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US eases port fees on China-built ships after industry backlash
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Trump administration shielded on Thursday domestic exporters and vessel owners servicing the Great Lakes, the Caribbean and US territories from port fees to be levied on China-built vessels, aiming to revive US shipbuilding. The Federal Register notice posted by the US Trade Representative was watered down from a February proposal for fees on China-built ships of up to $1.5 million per port call that sent a chill through the global shipping industry. Ocean shipping tr
April 18, 2025 -
Trump joins tariff talks with Japan seeking deals
WASHINGTON (AP) -- US President Donald Trump on Wednesday inserted himself directly into trade talks with Japanese officials, a sign of the high stakes for the United States after its tariffs rattled the economy and caused the administration to assure the public that it would quickly reach deals. The Republican president attended the meeting alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, top economic advisers with a central role in his trade and tariff policies
April 17, 2025 -
Trump says ball in China's court on tariffs
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Donald Trump believes it is up to China, not the United States, to come to the negotiating table on trade, the White House said Tuesday, after the US president accused Beijing of reneging on a major Boeing deal. "The ball is in China's court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don't have to make a deal with them," said a statement from Trump read out by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at a briefing. "There's no difference between China and any other country except they a
April 16, 2025 -
Trump orders tariff probe on all US critical mineral imports
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on all US critical minerals imports, a major escalation in his dispute with global trade partners and an attempt to directly rebuke industry leader China. The order lays bare what manufacturers, industry consultants, academics and others have long warned Washington about: that the US is overly reliant on Beijing and others for processed versions of the minerals that power its entire economy. Trump signed an order at
April 16, 2025 -
Nvidia plans to manufacture AI chips in US
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nvidia announced Monday that it will produce its artificial intelligence supercomputers in the United States for the first time. The tech giant said it has commissioned more than one million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test its specialized Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas — part of an investment the company said will produce up to half a trillion dollars of AI infrastructure in the next four years. “The engines of the world’s AI inf
April 15, 2025 -
Goldman Sachs profits rise on strong equity trading results
Goldman Sachs reported Monday higher first-quarter profits on strength in equity trading and financing, offsetting a hit from losses in investments on public stock markets. The investment giant reported profits of $4.6 billion, 16.6 percent above the year-ago level in results that topped analyst expectations. Revenues were $15.1 billion, up six percent. Revenues tied to equity trading soared 27 percent from the year-ago level, with Goldman benefiting from strong demand for its services to facili
April 14, 2025 -
China no longer welcome in UK steel sector, minister says
China is no longer welcome in Britain's steel sector after the government had to pass emergency legislation on Saturday to ensure control of Chinese-owned British Steel, business minister Jonathan Reynolds said on Sunday. Reynolds said the refusal of China's Jingye Group to accept a roughly 500 million pound ($654 million) government aid package last week to stop irrevocable damage to blast furnaces left the government with no alternative to intervening directly. British Steel was not immediatel
April 13, 2025 -
China calls on US to 'completely cancel' reciprocal tariffs
China on Sunday called on the US to "completely cancel" its reciprocal tariffs after Washington announced exemptions for consumer electronics and key chipmaking equipment. "We urge the US to... take a big step to correct its mistakes, completely cancel the wrong practice of 'reciprocal tariffs' and return to the right path of mutual respect", a commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement. A notice late Friday by the US Customs and Border Protection office said smartphones, laptops, memory
April 13, 2025 -
Trump spares smartphones, computers, other electronics from China tariffs
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Donald Trump's administration granted exclusions from steep reciprocal tariffs to smartphones, computers and some other electronics imported largely from China, providing a big break to tech companies like Apple that rely on imported products. In a notice to shippers, the US Customs and Border Protection agency published a list of tariff codes excluded from the import taxes. The exclusions are retroactive to 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 5. The US CBP listed 20 produc
April 13, 2025 -
Tariffs angst sinks US consumer sentiment, boosts inflation expectations
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- US consumer sentiment deteriorated sharply in April and 12-month inflation expectations surged to the highest level since 1981 amid unease over escalating trade tensions that have roiled financial markets and raised the risk of a recession. The University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said on Friday that the slump in sentiment to the lowest level in nearly three years was "pervasive and unanimous" across age, income, education, geographic region and political party aff
April 13, 2025 -
US exempts tech imports in tariff step back
The Trump administration has exempted a raft of consumer electronics from its punishing import tariffs -- offering relief to US tech firms and partially dialling down a trade war with China. A notice late Friday by the US Customs and Border Protection office said smartphones, laptops, memory chips and other products would be excluded from the global levies President Donald Trump rolled out a week ago. The move came as retaliatory Chinese import tariffs of 125 percent on US goods took effect Satu
April 13, 2025 -
Trump says TikTok deal is still 'on the table'
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a potential deal to spin off the US assets of TikTok is still "on the table" days after it was put on hold. Several US Senators have criticized the proposed deal, but Trump defended it. "We have a deal with some very good people, some very rich companies that would do a great job with it, but we're going to have to wait and see what's going to happen with China," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "It's on the table, very muc
April 10, 2025 -
Trump signs executive orders to boost US coal as power demand rises
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — US President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Tuesday that aim to boost coal production in his latest action that runs counter to global efforts to curb carbon emissions. Coal-burning plants generate less than 20 percent of US electricity, a drop from 50 percent in 2000, according to the Energy Information Administration, as fracking and other drilling techniques have hiked production of natural gas. Growth in solar and wind power has also cut coal use. "We're bring
April 9, 2025 -
Trump digs in on tariffs, says deals hinge on even trade balance
President Donald Trump said he was not intentionally fueling a market selloff but gave no indication he’s preparing to claw back the tariff barrage that has wiped trillions in value from US equities. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after a weekend of golf in Florida, Trump said any deal to trim tariffs with affected nations must lead to the elimination of the US trade deficit. “I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” Trump said as U
April 7, 2025 -
Trump's tariffs unleash trade war and calls for negotiations
US President Donald Trump's big raise in tariffs has triggered an escalating trade war and sent global markets plummeting. The S&P 500 fell 6 percent Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 5.5 percent and the Nasdaq composite dropped 5.8 percent. China announced Friday that it will impose a 34 percent tax on all US imports next week, part of a flurry of retaliatory measures to Trump’s new tariffs. Trump has doubled down on his commitment to tariffs, maintaining that his new levies will
April 5, 2025