Author: News Room

Under blue skies, where low-rolling hills rise south of the Canadian border in the tiny town of Adams, N.D., a couple braves the stench of old honey, wax, smoke and bee muck.Nancy and Keith Budke, married 43 years, are migratory beekeepers. They produce honey with the taste of canola nectar, sweet clover and other flowers that their bees pollinate first in North Dakota, then in Texas, after being hauled there by truck, and eventually in California — if the bees make it that far and if nobody snatches them.This season, the chances of the bees making it to California were…

The traditional gathering of former Treasury secretaries to welcome a newly minted one into the fold is usually a lighthearted and pleasant affair. But when the group convened this month, on President Trump’s “Liberation Day,” the tone was strikingly serious.The dinner, organized by former Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin, took place at a moment of tumult for the U.S. economy. The president had upended global trade with punishing tariffs on both allies and adversaries, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was at the center of it, defending a policy that many in the room viewed as economic malpractice.“The mood was somber,”…

Emily Moen, a coffee shop manager in Omaha, was scrolling through TikTok earlier this week when she came across a video informing her that President Trump’s tariffs could lead to higher prices for essential baby products.Ms. Moen, who is 15 weeks pregnant, said that she had not planned to buy a car seat soon. But after watching the video, she researched the one made by Graco that she had been eyeing, and learned that it was manufactured in China. Worried that the $200 seat could get even more expensive, she bought the item on Amazon the same day.“It was like…

Vivian Hoffman has worked in retail for a half-century, including 25 years as a buyer for Century 21 and the last eight running Whim, a chain selling affordable women’s clothing in the suburbs of New York City. She has adapted to recessions, the turmoil after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and the Covid-19 pandemic.But the last few weeks have presented a set of challenges that are confounding even for an industry veteran. The bulk of the clothing and accessories that Ms. Hoffman sells are produced in China, facing import duties of 145 percent for now, and Vietnam, which could…

The escalating trade war between the United States and China has created deep uncertainty for U.S. companies that rely on Chinese suppliers. Retaliations in recent days by the two countries have resulted in huge average tax rates on their each other’s imports, with tariffs often costing more than the price of the goods themselves.But because of an ever-changing patchwork of trade rules, not every product will be charged an astronomical tariff, trade lawyers, customs brokers and importers say. In some cases, tariffs will pile on other tariffs. In other instances, they can reduce costs, while other times they can cancel…

Radhika Jones shocked the magazine industry last week when she said she would be stepping down from the top job at Vanity Fair after more than seven years. Names of possible successors shot back and forth among insiders.A question also swirled in the wake: Is it still a good job?Once one of the most coveted positions in American journalism, the editorship of Vanity Fair for decades has held a sheen of sophistication and cultural sway, with seemingly limitless expense accounts and budgets for lavish photo shoots.But as the magazine industry has contracted, many of the more decadent parts of the…

As the fallout from President Trump’s rewiring of global trade sets in across Europe, governments are putting in place billions of euros’ worth of “tariff shields” to protect their economies, companies and workers from uncertainty and the growing prospect of a recession.Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain announced more than 50 billion euros’ worth of financial support this week as businesses paused exports to the United States, warned of a hit to their finances and reckoned with putting employees on furlough. More European countries are expected to follow.Mr. Trump’s 90-day suspension of U.S. tariffs this week raised hopes in Europe for…

A federal appeals panel on Friday halted parts of a district court judge’s injunction blocking the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, allowing officials to move ahead with firing some agency employees.Russell T. Vought, the White House budget office director, was named the consumer bureau’s acting director in February and immediately began gutting the agency. He closed its headquarters and sought to terminate its lease, canceled contracts essential to the bureau’s operations, terminated hundreds of employees and sought to lay off nearly all of the rest.In a lawsuit brought by the bureau’s staff union and other…

Surgeons removed a genetically engineered pig’s kidney from an Alabama woman after she experienced acute organ rejection, NYU Langone Health officials said on Friday.Towana Looney, 53, lived with the kidney for 130 days, which is longer than anyone else has tolerated an organ from a genetically modified animal. She has resumed dialysis, hospital officials said.Dr. Robert Montgomery, Ms. Looney’s surgeon and the director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, said that the so-called explant was not a setback for the field of xenotransplantation — the effort to use organs from animals to replace those that have failed in humans.“This is…

President Trump’s latest tariffs are about to become an unavoidable and expensive reality for American businesses and for people who rely on foreign goods.Shoppers buying clothes from retailers in China may soon pay more than twice as much, now that a special exemption for lower-value imports is disappearing. And companies involved in international trade must now make even more complicated calculations to decide how much they owe in tariffs.“Maybe 3 percent of the people are well prepared,” said Jeremy Page, a founding partner of Page Fura, an international trade law firm, whose clients include large companies. “And that might even…