Author: News Room

U.S. employers accelerated hiring in March, a surprising show of strength that analysts warned might be the high-water mark for the labor market as the Trump administration’s economic policies began to play out.Employers added 228,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported on Friday, a figure that was far more than expected and was up from a revised total of 117,000 in February. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2 percent, from 4.1 percent.The data, based on surveys of households and businesses conducted in the second week of March, do not reflect the sweeping tariff announcement that rattled markets this week,…

Sizing up what President Trump’s new tariffs mean for India was a puzzle from the start for even the country’s top trade economists. Its politicians, too, were stunned.Starting next week, nearly all Indian goods arriving in the United States will be taxed an extra 27 percent.The figure was bafflingly high, in part because the government’s ministers had been flocking to Washington since Mr. Trump won re-election. From the Rose Garden, Mr. Trump addressed India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, in absentia while delivering the disappointing news, calling him “a great friend of mine.” But that wasn’t enough.The Trump administration, in a…

The Japanese video game company Nintendo said on Friday that it would delay preorders for its new console, the Switch 2, in the United States because of the tariffs imposed by President Trump.The Switch 2’s price was unveiled as $450 this week. Its release date of June 5 remains unchanged, the company said.U.S. preorders were supposed to begin on Wednesday for the anticipated follow-up to the Switch, which has sold more than 150 million units, making it one of the most popular gaming consoles of all time.Nintendo said that it was delaying preorders “to assess the potential impact of tariffs…

As financial markets recoiled for a second day and China said that it would hit the United States with its own punishing tariffs, President Trump on Friday sounded a defiant note about his approach, promising that “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”Instead, Mr. Trump maintained in a series of posts on Truth Social that his economic strategy is working, as he held up a better-than-expected new jobs report — reflecting hiring before he announced his latest round of tariffs — as a sign the economy remains strong.Global markets told a different story, as major U.S. indexes slipped into the red hours…

President Trump’s tariffs mean that companies across the European Union and around the world are at risk of losing access to the world’s largest consumer market.Naturally, they are looking for the next big thing. Statistically speaking, that would mean China.The E.U. has the second-largest consumer market in the world behind America; China is third. But China and the E.U. have not exactly been cozy in recent years. Europe has regularly blasted China for overproducing and dumping artificially cheap products on the global market, and European leaders have criticized China’s stance toward Russia’s war in Ukraine, among other political and social…

Oil prices continued to fall on Friday, extending a sharp drop that began the day before as fears grew that President Trump’s tariffs could slash global economic growth — and demand for oil.Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded at its lowest level in more than three years, below $65 a barrel, a fall of almost 8 percent.Prices began to slide on Thursday after Mr. Trump unleashed tariffs on America’s trading partners, starting with a base-line duty of 10 percent on countries around the world, and higher duties for others, including a 34 percent tariff on goods from China.On Friday, China…

President Trump’s tariffs mean that companies across the European Union and around the world are at risk of losing access to the world’s largest consumer market.Naturally, they are looking for the next big thing. Statistically speaking, that would mean China.The E.U. has the second-largest consumer market in the world behind America; China is third. But China and the E.U. have not exactly been cozy in recent years. Europe has regularly blasted China for overproducing and dumping artificially cheap products on the global market, and European leaders have criticized China’s stance toward Russia’s war in Ukraine, among other political and social…

China has struck back at President Trump.In a rapid fire series of policy announcements from Beijing on Friday evening, including 34 percent across-the-board tariffs, three government agencies showed that China has no intention of backing down in the trade war that Mr. Trump began this week with his own steep tariffs on imports from around the world.China’s Finance Ministry said it will match Mr. Trump’s plan for 34 percent tariffs on goods from China with its own 34 percent tariff on imports from the United States.Separately, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it was adding 11 American companies to its list…

When Daniel Cox was growing up in Rochester, N.Y., he spent every Saturday night at Pizza Hut with his father and two brothers. The server got to know the family so well that when she saw their blue Dodge Caravan roll up, she would put their order in: two cheese pan pizzas and two pitchers of Pepsi.Mr. Cox’s parents were divorced, and the Pizza Hut ritual was centering for the family. “It was a time when we were all together and everyone was enjoying the experience,” he recalled. “Who doesn’t like pizza?”Now a father himself, Mr. Cox rarely goes out…

In the weeks leading up to his expansive global tariffs, President Trump and his top aides tried to prime the public for economic pain. They warned that while there would be fallout from their aggressive trade strategy, it would prove short-lived and benefit the economy in the long run.Investors, businesses and others made clear on Thursday that the U.S. economy was not ready to accept that approach. Global markets tumbled, economists warned of a possible recession and consumers braced for price increases on cars, food, clothing and more.The early tumult underscored the high stakes of Mr. Trump’s agenda, which the…