Latest news with #Trump-triggered
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's Science Guy Quits Abruptly as DOGE Wields Scalpel: ‘Done All I Can'
Donald Trump's OG science guy just threw in the towel after sharp spending cuts under the new Trump administration. National Science Foundation (NSF) Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, nominated by Trump during his first presidency in 2019, still had over a year left of his term. But it seems Trump's second-term agenda might have been too much to stomach, and the Indian-American computer scientist announced his resignation on Thursday afternoon. 'I believe I have done all I can to advance the critical mission of the agency and feel that it is time for me to pass the baton to new leadership,' he said in a parting statement. His departure coincides with painful federal spending cuts driven by Trump's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Elon Musk-led task force set up to reshape the federal bureaucracy. The advisory body's reforms have resulted in mass layoffs and grant cuts at federal agencies—including NSF grants worth more than $230 million. The NSF sacked 168 workers, or about 10 percent of its workforce, via a Zoom call on Feb. 18. Panchanathan reinstated 84 of them a fortnight later after legal challenges and 'updated guidance' from the White House Office of Personnel Management, The Register reported. The NSF, which had a $9.06 billion budget last year, is an independent federal agency and the only one tasked with advancing all fields of scientific discovery, technological innovation and science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, per its website. Its affected grants included those related to 'diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and misinformation/disinformation, and some titled 'Racial Equity in STEM,' 'Antiracist Teacher Leadership' and 'Advancing Gender Equity in Computing.' It's part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to dismantle DEI programs. The reforms have sparked backlash from stakeholders and research organizations, according to CNN. NSF said in a statement on April 24 that it had a 'rough couple of weeks' dealing with the Trump-triggered shakeup. 'Until early April, NSF had managed to avoid the level of destruction and politicization that the science community was witnessing,' the agency said. Panchanathan said he came to NSF 'inspired by its mission, with a desire to serve the scientific community alongside the exceptional people of the agency. 'This has motivated me every day over the last five years. I have always believed that innovation and opportunities must be unleashed everywhere at speed and scale, thereby nurturing talent in every corner of our great nation. This will ensure we remain competitive and innovative on a global scale.' 'This is a pivotal moment for our nation in terms of global competitiveness,' Panchanathan continued. 'NSF is an extremely important investment to make U.S. scientific.' He concluded by thanking both Trump and his predecessor President Joe Biden for the opportunity to serve. For the time being, the agency will be headed by Brian Stone, his chief of staff, Politico reported. DOGE claims to have slashed $160 billion in wasteful spending since Trump returned to office on Jan. 20.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google wows Wall Street with strong Q1, but deflects questions about its business since Trump's tariffs
If the economy is heading into a downturn, Google hasn't felt it. Or at least, it didn't feel it up until March 31. The internet search giant reported strong Q1 results on Thursday that sent its stock up as much as 5% after hours, as its key advertising and cloud businesses delivered healthy growth. But those results apply to the first calendar quarter of the year, just before the Trump-triggered global trade war began in earnest. As for the business conditions Google is currently experiencing: Google isn't saying. Executives at Google-parent company Alphabet maintained a disciplined silence on Thursday's earnings call about anything that's happened in the current quarter, despite analysts' efforts to get an update. "It's really too early to comment," chief business officer Philipp Schindler said in response to one such query. "We're obviously not immune to the macro environment, but we wouldn't want to speculate about potential impacts," Schindler said. (The one tidbit of information Schindler was willing to share involved the scrapping of the so-called de-minimis shipping exemption relied on by Chinese retailers like Shein and Temu, which would cause a "slight headwind" to Google's advertising business in 2025, particularly from Asian retailers). After weeks of turmoil in the markets, and a variety of concerns weighing on Google in particular, the company's strong Q1 report card—along with the news that it would bump up its dividend by a penny a share and repurchase another $70 billion of stock—was more than enough reason for investors to celebrate on Thursday. Google grew its topline 12% year-over-year in Q1 to $90.2 billion, beating the average analyst expectation of $89.2 billion, while earnings per share came in at $2.81 versus the $2.01 expected by Wall Street. The company ascribed the growth to strong demand from advertisers in the financial industry, insurance, healthcare, and retail. Revenue from ads on video site YouTube grew 10% from the prior year to $8.9 billion, while Google's cloud business increased 28% to $12.3 billion. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai touted gains in the company's AI efforts, including the "AI Overviews" being rolled out across Google's search service, which Pichai said is now used by 1.5 billion users per month. And the company re-affirmed its previously announced plan to spend $75 billion in capital expenditures for its cloud and AI infrastructure this year, signaling that it remains bullish on the AI business. It's a tricky time for Alphabet. Going into Thursday's earnings report, the company's shares had slid roughly 15% so far this year, larger than the drop suffered by the Nasdaq or the S&P 500. Alphabet's business faces grave dangers on multiple fronts, as the economic uncertainty of Trump's tariffs pressures its core advertising business, the proliferation of powerful new AI models threaten to disrupt its internet search dominance, and government regulators seek to break up the company. The court cases and regulatory threats faced by Alphabet went unmentioned during Thursday's earnings call, as executives highlighted progress in the company's various products, from its fast-growing YouTube subscriptions business to its self-driving Waymo cars. The fact that Alphabet historically hasn't offered detailed "guidance" forecasts on its earnings calls gives it some cover to avoid the elephant in the room—the current state of demand from advertisers (as opposed to the state of demand in Q1). Because advertising accounts for roughly three-quarters of Alphabet's revenue, the health of the global ad market in the months to come will be critical. Advertising and marketing budgets are typically among the first expenses companies cut in an economic downturn, and with uncertainty over tariffs, many economists and investors are concerned about a potential recession. If Google's business were truly falling off a cliff in April, the company may have felt obligated to at least give some kind of warning. To some, the fact that Google stayed mum could be interpreted as a tacit sign of confidence. And while Schindler sidestepped questions about business conditions in April, he alluded to Google's experience in previous economic recessions and the comparative resilience of search advertising compared to other types of advertising. "To zoom out," Schindler said, "I would say we have a lot or experience in managing through uncertain times." This story was originally featured on
Bloomberg
08-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
The City Braces for Impact
Get briefed ahead of your morning calls with the latest UK business headlines, key data and market reaction By Save Morning, I'm Chloé Meley In the wake of a Trump-triggered market rout, banks and asset managers across the Square Mile are preparing themselves for scrapped deals and loan losses.
South China Morning Post
07-02-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
How Modi's US visit could add to China's growing list of worries
Published: 5:30am, 8 Feb 2025 Soon after Trump assumed office, the two leaders had a telephone conversation which was described as 'productive'. Trump sought a move towards a 'fair bilateral trading relationship' and emphasised the importance of India increasing its purchases of US-made security equipment . The read-out also added that 'both leaders emphasised their commitment to advance the US-India strategic partnership and the Indo-Pacific Quad partnership, with India hosting Quad leaders for the first time later this year'. The US is India's largest trading partner. Two-way trade in 2023-24 was worth US$118 billion, with India having a surplus of US$32 billion. Trump had earlier described China, India and Brazil as 'tremendous tariff-makers', and in his first term he urged Modi to lift tariffs on the US-made Harley-Davidson motorcycle. In a signal to Washington, the annual budget presented in New Delhi on February 1 announced major cuts to import tariffs including for high-end motorcycles. Senior officials in the Ministry of Finance claimed that India wants to shed the image of being a protectionist nation and that it is not a 'tariff king'. While the new and disruptive Trump-triggered trade tariffs and related protocols are an issue with which every major trading partner of the US – including China – is grappling, the more complex dilemma for Delhi is in the security-strategic domain.
