Latest news with #TrevorHunnicutt
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
US military bases to restore names changed after racial justice protests, Trump says
By Trevor Hunnicutt FORT BRAGG, North Carolina (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the military would rename bases which were changed after racial justice protests in 2023, including reverting to Fort Lee originally named after Civil War-era Confederate commander Robert E. Lee. Under the Trump administration, the Pentagon has already renamed Fort Moore back to its original name of Fort Benning and Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been able to sidestep a Congressional provision that banned bases having Confederate names by renaming bases after people with the same names as the Confederate officials. "We are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort AP Hill and Fort Robert E. Lee," Trump said while speaking at Fort Bragg. "We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It's no time to change," Trump said as uniformed service members stood behind him. Fort Lee, located in Petersburg, Virginia, was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in 2023. After Trump's announcement, the Army said that Fort Lee would be renamed after Private Fitz Lee, a Medal of Honor recipient from the Spanish-American War. During Trump's speech at Fort Bragg, some audience members, including those in uniform, cheered as the president made the announcement. They also jeered at the press as Trump pointed towards reporters and called them "Fake News" and applauded as he took shots at his predecessor, Joe Biden. Uniformed members of the U.S. armed forces are meant to be apolitical, carrying out the policies of Democratic and Republican administrations. The 2023 move to shed Confederate names for military bases came in the wake of nationwide protests after the 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Confederate flags and base names can be offensive to many Americans, who see them as reminders of the enslavement of Black Americans and symbols of white supremacy. Congress in 2021 passed legislation forbidding the naming of bases after anyone who voluntarily served or held leadership in the Confederate States of America, the breakaway republic of Southern states that fought against the U.S. in the Civil War in the 19th Century.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump to mark Army milestone as troops deployed to Los Angeles
By Trevor Hunnicutt WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump will address U.S. soldiers on Tuesday as his administration deploys 700 Marines to Los Angeles in an escalating response to street protests over his immigration policies. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were scheduled to visit Fort Bragg, home to some 50,000 active-duty soldiers, for long-scheduled commemorations of the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary ahead of a major parade in Washington on Saturday. The visit comes as Trump, a Republican, is temporarily deploying forces within California to reinforce National Guard troops sent to help protect federal property and personnel. California's Democratic-led government has said the move is an abuse of power and an unnecessary provocation. Street demonstrations in Southern California have been underway since Friday, when activists clashed with sheriff's deputies. Trump has pledged to deport record numbers of people who are in the country illegally and to lock down the U.S.-Mexico border, setting the ICE border enforcement agency a daily goal of arresting at least 3,000 migrants. Demonstrators in Los Angeles have assembled, among other places, at a government facility where immigrants are detained. Trump's remarks to troops were expected to focus on the Army anniversary, including the courage of soldiers, who will be among the 15,000 expected in the audience, according to a White House official. Trump will also visit a bunker to view a military demonstration of artillery, special forces and paratroopers. The week's Army commemorations combine Trump's enthusiasm for patriotic pomp and his political positioning as a law-and-order president. Saturday's celebrations in Washington include thousands of troops, dozens of military aircraft and coincide with Trump's 79th birthday. The Army was established on June 14, 1775, more than a year before the Declaration of Independence. Earlier this year, Trump restored the name Fort Bragg to the base, one of the largest in the world, despite a federal law that prohibits honoring generals who fought for the South during the Civil War. His administration says the name now honors a different Bragg - Private First Class Roland Bragg, who served during World War Two. In 2023, the base had been renamed Fort Liberty, a change driven by racial justice protests. Since launching his second term in office in January, Trump has made the military a focus of his efforts, with his defense secretary working to purge transgender service members, top officials appointed under his Democratic predecessor and even books deemed out of step. Trump has pledged to avoid international conflict while launching new weapons programs and increasing the use of the military domestically, including in immigration enforcement. His cost-cutting government reforms have largely spared the Defense Department's nearly $1 trillion annual budget.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Trump expected to sign order pushing training for skilled trades
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Timothy Aeppel WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump could sign as soon as Wednesday an order to improve job training for skilled trades, an initiative twinned with tariffs in his gambit to revive U.S. manufacturing, a White House summary seen by Reuters showed. The Labor, Education and Commerce departments will focus on job needs in emerging industries including those enabled by artificial intelligence, with a goal to support more than 1 million apprenticeships per year, according to the summary. The Republican president, who took office in January, shocked markets with a blitz of tariffs on imports, some of which are now paused pending negotiations with U.S. trading partners. Trump has promoted levies on imports as a solution for a wide range of ills including a decades-long decline in U.S. factory jobs. Some of his economic advisers blame this trend on industries relocating factories abroad where workers earn lower wages, thus shrinking high-paying career opportunities for Americans without college degrees. Tariffs could push more demand to American-made goods. But any hoped-for U.S. factory renaissance faces several obstacles, including a shortage of skilled workers. The U.S. has been training far fewer factory workers for decades now, while retirements and immigration crackdowns are draining the pool of labor available to manufacturers. The new executive order is aimed at tilting U.S. agencies away from overwhelming support for the professional jobs that colleges and universities prepare workers for, and toward support for skilled trades, like electricians, machinists and nursing assistants. "After years of shuffling Americans through an economically unproductive postsecondary system, President Trump will refocus young Americans on career preparation," the summary said. Reuters has not reviewed the text of the order, which is still subject to Trump's final approval. It was not clear how much funding would be allocated to the plan, but the goal was to "identify ways to maximize existing resources" and redirect "funds away from ineffective programs," according to a person familiar with the plans. Trump won 56% of voters without a college degree nationwide during the 2024 presidential election, exit polls then showed, 13 points ahead of Democrat Kamala Harris and 6 points higher than his showing in 2020. The U.S. president has courted support among labor unions and working-class voters, long a cornerstone of Democratic support. He has frequently blasted the country's elite universities, threatening to strip their research funding and tax deductions, and accusing several of being gripped by antisemitic, anti-American, Marxist and "radical left" ideologies.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US, Japan move closer to outline of trade deal, source says
By Trevor Hunnicutt (Reuters) -The United States and Japan are moving closer to an interim arrangement on trade, but many of the biggest issues are being put off, according to a person familiar with the matter. Such an interim framework will not tackle the thorniest issues facing the two countries in their trade relationship and it was still possible that no final deal could be reached, the person said on condition of anonymity. President Donald Trump touted "big progress" in tariff talks with Japan last week Wednesday after meeting with a Japanese delegation of officials. It was the first round of face-to-face talks since he announced a barrage of duties on global imports, rocking markets and stoking recession fears. Japan's top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, visited Washington last week to kick off bilateral trade talks, which will likely include discussions on non-tariff barriers and the thorny topic of exchange rates. Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato plans to visit Washington later this week, and he is expected to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for discussions on currency rates. Trump has hit Japan with 24% tariffs on its exports to the U.S. although, like most of his levies, they have been paused until early July. A 10% universal rate remains in place, as does a 25% duty on cars, a mainstay of Japan's export-heavy economy. The dollar hit a seven-month low of 140.615 yen on Monday on simmering market speculation that Japan could face U.S. pressure to prop up the yen, and help Washington reduce the huge U.S. trade deficit. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's tariff 'medicine' injects turmoil into global markets
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump warned foreign governments they would have to pay "a lot of money" to lift sweeping tariffs, characterising the duties as "medicine" and triggering further carnage across global financial markets on Monday. Asian shares sank across the board and U.S. stock market futures traded sharply lower as investors feared that Trump's tariffs could lead to higher prices, weaker demand and potentially a global recession. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump indicated he was not concerned about losses that have already wiped out trillions of dollars in value from equity markets around the world. "I don't want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," he said as he returned from a weekend of golf in Florida. Trump said he had spoken to leaders from Europe and Asia over the weekend, who hope to convince him to lower tariffs as high as 50% due to take effect this week. "They are coming to the table. They want to talk but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis," Trump said. Trump's barrage of tariffs announced last week was met with bewildered condemnation from other leaders and triggered retaliatory levies from China, the world's No.2 economy. Billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump's run for president, called for the tariffs to be paused to avert an "economic nuclear war". Investors and political leaders have struggled to determine whether Trump's tariffs are part of a permanent new regime or a negotiating tactic to win concessions from other countries. On Sunday morning talk shows, Trump's top economic advisers sought to portray the tariffs as a savvy repositioning of the U.S. in the global trade order. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said more than 50 nations had started negotiations with the U.S. since last Wednesday's announcement. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the tariffs would remain in place "for days and weeks." Japan, one of Washington's closest allies in Asia, is among countries hoping to strike some deal but its leader Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday results "won't come overnight". Investors, however, are not hanging around. As Ishiba spoke in parliament, Tokyo's Nikkei plunged to a 1-1/2-year low, led by the country's banks - some of the world's largest lenders by assets - which have shed almost a quarter of their market value over the last three trading days. The broad market sell-off seen on Monday - which also saw global oil prices dive - comes as investors wagered that the mounting risk of recession could see U.S. interest rates cut as early as May. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett sought to tamp down concerns that the tariffs were part of a strategy to pressure the U.S. Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, saying there would be no "political coercion" of the central bank. JPMorgan economists now estimate the tariffs will see full-year U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) decline by 0.3%, down from an earlier estimate of 1.3% growth. Goldman Sachs said the tariffs could lower GDP growth in China by at least 0.7% percentage points this year and accelerate fiscal easing. The two Wall Street banks now see the risk of a global recession at 60% and 45%, respectively. That uncertainty has clouded the outlook for global policymakers. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the first major central bank to meet since Trump's tariff bombshell, is due to cut rates on Tuesday in what economists say could be the first of several this year. TARIFF DEALMAKING U.S. customs agents began collecting Trump's unilateral 10% tariff on all imports from many countries on Saturday. Higher "reciprocal" tariff rates of 11% to 50% on individual countries are due to take effect on Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. EDT (4:01 a.m. GMT). Some other governments have already signaled a willingness to engage with the U.S. to avoid the duties. Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te on Sunday offered zero tariffs as the basis for talks with the U.S., pledging to remove trade barriers and saying Taiwanese companies will raise their U.S. investments. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would seek a reprieve from a 17% tariff on the country's goods during a planned meeting with Trump on Monday. An Indian government official told Reuters the country does not plan to retaliate against a 26% tariff and said talks were under way with the U.S. over a possible deal. Vietnamese leader To Lam agreed in a phone call with Trump on Friday to discuss a deal to remove tariffs after the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub was slapped with some of the highest duties globally. Trump called the discussion "very productive". Sign in to access your portfolio
