Author: News Room

President Trump announced what could be one of the most drastic economic policy changes in decades on Wednesday, when he substituted America’s longstanding system of taxing imports with a new tariff system of his own devising.The president said the tariffs would reverse decades of what he called unfair treatment by the rest of the world and result in factories and jobs moving back to the United States.“The markets are going to boom” and “the country is going to boom,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday, as global financial markets suffered their biggest rout in years. He added that other countries “have…

The mood has darkened in the U.S. stock market, and no wonder. Pessimism about the Trump tariffs has set off painful declines.But the picture has been less dire for people with investments outside the U.S. stock market. Holding plenty of bonds and including stakes in international stock markets were keys to stability and, maybe, even modestly positive returns in the first three months of the year. While there is no guarantee that this approach will work as well in the future, it has held its own over many years and is, I think, a sound strategy for most people.Just look…

Two days before a deadline for TikTok to be sold to a non-Chinese company or otherwise face a ban in the United States, a deal has not yet been cemented but the contours of one are starting to take shape.Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday that the administration would announce a plan for TikTok by Saturday. A federal law passed last year to resolve national security concerns related to TikTok and its Chinese owner, ByteDance, called for the app to be sold or banned in January. President Trump delayed the enforcement of that law until April 5.Mr. Trump also…

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced wide-ranging cutbacks at federal health agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, that would eliminate duplicative services and paper pushers.But in interviews with more than a dozen current and former F.D.A. staff members, a different picture emerged of the far-reaching effects of the layoffs that would ultimately reduce the agency work force by 20 percent. Among them are experts who navigated a maze of laws to determine if an expensive drug can be sold as a low-cost generic; lab scientists who tested food and drugs for contaminants or deadly bacteria; veterinary division specialists…

Capital One cleared a significant obstacle to its proposed acquisition of Discover Financial Services after the Justice Department told regulators that it didn’t see sufficient competition concerns to block the deal, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.The deal, a $35 billion merger of some of the nation’s largest credit card companies announced in February 2024, was initially met by concerns that it could harm consumers. During the Biden administration, the Justice Department told regulators that it was concerned, in part, about the deal’s impact on potential credit card users who had no credit.But the department’s investigation into…

Radhika Jones, the editor of Vanity Fair since 2017, said on Thursday she would step down after seven years of leading the magazine.Ms. Jones, 52, said in an email to Vanity Fair’s staff that she was leaving to take on new challenges, adding that she didn’t want to experience the “horror of staying too long at the party.”“I began to feel, more powerfully, the pull of new goals in my life, around family and friends and writing and other ways to make an impact,” Ms. Jones wrote.Ms. Jones said in her email that her last day would be in the…

Through Covid, political chaos, and economic disarray, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh kept one industry central to their hopes of prosperity afloat: the manufacturing of ready-made garments, with the United States as their main market.Then came President Trump’s tariffs.The two countries are reeling after Sri Lanka was hit with 44 percent tariffs and Bangladesh subjected to 37 percent levies. Officials in both countries scrambled to contain panic among business leaders, who worried that they may no longer be able to compete with bigger manufacturing powers, and that their orders could shift to places with lower tariffs and greater industrial muscle.“We will…

This article is part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.Katharine Dexter McCormick, who was born to a life of wealth, which she compounded through marriage, could have sat back and simply enjoyed the many advantages that flowed her way. Instead, she put her considerable fortune — matched by her considerable willfulness — into making life better for women.An activist, philanthropist and benefactor, McCormick used her wealth strategically, most notably to underwrite the basic research that led to the development of the birth control pill in the late…

Oil prices plunged Thursday on fears that President Trump’s latest round of tariffs would slow economic growth around the world, curbing demand for gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other forms of energy.The U.S. oil price was down more than 7 percent Thursday morning, trading below $67 a barrel, or around mid-March levels. Prices for many metals, including copper, silver and gold, also fell sharply.Mr. Trump had sought to insulate the U.S. energy industry from a trade war by exempting energy and certain minerals from the tariffs he announced on Wednesday. But the broader impact of his tariffs will likely outweigh…

For years, countries like Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand have worked to turn themselves into alternatives to China for factories making the bags, electronics, shoes and auto parts that eventually end up in the United States.That is now poised to change after President Trump on Wednesday aimed his most punishing tariffs at countries in Southeast Asia.The news came as a hammer blow to American companies that have come to depend on factories in the region amid growing U.S.-China trade tensions. Some were asking: Where to now?“This is much worse than what most of us had anticipated,” said Sonal Varma, chief economist…