Latest news with #U.STreasury
Newsweek
25-04-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Americans Are Now 20 Percent Poorer, Republican Donor Says
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. America has become 20 percent poorer in the last four weeks, a Republican donor has said. Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of one of the largest hedge funds in the world, Citadel, blamed Trump's tariffs for eroding confidence in U.S Treasury bonds and other U.S. assets—thus weakening the value of the U.S. dollar. Why It Matters American voters are concerned about the economy. Trump campaigned on reducing inflation and polls showed that voters overwhelmingly cited economic pressures as the key reason they voted for him in the November 2024 presidential election. But in the first few months of his presidency, the U.S. economy has had a patchy performance. File-This April 12, 2018, file photo shows Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson,left, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, right, look on as Chicago billionaire Ken Griffin discusses a $10 million donation to reduce gun violence in the... File-This April 12, 2018, file photo shows Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson,left, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, right, look on as Chicago billionaire Ken Griffin discusses a $10 million donation to reduce gun violence in the city during a press conference in Chicago. More Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File After introducing tariffs on trading partners around the world and then pausing many of the charges—markets plummeted and then rebounded. This week, the dollar hit its lowest level in three years. Experts have raised concerns about a potential recession in the U.S. The U.S. Treasury bonds market, valued at nearly $29 trillion, and often viewed as a benchmark for interest rates, needs to remain stable for the global financial system to function. Fears of a recession may cause investors to sell bonds, which would drive down their prices further and increase U.S. borrowing costs. Meanwhile, Griffin is a Trump supporter and megadonor to Republican candidates. Trump's allies turning against him may signal a decline in his political strength and put pressure on him to change course. What To Know Speaking to Semafor's Gina Chon at the World Economy Summit in Washington, Griffin said the country "has become 20 percent poorer in four weeks. "The United States was more than just a nation. It's a brand. It's a universal brand, whether it's our culture, our financial strength, our military strength .... America rose beyond just being a country," he said. "It was like an aspiration for most of the world. And we're eroding that brand right now." Griffin also said that Trump's attack on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has damaged the country's reputation. Trump recently attacked the independent Chair for not cutting interest rates and suggested he could remove him from his position. He later said he had no intention of firing him. "If you think of your behavior as a consumer, how many times do you buy a product with a brand on it because you trust that brand?" he continued. "In the financial markets, no brand compares to the brand of the U.S. Treasuries — the strength of the US dollar and the strength and creditworthiness of U.S. Treasuries. No brand came close. We put that brand at risk." What People Are Saying Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio echoed concerns about a recession on NBC's Meet the Presson April 13, saying: "I think that right now we are at a decision-making point and very close to a recession, and I'm worried about something worse than a recession if this isn't handled well." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that the Trump administration had received 18 written proposals on trade from other countries since the tariffs on April 2. She said the trade team had meetings with 34 countries this week. "There is a lot of progress being made," Leavitt told reporters, adding: "We are moving at Trump speed to ensure these deals are made on behalf of the American worker and the American people." What Happens Next The extent to which the economy rallies remains to be seen. Meanwhile, support for Trump and his policies among donors and voters more generally will continue to fluctuate.
Forbes
14-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Bessent Takes Charge Of Trade Negotiations: Why It Matters For Markets
Scott Bessent Amid the tumult following President Donald Trump's April 2 'Liberation Day' announcement, one encouraging development is that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emerged as the lead spokesman on trade negotiations. Bessent is highly qualified for the role, but is also tasked with finding quick solutions to complex issues while maintaining investor confidence in U.S. policies. Bessent's ascent is the direct outcome of the market turmoil that followed the April 2 announcement. When reporters asked him where the tariff negotiations were headed, his response was he did not know because he was not part of the negotiating team. This fueled rumors that he might be stepping down as Treasury Secretary. This was shocking, because the U.S Treasury has led international economic negotiations since the collapse of Bretton Woods in the early 1970s. For example, Paul Volcker oversaw the transition from fixed exchange rates to flexible exchange rates then as Under Secretary for international monetary affairs. This time, President Trump was mainly listening to Peter Navarro, his counselor for trade and manufacturing, whose views on trade are considered to be extreme by the financial community. Navarro backed the USTR's calculations of 'reciprocal tariffs' that were computed by dividing a country's bilateral trade surplus with the U.S. by its exports to the U.S. When he was asked why the formula did not take tariffs into account, he responded that a country's trade imbalance with the U.S. is the direct measure of 'unfair trading practices.' The poor rollout of reciprocal tariffs caused the stock market to plummet and the dollar to weaken. It then spilled over to the Treasury market last week, when the 10-year Treasury yield surged by half a percentage point to 4.5%. This signaled that investors were losing confidence in U.S. policies. The combination of higher bond yields and a weaker currency is rare for the U.S. The most important occurrence was October 1987, when a dispute between the U.S. and Germany and Japan precipitated a dollar free fall and a spike in Treasury yields that culminated with the U.S. stock market plummeting by 22% in one day. The markets stabilized once policymakers patched over their differences. To calm the markets this time, President Trump responded by announcing a 90-day pause in implementing the reciprocal tariffs. The news was greeted with a powerful stock market rally. Trump's abrupt change occurred after Jamie Dimon called for Scott Bessent to take the lead on trade issues in a Fox Business appearance that Trump watched. Trump then responded by making Bessent the spokesman on trade negotiations. Bessent has since claimed that more than 70 countries have contacted the White House to discuss trade issues. He has also acknowledged that 90 days is going to be too short to complete such a large volume of sweeping and wide-ranging trade deals. The task ahead is daunting given the scope of the undertaking and the number of deals that need to be reached in a short time span. For example, President Trump's signature trade deal in his first term, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), took 15 months to negotiate. So, how might Bessent proceed? In my view, he should begin by making it clear that the trade negotiations must be well conceived, as President Trump cannot afford another April 2 fiasco. One way to make the process manageable would be to cull the list of countries and exempt those that have little impact on U.S. trade overall. Another group that can be dealt with quickly are countries that have balanced trade, or which run deficits with the U.S. They include Australia, the U.K., Brazil, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Bessent is expected to begin by first dealing with Japan and South Korea that are seeking to resolve trade disputes quickly. Negotiations with Canada, Mexico and the European Union are likely to be more protracted. The most difficult negotiations will be with China, where the trade conflict already has escalated far beyond any expectations: U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods are now at 145 percent and China's tariffs on U.S. goods are at 125 percent. While President Trump said he wants to make a deal with China, President Xi has not responded to White House inquiries about negotiations and China's Finance Ministry has called the level of tariffs a 'joke.' China has been preparing for a trade war ever since Trump launched one in his first term. Trump paused the conflict in return for a pledge that China would buy an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods, but it never happened. China appears prepared to ride out the storm this time, as well. Meanwhile, Bessent must deal with the sheer magnitude of the tariff increases put forth by the Trump administration. The tariffs announced on April 2 would have boosted the effective tariff rate of the U.S. to a post-war high of about 22 percent from 2.5 percent previously. Now, with the added duties on Chinese goods, the effective tariff rate is 27 percent. Yale's Budget Lab model estimates the price hikes that accompanying these tariffs would raise the U.S. price level by 2.9 percent in the short run. This would boost costs for U.S. households by $4,700 on average. If so, the outcome would be considerably different than what Bessent envisaged before he became Treasury Secretary, when he described Trump's approach as 'escalate to de-escalate.' Since the election, Bessent has modified his stance to bring it more in line with Trump's position that tariffs could stay higher for longer. The test ahead is what Bessent will do if investors become more concerned that tariffs will harm the U.S. and global economy. If he is unable to calm markets, he could fall out of favor with Trump and Peter Navarro could once again become the spokesman on trade. That's a risk investors cannot ignore.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Venezuelan tattoo artist who agreed to go back home was sent to El Salvador prison, family says
Were it not for bad weather, Jhon Chacin would have been aboard a flight to his native Venezuela on March 13, having volunteered to go home after giving up on an asylum request that was initially denied. Instead, his brother said, Jhon was among the nearly 300 Venezuelan men sent by U.S. immigration officials to El Salvador's notorious megaprison. Eudomar Chacin spoke to his brother the day after he was supposed to have returned to Venezuela; because of bad weather they couldn't board the flight, Jhon said. According to Eudomar, Jhon, 35, was crying and told him he was scared because he was seeing unusual movements by staff at the detention center in Texas where he was being held. Eudomar hasn't heard from him since. 'I just feel like crying all the time — he is a good, healthy kid, he didn't have any vices, he is Christian, my family is all Christian," Eudomar, who's 56 and lives in Florida, told NBC News. "I want justice and freedom for my brother. And I want him to return to Venezuela.' Like Eudomar, families of the men who were whisked away have been grappling with the horror of relatives suddenly going "missing" amid the politically charged U.S. government operation, as more relatives and attorneys push for answers and for their release. At the same time, Venezuela's government is demanding that the deported men be released and returned to their country. Millions have left Venezuela over the last decade, fleeing poverty and repression under President Nicolás Maduro. But following the U.S. deportation flights of Venezuelan men to the Salvadoran megaprison, Maduro vowed to "rescue our young people who are kidnapped, missing, without having committed a crime neither in the United States nor in El Salvador," and put in "Nazi-style concentration camps." Maduro announced over the weekend that his government would begin accepting repatriation flights after a brief suspension on March 8, and following the U.S Treasury's announcement that it was withdrawing Chevron's license to export Venezuelan oil. Eudomar said he learned that his brother was in the Salvadoran prison because he spotted him in a Trump administration video of the mass relocation. Jhon's name also appeared on a list of those sent to the El Salvador prison that was published by CBS News. Seeing his name on the list left the family feeling "powerless," Eudomar said. The Trump administration has claimed that it purged the country of members of Tren de Aragua gang members, backing its assertions with video of the men, chained and bent under the force of armed guards as they were shuffled from planes to the prison in the dark of night on March 15 and 16. Families and attorneys of five other Venezuelan immigrants sent to El Salvador's mega-prison have told NBC News, Telemundo and MSNBC that their relatives were unjustly targeted and accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang based on having ordinary tattoos that don't necessarily signal gang affiliation, according to experts. Jhon entered the U.S. through the CBP One app on Oct. 8, 2024, in San Ysidro, California; the app, launched by the Biden administration and terminated by President Donald Trump, was the only way to request asylum at the border. Since then, he had been held in detention in San Diego and later transferred to Texas. Before he left Venezuela, Jhon had spent 10 years working as a tattoo artist in the state of Zulia, using his own body as a canvas to show clients his talent, his brother said. Jhon left Venezuela at the end of 2022, and spent a year working in Colombia before making his way to Mexico through the dangerous jungles of the Darién Gap. He arrived in Mexico in May 2024, and waited five months for his CBP One appointment. Eudomar said that his brother was often asked about his tattoos by U.S. authorities while he was in detention. He lost his asylum case and was planning to appeal. But when Trump became president and Jhon learned more about Trump's hard-line policies, he decided to sign papers to voluntarily be sent back to Venezuela. The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment around Jhon's case. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows the deportation of noncitizens in wartime, declaring that the U.S. was under invasion by the Tren de Aragua gang. With that law in use, those in custody are removed with no chance to disprove any gang affiliation or go forward with asylum claims or other immigration processes. Unable to communicate with the deportees, many of their relatives are increasingly desperate to speak on their behalf and are aiming to present a different portrait of their loved ones than the one presented by the administration. The families and attorneys are contending with what legal and immigration experts say is an unprecedented action by the U.S. — sending migrants to detention in a third country. 'That is a very unusual act,' Veronica Cardenas, former assistant legal counsel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told MSNBC on Monday. 'They're not just being removed to El Salvador, they're being removed to be placed in detention centers and prolonging their detention, something that would be very illegal if they decided to do that here in the United States." On Monday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg denied the government's request to lift his hold on deportations made under the Alien Enemies Act, while a federal appeals court heard arguments from the Trump administration defending use of the wartime-law deportations. One of the federal appeals court judges, U.S. Circuit Judge Patricia Millet, pressed administration lawyers about their use of the wartime law, saying deportees weren't given any due process before they were removed from the U.S., weren't told where they were being sent and weren't given an opportunity to dispute they were part of the Tren de Aragua gang. "Nazis got better treatment under the Alien Enemies Act," Millet said. Trump also announced he would impose a 25% tariff on any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela, because the country has sent 'tens of thousands' of people to the United States who have a 'very violent nature.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
24-03-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Venezuelan tattoo artist who agreed to go back home was sent to El Salvador prison, family says
Were it not for bad weather, Jhon Chacin would have been aboard a flight to his native Venezuela on March 13, having volunteered to go home after giving up on an asylum request that was initially denied. Instead, his brother said, Jhon was among the nearly 300 Venezuelan men sent by U.S. immigration officials to El Salvador's notorious megaprison. Eudomar Chacin spoke to his brother the day after he was supposed to have returned to Venezuela; because of bad weather they couldn't board the flight, Jhon said. According to Eudomar, Jhon, 35, was crying and told him he was scared because he was seeing unusual movements by staff at the detention center in Texas where he was being held. Eudomar hasn't heard from him since. 'I just feel like crying all the time — he is a good, healthy kid, he didn't have any vices, he is Christian, my family is all Christian," Eudomar, who's 56 and lives in Florida, told NBC News. "I want justice and freedom for my brother. And I want him to return to Venezuela.' Like Eudomar, families of the men who were whisked away have been grappling with the horror of relatives suddenly going "missing" amid the politically charged U.S. government operation, as more relatives and attorneys push for answers and for their release. At the same time, Venezuela's government is demanding that the deported men be released and returned to their country. Millions have left Venezuela over the last decade, fleeing poverty and repression under President Nicolás Maduro. But following the U.S. deportation flights of Venezuelan men to the Salvadoran megaprison, Maduro vowed to "rescue our young people who are kidnapped, missing, without having committed a crime neither in the United States nor in El Salvador," and put in "Nazi-style concentration camps." Maduro announced over the weekend that his government would begin accepting repatriation flights after a brief suspension on March 8, and following the U.S Treasury's announcement that it was withdrawing Chevron's license to export Venezuelan oil. Eudomar said he learned that his brother was in the Salvadoran prison because he spotted him in a Trump administration video of the mass relocation. Jhon's name also appeared on a list of those sent to the El Salvador prison that was published by CBS News. Seeing his name on the list left the family feeling "powerless," Eudomar said. The Trump administration has claimed that it purged the country of members of Tren de Aragua gang members, backing its assertions with video of the men, chained and bent under the force of armed guards as they were shuffled from planes to the prison in the dark of night on March 15 and 16. Families and attorneys of five other Venezuelan immigrants sent to El Salvador's mega-prison have told NBC News, Telemundo and MSNBC that their relatives were unjustly targeted and accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang based on having ordinary tattoos that don't necessarily signal gang affiliation, according to experts. Jhon entered the U.S. through the CBP One app on Oct. 8, 2024, in San Ysidro, California; the app, launched by the Biden administration and terminated by President Donald Trump, was the only way to request asylum at the border. Since then, he had been held in detention in San Diego and later transferred to Texas. Before he left Venezuela, Jhon had spent 10 years working as a tattoo artist in the state of Zulia, using his own body as a canvas to show clients his talent, his brother said. Jhon left Venezuela at the end of 2022, and spent a year working in Colombia before making his way to Mexico through the dangerous jungles of the Darién Gap. He arrived in Mexico in May 2024, and waited five months for his CBP One appointment. Eudomar said that his brother was often asked about his tattoos by U.S. authorities while he was in detention. He lost his asylum case and was planning to appeal. But when Trump became president and Jhon learned more about Trump's hard-line policies, he decided to sign papers to voluntarily be sent back to Venezuela. The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment around Jhon's case. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows the deportation of noncitizens in wartime, declaring that the U.S. was under invasion by the Tren de Aragua gang. With that law in use, those in custody are removed with no chance to disprove any gang affiliation or go forward with asylum claims or other immigration processes. Unable to communicate with the deportees, many of their relatives are increasingly desperate to speak on their behalf and are aiming to present a different portrait of their loved ones than the one presented by the administration. The families and attorneys are contending with what legal and immigration experts say is an unprecedented action by the U.S. — sending migrants to detention in a third country. 'That is a very unusual act,' Veronica Cardenas, former assistant legal counsel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told MSNBC on Monday. 'They're not just being removed to El Salvador, they're being removed to be placed in detention centers and prolonging their detention, something that would be very illegal if they decided to do that here in the United States." On Monday, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg denied the government's request to lift his hold on deportations made under the Alien Enemies Act, while a federal appeals court heard arguments from the Trump administration defending use of the wartime-law deportations. Trump also announced he would impose a 25% tariff on any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela, because the country has sent 'tens of thousands' of people to the United States who have a 'very violent nature.'
