Author: News Room

Cutting federal funding for scientific research could cause long-run economic damage equivalent to a major recession, according to a new study from researchers at American University.In recent months, the Trump administration has sought to cancel or freeze billions of dollars in grants to scientists at Columbia, Harvard and other universities, and has moved to sharply curtail funding for academic medical centers and other institutions. Deeper cuts could be on the way. As soon as this week, the White House is expected to propose sharp reductions in discretionary spending, including on research and development, as part of the annual budget process.Economists…

On Dec. 27, Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist, made a trip to Mar-a-Lago for dinner with Donald J. Trump. Some people around him were surprised that he had decided to go, but Mr. Gates wants to talk to whoever will listen.The dinner lasted three hours, and Mr. Trump seemed to enjoy himself, a person close to him said. They talked about polio — an interest of both men — and Mr. Gates left the meeting “frankly impressed” by the incoming president’s interest in global health.Or so he told The Wall Street Journal. His comments, which he reiterated to some friends,…

Another rift has opened between the U.S. oil and gas industry and President Trump, this time over new rules designed to encourage domestic shipbuilding and undermine China’s maritime power.This month, the Trump administration issued rules that require at least 1 percent of the natural gas shipped overseas to be carried on U.S.-built tankers in 2029. The United States is the top global exporter of liquefied natural gas — gas that has been chilled until it becomes a liquid so that it can be transported in large quantities. But it does not build any of the specialized ships that are used…

President Trump’s tariffs are already taking a toll on China’s factories.Three weeks into a trade war that pushed import tariffs of Chinese-made goods to 145 percent, an official report on manufacturing activity signaled that in April, Chinese factories experienced the sharpest monthly slowdown in more than a year.The report, a survey of industrial firms published on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics, provides the first official indication of how the U.S. tariffs are affecting the Chinese economy. China has responded to the U.S. tariffs with 125 percent tariffs of its own on American goods.The trade brinkmanship threatens U.S. and…

Spain’s power company, Red Eléctrica, proudly declared on April 16 that enough renewable energy had been generated to cover demand. “The ecological transition is moving forward,” it said.Less than two weeks later, Spain and Portugal experienced an 18-hour blackout that disrupted daily life, shutting down businesses and schools and crippling trains and mobile networks.Officials have given few details on the cause of the outage. But the incident exposed how Spain and Portugal, promoted as success stories in Europe’s renewable energy transition, are also uniquely vulnerable to outages, given their relative isolation from the rest of the continent’s energy supply.“This disruption…

The labor market remained sound in March, with job openings declining but layoffs remaining near record lows, while rates of new hiring were slow but steady, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday.The numbers from last month are a snapshot of the state of the U.S. economy and labor market before the start of the global trade volatility brought on by President Trump’s tariff campaign.“It reflects a labor market that ‘could have been,’ given the damage tariffs will do,” argued Guy Berger, the director of economic research at the Burning Glass Institute, which studies the…

President Trump’s China tariffs are threatening Christmas.Toy makers, children’s shops and specialty retailers are pausing orders for the winter holidays as the import taxes cascade through supply chains. Factories in China produce nearly 80 percent of all toys and 90 percent of Christmas goods sold in America.The production of toys, Christmas trees and decorations is usually in full swing by now. It takes four to five months to manufacture, package and ship products to the United States.Mr. Trump’s 145 percent tariffs have caused a drastic markup in costs for American companies. Most of the entrepreneurs that have shared their plans…

An independent federal watchdog has opened more than three dozen investigations into the Trump administration to determine if it has illegally withheld billions of dollars in congressionally approved funds, raising the odds of a high-stakes constitutional clash over the power of the government’s purse.The acknowledgment by the Government Accountability Office came on Tuesday, as House and Senate Democrats estimated for the first time that President Trump might have blocked the delivery of at least $430 billion during his first 100 days in office. That imperiled money enacted for foreign aid, green energy, health and transportation-related programs, potentially in violation of…

President Trump’s 100th day in office started with what seemed to be a fresh and fast-escalating spat between the White House and Amazon.Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, came out swinging in her press briefing on Tuesday morning, accusing Amazon of being “hostile and political” after a report — disputed by the company — from Punchbowl News saying that the online retail giant would start displaying the exact cost of tariff-related price increases alongside all its products.Displaying the import fees would have made clear to American consumers that they were shouldering the costs of Mr. Trump’s tariff policies rather…

Lawyers for President Trump and Paramount, the parent of CBS News, are set to begin mediation on Wednesday over a lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump that accuses “60 Minutes” of deceptively editing an interview with his 2024 Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.Legal experts have called the suit baseless and an easy victory for CBS. But Paramount is entering the talks prepared to make a deal.In an April 18 meeting, the Paramount board outlined acceptable financial terms for a potential settlement with the president, according to three people with knowledge of the internal discussions. The exact dollar amounts remain unclear, but the…