Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., April 4, 2025.Brendan McDermid | ReutersBefore Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s tariffs were expected to be a problem for markets and the economy, but a manageable one.So much for that idea.What happened instead is something worse than the worst-case scenario, which previously had been one where the U.S. would slap true “reciprocal” duties on its trading partners that would match tariffs charged to American exports.In a perfect world, that would have triggered a round of negotiations that led to deals all sides could live with…
Author: usaeverydaylife
The U.S. Capitol building viewed through the bars of standard barricades in Washington, U.S., April 4, 2025. Leah Millis | ReutersThe U.S. Senate approved a Republican budget blueprint early on Saturday that aims to extend trillions of dollars worth of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and sharply reduce government spending.The vote, following an all-night legislative session, unlocks a maneuver that will allow Republicans to bypass the Senate’s filibuster and pass the tax cuts later this year without Democratic votes.Non-partisan analysts say the measure, if enacted, would add about $5.7 trillion to the federal government’s debt over the next decade. Senate…
A top Trump administration envoy to the Middle East was in Lebanon on Saturday amid U.S. pressure on the country to crack down on Hezbollah and as tensions with Israel flare despite a U.S.-brokered cease-fire.Morgan Ortagus, President Trump’s deputy Middle East envoy, met with senior officials after strikes over the past two weeks threatened the truce that went into effect in November.The Lebanese government has been trying to rebuild the country in the wake of the devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah in which about 4,000 people in Lebanon were killed and roughly one million displaced. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant…
A man checks his phone next to an electronic board showing stocks on the Heng Seng Index in Hong Kong on April 3, 2025.Peter Parks | Afp | Getty ImagesChina’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday said “the market has spoken” following the U.S. imposition of sweeping new tariffs and called for the White House to defuse the escalating trade war through “equal-footed consultation.”U.S. stock markets fell sharply for a second consecutive day on Friday, with all three major indexes dropping by more than 5% as part of a global rout.The market turmoil was exacerbated on Friday when China’s Finance Ministry announced…
It was not long ago that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was marshaling European allies to resist the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He illustrated the point that a top American diplomat, R. Nicholas Burns, recently summarized as the way the United States wins the global competition for power and prosperity: “Be nice to your allies.”President Trump clearly has a different view. His antagonism toward Europe has been public for decades, seeing allies as economic competitors and geopolitical parasites. And his decision on Thursday to impose controversially calculated tariffs on America’s partners, including Ukraine — but not on Russia or North…
President Trump and Europe are clashing over tariffs, the war in Ukraine and the very purpose of the European Union’s existence. But they are also divided over free speech — with potentially far-reaching implications for how the digital world is regulated.The E.U. has been investigating U.S. companies under the Digital Services Act, a new law meant to prevent illegal content and disinformation from spreading online. In the first major case to near a conclusion, regulators as soon as this summer are expected to impose significant penalties — including a fine and demands for product changes — on Elon Musk’s social…
Employees at a clothing factory in Vo Cuong, Bac Ninh province, in Vietnam.SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe Trump administration’s plan to slap steep tariffs on goods from dozens of countries is expected to spike prices for consumers. Some items, like leather goods, will see a bigger jump than others.The overall impact on households will vary based on their purchasing habits. But most families — especially lower earners — are likely to feel the pain to some degree, economists said.According to an analysis by the Budget Lab at Yale University, the average household will lose $3,800 of purchasing power per year…
A pungent smell of rotting garbage fills the air. Bulging sacks of trash pile high, some spilling their festering contents. And, with vermin plaguing parts of the city, at least one resident has claimed to have been bitten by a rat.With its heritage as a manufacturing powerhouse and its proud civic history, Birmingham likes to call itself Britain’s second city.Right now, it’s the nation’s garbage capital.A standoff between striking refuse workers and city officials has left an estimated 17,000 tons of trash piled on city streets that is attracting rats, foxes, cockroaches and maggots. On Monday, Birmingham’s municipality declared it…
Jamie Grill | Getty ImagesAs U.S. markets continue to suffer steep declines in the wake of the Trump administration’s new tariff policies, you may be wondering what the next best move is when it comes to your retirement portfolio and other investments.Behavioral finance experts warn now is the worst time to make any drastic moves.”It is dangerous for you — unless you can read what is going to happen next in the political world, in the economic world — to make a decision,” said Meir Statman, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University.”It is more likely to be driven…
On a Monday morning last fall, Ukrainian drone pilots watched what had become a familiar scene unfold on a drone’s live feed: Russian soldiers pointed their guns at two Ukrainians, who seemingly surrendered. Then, the footage showed, the Russians shot them point blank.The video, provided by a pilot who said he had witnessed the killing on the feed, was verified by The New York Times and the Centre for Information Resilience, a nonprofit organization. It appeared to show the Ukrainian prisoners executed near the village of Novoivanovka in the Kursk region of Russia.“There were no polite words spoken among us…
