Author: News Room
For weeks, Jay Foreman, a toy company executive, froze all shipments from China, leaving Care Bears and Tonka trucks piled up at Chinese factories, to avoid paying President Trump’s crippling 145 percent tariff.But as soon as his phone lit up at 4 a.m. on Monday alerting him that Mr. Trump was lowering tariffs on Chinese imports for 90 days, Mr. Foreman, the chief executive of Basic Fun, which is based in Florida, jumped out of bed and called his suppliers, instructing them to start shipping merchandise immediately.“We’re starting to move everything,” Mr. Foreman said. “We have to call trucking companies…
The Federal Railroad Administration, the nation’s railroad agency, has brought in the Boring Company, the tunneling firm founded by Elon Musk, to help with a multibillion-dollar Amtrak project, according to three people familiar with the discussions.Federal Railroad Administration officials have talked with employees at the Boring Company about assessing the costs and progress of the Frederick Douglass Tunnel program, a new tunnel along a busy Amtrak stretch connecting Baltimore to Washington and Virginia. Amtrak initially expected the development to cost $6 billion, but now estimates it could cost as much as $8.5 billion.As part of the talks, officials with the…
House Republicans on Monday outlined their plans for an expansive tax bill that would temporarily enact President Trump’s campaign pledges not to tax tips or overtime pay, roll back subsidies for clean energy and create a new type of tax-advantaged investment account for children.The bill, which the Ways and Means Committee will formally take up on Tuesday, amounts to the first full attempt at detailing Republicans’ plans for cutting taxes this year. But it quickly faced criticism from some House Republicans, nearly all of whom will need to support the legislation in order for it to pass over what is…
President Trump’s decision to impose, and then walk back, triple-digit tariffs on Chinese products over the past month demonstrated the power and global reach of U.S. trade policy. But it was also another illustration of the limitations of Mr. Trump’s aggressive approach.The tariffs on Chinese goods, which the United States ratcheted up to a minimum of 145 percent in early April, brought much trade between the countries to a standstill. They caused companies to reroute business globally, importing less from China and more from other countries like Vietnam and Mexico. They forced Chinese factories to shutter, and brought some American…
The Trump administration is considering a deal that could send hundreds of thousands of U.S.-designed artificial intelligence chips to G42, an Emirati A.I. firm that the U.S. government has scrutinized in the past for its ties to China, three people familiar with the discussions said.The negotiations, which are ongoing, highlight a major shift in U.S. tech policy ahead of President Trump’s visit to the Persian Gulf states this week. The talks have also created tension inside the Trump administration between tech- and business-minded leaders who want to close a deal before Mr. Trump’s trip and national security officials who worry…
American Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency firm co-founded by Eric Trump, announced on Monday that it would become publicly traded, the latest expansion of the Trump family’s investments across the crypto industry.The company, which focuses on Bitcoin mining, is set to merge with Gryphon Digital Mining Inc., a firm that is already traded on the Nasdaq. Mr. Trump, the president’s middle son, is listed as one of the founders and a member of the company’s management team.American Bitcoin was started in late March, when Mr. Trump and his older brother, Donald Trump Jr., announced that they were joining forces with a Bitcoin…
Most flights destined for Newark Liberty International Airport were being delayed at their origin airports by more than an hour and 40 minutes on Monday because of a shortfall in air traffic control staffing.The Federal Aviation Administration said in an advisory that it was delaying the incoming flights from all U.S. airports and some in Canada. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.While incoming flights were being held, few flights to or from Newark had been canceled, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking firm. Delays can have cascading effects on flights around the world.Monday’s delay is…
President Trump on Monday signed an executive order asking drugmakers to voluntarily reduce the prices of key medicines in the United States.But the order cites no obvious legal authority to mandate lower prices. The order said the administration would consider taking regulatory actions or importing drugs from other countries in the future if drugmakers do not comply.It was something of a win for the pharmaceutical industry, which had been bracing for a policy that would be much more damaging to its interests.On Sunday evening, Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post that he would link U.S. drug prices to…
Robert B. Shapiro, a brash former law professor turned corporate executive who performed a marketing miracle by branding aspartame as the sugar substitute NutraSweet and making it a household name that consumers demanded in thousands of products, died on May 2 at his home in Chicago. He was 86.The cause was pancreatic cancer, his son James Shapiro said.Aspartame was invented by chemists at the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle in Illinois in 1965 and approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in soft drinks in 1983, a year after Mr. Shapiro became chief executive and chairman of what the…
A 90-day pause Stocks, the dollar and oil are soaring on Monday after President Trump’s top negotiators outlined the specifics of a major — though temporary — de-escalation in the U.S.-China trade fight.Expectations were sky-high for some kind of breakthrough. The market reaction suggests mission accomplished in terms of reaching an important détente, though significant trade barriers remain and plenty still needs to be worked out.“The consensus from both delegations is that neither side wanted a decoupling,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was a point person in the U.S.-China talks in Geneva over the weekend, said on Monday. “Now we…