
Oaktree's Marks Says Trump Values Unpredictability, Be Cautious
Oaktree Capital Management LP co-founder Howard Marks said investors should expect uncertainty to endure under US President Donald Trump and relatively high valuations in global markets require a cautious stance.
'As someone who is a serial negotiator, he values unpredictability, and I think you're going to have that for a long time,' Marks said of Trump at the Morgan Stanley Australia Summit on Thursday in Sydney via video link from Spain.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hamilton Spectator
32 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Trump moves to merge wildland firefighting into single force, despite ex-officials warning of chaos
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered government agencies to consolidate their wildland firefighting into a single program, despite warnings from former federal officials that it could be costly and increase the risk of catastrophic blazes. The order aims to centralize firefighting efforts now split among five agencies and two Cabinet departments. Trump's proposed budget for next year calls for the creation of a new Federal Wildland Fire Service under the U.S. Interior Department. That would mean shifting thousands of personnel from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service — where most federal firefighters now work — with fire season already underway . The administration has not disclosed how much the change could cost or save. Trump in his order cited the devastating Los Angeles wildfires in January as highlighting a need for a quicker response to wildfires. 'Wildfires threaten every region, yet many local government entities continue to disregard commonsense preventive measures,' the order said. The Trump administration in its first months temporarily cut off money for wildfire prevention work and reduced the ranks of federal government firefighters through layoffs and retirement. The order makes no mention of climate change, which Trump has downplayed even as warming temperatures help stoke bigger and more destructive wildfires that churn out massive amounts of harmful pollution. More than 65,000 wildfires across the U.S. burned almost 9 million acres (3.6 million hectares) last year. Organizations representing firefighters and former Forest Service officials say it would be costly to restructure firefighting efforts and cause major disruptions in the midst of fire season. A group that includes several former Forest Service chiefs said in a recent letter to lawmakers that consolidation of firefighting work could 'actually increase the likelihood of more large catastrophic fires, putting more communities, firefighters and resources at risk.' Another destructive fire season is expected this year, driven by above-normal temperatures for most of the country, according to federal officials. A prior proposal to merge the Forest Service and Interior to improve firefighting was found to have significant drawbacks by the Congressional Research Service in a 2008 report. But the idea more recently got bipartisan support, with California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla and Montana Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy sponsoring legislation that is similar to Trump's plan. Before his election last year, Sheehy founded an aerial firefighting company that relies heavily on federal contracts. In a separate action aimed at wildfires, the Trump administration last month rolled back environmental safeguards around future logging projects on more than half U.S. national forests. The emergency designation covers 176,000 square miles (455,000 square kilometers) of terrain primarily in the West but also in the South, around the Great Lakes and in New England. Most of those forests are considered to have high wildfire risk, and many are in decline because of insects and disease .

Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump administration pulls US out of agreement to help restore salmon in the Columbia River
SEATTLE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday pulled the U.S. out of an agreement with Washington, Oregon and four American Indian tribes to work together to restore salmon populations and boost tribal clean energy development in the Pacific Northwest, deriding the plan as 'radical environmentalism' that could have resulted in the breaching of four controversial dams on the Snake River. The deal, known as the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, was reached in late 2023 and heralded by the Biden administration, tribes and conservationists as historic. It allowed for a pause in decades of litigation over the harm the federal government's operation of dams in the Northwest has done to the fish. Under it, the federal government said it planned to spend more than $1 billion over a decade to help recover depleted salmon runs. The government also said that it would build enough new clean energy projects in the Pacific Northwest to replace the hydropower generated by the Lower Snake River dams — the Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite — should Congress ever agree to remove them. In a statement, the White House said former President Joe Biden's decision to sign the agreement "placed concerns about climate change above the Nation's interests in reliable energy sources.' Conservations groups, Democratic members of Congress and the Northwest tribes criticized Trump's action. 'Donald Trump doesn't know the first thing about the Northwest and our way of life — so of course, he is abruptly and unilaterally upending a historic agreement that finally put us on a path to salmon recovery, while preserving stable dam operations for growers and producers, public utilities, river users, ports and others throughout the Northwest," Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said in a written statement. 'This decision is grievously wrong and couldn't be more shortsighted.' Basin was once world's greatest salmon-producing river system The Columbia River Basin, an area roughly the size of Texas, was once the world's greatest salmon-producing river system, with at least 16 stocks of salmon and steelhead. Today, four are extinct and seven are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Another iconic but endangered Northwest species, a population of killer whales, also depend on the salmon. The construction of the first dams on the main Columbia River, including the Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams in the 1930s, provided jobs during the Great Depression, as well as hydropower and navigation. The dams made the town of Lewiston, Idaho, the most inland seaport on the West Coast, and many farmers in the region rely on barges to ship their crops. But the dams are also main culprit behind the salmon's decline, and fisheries scientists have concluded that breaching the dams in eastern Washington on the Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia, would be the best hope for recovering them, providing the fish with access to hundreds of miles of pristine habitat and spawning grounds in Idaho. The tribes, which reserved the right to fish in their usual and accustomed grounds when they ceded vast amounts of land in their 19th century treaties with the U.S., warned as far back as the late 1930s that the salmon runs could disappear, with the fish no longer able to access spawning grounds upstream. 'This agreement was designed to foster collaborative and informed resource management and energy development in the Pacific Northwest, including significant tribal energy initiatives,' Yakama Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Lewis said in a written statement. 'The Administration's decision to terminate these commitments echoes the federal government's historic pattern of broken promises to tribes, and is contrary to President Trump's stated commitment to domestic energy development.' Republicans in region opposed agreement Northwestern Republicans in Congress had largely opposed the agreement, warning that it would hurt the region's economy, though in 2021 Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho proposed removing the earthen berms on either side of the four Lower Snake River dams to let the river flow freely, and to spend $33 billion to replace the benefits of the dams. 'Today's action by President Trump reverses the efforts by the Biden administration and extreme environmental activists to remove the dams, which would have threatened the reliability of our power grid, raised energy prices, and decimated our ability to export grain to foreign markets," Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington, said in a news release. Tribes, environmentalists vow to fight for salmon The tribes and the environmental law firm Earthjustice, which represents conservation, clean energy and fishing groups in litigation against the federal government, said they would continue working to rebuild salmon stocks. 'Unfortunately, this short-sighted decision to renege on this important agreement is just the latest in a series of anti-government and anti-science actions coming from the Trump administration,' Earthjustice Senior Attorney Amanda Goodin said. "This administration may be giving up on our salmon, but we will keep fighting to prevent extinction and realize win-win solutions for the region.'
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
ICE raids at California farms condemned by unions, advocates
(NewsNation) — As the Trump administration continues its crackdown on immigrants who entered the United States illegally, immigration enforcement operations targeting workplaces have expanded to fruit and vegetable farms in several regions of California. Unions representing farmworkers report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have conducted enforcement raids at farms throughout the state, targeting migrant workers who studies show have become the lifeblood of the nation's farming industry, which contributed more than $1 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product in 2020. Farmworker union officials have called on President Donald Trump to intervene and halt farm raids immediately. However, Trump blamed the Biden administration's stance on immigration for infiltrating industries like farming with lawbreakers. Trump: Deportations are hurting farmers, 'changes are coming' Trump wrote on Truth Social that the nation's 'great farmers' and those working in the hotel and hospitality industry are now complaining about his administration's 'very aggressive policy on immigration' that is causing farms and hotels alike to lose 'very good and longtime workers.' 'This is not good,' Trump wrote. 'We must protect our Farmers but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!' The Department of Homeland Security has not confirmed that workplace immigration enforcement operations have specifically targeted California farms but acknowledged that such operations are ongoing. A DHS spokesperson told NewsNation that workplace enforcement efforts are meant to protect workers from exploitation and human trafficking. The agency said that many times, workers are trafficked into the U.S. and forced to work in unsafe conditions and are exploited by employers. 'These operations not only protect American workers but also illegal aliens,' the spokesperson said. 'President Trump will not allow criminals to abuse and exploit workers for profit.' The Center for Migration Studies reports that 86% of agricultural workers in the United States are foreign-born and that 45% of all migrant workers, roughly 283,000, are in the U.S. illegally. However, a large number of foreign-born farmworkers enter the U.S. under the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program, which allows immigrants to remain in the United States for up to eight months to help meet the labor needs of farms. The number of migrants here through that program more than doubled between 2010 and 2019, the Center for Migration Studies reported, jumping from 79,000 requests in 2010 to 258,000 in 2019. Democratic governors defend sanctuary policies before Congress One-third of the nation's farmworkers are located in California, according to the California Farm Bureau, which issued a statement of support for farm employees in the wake of reports of increased farm enforcement missions being conducted. The New York Times, citing federal data, reported that the Central Valley of California produces 25% of the nation's food supply, which is worth approximately $17 billion annually. Those production levels led the state farm bureau to surmise that without farmworkers, much of the operations involved in planting, cultivating and harvesting crops would not take place. But again, research conducted by the University of California, Merced shows that about half of California's 255,700 farmworkers are in the U.S. illegally. But to farm bureau officials, the immigration status of farmworkers does not limit their value to the state's farming landscape. 'Farm employees are not just workers—they are partners in this industry,' Bryan Little, the senior director of policy advocacy at the state farm bureau, said. 'They are people with families, dreams, and an incredible work ethic that keeps food on tables across America. We understand the uncertainty some might feel right now, and we want to be absolutely clear: California's farmers stand with you.' The United Farm Workers Union reports it is aware of multiple immigration enforcement operations targeting farmworkers in California this week alone. The union called efforts to 'terrorize and separate' farmworker communities an attack on California and a dangerous waste of resources. In one case, video footage published by a local ABC affiliate showed federal agents chasing migrant workers through a field during a workforce immigration enforcement raid in which dozens of workers were detained by federal agents. The organization also called on Trump to halt farm raids immediately and urged California lawmakers to act and seek transparency in the enforcement operations underway. It also called out Trump for characterizing many agricultural workers as those who have been charged or convicted of committing crimes. The raids are taking place as California and immigration have remained in the spotlight amid anti-ICE protests taking place in Los Angeles. However, union officials remain committed to protecting migrant workers in agriculture. ICE agents' locations in Los Angeles being outed by protesters 'These workers who feed us are not criminals,' the union said in a statement on Thursday in response to Trump's Truth Social post. 'Most have been here for decades. We need to protect the workers here from being hunted down in the fields. If President Trump is in charge, these raids against farms will stop immediately.' Last month, U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., reintroduced the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act that is designed to reform the H-2A visa program, which would assist migrant workers in being more easily able to obtain visas to help fill agricultural jobs in the U.S. Yet as immigration crackdowns continue, advocates for the immigrant community said there are not enough resources for migrants to protect themselves from being targeted by federal agencies like ICE and Homeland Security. Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute, said that even though many immigrants are attempting to follow proper channels to work in the U.S., including in agricultural roles, they are fearful about ongoing federal immigration enforcement efforts. She said the needs of migrants requiring legal assistance with work authorization and visas far outweigh the resources being made available to them. 'I think this reflects the larger picture where Trump's moves not only affect only the unauthorized immigrant population but also people who do have visas, who are green-card holders, and we've seen reports of U.S. citizens being arrested,' she told NewsNation. 'So just the way that the system is set up doesn't address employers' needs, so they've turned to unauthorized immigrants, some of which is leading to some of these difficult situations.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.