The Daily Money: Trump threatens tariffs on Apple
Good morning and Happy Friday! This is Betty Lin-Fisher with Friday's consumer-focused edition of The Daily Money.
We're following the latest tariff news this morning, including President Donald Trump's warning to Apple of a new 25% import tax if iPhones are not made in the U.S. and his recommendation of a 50% tariff on the European Union starting June 1.
Catch up on the latest information with live updates.
After 233 years of pennies in our pockets, the U.S. this month will officially end penny production, according to statements from the Treasury Department.
The U.S. Mint is using the last of its coin blanks to mint the final pennies this week.
Pennies will still be legal tender, but what happens to cash prices that end in pennies?
The U.S. Postal Service is testing its informed delivery service on phone apps, CNET reports.
Video: Why you should get a Google Voice number.
Sam's Club will start pizza delivery.
Nike is the latest retailer to announce a tariff-price hike.
Is the AI screening your resume biased?
This, like the recommended , could cause household feuds. Is there a right way to load your dishwasher? Should you put fork handles up or down? What does the way you load the dishwasher teach us about our family upbringing or how we act in the workplace?
Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY, breaking down complex events, providing the TLDR version, and explaining how everything from Fed rate changes to bankruptcies impacts you.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump threatens tariffs on Apple
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Chicago Tribune
17 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
President Donald Trump tax bill will add $2.4 trillion to the deficit and leave 10.9 million more uninsured, CBO says
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's big bill making its way through Congress will cut taxes by $3.75 trillion but also increase deficits by $2.4 trillion over the next decade, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO also estimates an increase of 10.9 million people without health insurance under the bill by 2034, including 1.4 million who are in the United States without legal status in state-funded programs. The package would reduce federal outlays, or spending, by nearly $1.3 trillion over that period, the budget office said. What is the CBO? A look at the small office inflaming debate over Trump's tax bill'In the words of Elon Musk, this bill is a 'disgusting abomination,'' said Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, reviving the billionaire former Trump aide's criticism of the package. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he called Musk late Tuesday to discuss the criticism but had not heard back. 'I hope he comes around,' Johnson told reporters. The analysis comes at a crucial moment in the legislative process as Trump is pushing Congress to have the final product on his desk to sign into law by the Fourth of July. The work of the CBO, which for decades has served as the official scorekeeper of legislation in Congress, will be weighed by lawmakers and others seeking to understand the budgetary impacts of the sprawling 1,000-page-plus package. Ahead of the CBO's release, the White House and Republican leaders criticized the budget office in a preemptive campaign designed to sow doubt in its findings. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the CBO has been 'historically wrong,' and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the CBO was 'flat wrong' because it underestimated the potential revenue growth from Trump's first round of tax breaks in 2017. The CBO last year said receipts were $1.5 trillion, or 5.6% greater than predicted, in large part because of the 'burst of high inflation' during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. White House Budget Director Russ Vought said when you adjust for 'current policy' — which means not counting some $4.5 trillion in existing tax breaks that are simply being extended for the next decade — the overall package actually doesn't pile onto the deficit. He argued the spending cuts alone in fact help reduce deficits by $1.4 trillion over the decade. Democrats and even some Republicans call that 'current policy' accounting move a gimmick, but it's the approach Senate Republicans intend to use during their consideration of the package to try to show it does not add to the nation's deficits. Vought argued that the CBO is the one using a 'gimmick' by tallying the costs of continuing those tax breaks that would otherwise expire. Leavitt also suggested that the CBO's employees are biased, even though certain budget office workers face strict ethical rules — including restrictions on campaign donations and political activity — to ensure objectivity and impartiality. 'When it comes time to make prognostications on economic growth, they've always been wrong,' House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said at a press conference. Asked if it's time to get rid of the CBO, Scalise did not dismiss the idea, saying it's valid to raise concerns. Alongside the costs of the bill, the CBO had previously estimated that nearly 4 million fewer people would have food stamps each month due to the legislation's proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. The bill, called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act after the president's own catch phrase, is grinding its way through Congress, as the top priority of Republicans, who control both the House and the Senate — and face stiff opposition from Democrats, who call it Trump's 'big, ugly bill.' All told, the package seeks to extend the individual income tax breaks that had been approved in 2017 but that will expire in December if Congress fails to act, while adding new ones, including no taxes on tips. It also includes a massive buildup of $350 billion for border security, deportations and national security. To help cover the lost revenue, Republicans want to slash some federal spending. They propose phasing out green energy tax breaks put in place during Democrat Joe Biden's presidency. New work requirements for some adults up to age 65 on Medicaid and SNAP would begin in December 2026 and are expected to result in less spending on those programs. Republicans argue their proposals are intended to make Medicaid and other programs stronger by rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. They want the federal funding to go those who most need health care and other services, often citing women and children. But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said those claims are bogus and are simply part of long-running GOP efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as most states have expanded Medicaid to serve more people under the program. 'They just want to strangle health care,' Schumer said. The package also would provide a $4 trillion increase to the nation's debt limit, which is now $36 trillion, to allow more borrowing. The Treasury Department projects the debt limit will need to be raised this summer to pay the nation's already accrued bills. Now in its 50th year, the CBO was established by law after Congress sought to assert its control, as outlined in the Constitution, over the budget process, in part by setting up the new office as an alternative to the White House's Office of Management and Budget. Staffed by some 275 economists, analysts and other employees, the CBO says it seeks to provide Congress with objective, impartial information about budgetary and economic issues. Its current director, Phillip Swagel, a former Treasury official in Republican President George W. Bush's administration, was reappointed to a four-year term in 2023.
Chicago Tribune
17 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
What is the CBO? A look at the small office inflaming debate over President Donald Trump's tax bill
WASHINGTON — A small government office with some 275 employees has found itself caught in the political crossfire as Congress debates President Donald Trump's 'one big beautiful bill.' The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the legislation would increase federal deficits by about $2.4 trillion over 10 years. That's a problem for a Republican Congress that has spent much of the past four years criticizing former President Joe Biden and Democrats for the nation's rising debt levels. The White House and Republican leaders in Congress are taking issue with CBO's findings. They say economic growth will be higher than the office is projecting, resulting in more revenue coming into government coffers. Meanwhile, Democrats are touting CBO's findings as evidence of the bill's failings. President Donald Trump tax bill will add $2.4 trillion to the deficit and leave 10.9 million more uninsured, CBO saysHere's a look at the office at the center of Washington's latest political tug-of-war. Lawmakers established the Congressional Budget Office more than 50 years ago to provide objective, impartial analysis to support the budget process. The CBO is required to produce a cost estimate for nearly every bill approved by a House or Senate committee and will weigh in earlier when asked to do so by lawmakers. It also produces a report each Congress on how to reduce the debt if lawmakers so choose with each option including arguments for or against. Plus, it publishes detailed estimates when presidents make proposals that would affect mandator spending, which includes programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Lawmakers created the office to help Congress play a stronger role in budget matters, providing them with an alternative to the Office of Management and Budget, which is part of a Republican or Democratic administration, depending upon the president in office. CBO hires analysts based on their expertise, not political affiliation. Staff is expected to maintain objectivity and avoid political influence. In evaluating potential employees, the CBO says that for most positions it looks at whether that person would be perceived to be free from political bias. Like other federal employees, the CBO's staff is also prohibited from making political contributions to members of Congress. The CBO's director, Phillip Swagel, served in former Republican President George W. Bush's administration as an economic adviser and as an assistant secretary at the Treasury Department. The stakes are incredibly high with Republicans looking to pass their massive tax cut and immigration bill by early July. Outside groups, Democrats and some Republicans are highlighting CBO's analysis that the bill will increase federal deficits by about $2.4 trillion over 10 years and leave 10.9 million more people uninsured in 2034. Republicans spent much of Biden's presidency focused on curbing federal deficits. They don't want to be seen as contributing to the fiscal problem. GOP lawmakers say the CBO isn't giving enough credit to the economic growth the bill will create, to the point where it would be deficit-neutral in the long run, if not better. 'The CBO assumes long-term GDP growth of an anemic 1.8% and that is absurd,' said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 'The American economy is going to boom like never before after the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' is passed.' Republicans began taking issue with the CBO even before Trump and the current Congress were sworn into office. 'CBO will always predict a dark future when Republicans propose tax relief – but the reality is never so dire,' Rep. Jason Smith, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said in a December news release. Recently, House Speaker Mike Johnson has been taking digs at the office. 'The CBO is notorious for getting things WRONG,' he said in a Facebook post. In April 2018, CBO said that tax receipts would total $27 trillion from fiscal years 2018 to 2024. Receipts came in about $1.5 trillion higher than the CBO projected. Republicans have seized on that discrepancy. But the numbers don't tell the whole story. Some of the criticism of the CBO ignores the context of a global pandemic as the federal government rushed to prop the economy up with massive spending bills under both Trump and Biden. In a blog post last December, Swagel pointed out three reasons for the higher revenues: The primary reason was the burst of inflation that began in March 2021 as the country was recovering from COVID. That burst of inflation, he said, led to about $900 billion more in revenue. There was also an increase in economic activity in 'the later years of the period' adding $700 billion. Also, new tariffs added about $250 billion, with other legislation partially offsetting those three factors.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Judge tosses Democratic committees' lawsuit over the Federal Election Commission's independence
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block President Donald Trump's administration from implementing an executive order that Democratic Party officials claim could undermine the independence of the Federal Election Commission. U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali in Washington ruled late Tuesday that there's insufficient evidence that the Republican administration intends to apply a key portion of Trump's executive order to the FEC or its commissioners. "This Court's doors are open to the parties if changed circumstances show concrete action or impact on the FEC's or its Commissioners' independence," the judge wrote. The Democratic Party's three national political committees sued after Trump signed the executive order in February. The order was intended to increase his control of the entire executive branch, including over agencies such as the FEC, a six-person bipartisan board created by Congress to independently enforce campaign finance law. The Feb. 18 order said the officials at those agencies 'must be supervised and controlled by the people's elected President' and demanded that no executive branch employee advance a legal view that contradicts the president or the attorney general. Trump issued the order after he abruptly got rid of FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat who said her ouster did not follow legal protocols. The FEC is just one of several independent agencies Trump has sought to control and targeted with firings. The plaintiffs — the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — asked the judge to rule that a law insulating the FEC from partisan control is constitutional. They also asked for a preliminary injunction enjoining the Trump administration from applying part of the executive order to the FEC and its commissioners. 'Americans are legally guaranteed fair elections with impartial referees — not a system where Donald Trump can dictate campaign rules he wants from the White House,' the plaintiffs wrote in a statement. 'Democrats will use every tool at our disposal, including aggressively confronting Trump's illegal actions in the courts, to defend Americans' right to free and fair elections.' But government attorneys told the judge that the Trump administration has no plans to apply the executive order to the FEC. The judge said he can't conclude from the text of the executive order alone that Trump or Attorney General Pam Bondi are on the verge of taking such an 'extraordinary step." The order doesn't single out the FEC and applies broadly to all executive branch employees, the judge concluded. 'The Court does not doubt that the committees would have cause for profound concern were the FEC's independence to be compromised," he wrote. "Given the FEC's central role in overseeing parties and campaigns, a compromise of its independence would pose an immense threat to our democratic elections, for all the reasons Congress established the FEC's independence in the first place.' The portion of the executive order challenged by the lawsuit has raised particular concern among campaign finance watchdogs, who call it a conflict of interest. Congress created the FEC in 1974 after the Watergate scandal with the goal of having it operate independently. 'This was not a hypothetical concern,' plaintiffs' attorney David Fox said during an April 9 hearing. 'And it's not a hypothetical concern today.' Justice Department attorney Jeremy Newman said the plaintiffs' concerns are based on mere speculation that the FEC may take a regulatory action that they oppose. 'There is no live controversy here,' Newman told the judge. 'The commission is conducting its business as it was two weeks ago, two months ago, two years ago,' FEC attorney James McGinley said during the hearing. Trevor Potter, a former Republican FEC commissioner and founder of the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, said the FEC is responsible for enforcing the law against the president 'as both a candidate and as a holder of federal office.' 'It is crucial that the agency retain its independence from the White House, so it is able to hold the president — any president — and their political party accountable,' Potter said in a statement. ___ Swenson reported from New York.
