What Leverage Does US Have In China Trade Talks?
Rep. Krishnamoorthi (D) Illinois shares his thoughts on the second day of trade talks between the United States and China. He also talks about the upcoming tariff deadline and whether or not deals can be made before then, and if he is concerned the Los Angeles protests will happen in his city of Chicago. Representative Krishnamoorthi speaks with Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu on the late edition of Bloomberg's "Balance of Power." (Source: Bloomberg)
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Washington Post
10 minutes ago
- Washington Post
UN nuclear watchdog's board of governors finds Iran isn't complying with its nuclear obligations
VIENNA — The U.N. nuclear watchdog's board of governors on Thursday formally found that Iran isn't complying with its nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years, a move that could lead to further tensions and set in motion an effort to restore United Nations sanctions on Tehran later this year. Nineteen countries on the International Atomic Energy Agency's board, which represents the agency's member nations, voted for the resolution, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the outcome of the closed-doors vote. Russia, China and Burkina Faso opposed it, 11 abstained and two did not vote. In the draft resolution seen by The Associated Press, the board of governors renews a call on Iran to provide answers 'without delay' in a long-running investigation into uranium traces found at several locations that Tehran has failed to declare as nuclear sites. Western officials suspect that the uranium traces could provide evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003. The resolution was put forward by France, the U.K., Germany and the United States. Iran's government did not immediately respond to the vote, though it has threatened to retaliate immediately. 'Iran's many failures to uphold its obligations since 2019 to provide the Agency with full and timely cooperation regarding undeclared nuclear material and activities at multiple undeclared locations in Iran ... constitutes non-compliance with its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement,' the draft resolution says. Under the so-called safeguards obligations, which are part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty , Iran is legally bound to declare all nuclear material and activities and allow IAEA inspectors to verify that none of it is being diverted from peaceful uses. The draft resolution also finds that the IAEA's 'inability ... to provide assurance that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful gives rise to questions that are within the competence of the United Nations Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.' The vote comes at a sensitive time as tensions in the region have been rising, with the U.S. State Department announcing on Wednesday that it is drawing down the presence of people who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East. It also comes as the U.S. and Iran have been holding talks on Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. Oman's foreign minister said earlier Thursday that a sixth round of negotiations will be held in his country on Sunday. The draft resolution makes a direct reference to the U.S.-Iran talks, stressing its 'support for a diplomatic solution to the problems posed by the Iranian nuclear program, including the talks between the United States and Iran, leading to an agreement that addresses all international concerns related to Iran's nuclear activities, encouraging all parties to constructively engage in diplomacy.'
Fast Company
23 minutes ago
- Fast Company
How Trump's ‘Big Beautiful Bill' threatens to make U.S. energy dirtier and more expensive
When it comes to energy policy, the ' One Big Beautiful Bill Act '—the official name of a massive federal tax-cut and spending bill that House Republicans passed in May 2025 —risks raising Americans' energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The 1,100-page bill would slash incentives for green technologies such as solar, wind, batteries, electric cars, and heat pumps while subsidizing existing nuclear power plants and biofuels. That would leave the country and its people burning more fossil fuels despite strong popular and scientific support for a rapid shift to renewable energy. The bill may still be revised by the Senate before it moves to a final vote. But it is a picture of how President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans want to reshape U.S. energy policy. As an environmental engineering professor who studies ways to confront climate change, I think it is important to distinguish which technologies could rapidly cut emissions or are on the verge of becoming viable from those that do little to fight climate change. Unfortunately, the House bill favors the latter while nixing support for the former. Renewable energy Wind and solar power, often paired with batteries, are providing more than 90% of the new electricity currently being added to the grid nationally and around the world. Geothermal power is undergoing technological breakthroughs. With natural gas turbines in short supply and long lead times to build other resources, renewables and batteries offer the fastest way to satisfy growing demand for power. However, the House bill rescinds billions of dollars that the Inflation Reduction Act, enacted in 2022, devoted to boosting domestic manufacturing and deployments of renewable energy and batteries. It would terminate tax credits for manufacturing for the wind industry in 2028 and for solar and batteries in 2032. That would disrupt the boom in domestic manufacturing projects that was being stimulated by the Inflation Reduction Act. Deployments would be hit even harder. Wind, solar, geothermal, and battery projects would need to commence construction within 60 days of passage of the bill to receive tax credits. In addition, the bill would deny tax credits to projects that use Chinese-made components. Financial analysts have called those provisions ' unworkable,' since some Chinese materials may be necessary even for projects built with as much domestic content as possible. Analysts warn that the House bill would cut new wind, solar, and battery installations by 20% compared with the growth that had been expected without the bill. That's why BloombergNEF, an energy research firm, called the bill a ' nightmare scenario ' for clean energy proponents. However, one person's nightmare may be another man's dream. 'We're constraining the hell out of wind and solar, which is good,' said Representative Chip Roy, a Texas Republican backed by the oil and gas industry. Efficiency and electric cars Cuts fall even harder on Americans who are trying to reduce their carbon footprints and energy costs. The bill repeals aid for home efficiency improvements such as heat pumps, efficient windows, and energy audits. Homeowners would also lose tax credits for installing solar panels and batteries. For vehicles, the bill would not only repeal tax credits for electric cars, trucks, and chargers, but it also would impose a federal $250 annual fee on vehicles, on top of fees that some states charge electric-car owners. The federal fee is more than the gas taxes paid by other drivers to fund highways and ignores air-quality and climate effects. Combined, the lost credits and increased fees could cut projected U.S. sales of electric vehicles by 40% in 2030, according to modeling by Jesse Jenkins of Princeton University. Nuclear power Meanwhile, the bill partially retains a tax credit for electricity from existing nuclear power plants. Those plants may not need the help: Electricity demand is surging, and companies like Meta are signing long-term deals for nuclear energy to power data centers. Nuclear plants are also paid to manage their radioactive waste, since the country lacks a permanent place to store it. For new nuclear plants, the bill would move up the deadline to 2028 to begin construction. That deadline is too soon for some new reactor designs and would rush the vetting of others. Nuclear safety regulators are awaiting a study from the National Academies on the weapons proliferation risks of the type of uranium fuel that some developers hope to use in newer designs. Biofuels While cutting funding for electric vehicles, the bill would spend $45 billion to extend tax credits for biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Food-based biofuels do little good for the climate because growing, harvesting, and processing crops requires fertilizers, pesticides, and fuel. The bill would allow forests to be cut to make room for crops because it directs agencies to ignore the impacts of biofuels on land use. Hydrogen The bill would end tax credits for hydrogen production. Without that support, companies will be unlikely to invest in the seven so-called hydrogen hubs that were allocated a combined $8 billion under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021. Those hubs aim to attract $40 billion in private investments and create tens of thousands of jobs while developing cleaner ways to make hydrogen. The repealed tax credits would have subsidized hydrogen made emissions-free by using renewable or nuclear electricity to split water molecules. They also would have subsidized hydrogen made from natural gas with carbon capture, whose benefits are impaired by methane emissions from natural gas systems and incomplete carbon capture. However it's made, hydrogen is no panacea. As the world's smallest molecule, hydrogen is prone to leaking, which can pose safety challenges and indirectly warm the climate. And while hydrogen is essential for making fertilizers and potentially useful for making steel or aviation fuels, vehicles and heating are more efficiently powered by electricity than by hydrogen. Still, European governments and China are investing heavily in hydrogen production.
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bulgarians Are Getting the Euro, But Half of Them Don't Want It
(Bloomberg) -- Doroteya Kanavrova crosses her arms and shakes her head. 'I'm against it,' she says, before going back to arranging her tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini at her roadside stall. Shuttered NY College Has Alumni Fighting Over Its Future Trump's Military Parade Has Washington Bracing for Tanks and Weaponry NYC Renters Brace for Price Hikes After Broker-Fee Ban NY Long Island Rail Service Resumes After Grand Central Fire Do World's Fairs Still Matter? Bulgaria is ready to join the euro, the European Union said last week, something hailed by the government as another step toward deeper integration. But in the agricultural northeast, the 56-year-old small farmer represents the growing swathe of Bulgarians concerned about the cost. The country has a long history of hardship and its per-capita economic output is still two-thirds of the EU average after almost two decades of membership. Yet for millions of Bulgarians who lived through bank failures, economic crises and the painful transition of the 1990s, their currency — the lev — is more than just bills and coins, it's a symbol of stability. A currency board introduced in 1997 tightly pegged the lev to the deutsche mark and then to the euro. That helped Bulgaria put an end to the kind of reactive monetary policy seen in other post-communist countries like neighboring Romania and consign hyperinflation that saw prices rise three times a day to history. Polling from Eurobarometer showed that Bulgarians are split down the middle over the euro, membership of which is now scheduled for early 2026. Moreover, they're twice as skeptical as the EU average, according to the survey published in May, with far-right politicians organizing protests against membership. 'For 28 years, people got used to the currency board and are now worried what will happen without it,' said Svetoslav Gavriyski, the finance minister who prepared the country for the currency board in 1997. He dismissed the inflation fears as 'stupid rumors.' 'A country has to exit the currency board sooner or later to become a normal country.' Bulgaria would only be the second country to adopt the euro since Greece flirted with leaving the single currency a decade ago. Croatia joined in 2023, following other former communist nations like Slovakia and the Baltic states. The biggest economies in the region — Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary — have all put the euro on the back burner. At a Bloomberg event in Prague this week, Czech central bank Governor Ales Michl extolled the virtue of having a national currency to help fight inflation. In Bulgaria, the prospect of switching currencies is raising fears, particularly among low-income earners and pensioners with hard currency savings. While politicians point to benefits like increased investment and lower borrowing costs over time, many citizens worry that prices will climb in the short term. A recent spike in inflation helped delay euro adoption by a couple of years. One of the EU's most energy-intensive economies, Bulgaria was hit hard by Russia's war in Ukraine. Prices rose at the fastest pace since the 1990s. Kanavrova worries the switch to the euro, for example, will boost the price of fertilizer and make production from her one-hectare farm more costly. 'Big businesses are richer, they can afford it,' she said. 'We're doing bad with the lev; we'll be worse off with the euro.' As most of her customers are Romanian tourists on their way to Bulgarian seaside resorts, she prefers to take Romanian leu over euros when she needs to accept foreign currency. She can use the money on cross-border shopping trips in winter. That's not to say Bulgarians aren't pro-European. More than half of them say they trust the EU, twice the proportion of those who trust their own government. A recent government motion in support of the euro was backed by more than two thirds of Bulgarian parliamentarians. The problem for officials is that they're struggling to find a common language with those who, unlike big businesses, don't see the direct benefits of trading in a common currency. It's easier for populist parties: Protests backed by the far-right, pro-Russian Revival party gathered thousands of people across the country for a second weekend. The leaders of Revival, which has become the third-biggest party in the Bulgarian Parliament, vow to take the country out of NATO and renegotiate its EU membership. They say euro adoption is a further loss of sovereignty, though during a visit to the US last month its leaders suggested the lev should be pegged to the dollar. President Rumen Radev, the most popular political figure in the country, meanwhile has questioned whether Bulgaria is ready. His call for a referendum on the date of accession was dismissed by parliament last month. He called the EU's decision last week to give the nod to Bulgaria's membership 'joy for those in power and an alarm for the people' worried about price increases. 'Policymakers ought to have done a better job at informing the public on the benefits of the common currency, even if entering monetary union is a technical subject,' Dennis Schen, lead global economist at Scope Ratings, said by email. 'Bulgarians are not the first people in a country preparing to adopt the euro who have proved skeptical about the benefits of the single currency,' he said. 'But support for the euro tends to rise after adoption as people's worst fears turn out to be unfounded.' The government has vowed in recent weeks to fight speculative price hikes and regulators promised to step up scrutiny on retailers. While signing a number of agreements with business lobbies, labor unions, banks and insurers, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov said on Monday the aim is to prevent any attempts to 'unjustifiably increase' prices. For Mihail Georgiev, 40, an entrepreneur whose businesses vary from importing sparkling wines to AI solutions, getting the euro will be another milestone in Bulgaria's development. The country joined the EU in 2007 and has remained its poorest member. On Jan. 1 this year it entered the Schengen customs-free area that covers most of the EU, along with Romania. Georgiev said switching to the common European currency is good for Bulgaria's image and boosts tourism. 'It's the second-biggest reserve currency, it's the currency of hundreds of millions of people,' said Georgiev. 'In the past, I've waited for visas for hours, every border crossing was painful because of the numerous controls. Now I really dream of a single world with a single currency.' Explainer: How Bulgaria Is Closing In on Joining the Euro Area --With assistance from Irina Vilcu and Andra Timu. New Grads Join Worst Entry-Level Job Market in Years American Mid: Hampton Inn's Good-Enough Formula for World Domination The Spying Scandal Rocking the World of HR Software The SEC Pinned Its Hack on a Few Hapless Day Traders. The Full Story Is Far More Troubling Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert Wants to Donate His Billions—and Walk Again ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
