Exclusive-White House launches official TikTok account
Trump has a soft spot for the popular app, crediting it with helping him gain support among young voters when he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the November 2024 presidential election.
Past intelligence assessments have said the short video app's owners are beholden to the Chinese government and that it could be used to influence Americans.
'The Trump administration is committed to communicating the historic successes President Trump has delivered to the American people with as many audiences and platforms as possible," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said as the site went live.
"President Trump's message dominated TikTok during his presidential campaign, and we're excited to build upon those successes and communicate in a way no other administration has before,' she said.
The account, @whitehouse, began operation on Tuesday evening, with the aim of communicating the president's policies, a White House official said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
18 minutes ago
- Business Times
Intel rescue will depend on Trump as investor — and pitchman
[WASHINGTON] A US government plan to take a stake in Intel would give the ailing chipmaker a powerful backer, even if a bigger challenge still lies ahead: finding enough paying customers. Wall Street analysts do not expect the money alone to turn around Intel's business, which has suffered from years of declining sales and the loss of market share. But there is a possibility that pressure from President Donald Trump will help the chipmaker line up more clients for its production arm – potentially justifying the cost of expanding domestic manufacturing. If the US ends up owning part of Intel, 'Trump kind of becomes your salesman,' said Dan Morgan, a senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust who has covered the company since the 1990s. The president has this year secured trillions of US dollars' worth of pledges to invest in the US – even if some of those commitments are repackaged versions of existing plans. That includes a vow by Apple to spend US$600 billion on a domestic expansion. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), meanwhile, has pledged US$165 billion as part of a factory buildout in Arizona. This time around, the administration will need to pull off something with even longer odds: convincing sceptical prospective clients to use Intel for their manufacturing needs. The company has been trying to compete with TSMC in the so-called foundry business – manufacturing chips based on the designs of customers – but it has struggled to show it can match the industry leader's capabilities. 'Beside money, Intel needs customers,' Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said in a note to clients. 'Is it conceivable that as part of something like this the administration might 'encourage' customers to use Intel's capacity (either directly, or indirectly through tariff policy or other regulation)? We don't know.' BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up SoftBank Group this week agreed to buy US$2 billion in Intel shares, raising the possibility that the Japanese conglomerate could use the company for chipmaking. Founder Masayoshi Son, who has forged a close relationship with Trump, has ambitions to develop AI chips that would compete with Nvidia. Investors cheered the idea, sending Intel shares up 7 per cent on Tuesday (Aug 19). The stock had rallied 23 per cent the previous week, when Bloomberg News first reported that the government was discussing the plan. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed this week that the government is discussing a plan to own part of Intel, casting the idea as a bid to convert Chips and Science Act grants into equity. The company had been poised to get about US$11 billion from that programme – initiated by a 2022 law signed by President Joe Biden – and the investment is expected to be roughly that same amount, people familiar with the deliberations have said. 'We need to make our own chips here,' Lutnick said. 'We cannot rely on Taiwan.' Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, declined to comment. It was a striking turnabout for Intel chief executive officer Tan Lip-Bu, whom Trump had criticised earlier this month. The US president had urged the executive to resign over his past ties to China, but Trump changed his stance after meeting Tan at the White House. It's an optimistic moment for a company plagued by upheaval and decline in recent years. Previous CEO Pat Gelsinger had bet that a factory expansion plan – centreed on an ambitious new facility in Ohio – would turn around Intel's fortunes. The aim was to transform Intel into a chip foundry and make semiconductors for outside clients, a growing business that turned TSMC into a trillion-US dollar company. The Chips Act money was meant to help make that vision come true. Biden and Gelsinger even held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Ohio site in 2022, promising 20,000 construction jobs and a fresh start for the domestic chip industry. But the economics of the plant don't work without big outside customers – especially because it's meant to feature cutting-edge technology that will be costly to adopt. Intel has repeatedly delayed the project, which isn't currently slated to be ready until the 2030s. Jay Goldberg, an analyst at Seaport Research Partners, estimates that it would take about US$20 billion for Intel to get its next-generation manufacturing technology online. Moreover, the government's cash-for-equity deal isn't necessarily a better arrangement than the original Chips Act grants, Rasgon said. 'Funding a buildout with no customers probably won't end well for shareholders, of whom the US government would be the largest under this situation,' he said. It also doesn't change Intel's standing in the technology industry. It has fallen behind in producing the kinds of chips most prized for AI tasks – an area now dominated by Nvidia. So-called hyperscalers – the largest data centre operators, like Alphabet's Google, which are now committing upwards of US$80 billion per year to buying new hardware – aren't going to settle for lesser chips because the government tells them to, Cowen analyst Joshua Buchalter said. It's not clear how the US investment fixes a problem that stems from a lack of competitiveness, he said. 'You can't force hyperscalers to use less performant processors or else you're inhibiting their competitiveness globally,' Buchalter said. TSMC is the go-to chip foundry for much of the tech industry, including Apple, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Intel, though, has yet to prove it can keep pace with global chip designers and manufacturers again – let alone act as the linchpin for a revival of domestic production. 'Intel still has to deliver,' Morgan said. 'Will this stake really make a whole lot of difference?' BLOOMBERG
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Texas Republicans set to approve Trump-backed new congressional map after lengthy fight
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox U.S. and Texas state flags fly at the Texas Capitol building, amid a redistricting battle between Republicans and Democratic state lawmakers in Austin, Texas, U.S., August 18 2025. REUTERS/Nuri Vallbona Texas Republicans on Wednesday will take up a new state congressional map intended to flip five Democratic-held U.S. House seats in next year's midterm elections, after dozens of Democratic lawmakers ended a two-week walkout that had temporarily blocked its passage. Republican state legislators have undertaken a rare mid-decade redistricting at the behest of President Donald Trump, who is seeking to improve his party's odds of preserving its narrow U.S. House of Representatives majority despite political headwinds. The gambit has triggered a national redistricting war, with governors of both parties threatening to initiate similar efforts in other states. Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom is advancing an effort to neutralize Texas' move by redrawing his state's map to flip five Republican seats, pitting the nation's most populous Democratic state against Texas, its most populous Republican one. The Texas map aims to flip five Democratic seats. Other Republican states including Ohio, Florida, Indiana and Missouri are moving forward with or considering their own redistricting efforts, as are Democratic states such as Maryland and Illinois. Redistricting typically occurs every 10 years after the U.S. Census to account for population changes, and mid-decade redistricting has historically been unusual. In many states, lawmakers manipulate the lines to favor their party over the opposition, a practice known as gerrymandering. Texas' new map was listed on Wednesday's schedule for the state House, though it was not clear how quickly Republicans could move to approve it. The bill is still subject to debate on the floor, and Democrats can also introduce amendments to be voted upon. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 18 persons nabbed and 82 vapes seized in HSA ops in Raffles Place and Haji Lane Singapore Judge finds SBS Transit '100% responsible' in lawsuit filed by woman who was trapped in train doors Singapore COE premiums up in all categories except motorcycles; Cat A price climbs 2.5% to $104,524 Singapore Grab users in Singapore shocked by fares of over $1,000 due to display glitch Singapore No throttling for MyRepublic broadband users after sale to StarHub Singapore Emergency broadcast system to alert S'pore public to disasters via their mobile phones: Edwin Tong Life S'pore bands mark milestones with gigs: Silver Strings at 60, Mel & Joe at 55 and Lovehunters at 40 Singapore Singapore indie cinema The Projector owes over $1.2m to creditors Democrats fled the state earlier this month to deny the Texas House a quorum. In response, Republicans undertook extraordinary measures to try to force them home, including filing lawsuits to remove them from office and issuing arrest warrants. The walkout ended when Democrats voluntarily returned on Monday, saying they had accomplished their goals of blocking a vote during a first special legislative session and persuading Democrats in other states to take retaliatory steps. Republican House leadership assigned state law enforcement officers to monitor Democrats to ensure they would not leave the state again. One Democratic representative, Nicole Collier, slept in the Capitol building on Monday night rather than accept a police escort. Republicans, including Trump, have openly acknowledged that the new map is aimed at increasing their political power. The party currently controls 25 of the state's 38 districts under a Republican-drawn map that was passed four years ago. Democrats and civil rights groups have said the new map dilutes the voting power of racial minorities in violation of federal law and have vowed to sue. Nationally, Republicans captured the 435-seat House in 2024 by only three seats. The party of the president historically loses House seats in the first midterm election, and Trump's approval ratings have sagged since he took office in January. REUTERS
Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
US budget deficit forecast US$1 trillion higher over next decade: watchdog
[WASHINGTON] US federal budget deficits will be nearly US$1 trillion higher over the next decade than projected in January by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as a result of tax and spending legislation and tariffs, a budget watchdog said on Wednesday (Aug 20). The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's (CRFB) latest forecasts show a cumulative deficit of US$22.7 trillion from fiscal 2026 to 2035, compared to the CBO's January forecast of US$21.8 trillion, which was based on laws and policies that were in place before US President Donald Trump took office in January. The CBO, Congress' non-partisan budget referee agency, said on Monday that it will not issue its customary mid-year budget update this year and will issue its next 10-year budget and economic outlook in early 2026, offering no explanation for the move. The CRFB, which advocates for deficit reduction, projected a US$1.7 trillion deficit in fiscal 2025 or 5.6 per cent of GDP, down slightly from US$1.83 trillion in 2024 and the CBO's 2025 projection of US$1.87 trillion in January. But it said that deficits steadily rise over the decade, reaching US$2.6 trillion or 5.9 per cent of GDP by 2035. The new CRFB estimates include the budget effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act tax and spending bill, as well as Trump's tariffs that are currently in place. But like CBO, they do not include the dynamic economic effects on growth from these changes, a forecasting rule that has drawn criticism from the Trump administration. The group projects the tax cut and spending bill to increase deficits, including interest, by US$4.6 trillion to 2035, adding another year to the CBO's US$4.1 trillion cost estimate to 2034. But CRFB estimates that this will be offset by US$3.4 trillion worth of extra import duty revenue over the next decade due to Trump's new tariffs that are currently in place. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up New rules restricting eligibility for health insurance subsidies will reduce deficits by another US$100 billion to 2035, and Congress' rescission of prior funding to foreign aid, public broadcasting and other programmes would save another US$100 billion if sustained over a decade, CRFB said. Net interest payments on the national debt will total US$14 trillion over the decade, CRFB projected, rising from nearly US$1 trillion or 3.2 per cent of GDP in 2025 to US$1.8 trillion or 4.1 per cent of GDP in 2035. The forecasts are based on legislative and tariff changes since January but keep CBO's economic forecasts unchanged. Under an alternative scenario forecast by CRFB, the budget picture looks far worse, boosting deficits nearly US$7 trillion higher than the CBO baseline. This scenario would see a significant part of Trump's tariffs cancelled if the Court of International Trade's ruling against many of Trump's new tariffs is upheld, cutting US$2.4 trillion from revenues over a decade. The alternative scenario also assumes extension of a number of temporary tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including tax breaks on overtime, tips, Social Security income and car loan interest, higher state and local tax deduction allowances and full expensing of factory investments, adding US$1.7 trillion to deficits over 10 years. CRFB's alternative scenario also ditches the CBO's projection of a decline in 10-year US Treasury yields over the decade to about 3.8 per cent. If that interest rate stays at the current level of about 4.3 per cent, interest costs would grow by about US$1.6 trillion through 2035, CRFB said. The total 2035 debt-to-GDP ratio would grow from 118 per cent in the CBO January baseline to 120 per cent under the CRFB's projected baseline scenario and 134 per cent under the CRFB's alternative scenario. REUTERS
