Stocks surge after U.S. and China announce pause on most tariffs
Dow stocks soared over 1,100 points after the U.S. and China announced they would lower tariffs for 90 days. Meanwhile, President Trump defended his move to accept a potential offer from Qatar to provide a new Air Force One jet. NBC News' Gabe Gutierrez reports.
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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
US to order evacuation of Iraqi embassy amid fears of Iran deal collapse
American embassies in the Middle East are preparing to send home non-essential staff and families owing to heightened risks in the region. According to a string of American and local security sources, the embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, is planning what officials called an 'ordered evacuation,' withdrawing non-essential staff. It was already operating at reduced staffing levels. But facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait are also to send home family members. The move is being considered as the prospect of the US signing a nuclear deal with Iran appears less and less likely. 'Trump committed to keeping Americans safe' Details emerged hours after Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran's minister of defence, said that Tehran would strike US bases in the region if nuclear talks failed, and tensions escalated with Washington. 'President Trump is committed to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad,' a State Department official told The Telegraph. 'In keeping with that commitment, we are constantly assessing the appropriate personnel posture at all our embassies. Based on our latest analysis, we decided to reduce the footprint of our mission in Iraq.' Mr Trump said he was growing 'less confident' in the likelihood of signing a nuclear deal with the country. Speaking to the New York Post's Pod Force One podcast, Mr Trump said: 'I don't know. I did think so, and I'm getting more and more less confident about it,' when asked by the host if he thought Iran would agree to shut down its nuclear program. UK issues warning The UK maritime agency issued a warning earlier on Wednesday that increased tensions could trigger a military escalation with a knock-on effect on critical waterways. It advised vessels to use caution while travelling through the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Straits of Hormuz, which all border Iran. Iraq, a rare regional partner of both the United States and its arch regional foe Iran, hosts 2,500 US troops and has Tehran-backed armed factions linked to its security forces. Tensions inside Iraq have heightened since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, with Iran-aligned armed groups in the country repeatedly attacking US troops. Mr Trump has been under pressure from Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, to allow the country to strike Iran. So-far, Mr Trump has blocked strikes. He told reporters in the Oval Office last month: 'I told [Mr Netanyahu] this would be inappropriate to do right now because we're very close to a solution now. 'That could change at any moment.' The US president has also threatened to strike Iran if stalled talks over its nuclear programme failed. Iran's mission to the United Nations posted on social media that 'threats of overwhelming force won't change the facts'. 'Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and US militarism only fuels instability,' it said.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
'There is no Plan B': Republicans make a daring bet on the debt limit
WASHINGTON — As Republicans barrel toward a critical deadline this summer to lift the debt ceiling, they say there's no 'Plan B' to avert an economically disastrous default if they fail to pass the massive bill for President Donald Trump's agenda in time. Congressional Republicans are eyeing increasing the debt limit by $4 trillion to $5 trillion so the government can keep borrowing to meet the country's obligations. It's part of their broader domestic policy package, which the Senate needs to pass before it can go back through the House and ultimately to Trump's desk for his signature. And the GOP only has three votes to spare in both chambers. 'There is no Plan B,' Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday when asked by NBC News if he has a backup plan for the debt limit. 'It's Plan A. We have to get it done. Failure is not an option.' It's a risky gamble by GOP leaders, who are putting all their chips on passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act by the debt ceiling deadline. 'We're going to get reconciliation done,' Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said when asked what the party's fallback plan is on the debt ceiling. (Reconciliation refers to the budget process Republicans are using to pass their bill, which allows them to bypass the 60-vote threshold in the Senate and cut Democrats out of the process.) The Treasury Department has urged Congress to raise the debt ceiling "by mid-July" to safely avoid default. The Congressional Budget Office projected this week that the deadline may be later, 'between mid-August and the end of September,' although that won't be official unless the Treasury Department agrees. If Republicans fail to pass their sprawling bill in time, they would need to negotiate with Democrats to pass a standalone debt limit extension through the 60-vote process in the Se nate. But there have been no negotiations between party leaders on that front, according to Republican and Democratic aides with knowledge of the dynamics. One GOP aide said the party is 'full steam ahead on Plan A' and suggested there may still be time to consider a fallback if they absolutely need to. Some Republicans say it's a deliberate tactic to drive up the urgency of passing their filibuster-proof bill. 'We should be set an expectation that we're getting this done in July, and it includes the debt ceiling,' said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. 'I think the minute you start talking about a backup plan, you're going to have a backup plan.' If Republican leaders eventually decide they want to cut a bipartisan deal on the debt ceiling, it's unclear what — if anything — Democrats would demand. Some, like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, and Rep. Brendan Boyle, of Pennsylvania., have insisted on abolishing the debt limit entirely in order to prevent the full faith and credit of the United States from being used as leverage in policy negotiations. That's an idea Trump recently endorsed. 'I am very pleased to announce that, after all of these years, I agree with Senator Elizabeth Warren on SOMETHING,' Trump wrote on Truth Social last week. 'The Debt Limit should be entirely scrapped to prevent an Economic catastrophe.' But there's scant support within the GOP for it, as Republicans have found success using it to extract concessions from Democratic presidents in the past. There's no indication that Democrats would respond in kind this year if Republicans came to them and asked for their votes on the debt ceiling. 'I'm not debating hypotheticals,' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said when asked what he'd want in exchange.
NBC News
3 hours ago
- NBC News
Trump's EPA wants to repeal regulations on carbon emissions from power plants
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it will aim to eliminate existing limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, a move that would curb the agency's ability to combat climate change under the Clean Air Act. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a news conference that Biden-era carbon pollution standards for power plants 'suffocate' the economy in order to protect the environment. Zeldin, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in January, stated that the agency's announcement was a huge step forward in energy dominance for the U.S., while promising that no power plants would emit more than they already do. Currently, the power sector accounts for a quarter of all U.S. emissions, according to the latest EPA emissions data. Zeldin also said the EPA plans to weaken Biden-era regulations on mercury emissions from power plants. Environmental advocates say the EPA's proposal is an escalation in the Trump administration's ongoing push against climate action across federal agencies, including at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy and the National Weather Service. In 2024, the Biden administration finalized the most stringent carbon pollution standards for power plants to date in an effort to tackle the climate crisis — but now, those rules face an uncertain future. Gina McCarthy, a former EPA Administrator under President Joe Biden, called Zeldin's announcement a 'political play' that defies 'decades of science and policy review' in a statement on Wednesday. 'By giving a green light to more pollution, his legacy will forever be someone who does the bidding of the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our health,' McCarthy said. Jill Tauber, the vice president of litigation for climate and energy at Earthjustice, a nonprofit currently suing the Trump administration over several environmental rollbacks said: 'Eliminating pollution standards from the largest industrial source of greenhouse gas pollution in the United States flies in the face of what the law requires, what the science tells us, and what we're seeing every day.' Power plants in the U.S. are a huge contributor to global carbon emissions. A report published by the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law found that if the U.S. power sector were its own country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter in the world. Under the first Trump administration, the EPA rolled back several Obama-era greenhouse gas standards on power plants, but this recent announcement marks the first time the agency has suggested outright repeals. Zeldin's move on power plants follows his promise in March to tackle the 'climate change religion' by reconsidering or repealing 31 regulations surrounding tailpipe emissions, coal ash regulations and oil and gas wastewater management. The proposed rule, which will now move into its comment period, will face scrutiny from legal advocates and environmental nonprofits like Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council, which say the EPA is obligated to regulate greenhouse gas emissions by law — citing seminal cases like the 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA lawsuit, which determined that greenhouse gases must be regulated by the EPA under the Clean Air Act. 'We'll be watching closely to see if the EPA proceeds with repealing these life-saving standards based on a legal theory that doesn't pass the laugh test,' said Meredith Hawkins, the federal climate legal director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. 'The NRDC stands ready to defend the public's right to breathe in court if needed.' Cutting historic limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants would impact global climate change, but it could also cause ripple effects on human health and the economy. Harvey Reiter, an energy and utilities lawyer and a law professor at George Washington University, says that if the EPA moves forward with its planned repeals, he expects some energy companies and utilities that have retooled operations and made long-term investments in renewable energy to sue the Trump administration. 'The biggest impacts of the proposed rules are uncertainty and instability,' he said. 'Nobody knows what to do next. It makes investment decisions harder. It makes decisions about hiring, staff and employees harder. It creates a lot of uncertainty in the market.' Greenhouse gas emissions from power plants are not just a climate issue. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide as well as other air pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury and fine particulate matter, which are linked to increased risk of respiratory issues and cardiovascular disease. Regulating carbon emissions from power plants broadly reduces other air pollution for communities living near power plants, said Laura Kate Bender, the vice president of nationwide advocacy and public policy at the American Lung Association. 'It works both ways. On the one hand, power plants burning fossil fuels contribute to climate change and cause health problems at the same time,' said Bender. 'And then climate change, in many cases, contributes to extreme heat, or more wildfire smoke, or more ozone smogs. Climate change is a health emergency, and cutting carbon in the power sector is a critical tool in the toolbox for fighting climate change.'
