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Toronto Sun
6 days ago
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Federal judge rules Trump administration cannot reallocate billions meant for disaster mitigation
Published Aug 05, 2025 • 1 minute read FILE - President Donald Trump speaks at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Sept. 1, 2019, in Washington. Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / AP BOSTON — A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from reallocating $4 billion meant to help communities protect against natural disasters. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns in Boston granted a preliminary injunction sought by 20 Democrat-led states while their lawsuit over the funding moves ahead. The states argue the Federal Emergency Management Agency lacks the authority to end the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program and redirect more than $4 billion of its funding. The program aims to harden infrastructure around the country against potential storm damage. FEMA initially announced it was ending the program, but later said in a court filing that it was evaluating it. 'Although the Government equivocates about whether it has, in fact, ended the BRIC program, the States' evidence of steps taken by FEMA to implement the announced termination portend the conclusion that a determination has in fact been made and that FEMA is inching towards a fait accompli,' Stearns wrote in his ruling. 'The agency has cancelled new funding opportunities and informed stakeholders that they should no longer expect to obtain any unobligated funds.' RECOMMENDED VIDEO Canada World Toronto & GTA Wrestling Toronto Maple Leafs
The Wire
6 days ago
- Business
- The Wire
The US Has Junked the 'Rules-Based Order'. Here's What it Means for the World
Rights This is a most dangerous time for the world and, in particular, for those countries which need a few more decades of stability and global cooperation to pull themselves out of poverty. President Donald Trump arrives, followed by a bagpiper band, at the opening ceremony for the Trump International Golf Links golf course, near Aberdeen, Scotland, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. Photo: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin. The United States has 34 crore people (the size of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar combined). Americans represent four per cent of the global population and they are the biggest beneficiaries of what the US called the ' rules-based order '. This order, imposed by the United States and its European allies after the Second World War, seeks global cooperation through institutions like the United Nations and also the World Trade Organisation. Americans refer to their president, unironically, as the 'leader of the free world'. America's per capita income is almost $90,000, according to one of the institutions of the 'rules-based order', the International Monetary Fund. India's per person income is less than 1/30th, at under $3,000. The US economy has surged over the last few decades because its companies have sent their products — like aircraft, phones and computers — and services — like social media companies — around the world, where they dominate. Even with the recent downward revision in their jobs numbers, the US is running at what is referred to as full employment, meaning that joblessness is around four per cent, which is optimal. This means that from the standpoint of income and jobs, the US is in a very good place, particularly when compared to nations like India, where poverty and joblessness, particularly in the absence of regular, salaried employment, are a serious problem. And yet the US is unhappy with the world, which it says is 'ripping it off', in the words of US President Donald Trump. He has reversed this theft, as he sees it, by making it more difficult for countries to export their products into the US. America is India's largest export market, and a 25% tariff on our goods will weaken demand, hurting our exporters. There is no getting around that fact. If the tariffs remain, our interests will be harmed, no matter who ultimately pays the tariff. There is no meaningful debate inside America's democracy of whether the actions taken by President Trump harm the global rules-based order and its friends and allies, to say nothing of poorer nations. What the US has done is tear up the system where tariffs existed, but were used under a system of WTO rules and regulations that could be appealed. The US has disregarded that, and weakened the system that for decades has served it well. In doing so it is damaging the rest of the world. There is a second disregarding of the rules-based order and that is the American enabling of the genocide in Gaza. Ever eager to free the world from tyranny and despotism through war, the US has protected Israel while it massacres and starves thousands of Palestinians, and wages illegal war on Iran. The majority of the world's nations have called for an end to the horror in Gaza, through their vote in the United Nations General Assembly, but the US has used its veto to allow this 21st century holocaust to continue. Like in the matter of the tariffs, the US is telling the world that it is leaving the rules-based order and prefers to use its strength to extract, and even extort, what it can from the world. There are a few things that we can take away from these actions. One is that America has now set a new precedent. The next nation that becomes powerful will have an example of how to behave with weaker nations, and that 'might is right' is as legitimate as a 'rules-based order'. There is today quite weak resistance to this from the Global South, and the fissures inside BRICS, which we need not go into here, have helped American bullying. The second is that we should seriously consider what the benefit of our personalised style of diplomacy has been. We have thrown away decades of institutional consensus on matters like Palestine, for a hug with the Israeli leader. All the honours we have bestowed on the US President, whether in rallies here or there, and indeed encouraging Indian Americans to vote for him, have not produced any benefit or even mercy. Emperors do not listen to anything other than the voice inside their head but this must be said nonetheless. The last thing that we should consider is what is agitating the US at this point in time. Why is it, given the wealth and power it has and its comfortable economic situation, that the US is going through this spell of madness? The answer is to be found in the rise of the Global South, and in particular, the rise of China. If things continue as they have been for the last 30 years, in a decade or two the US will for the first time in more than a century not be the largest economy in the world. This is unacceptable to what is called 'the West'. It will not be able to continue doing what it has done for centuries in North America, in Australia, in South Africa, or what it is doing today in Palestine. As the rest of the world grows equal to the West, its ability to control and dominate is slipping. It has given up on the 'rules-based order' for this reason, and is resorting to pure might. This is a most dangerous time for the world and, in particular, for those countries which need a few more decades of stability and global cooperation to pull themselves out of poverty. Aakar Patel is the chair of Amnesty International India. He posts on X @aakar_patel. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
Economic Times
02-08-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
It's Trump's economy now. The latest US financial numbers offer some warning signs
AP FILE - A sheet of new $1 bills is seen, Nov. 15, 2017, at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) For all of President Donald Trump's promises of an economic "golden age," a spate of weak indicators this week told a potentially worrisome story as the impacts of his policies are coming into focus. Job gains are dwindling. Inflation is ticking upward. Growth has slowed compared to last year. More than six months into his term, Trump's blitz of tariff hikes and his new tax and spending bill have remodeled America's trading, manufacturing, energy and tax systems to his own liking. He's eager to take credit for any wins that might occur and is hunting for someone else to blame if the financial situation starts to totter. But as of now, this is not the boom the Republican president promised, and his ability to blame his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, for any economic challenges has faded as the world economy hangs on his every word and social media post. When Friday's jobs report turned out to be decidedly bleak, Trump ignored the warnings in the data and fired the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures. "Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they can't be manipulated for political purposes," Trump said on Truth Social, without offering evidence for his claim. "The Economy is BOOMING." It's possible that the disappointing numbers are growing pains from the rapid transformation caused by Trump and that stronger growth will return - or they may be a preview of even more disruption to come. Trump's economic plans are a political gamble Trump's aggressive use of tariffs, executive actions, spending cuts and tax code changes carries significant political risk if he is unable to deliver middle-class prosperity. The effects of his new tariffs are still several months away from rippling through the economy, right as many Trump allies in Congress will be campaigning in the midterm elections. "Considering how early we are in his term, Trump's had an unusually big impact on the economy already," said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist at Firehouse Strategies. "The full inflationary impact of the tariffs won't be felt until 2026. Unfortunately for Republicans, that's also an election year." The White House portrayed the blitz of trade frameworks leading up to Thursday's tariff announcement as proof of his negotiating prowess. The European Union, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and other nations that the White House declined to name agreed that the U.S. could increase its tariffs on their goods without doing the same to American products. Trump simply set rates on other countries that lacked settlements. The costs of those tariffs - taxes paid on imports to the U.S. - will be most felt by many Americans in the form of higher prices, but to what extent remains uncertain. "For the White House and their allies, a key part of managing the expectations and politics of the Trump economy is maintaining vigilance when it comes to public perceptions," said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist. Just 38% of adults approve of Trump's handling of the economy, according to a July poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. That's down from the end of Trump's first term when half of adults approved of his economic leadership. The White House paints a rosier image, seeing the economy emerging from a period of uncertainty after Trump's restructuring and repeating the economic gains seen in his first term before the pandemic struck. "President Trump is implementing the very same policy mix of deregulation, fairer trade, and pro-growth tax cuts at an even bigger scale - as these policies take effect, the best is yet to come," White House spokesman Kush Desai said. Recent economic reports suggest trouble ahead The economic numbers over the past week show the difficulties that Trump might face if the numbers continue on their current path: - Friday's jobs report showed that U.S. employers have shed 37,000 manufacturing jobs since Trump's tariff launch in April, undermining prior White House claims of a factory revival. - Net hiring has plummeted over the past three months with job gains of just 73,000 in July, 14,000 in June and 19,000 in May - a combined 258,000 jobs lower than previously indicated. On average last year, the economy added 168,000 jobs a month. - A Thursday inflation report showed that prices have risen 2.6% over the year that ended in June, an increase in the personal consumption expenditures price index from 2.2% in April. Prices of heavily imported items, such as appliances, furniture, and toys and games, jumped from May to June. - On Wednesday, a report on gross domestic product - the broadest measure of the U.S. economy - showed that it grew at an annual rate of less than 1.3% during the first half of the year, down sharply from 2.8% growth last year. "The economy's just kind of slogging forward," said Guy Berger, senior fellow at the Burning Glass Institute, which studies employment trends. "Yes, the unemployment rate's not going up, but we're adding very few jobs. The economy's been growing very slowly. It just looks like a 'meh' economy is continuing." Trump's Fed attacks could unleash more inflation Trump has sought to pin the blame for any economic troubles on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying the Fed should cut its benchmark interest rates even though doing so could generate more inflation. Trump has publicly backed two Fed governors, Christoper Waller and Michelle Bowman, for voting for rate cuts at Wednesday's meeting. But their logic is not what the president wants to hear: They were worried, in part, about a slowing job market. But this is a major economic gamble being undertaken by Trump and those pushing for lower rates under the belief that mortgages will also become more affordable as a result and boost homebuying activity. His tariff policy has changed repeatedly over the last six months, with the latest import tax numbers serving as a substitute for what the president announced in April, which provoked a stock market sell-off. It might not be a simple one-time adjustment as some Fed board members and Trump administration officials argue. Trump didn't listen to the warnings on 'universal' tariffs Of course, Trump can't say no one warned him about the possible consequences of his economic policies. Biden, then the outgoing president, did just that in a speech last December at the Brookings Institution, saying the cost of the tariffs would eventually hit American workers and businesses. "He seems determined to impose steep, universal tariffs on all imported goods brought into this country on the mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs rather than the American consumer," Biden said. "I believe this approach is a major mistake."
Toronto Star
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
The Latest: Market slumps, Gaza ‘bloodbaths' and likely deaths from Medicaid cuts
President Donald Trump signs an executive order restarting the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) JM flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: : sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false :
Toronto Star
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Trump pushed tariffs on Canada to 35 per cent, but a CUSMA carveout creates a shield
President Donald Trump listens during an event to sign an executive order restarting the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools, Thursday, July 31, 2025, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) JM flag wire: true flag sponsored: false article_type: : sWebsitePrimaryPublication : publications/toronto_star bHasMigratedAvatar : false :
