‘Two can play this game': Newsom responds to Texas redistricting efforts
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Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Gold Pares Gains After Kremlin Confirms Meeting With Trump
(Bloomberg) -- Gold pared gains as markets weighed prospects for a truce in Ukraine after the Kremlin confirmed Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump would hold talks in the next few days. All Hail the Humble Speed Hump Mayor Asked to Explain $1.4 Billion of Wasted Johannesburg Funds Three Deaths Reported as NYC Legionnaires' Outbreak Spreads Major Istanbul Projects Are Stalling as City Leaders Sit in Jail PATH Train Service Resumes After Fire at Jersey City Station Bullion traded near $3,373 an ounce after earlier rising as much as 0.8%. Russia's announcement came a day after Putin met with Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, for almost three hours as the US pushed for an end to the Ukraine war. Bloomberg earlier reported that the Kremlin is considering options including an air truce, falling short of committing to a total ceasefire. Any easing of geopolitical tensions can curb demand for haven assets, pulling gold prices down. Traders are also watching US relations with global trading partners — marked this week by tariff hikes on Indian goods — and the likely nomination of a temporary Federal Reserve governor who may be more aligned with Trump's monetary agenda. Lower rates typically boost gold, which doesn't pay interest. Bullion has climbed almost 30% this year, though the bulk of those gains occurred in the first four months as geopolitical and trade tensions rattled the market. Spot gold rose 0.1% to $3,372.70 an ounce as of 12:05 p.m. in London. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.1%. Silver and palladium gained, while platinum fell. The Pizza Oven Startup With a Plan to Own Every Piece of the Pie Russia's Secret War and the Plot to Kill a German CEO AI Flight Pricing Can Push Travelers to the Limit of Their Ability to Pay A High-Rise Push Is Helping Mumbai Squeeze in Pools, Gyms and Greenery Government Steps Up Campaign Against Business School Diversity ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump's tariff war: Canada's sovereignty is the real issue, trade expert warns
U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war with Canada is ultimately about America's neighbour to the north giving up some of its sovereignty to the United States, according to a trade expert from accounting and consulting giant Pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC). The United States has imposed levies on Canadian steel, aluminum, copper, and certain automotive products. Last week, Trump hit Canada with a 35 per cent tariff on all goods not covered by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), which he signed during his first presidency in 2018. That's up from 25 per cent last month. Canada's central bank estimates 95 per cent of non-energy exports are compliant with CUSMA, which is due for renegotiation next year. On Sunday, Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, said Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump are set to speak in the coming days. Michael Dobner, PwC's Canadian national leader of economics and policy practice, warns Trump's now well-worn claim that Canada should become 'the 51st state' is far more than negotiation table bluster. 'There is no real trade issue,' he told Yahoo Finance Canada on Tuesday. 'It's clear [Trump] is not willing to do a deal with Canada, and I think the reason for that is his aspirations regarding Canada are not the same as the EU and Japan.' We haven't really had a lot of luck with Canada. I think Canada could be one where they'll just pay tariffs. It's not really a negotiation.U.S. President Donald Trump speaking to reporters at the White House on July 25 According to Yale University's Budget Lab, 'Canada has borne the brunt of the damage from U.S. tariffs so far,' with its long-run economy 2.1 per cent smaller since the start of 2025, by its analysis. Statistics Canada's June trade figures show Canadian exporters did more business with the United States last month, even as tariffs increased. The federal agency says Canada's trade surplus with the U.S. grew to $3.9 billion in June, from $3.5 billion in May. In June of 2024, that figure was $8.4 billion. RBC assistant chief economist Nathan Janzen expects plunging export volumes to 'substantially subtract' from Canada's gross domestic product growth when second-quarter figures are released later in August. Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly offered to convert Canada from a sovereign nation to 'the 51st state' during his second term as U.S. president. The move would enhance America's access to critical minerals largely controlled by China, and pave the way for U.S. access to new ocean shipping lanes in Canada's Arctic being created by melting sea ice. 'Full alignment' Dobner sees this as the crux of Trump's vision for future U.S.-Canada relations. He says this includes 'full alignment' on issues involving the economy and defence. 'We will stay Canada. You can look at the EU as a potential model here,' Dobner said. 'That means that Canada would, in this kind of arrangement, lose some of its independence in one way or another.' 'That's the big issue, not trade,' he added. With the clock ticking down to CUSMA's expiration, Dobner says PwC's business clients are scrambling to certify products under the agreement. At the same time, he says prolonged uncertainty between Canada and its largest trading partner has 'frozen' capital spending. Linda Hasenfratz, CEO of Guelph, Ont.-based autoparts manufacturer Linamar ( is on the front lines of the Canada-U.S. trade war. In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance Canada, she said if the U.S. were to apply tariffs to CUSMA-compliant autoparts, it would 'bring the industry to its knees,' as many of these items cross the border multiple times before installation in a finished vehicle. 'The Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement has thus far been key to Canada's perceived safety net,' CIBC Capital Markets chief economist Avery Shenfeld wrote in a report last week. 'Canada's edge tied to the USMCA carve-out is also only as durable as the USMCA itself, and it has to be extended by all parties or it expires in 2026. That cloud of uncertainty will hang over capital spending plans in a broad range of Canadian export sectors.' 'Whether any of this lasts will depend on Trump's word,' Shenfeld added. 'We've seen how shaky that foundation can be.' Dobner ultimately sees two paths for Canada: One, suffer the wrath of the Trump administration without a deal in place in the hopes that his successor will favour free trade, while businesses attempt to diversify their customer base. 'The other option is to get to some kind of economic union that is not a full annexation, so to speak, by the United States,' he said. 'Is it possible? Yes, I think it is. It depends how big the hardships that the U.S. administration is willing to put on Canada to push it towards that.' Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on X @jefflagerquist. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Chicago Tribune
20 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
President Donald Trump's broad tariffs go into effect, just as economic pain is surfacing
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump began levying higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday, just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to create visible damage for the U.S. economy. Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10% or higher. Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15%, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh are taxed at 20%. Trump also expects the EU, Japan and South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. 'I think the growth is going to be unprecedented,' Trump said Wednesday afternoon. He added that the U.S. was 'taking in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs,' but he couldn't provide a specific figure for revenues because 'we don't even know what the final number is' regarding tariff rates. Despite the uncertainty, the Trump White House is confident that the onset of his broad tariffs will provide clarity about the path of the world's largest economy. Now that companies understand the direction the U.S. is headed, the Republican administration believes they can ramp up new investments and jump-start hiring in ways that can rebalance the U.S. economy as a manufacturing power. But so far, there are signs of self-inflicted wounds to America as companies and consumers alike brace for the impact of new taxes. What the data has shown is a U.S. economy that changed in April with Trump's initial rollout of tariffs, an event that led to market drama, a negotiating period and Trump's ultimate decision to start his universal tariffs on Thursday. Economic reports show that hiring began to stall, inflationary pressures crept upward and home values in key markets started to decline after April, said John Silvia, CEO of Dynamic Economic Strategy. 'A less productive economy requires fewer workers,' Silvia said in an analysis note. 'But there is more, the higher tariff prices lower workers' real wages. The economy has become less productive, and firms cannot pay the same real wages as before. Actions have consequences.' Even then, the ultimate transformations of the tariffs are unknown and could play out over months, if not years. Many economists say the risk is that the American economy is steadily eroded rather than collapsing instantly. 'We all want it to be made for television where it's this explosion — it's not like that,' said Brad Jensen, a professor at Georgetown University. 'It's going to be fine sand in the gears and slow things down.' From Laos to Brazil, President Trump's tariffs leave a lot of losers. But even the winners will pay a has promoted the tariffs as a way to reduce the persistent trade deficit. But importers sought to avoid the taxes by importing more goods before the taxes went into effect. As a result, the $582.7 billion trade imbalance for the first half of the year was 38% higher than in 2024. Total construction spending has dropped 2.9% over the past year. The economic pain isn't confined to the U.S. Germany, which sends 10% of its exports to the U.S. market, saw industrial production sag 1.9% in June as Trump's earlier rounds of tariff hikes took hold. 'The new tariffs will clearly weigh on economic growth,' said Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro for ING bank. The lead-up to Thursday fit the slapdash nature of Trump's tariffs, which have been variously rolled out, walked back, delayed, increased, imposed by letter and frantically renegotiated. The process has been so muddled that officials for key trade partners were unclear at the start of the week whether the tariffs would begin Thursday or Friday. The language of the July 31 order to delay the start of tariffs from Aug. 1 only said the higher tax rates would start in seven days. Trump on Wednesday announced additional 25% tariffs to be imposed on India for its buying of Russian oil, bringing its total import taxes to 50%. A top body of Indian exporters said Thursday the latest U.S. tariffs will impact nearly 55% of the country's outbound shipments to America and force exporters to lose their long-standing clients. 'Absorbing this sudden cost escalation is simply not viable. Margins are already thin,' S.C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, said in a statement. The Swiss executive branch, the Federal Council, was expected to hold an extraordinary meeting Thursday after President Karin Keller-Sutter and other top Swiss officials returned from a hastily arranged trip to Washington in a failed bid to avert steep 39% U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods. Import taxes are still coming on pharmaceutical drugs, and Trump announced 100% tariffs on computer chips. That could leave the U.S. economy in a place of suspended animation as it awaits the impact. The president's use of a 1977 law to declare an economic emergency to impose the tariffs is also under challenge. The impending ruling from last week's hearing before a U.S. appeals court could cause Trump to find other legal justifications if judges say he exceeded his authority. Even people who worked with Trump during his first term are skeptical that things will go smoothly for the economy, such as Paul Ryan, the former Republican House speaker, who has emerged as a Trump critic. 'There's no sort of rationale for this other than the president wanting to raise tariffs based upon his whims, his opinions,' Ryan told CNBC on Wednesday. 'I think choppy waters are ahead because I think they're going to have some legal challenges.' Still, the stock market has been solid during the recent tariff drama, with the S&P 500 index climbing more than 25% from its April low. The market's rebound and the income tax cuts in Trump's tax and spending measures signed into law on July 4 have given the White House confidence that economic growth is bound to accelerate in the coming months. Global financial markets took Thursday's tariff adjustments in stride, with Asian and European shares and U.S. futures mostly higher. Brzeski warned: 'While financial markets seem to have grown numb to tariff announcements, let's not forget that their adverse effects on economies will gradually unfold over time.' As of now, Trump still foresees an economic boom while the rest of the world and American voters wait nervously. 'There's one person who can afford to be cavalier about the uncertainty that he's creating, and that's Donald Trump,' said Rachel West, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who worked in the Biden White House on labor policy. 'The rest of Americans are already paying the price for that uncertainty.'
