King Charles and Windsor Castle on Thursday and boarded his Marine One helicopter for the short flight to Chequers, the official country residence of the British prime minister, Keir Starmer. 

    He’s to hold a bilateral meeting, behind closed doors, with Starmer, and will also join a reception with business leaders, before the two leaders hold a joint news conference. 

    On Thursday afternoon, Mr. Trump will leave Chequers and fly back to the U.S.


    By Tucker Reals

     

    What Trump did on Day 1 of his historic second U.K. state visit

    President Trump and first lady Melania were feted by King Charles III on the first full day of their state visit, the British royals putting on the kind of display they have long been known for — giving their U.S. visitor full military honors and a glittering state banquet at Windsor Castle.

    There were protests in London, and even at Windsor the night before the Trumps arrived, deriding the U.S. leader’s policies and highlighting his past ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But police estimated a crowd of only about 5,000, and as the protesters were in central London, about 20 miles from Windsor, they were well out of Mr. Trump’s earshot as he enjoyed the royal treatment.

    BRITAIN-US-ROYALS-DIPLOMACY

    (L-R) Queen Camilla, King Charles III, President Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive to attend a state banquet at Windsor Castle, Sept. 17, 2025.

    DOUG MILLS/POOL/AFP/Getty


    The day included a military honor featuring more than 1,000 British troops marching in formation, a military flypast — albeit toned down due to rain, a visit to the late Queen Elizabeth II’s tomb, and then a formal state banquet where Mr. Trump sat at the center of a dining table more than 150 feet long.


    By Tucker Reals

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  • House Republicans just voted to give even more tariff power away to Trump

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    Since President Donald Trump took office, Congress has abdicated its constitutional authority—and responsibility—to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises” to the executive branch. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted yet again to prevent itself from reclaiming these powers from the president.

    The vote was on a procedural measure that passed out of the Rules Committee on Monday, which included a provision to “extend until March 31 a block on efforts…to end the national emergencies underlying Trump’s sweeping tariffs,” reports Politico. The measure passed in a partisan 213–211 vote, with only Reps. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.), Kevin Kiley (R–Calif.), and Victoria Spartz (R–Ind.) breaking party ranks.

    The measure mirrors House Resolution 211, which cleared the House in March and “blocked the most direct pathway for lawmakers to revoke the emergency executive powers” Trump used to levy tariffs “on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China,” Reason‘s Eric Boehm wrote at the time. The March resolution deemed each remaining day of the first session of the 119th Congress as not a day “for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act [NEA] with respect to a joint resolution terminating a national emergency declared by the President on February 1.”

    The NEA grants Congress the authority to cancel all national emergencies declared by the president through a law or joint resolution. This includes emergencies invoked by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)—the law that Trump has used to levy tariffs on many of America’s trade partners—which authorizes the president to impose asset freezes, trade embargoes, and sanctions, but not tariffs. By refusing to recognize days during which Section 202 of the NEA is considered, Congress ceded its ability to nullify Trump’s February IEEPA tariffs until January 3, 2026.

    Tuesday’s resolution follows the same logic. House Resolution 707 nullified the provisions of “section 202 of the National Emergencies Act…from September 16, 2025, through March 31, 2026 [with respect to] a joint resolution terminating the national emergency declared by the President on July 30.” That national emergency was declared the day before Trump’s July 31 executive order further modifying the reciprocal tariff rates, which were first imposed on “Liberation Day” in April. This order not only levied across-the-board duties on Mexico, Canada, and China, as Trump did in February, but imposed not-so-reciprocal tariffs on every country with which the U.S. has normal trade relations. By passing this resolution, the only way Congress can interfere with Trump’s reciprocal tariffs would be to pass a law amending the IEEPA statute itself, which almost certainly will not happen.

    Rep. Suzan DelBene (D–Wash.), who voted against the resolution, tells Reason that “House Republicans have yet again abdicated their constitutional role over trade policy to President Trump, effectively capitulating to the largest tax increase on Americans in history.”

    As Congress has sat idly by, courts have been deliberating the constitutionality of Trump using IEEPA to set tariffs.

    In May, the Court of International Trade (CIT) unanimously ruled that Trump’s IEEPA tariffs were “beyond the scope of executive power, and…blocked [them] by a permanent injunction,” Ilya Somin, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, explained at the time. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the CIT’s ruling on August 29, but vacated the lower court’s universal injunction. Pending an oral argument before the Supreme Court in the first week of its November session, Trump’s tariffs remain in effect.

    The Supreme Court wouldn’t be involved if Congress hadn’t delegated its tariff power to the president through laws like the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (responsible for Section 232 tariffs) and the Trade Act of 1974. Unfortunately, Congress has long been eager to offload its constitutional duties to the executive branch. Tuesday’s resolution is merely a continuation of this trend.

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    Jack Nicastro

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  • Trump has a habit of asserting broad, unreviewable authority

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    In separate attacks this month, the U.S. military blew up two speedboats in the Caribbean Sea, killing 14 alleged drug smugglers. Although those men could have been intercepted and arrested, President Donald Trump said he decided summary execution was appropriate as a deterrent to drug trafficking.

    To justify this unprecedented use of the U.S. military to kill criminal suspects, Trump invoked his “constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive” to protect “national security and foreign policy interests.” That assertion of sweeping presidential power fits an alarming pattern that is also apparent in Trump’s tariffs, his attempt to summarily deport suspected gang members as “alien enemies,” and his planned use of National Guard troops to fight crime in cities across the country.

    Although Trump described the boat attacks as acts of “self-defense,” he did not claim the people whose deaths he ordered were engaged in literal attacks on the United States. His framing instead relied on the dubious proposition that drug smuggling is tantamount to violent aggression.

    While that assumption is consistent with Trump’s often expressed desire to kill drug dealers, it is not consistent with the way drug laws are ordinarily enforced. In the absence of violent resistance, a police officer who decided to shoot a drug suspect dead rather than take him into custody would be guilty of murder.

    That seems like an accurate description of the attacks that Trump ordered. Yet he maintains that his constitutional license to kill, which apparently extends to civilians he views as threats to U.S. “national security and foreign policy interests,” transforms murder into self-defense.

    Trump has asserted similarly broad authority to impose stiff, ever-changing tariffs on goods imported from scores of countries. Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected that audacious power grab, saying it was inconsistent with the 1977 statute on which Trump relied.

    The Federal Circuit said the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which does not mention import taxes at all and had never before been used to impose them, does not give the president “unlimited authority” to “revise the tariff schedule” approved by Congress. The appeals court added that “the Government’s understanding of the scope of authority granted by IEEPA would render it an unconstitutional delegation.”

    Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) against alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has also run into legal trouble. This month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit concluded that Trump had erroneously relied on a nonexistent “invasion or predatory incursion” to justify his use of that 1798 statute.

    Trump argued that the courts had no business deciding whether he had complied with the law. “The president’s determination that the factual prerequisites of the AEA have been met is not subject to judicial review,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign told the 5th Circuit.

    Trump took a similar position in the tariff case. As an opposing lawyer noted, it amounted to the claim that “the president can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, for as long as he wants, so long as he declares an emergency.”

    Trump also thinks his presidential powers include a mandate to protect public safety by deploying the National Guard, with or without the approval of state or local officials. In pursuing that plan, he claimed at a Cabinet meeting last month, he has “the right to do anything I want to do,” because “I’m the president of the United States.”

    As Trump sees it, that means “if I think our country is in danger—and it is in danger in these cities—I can do it.” In effect, Trump is asserting the sort of broad police power that the Constitution reserves to the states.

    If Trump’s crime-fighting plan provokes legal challenges, he is apt to argue that his authority is not only vast but unreviewable. That dangerous combination is emerging as a hallmark of his administration.

    © Copyright 2025 by Creators Syndicate Inc.

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    Jacob Sullum

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