Tag: Trump Media & Technology Group

Takeover bid of parent company means limbo for CNN and some fellow cable networks

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Paramount Skydance’s hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery places CNN and its sister cable networks squarely back into what is likely to be an extended period of management limbo.

There was some relief at CNN with last Friday’s announcement that Netflix was buying Warner’s studio and streaming businesses, since the cable network would not be a part of that deal. But that quickly changed on Monday with Paramount’s announced bid, which includes the cable assets that Netflix doesn’t want and, if successful, opens the possibility of a combined CNN and CBS News.

The management uncertainty adds to what is already a challenging time at CNN, where there was no doubt who was in charge before swashbuckling founder Ted Turner sold his company in 1996. “That era might as well be the roaring ‘20s for how long ago it feels,” said Ross Benes, senior analyst at emarketer.com.

The dueling bids between Paramount and Netflix now “lead to more uncertainty and greater anxiety among the current CNN staff and among those of us who served for many years as leaders of CNN under Ted,” said Tom Johnson, former CNN president in the 1990s.

Paramount’s bid, which must be approved by shareholders and regulators, could be seen favorably by President Donald Trump, who is closely allied with Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison as well as his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison. But Trump has already expressed anger at the company on social media for Sunday’s “60 Minutes” report on former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Prior to Friday’s announcement, Warner Bros. Discovery had said it planned to spin off its cable television networks including CNN, Discovery, HGTV, the Food Network and TLC, into a separate company. The growth of streaming has made cable networks an unattractive business.

CNN’s television ratings have tumbled to the extent that it is firmly the third-rated cable news network behind Fox News Channel and MS NOW, formerly MSNBC. Its CEO, Mark Thompson, has aggressively moved into digital with a new subscription service and said that management of Discovery Global, the spinoff company, has already approved a 2026 budget investing in the plan.

“I know this strategic review has been a period of inevitable uncertainty across CNN and indeed the whole of WBD,” Thompson told staff in a memo Friday. “Of course, I can’t promise you that the media attention and noise around the sale of our parent will die down overnight. But I do think the path to the successful transformation of this great news enterprise remains open.”

Thompson had no additional comment on Monday, a spokeswoman said.

Since Paramount’s takeover of CBS News this past summer, the network has taken steps to appeal to more conservative viewers with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief. Weiss is moderating a prime-time discussion this weekend with Erika Kirk, widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

During an appearance on CNBC Monday, Ellison answered, “yeah,” when asked if he would combine CNN’s newsgathering operation with CBS News. What exactly that means is unclear.

“We want to build a scaled news service that is basically, fundamentally, in the trust business, that is in the truth business, and that speaks to the 70% of Americans that are in the middle,” Ellison said.

Trump has spoken highly of both Ellison and his billionaire father. But he was clearly angry about Lesley Stahl’s “60 Minutes” interview with former MAGA supporter Greene, who broke with him and recently resigned from Congress. Trump said on Truth Social that his real problem with the show is that the new corporate ownership allowed it to air.

“THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP,” Trump said, adding he believed that “60 Minutes” had gotten worse from his perspective since the changeover.

CNN is not likely to find out soon who its new owners would be. Even before the Paramount bid, experts had predicted the Netflix deal would face more than a year of regulatory hurdles.

“There is such a need for independent, unbiased news services,” Johnson said. “I so hope that the new CNN owners will see that as their fundamental mission.”

If Netflix eventually wins, emarketer.com’s Benes predicted it would be likely that the spinoff company, Discovery Global, would be shopped around to other buyers.

“CNN will be in limbo for a while no matter which bidder purchases CNN,” he said.

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

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December 9, 2025
What to know about Trump’s plan to give Americans a $2,000 tariff dividend

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump boasts that his tariffs protect American industries, lure factories to the United States, raise money for the federal government and give him diplomatic leverage.

Now, he’s claiming they can finance a windfall for American families, too: He’s promising a generous tariff dividend.

The president proposed the idea on his Truth Social media platform Sunday, five days after his Republican Party lost elections in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere largely because of voter discontent with his economic stewardship — specifically, the high cost of living.

The tariffs are bringing in so much money, the president posted, that “a dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.’’

Budget experts scoffed at the idea, which conjured memories of the Trump administration’s short-lived plan for DOGE dividend checks financed by billionaire Elon Musk’s federal budget cuts.

“The numbers just don’t check out,″ said Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

Details are scarce, including what the income limits would be and whether payments would go to children.

Even Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, sounded a bit blindsided by the audacious dividend plan. Appearing Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,’’ Bessent said he hadn’t discussed the dividend with the president and suggested that it might not mean that Americans would get a check from the government. Instead, Bessent said, the rebate might take the form of tax cuts.

The tariffs are certainly raising money — $195 billion in the budget year that ended Sept. 30, up 153% from $77 billion in fiscal 2024. But they still account for less than 4% of federal revenue and have done little to dent the federal budget deficit — a staggering $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2025.

Budget wonks say Trump’s dividend math doesn’t work.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to mark Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

John Ricco, an analyst with the Budget Lab at Yale University, reckons that Trump’s tariffs will bring in $200 billion to $300 billion a year in revenue. But a $2,000 dividend — if it went to all Americans, including children — would cost $600 billion. “It’s clear that the revenue coming in would not be adequate,’’ he said.

Ricco also noted that Trump couldn’t just pay the dividends on his own. They would require legislation from Congress.

Moreover, the centerpiece of Trump’s protectionist trade policies — double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country in the world — may not survive a legal challenge that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a hearing last week, the justices sounded skeptical about the Trump administration’s assertion of sweeping power to declare national emergencies to justify the tariffs. Trump has bypassed Congress, which has authority under the Constitution to levy taxes, including tariffs.

If the court strikes down the tariffs, the Trump administration may be refunding money to the importers who paid them, not sending dividend checks to American families. (Trump could find other ways to impose tariffs, even if he loses at the Supreme Court; but it could be cumbersome and time-consuming.)

Mainstream economists and budget analysts note that tariffs are paid by U.S. importers who then generally try to pass along the cost to their customers through higher prices.

The dividend plan “misses the mark,’’ the Tax Foundation’s York said. ”If the goal is relief for Americans, just get rid of the tariffs.’’

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November 12, 2025
Banks and retailers run short on pennies as the US Mint stops making them

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NEW YORK (AP) — The United States is running out of pennies.

President Donald Trump’s decision to stop producing the penny earlier this year is starting to have real implications for the nation’s commerce. Merchants in multiple regions of the country have run out of pennies and are unable to produce exact change. Meanwhile, banks are unable to order fresh pennies and are rationing pennies for their customers.

One convenience store chain, Sheetz, got so desperate for pennies that it briefly ran a promotion offering a free soda to customers who bring in 100 pennies. Another retailer says the lack of pennies will end up costing it millions this year, because of the need to round down to avoid lawsuits.

“It’s a chunk of change,” said Dylan Jeon, senior director of government relations with the National Retail Federation.

The penny problem started in late summer and is only getting worse as the country heads into the holiday shopping season.

To be sure, not one retailer or bank has called for the penny to stick around. Pennies, especially in bulk, are heavy and are more often than not used exclusively to give customers change. But the abrupt decision to get rid of the penny has come with no guidance from the federal government. Many stores have been left pleading for Americans to pay in exact change.

“We have been advocating abolition of the penny for 30 years. But this is not the way we wanted it to go,” said Jeff Lenard with the National Association of Convenience Stores.

Trump announced on Feb. 9 that the U.S. would no longer mint pennies, citing the high costs. Both the penny and the nickel have been more expensive to produce than they are worth for several years, despite efforts by the U.S. Mint to reduce costs. The Mint spent 3.7 cents to make a penny in 2024, according to its most recent annual report, and it spends 13.8 cents to make a nickel.

“Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The Treasury Department said in May that it was placing its last order of copper-zinc planchets — the blank metal disks that are minted into coins. In June, the last pennies were minted and by August, those pennies were distributed to banks and armored vehicle service companies.

Troy Richards, president at Louisiana-based Guaranty Bank & Trust Co., said he’s had to scramble to have enough pennies on hand for his customers since August.

“We got an email announcement from the Federal Reserve that penny shipments would be curtailed. Little did we know that those shipments were already over for us,” Richards said.

Richards said the $1,800 in pennies the bank had were gone in two weeks. His branches are keeping small amounts of pennies for customers who need to cash checks, but that’s it.

The U.S. Mint issued 3.23 billion pennies in 2024, the last full year of production, more than double that of the second-most minted coin in the country: the quarter. But the problem with pennies is they are issued, given as change, and rarely recirculated back into the economy. Americans store their pennies in jars or use them for decoration. This requires the Mint to produce significant sums of pennies each year.

The government is expected to save $56 million by not minting pennies, according to the Treasury Department. Despite losing money on the penny, the Mint is profitable for the U.S. government through its production of other circulating coins as well as coin proof and commemorative sets that appeal to numismatic collectors.

In 2024, the Mint made $182 million in seigniorage, which is its equivalent of profit.

Besides American’s penny hoarding habit, a logistical issue is also preventing pennies from circulating.

The distribution of coins is handled by the Federal Reserve system. Several companies, mostly armored carrier companies, operate coin terminals where banks can withdraw and deposit coins. Roughly a third of these 170 coin terminals are now closed to both penny deposits as well as penny withdrawals.

Bank lobbyists say these terminals being closed to penny deposits is exacerbating the penny shortage, because parts of the country that may have some surplus pennies are unable to get those pennies to parts of country with shortages.

“As a result of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s decision to end production of the penny, coin distribution locations accepting penny deposits and fulfilling orders will vary over time as (penny) inventory is depleted” a Federal Reserve spokeswoman said.

The lack of pennies has also become a legal minefield for stores and retailers. In some states and cities, it is illegal to round up a transaction to the nearest nickel or dime because doing so would run afoul of laws that are supposed to place cash customers and debit and credit card customers on an equal playing field when it comes to item costs.

So, to avoid lawsuits, retailers are rounding down. While two or three cents may not seem like much, that extra change can add up over tens of thousands of transactions. A spokesman for Kwik Trip, the Midwest convenience store chain, says it has been rounding down every cash transaction to the nearest nickel. That’s expected to cost the company roughly $3 million this year. Some retailers are asking customers to give their change to local or affiliated charities at the cash register, in an effort to avoid pennies as well.

A bill currently pending in Congress, known as the Common Cents Act, calls for cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest nickel, up or down. While the proposal is palatable to businesses, rounding up could be costly for consumers.

The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment on whether they had any guidance for retailers or banks regarding the penny shortage, or the issues regarding penny circulation.

The United States is not the first country to transition away from small denomination coins or discontinue out-of-date coins. But in all of these cases, governments wound down the use of their out-of-date coins over a period of, often, years.

For example, Canada announced it would eliminate its one-cent coin in 2012, transitioning away from one-cent cash transactions starting in 2013 and is still redeeming and recycling one-cent coins a decade later. The “decimalization” process of converting British coins from farthings and shillings to a 100-pence-to-a-pound system took much of the 1960s and early 1970s.

The U.S. removed the penny from commerce abruptly, without any action by Congress or any regulatory guidance for banks, retailers or states. The retail and banking industries, rarely allies in Washington on policy matters related to point-of-sale, are demanding that Washington issue guidance or pass a law fixing the issues that are arising due to the shortage.

“We don’t want the penny back. We just want some sort of clarity from the federal government on what to do, as this issue is only going to get worse,” the NACS’ Lenard said.

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November 2, 2025
Trump says a Canadian ad misstated Ronald Reagan’s views on tariffs. Here are the facts and context

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump pulled out of trade talks with Canada Thursday night, furious over what he called a “fake’’ television ad from Ontario’s provincial government that quoted former U.S. President Ronald Reagan from 38 years ago criticizing tariffs — Trump’s favorite economic tool.

The ad features audio excerpts from an April 25, 1987 radio address in which Reagan said: “Over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.’’

Trump attacked the ad on Truth Social Friday posting: “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!! They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY.″

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute criticized the ad on X Thursday night posting that it “misrepresents the ‘Presidential Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade’ dated April 25, 1987.”

While Trump called the ad fake, Reagan’s words were real. But context is missing.

Here’s a look at the facts:

Reagan, who held office during a period of growing fear over Japan’s rising economic might, made the address a week after he himself had imposed tariffs on Japanese semiconductors; he was attempting to explain the decision, which seemed at odds with his reputation as a free trader.

Reagan did not, in fact, love tariffs. He often criticized government policies – including protectionist measures such as tariffs – that interfered with free commerce and he spent much of 1987 radio address spelling out the case against tariffs.

“High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,’’ he said. “The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition. So, soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidize inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying. Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.’’

But Reagan’s policies were more complicated than his rhetoric.

In addition to taxing Japanese semiconductors, Reagan slapped levies on heavy motorcycles from Japan to protect Harley-Davidson. He also strong-armed Japanese automakers into accepting “voluntary’’ limitations on their exports to the United States, ultimately encouraging them to set up factories in the American Midwest and South.

And he pressured other countries to push down the value of the currencies to help make American exports more competitive in world markets.

Robert Lighthizer, a Reagan trade official who served as Trump’s top trade negotiator from 2017 through 2021, wrote in his 2023 memoir that “President Reagan distinguished between free trade in theory and free trade in practice.’’

In 1988, an analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute even declared Reagan “ the most protectionist president since Herbert Hoover, the heavyweight champion of protectionists.’’

Reagan, though, was no trade warrior. Discussing his semiconductor tariffs in the April 1987 radio address, he said that he was forced to impose them because the Japanese were not living up to a trade agreement and that “such tariffs or trade barriers and restrictions of any kind are steps that I am loath to take.’’

Trump, on the other hand, has no such reticence. He argues that tariffs can protect American industry, draw manufacturing back to the United States and raise money for the Treasury. Since returning to the White House in January, he has slapped double-digit tariffs on almost every country on earth and targeted specific products including autos, steel and pharmaceuticals.

The average effective U.S. tariff rate has risen from around 2.5% at the start of the 2025 to 18%, highest since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.

Trump’s enthusiastic use of import taxes — he has proudly called himself “Tariff Man’’ — has drawn a challenge from businesses and states charging that he overstepped his authority. The Constitution gives Congress the power to levy taxes, including tariffs, though lawmakers have gradually ceded considerable authority over trade policy to the White House. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the case early next month.

Trump claimed Thursday that the Canadian ad was intended “to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts.’’

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October 26, 2025
Trump’s new tariffs go into effect as US economy shows signs of strain

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump began imposing higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to cause visible damage to the U.S. economy.

Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10% or higher. Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15%, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh are taxed at 20%. Trump also expects the EU, Japan and South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States.

“I think the growth is going to be unprecedented,” Trump said Wednesday. He said the U.S. was “taking in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs,” but did not provide a specific figure for revenues because “we don’t even know what the final number is” regarding the rates.

Despite the uncertainty, the White House is confident that the onset of his tariffs will provide clarity about the path for the world’s largest economy. Now that companies understand the direction the U.S. is headed, the Republican administration believes it can ramp up new investments and jump-start hiring in ways that can rebalance America as a manufacturing power.

So far, however, there are signs of self-inflicted wounds to the U.S. as companies and consumers brace for the impact of the new taxes.

Risk of economic erosion

Hiring began to stall, inflationary pressures crept upward and home values in key markets started to decline after the initial tariff rollout in April, said John Silvia, CEO of Dynamic Economic Strategy.

“A less productive economy requires fewer workers,” Silvia said. “But there is more, the higher tariff prices lower workers’ real wages. The economy has become less productive, and firms cannot pay the same real wages as before. Actions have consequences.”

Many economists say the risk is that the American economy is steadily eroded.

“It’s going to be fine sand in the gears and slow things down,” said Brad Jensen, a professor at Georgetown University.

Trump has promoted the tariffs as a way to reduce America’s persistent trade deficit. But importers tried to avoid the taxes by bringing in more goods before the tariffs took effect. As a result, the $582.7 billion trade imbalance for the first half of the year was 38% higher than in 2024. Total construction spending has dropped 2.9% over the past year.

The economic pain is not confined to the U.S.

Germany, which sends 10% of its exports to the U.S. market, saw industrial production sag 1.9% in June as Trump’s earlier rounds of tariffs took hold. “The new tariffs will clearly weigh on economic growth,” said Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro for ING bank.

Dismay in India and Switzerland

The lead-up to Thursday fit the slapdash nature of Trump’s tariffs, which have been rolled out, walked back, delayed, increased, imposed by letter and renegotiated.

Trump on Wednesday announced additional 25% tariffs to be imposed on India because of its purchases of Russian oil, bringing its total import taxes to 50%.

A leading group of Indian exporters said that will affect nearly 55% of the country’s outbound shipments to America and force exporters to lose long-standing clients.

“Absorbing this sudden cost escalation is simply not viable. Margins are already thin,” S.C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, said in a statement.

The Swiss executive branch, the Federal Council, was expected to meet Thursday after President Karin Keller-Sutter and other Swiss officials returned from a hastily arranged trip to Washington in a failed bid to avert a 39% U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods.

Import taxes are still coming on pharmaceutical drugs, and Trump announced 100% tariffs on computer chips. That could leave the U.S. economy in a place of suspended animation as it awaits the impact.

Stock market remains solid

The president’s use of a 1977 law to declare an economic emergency to impose the tariffs is under a legal challenge. Even people who worked with Trump during his first term are skeptical, such as Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who was House speaker.

“There’s no sort of rationale for this other than the president wanting to raise tariffs based upon his whims, his opinions,” Ryan told CNBC on Wednesday.

Trump is aware of the risk that courts could overturn his tariffs. In a Truth Social tweet, he said, “THE ONLY THING THAT CAN STOP AMERICA’S GREATNESS WOULD BE A RADICAL LEFT COURT THAT WANTS TO SEE OUR COUNTRY FAIL!”

The stock market has been solid during the tariff drama, with the S&P 500 index climbing more than 25% from its April low. The market’s rebound and the income tax cuts in Trump’s tax and spending measure signed into law on July 4 have given the White House confidence that economic growth is bound to accelerate in the coming months.

On the global financial markets, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia, while stocks were slipping on Wall Street.

But ING’s Brzeski warned: “While financial markets seem to have grown numb to tariff announcements, let’s not forget that their adverse effects on economies will gradually unfold over time.”

Trump foresees an economic boom. American voters and the rest of the world wait, nervously.

“There’s one person who can afford to be cavalier about the uncertainty that he’s creating, and that’s Donald Trump,” said Rachel West, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who worked in the Biden White House on labor policy. “The rest of Americans are already paying the price for that uncertainty.”

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Follow the AP’s coverage of President Donald Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump.

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August 12, 2025
Trump says Intel CEO has an ‘amazing story’ days after calling for his resignation

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Less than a week after demanding his resignation, President Donald Trump is now calling the career of Intel’s CEO an “amazing story.”

Shares of Intel, which slid last week after CEO Lip-Bu Tan came under fire from the U.S. president, bounced higher before the opening bell Tuesday.

The attack from Trump came after Sen. Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel Chairman Frank Yeary expressing concern over Tan’s investments and ties to semiconductor firms that are reportedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army. Cotton asked Intel if Tan had divested from the companies to eliminate any potential conflict of interest.

Trump said on the Truth Social platform Thursday that, “The CEO of Intel is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!”

Tan was named Intel CEO in March and it is unclear if he has divested his interests in the chip companies.

Tan said in a message to employees that there was misinformation circulating about his past roles at Walden International and Cadence Design Systems and said that he’d “always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards.”

After a Monday meeting with Tan at the White House, Trump backed off his demand that Tan resign without hesitation.

“I met with Mr. Lip-Bu Tan, of Intel, along with Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “The meeting was a very interesting one. His success and rise is an amazing story. Mr. Tan and my Cabinet members are going to spend time together, and bring suggestions to me during the next week. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Shares of Intel gained 3.5% Tuesday

The economic and political rivalry between the U.S. and China are increasingly focused on computer chips, AI and other digital technologies that are expected to shape future economies and military conflicts.

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August 12, 2025
US and China extend trade truce another 90 days, easing tension between world’s largest economies

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world’s two biggest economies.

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that “all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.” Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

The previous deadline was set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Had that happened the U.S. could have ratcheted up taxes on Chinese imports from an already high 30%, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on U.S. exports to China.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The pause buys time for the two countries to work out some of their differences, perhaps clearing the way for a summit later this year between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it has been welcomed by the U.S. companies doing business with China.

Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said the extension is “critical” to give the two governments time to negotiate a trade agreement that U.S. businesses hope would improve their market access in China and provide the certainty needed for companies to make medium- and long-term plans.

“Securing an agreement on fentanyl that leads to a reduction in U.S. tariffs and a rollback of China’s retaliatory measures is acutely needed to restart U.S. agriculture and energy exports,” Stein said.

China said Tuesday it would extend relief to American companies who were placed on an export control list and an unreliable entities list. After Trump initially announced tariffs in April, China restricted exports of dual-use goods to some American companies, while banning others from trading or investing in China. The Ministry of Commerce said it would stop those restrictions for some companies, while giving others another 90-day extension.

Reaching a pact with China remains unfinished business for Trump, who has already upended the global trading system by slapping double-digit taxes – tariffs – on almost every country on earth.

The European Union, Japan and other trading partners agreed to lopsided trade deals with Trump, accepting once unthinkably U.S. high tariffs (15% on Japanese and EU imports, for instance) to ward off something worse.

Trump’s trade policies have turned the United States from one of the most open economies in the world into a protectionist fortress. The average U.S. tariff has gone from around 2.5% at the start of the year to 18.6%, highest since 1933, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.

But China tested the limits of a U.S. trade policy built around using tariffs as a cudgel to beat concessions out of trading partners. Beijing had a cudgel of its own: cutting off or slowing access to its rare earths minerals and magnets – used in everything from electric vehicles to jet engines.

In June, the two countries reached an agreement to ease tensions. The United States said it would pull back export restrictions on computer chip technology and ethane, a feedstock in petrochemical production. And China agreed to make it easier for U.S. firms to get access to rare earths.

“The U.S. has realized it does not have the upper hand,’’ said Claire Reade, senior counsel at Arnold & Porter and former assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs.

In May, the U.S. and China had averted an economic catastrophe by reducing massive tariffs they’d slapped on each other’s products, which had reached as high as 145% against China and 125% against the U.S.

Those triple-digit tariffs threatened to effectively end trade between the United States and China and caused a frightening sell-off in financial markets. In a May meeting in Geneva they agreed to back off and keep talking: America’s tariffs went back down to a still-high 30% and China’s to 10%.

Having demonstrated their ability to hurt each other, they’ve been talking ever since.

“By overestimating the ability of steep tariffs to induce economic concessions from China, the Trump administration has not only underscored the limits of unilateral U.S. leverage, but also given Beijing grounds for believing that it can indefinitely enjoy the upper hand in subsequent talks with Washington by threatening to curtail rare earth exports,’’ said Ali Wyne, a specialist in U.S.-China relations at the International Crisis Group. “The administration’s desire for a trade détente stems from the self-inflicted consequences of its earlier hubris.”

It’s unclear whether Washington and Beijing can reach a grand bargain over America’s biggest grievances. Among these are lax Chinese protection of intellectual property rights and Beijing’s subsidies and other industrial policies that, the Americans say, give Chinese firms an unfair advantage in world markets and have contributed to a massive U.S. trade deficit with China of $262 billion last year.

Reade doesn’t expect much beyond limited agreements such as the Chinese saying they will buy more American soybeans and promising to do more to stop the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl and to allow the continued flow of rare-earth magnets.

But the tougher issues will likely linger, and “the trade war will continue grinding ahead for years into the future,’’ said Jeff Moon, a former U.S. diplomat and trade official who now runs the China Moon Strategies consultancy.

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Associated Press Staff Writers Josh Boak and Huizhong Wu contributed to this story.

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August 12, 2025
Stakeholder in Trump’s Truth Social parent company wins court ruling over share transfer

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DOVER, Del. (AP) — A federal judge in Delaware has ruled in favor of a firm seeking assurance that it will be able to sell its minority stake in the parent company of former president Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform.

The judge on Friday granted summary judgment to Florida-based United Atlantic Ventures LLC in a lawsuit filed against Minnesota-based Odyssey Transfer and Trust Co., a business that handles securities transfers among registered shareholders.

UAV is owned by Andrew Litinsky and Wesley Moss, former contestants on Trump’s TV show, “The Apprentice” who also helped facilitate a merger that took Trump Media public in March.

Since then, UAV and Trump Media have been battling in courts in both Delaware and Florida over UAV’s stake in the company. Attorneys for Trump Media assured a state judge in Delaware earlier this year that UAV was entitled to an 8.6% stake and would suffer no merger-related dilution. They now contend, however, that UAV is not entitled to its shares because of pre-merger mismanagement by Litinsky and Moss.

Friday’s ruling involves UAV’s concerns that it will not receive its Trump Media shares, currently valued at about $350 million, from Odyssey when a post-merger lockup period expires Sept. 19. According to court filings, Odyssey told UAV earlier this year that it would be taking direction from TMTG and its lawyers.

After Odyssey filed a lawsuit, the parties appeared to have reached a resolution, with Odyssey saying it would remove transfer restrictions on the share after the lockup period expires “without preference to any TMTG shareholder.” After seeking approval from Trump Media, however, Odyssey tried to change that language to “on the same basis as other similarly situated TMTG shareholders.”

Trump holds about 115 million TMTG shares, or roughly 60% of the company’s outstanding shares.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Williams questioned Odyssey’s conduct, noting that it claimed the language change was “immaterial,” while allowing it to scuttle settlement negotiations.

“Even outside settlement negotiations, Odyssey’s conduct has been elusive,” Williams wrote.

Williams ordered that when Odyssey is notified by TMTG of the expiration of the lockup provisions, it must promptly notify UAV, remove transfer restrictions on all shares and not interfere with the delivery of the shares.

TMTG’s share price hit a high of $79.38 on its first day of trading but is now hovering around $17, closing Friday at $17.10.

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September 7, 2024
What Stocks Does Donald Trump Own? New Financial Disclosure Revealed
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What Stocks Does Donald Trump Own? New Financial Disclosure Revealed

As Donald Trump campaigns for a return to the White House, his latest financial disclosure offers a look into the investment strategy of the businessman-turned-politician.

The Aug. 13, 2024, filing shows a portfolio that spans from high-flying tech stocks to reliable dividend payers. Outside of the individual stocks Trump owns, his disclosure lists real estate holdings valued in the hundreds of millions, and government bonds valued in the millions.

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If Trump were a money manager, he might be defined as one who balances growth potential with steady income.

While Trump’s 64.9% stake in Trump Media & Technology Group dwarfs his other holdings at $2.4 billion, his investments in other companies are substantial and diverse. The former president has placed large bets on multiple ‘magnificent seven’ stocks, with stakes valued between $500,001 and $1 million each in Apple, Microsoft and NVIDIA.

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Those holdings suggest Trump has embraced Wall Street’s enthusiasm for artificial intelligence (AI), the nascent sector that has driven much of the market’s gains in recent months. His portfolio also includes positions in other magnificent seven stocks, including Alphabet and Amazon, valued between $100,000-$250,000 and $250,000-$500,000 respectively.

But the former president’s strategy extends beyond Silicon Valley darlings. His disclosure lists hundreds of individual stocks, including positions in financials like JPMorgan Chase and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

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Trump’s portfolio also features a significant number of dividend stocks, which include household names like Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble.

Here’s a look at some of the stocks Trump owns that are valued at more than $15,000.
- Apple Inc ($500,000 – $1,000,000)
- Microsoft Corp ($500,000 – $1,000,000)
- Nvidia Corp ($500,000 – $1,000,000)
- Amazon.com, Inc ($250,000 – $500,000)
- Alphabet Inc (Google) ($100,000 – $250,000)
- Meta Platforms Inc ($100,000 – $250,000)
- Berkshire Hathaway Inc ($100,000 – $250,000)
- PepsiCo Inc ($100,000 – $250,000)
- JPMorgan Chase & Co ($100,000 – $250,000)
- Tesla Inc ($50,000 – $100,000)
- Coca-Cola Co
- Exxon Mobil Corp
- Chevron Corp
- Home Depot Inc
- McDonald’s Corp
- AbbVie Inc
- Adobe Inc
- Broadcom Inc
- Booking Holdings Inc
- Caterpillar Inc
- Cisco Systems Inc
- ConocoPhillips
- Lockheed Martin Corp
- Netflix Inc
- Pfizer Inc
- Qualcomm Inc
- Union Pacific Corp
- United Parcel Service, Inc.
As the 2024 election race goes on, Trump’s investment choices may face increased scrutiny. His stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns the social media platform Truth Social, is likely to be the most talked about Trump holding.

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The “lockup” agreement preventing insiders from selling shares is set to expire in late September, potentially allowing Trump to cash out some of his $2.4 billion position. According to the disclosures, Trump owns 114,750,000 shares of the media brand or 64.9% of the entire company.

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This article What Stocks Does Donald Trump Own? New Financial Disclosure Revealed originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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August 31, 2024
These investors think Trump’s new public company will flop

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Former President Donald Trump has clearly scored a financial win with his media startup, Trump Media & Technology Group. Once the firm goes public, likely this week, Trump’s ownership stake could fetch more than $3 billion.

But many investors seem to think the Trump venture will flop. The Trump startup will go public via a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), a special-purpose vehicle that’s been trading since 2021. After revealing its plan to merge with Trump’s startup, DWAC’s stock soared from its opening price of $10 to a high of $98 in 2022.

The stock has since fallen back to around $50, and there’s a lot of negative sentiment not yet priced into the stock. “There is huuuuge conviction (Trump pun intended) that there will be a significant decline in the stock price in the short term,” Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director at S3 Partners, said in an email.

The short interest in DWAC stock — bets that the price will fall rather than rise — is about 11% of outstanding shares, according to S3. That’s high, but not unprecedented: Average short interest in public companies is in the 3% to 4% range, though short interest can reach 40% or more if traders think a stock is doomed.

But there are very few DWAC shares available to execute short trades, which makes it extremely costly to bet against the stock. That means elevated short interest is a strong indicator of negative views of the company’s prospects. “There is very little stock available to support new short sales,” Dusaniwsky said. “But short sellers are staying in this trade even while paying over 200 times the average stock borrow rate for a US short trade.”

DWAC has basically become a meme stock, a kind of viral sensation that attracts investor interest beyond what the company’s fundamentals would ordinarily suggest. That obviously stems from Trump’s notoriety and the fervent belief some supporters have in his “make America great again” crusade.

Many buyers pushing up DWAC’s price have been individual investors expressing loyalty to Trump himself. But there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that other buyers are betting on a bubble and hoping to sell before it pops.

“DWAC is dropping to $2.50 after the merger,” one investor posted on Reddit’s meme stock channel, WallStreetBets. Another suggested anybody holding the stock for the long haul is a “MAGA bagholder” who will basically end up putting money into Trump’s pocket.

Short sellers betting against DWAC have lost money so far this year, since the stock has risen in anticipation of the finalization of the merger and Trump’s reemergence on public markets. But there are several reasons to think the Trump company will struggle, and shareholders will suffer, once the company is fully public.

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Former President Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social is expected to go public tomorrow on the NASDAQ market, trading under the ticker symbol DJT. (Scott Olson via Getty Images)

First, the Trump company’s main business, the Truth Social networking app, is a money-losing niche player that has no obvious advantage against competitors such as X and Facebook other than the divisive appeal of Trump himself. The company has little revenue and has lost millions since its 2022 launch.

Another risk is Trump’s own financial stake in the company, which will trade under the ticker DJT — the same symbol as a Trump casino company that went bankrupt in 2004. Trump will own at least 55% of the combined company, worth at least $3.3 billion at current valuations. But Trump could have a strong incentive to sell shares to pay legal fees associated with four criminal cases he’s battling and two civil cases where he’s been assessed more than $500 million in penalties and fees.

Trump has to wait six months before selling any shares in the public company, according to the terms of the merger. But that would still allow him to sell shares by October. The company board could also waive that rule, which seems plausible given that it’s composed of Trump cronies plus his son, Donald Jr.

If Trump sells shares in his own company or investors even think he’s likely to sell shares, that would put downward pressure on the stock price, as normally happens when any insider sells. If Trump dumped a lot of shares to raise money quickly, shares could plummet in value.

The stock price already swings on news related to Trump’s personal finances. On March 25, a New York court lowered the amount of money Trump must post while appealing a civil conviction for business fraud from $464 million to $175 million. DWAC shares jumped nearly 20% on the news, since it suggested Trump might be less likely to sell his own company’s shares to raise money. For a publicly traded stock, that’s extraordinary sensitivity to one person’s financial disposition and it could easily go the other way if or when Trump suffers reverses.

A third risk is that Trump, likely to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2024, loses in November to incumbent President Joe Biden. A second loss to Biden would leave little political future for the 77-year-old Trump, except as a kind of Republican Party boss emeritus. Instead of being the “in” place for Trump supporters to converse, Truth Social would become a remnant of the Trump movement. One thing Trump’s company is, for sure, is a unique way to monetize your political beliefs about the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

Rick Newman is a senior columnist for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @rickjnewman.

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March 25, 2024
Trump secures $3.5bn lifeline in battle to pay legal bills

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The former president has until Monday to pay a $454m legal bill – REUTERS/Sam Wolfe

Donald Trump is due to be handed a $3.5bn (£2.8bn) payday as the Republican presidential contender faces a looming deadline to pay a huge legal bill, after his social media company passed the final obstacle to a Wall Street listing.

On Friday, shareholders in Digital World Acquisition Corp, a listed cash shell, voted to approve a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind Mr Trump’s social network Truth Social.

It means TMTG will join the Nasdaq exchange as early as next week. Mr Trump will own a majority of the combined company with a stake worth around $3.5bn.

Mr Trump has until Monday to pay a $454m bond to a New York civil fraud case and authorities could seize his assets if he does not pay. He must pay the bond as he seeks to appeal a ruling that he fraudulently inflated the value of his assets.

While he would not be able to sell his shares for six months, the merger of TMTG and Digital World may buttress Mr Trump’s finances.

Mr Trump posts several times a day on Truth Social, which launched as a rival to Twitter in 2021 – AP Photo/John Minchillo

The merger had faced late hurdles amid uncertainty over whether Arc Global Investments, Digital World’s largest shareholder, would support the deal. But Digital World secured enough support in a shareholder meeting on Friday.

Shares in Digital World have surged by 145pc this year, a phenomenon believed to be in part due to Mr Trump’s voters buying up the shares as a show of support.

TMTG and Digital World secured regulatory approval to go ahead with the deal last month, opening the door to the long-delayed merger.

Truth Social, announced by Mr Trump in 2021 after he left office, is similar to Twitter, from which the former president was banned after the January 6 Capitol Hill riots.

It allows users to send out short messages, reply and “re-truth” other people’s posts. Mr Trump typically posts several times a day on the service, despite his ban from Twitter being rescinded.

TMTG lost $49m in the first nine months of 2023, while revenue rose from $237,000 in the first nine months of 2022 to $3.4m.

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March 22, 2024