Federal Reserve officials are scheduled to release their first set of economic projections this year, alongside their interest rate decision, on Wednesday. Those forecasts will offer a fresh glimpse of the trajectory for monetary policy at a highly uncertain moment for the central bank. Policymakers paused interest rate cuts in January after reducing borrowing costs […]
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Oil and gas executives will meet with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday as they seek to influence him on tariffs, tax credits and deregulation. Some executives in the industry, which spent more than $75 million to help elect Mr. Trump, are increasingly frustrated with Mr. Trump’s agenda. Tariffs are making essential materials […]
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In the last few years, foodborne pathogens have had devastating consequences that alarmed the public. Bacteria in infant formula sickened babies. Deli meat ridden with listeria killed 10 people and led to 60 hospitalizations in 19 states. Lead-laden applesauce pouches poisoned young children. In each outbreak, state and federal officials connected the dots from each […]
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The Federal Reserve is set to extend its pause on interest rate cuts on Wednesday as President Trump’s aggressive approach to tariffs and other economic policies fuel extreme uncertainty about the outlook for inflation, growth and unemployment. A decision to stand pat would keep interest rates at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, a level that […]
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President Trump fired the two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, a rejection of the corporate regulator’s traditional independence that will clear the way for the administration’s agenda and could draw a legal challenge. The White House told the Democrats, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, that the president was terminating their […]
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The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, according to documents reviewed by Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. The strategy is part of large-scale layoffs, known as a “reduction in force,” being planned by the Trump […]
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Just days after President Trump won the 2024 election, Jerome H. Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, sidestepped a question about how the central bank would grapple with a toxic combination of high inflation, stagnating growth and rising unemployment. “The whole plan is not to have stagflation,” Mr. Powell told reporters. “Knock on wood, we’ve […]
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At the headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, faint shadows above the entrance are all that remain of the letters that once spelled the agency’s name. In the Trump administration’s broad dismantling of the federal government, the consumer bureau was one of the first agencies to fall, its offices shuttered and all 1,700 workers […]
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Since returning to office, Donald Trump has embarked on a shock-and-awe policy blitz that has paralyzed not only his political rivals but also an automotive industry that had largely welcomed his return. Carmakers may care little about Elon Musk’s government job cuts, or the United States taking Russia’s side against Ukraine. Efforts to eradicate D.E.I. […]
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Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite communications company, fought behind the scenes for months to break into India’s internet business. The market is dominated by two local giants, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, who seemed united in trying to keep Starlink out. Then, suddenly, this week each of them announced a partnership to bring Starlink into India, […]
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In a barrage of pronouncements on Wednesday the Trump administration said it would repeal dozens of the nation’s most significant environmental regulations, including limits on pollution from tailpipes and smokestacks, protections for wetlands, and the legal basis that allows it to regulate the greenhouse gases that are heating the planet. But beyond that, Lee Zeldin, […]
Read MoreIn his first meeting with top executives from PepsiCo, W.K. Kellogg, General Mills and other large companies, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, bluntly told them that a top priority would be eliminating artificial dyes from the nation’s food supply. At the Monday meeting, Mr. Kennedy emphasized that it was a “strong desire and […]
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Elon Musk’s life is a great American success story. Time and again, he has anticipated where the world was headed, helping to create not just new products but new industries. His achievements, from his pioneering role in online payments to the construction of SpaceX’s satellite network to the mass production of electric Teslas, have made […]
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In a sign that President Trump is following the Biden administration’s lead in reining in Google, the Justice Department on Friday reiterated its demand that a court break up the search giant. The request followed a landmark ruling last year by Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia […]
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Sitting beneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, more than two dozen of the most powerful figures in the U.S. cryptocurrency industry, together worth many billions of dollars, gathered in the White House on Friday for an audience with President Trump. When Mr. Trump entered the ornate State Dining Room after a short wait, the executives […]
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Jerome H. Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, said the central bank is focused on the “net effect” of President Trump’s sweeping economic agenda amid high uncertainty about which policies will actually be enacted, as he reiterated that officials are still not in a “hurry” to adjust interest rates. “As we parse the incoming information, […]
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A majority of insurance companies in California have agreed to pay at least 75 percent of the contents coverage for homes that were destroyed in the recent Los Angeles wildfires — and will do so without requiring homeowners to provide an inventory of every object that was inside. The pledges are in response to a […]
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On the night of Feb. 21, Ben Zhou, the chief executive of the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, logged on to his computer to approve what appeared to be a routine transaction. His company was moving a large amount of Ether, a popular digital currency, from one account to another. Thirty minutes later, Mr. Zhou got a […]
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Florida’s insurance regulator has demanded an unusually intrusive trove of data on millions of prescription drugs filled in the state last year, including the names of patients taking the medications, their dates of birth and doctors they’ve seen. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation in January sought this information from pharmacy benefit managers like UnitedHealth’s […]
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The new head of the Food and Drug Administration division that regulates infant formula was in recent months a corporate lawyer defending a top formula maker from claims that its product gave rise to debilitating harm to premature babies. Kyle A. Diamantas joined the F.D.A. last month to lead the food division, leaving the law […]
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Over lunch last week with a friend of mine — a major technology investor who has been an ardent Democrat — the talk quickly turned to politics. Like many businessmen, he refuses to air his views publicly to avoid drawing fire. In private, he’s more forthcoming. “I’m willing to sacrifice small things for larger gains,” […]
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The consequences of a crypto reserve Cryptocurrencies are again riding high, after President Trump announced that he would create a national crypto reserve with five tokens, including three lesser-known and highly volatile ones. It’s the latest boost that Trump has given the crypto industry, which spent some $130 million backing him and other Republicans. But […]
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In a few short weeks, President Trump has severely damaged the government’s ability to fight climate change, upending American environmental policy with moves that could have lasting implications for the country, and the planet. With a flurry of actions that have stretched the limits of presidential power, Mr. Trump has gutted federal climate efforts, rolled […]
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President Trump’s outright war on the administrative state has put Democrats in a difficult position, since their core brand is that they are the pro-government party. Faced with the challenge of blocking a tsunami of bad ideas for government reform, Democrats are naturally tempted to hunker down and defend the status quo. This makes them […]
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The National Plant Germplasm System, a vast federal collection of seeds, roots, branches and stems, is probably unknown to most Americans. But to Rachel Spaeth the system is a “living library” — and America’s safeguard against “famine on a global scale.” Dr. Spaeth was a horticulturalist at an Agriculture Department research site near Davis, Calif., […]
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Federal officials declared that so-called memecoins would not be subject to strict oversight. A series of investigations into major cryptocurrency firms were halted. And the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to pause a fraud case against a top crypto entrepreneur. Just over a month since President Trump’s inauguration, U.S. regulators have almost entirely dismantled a […]
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With the government seemingly stepping back from regulatory duties, consumers may have to act as their own financial watchdogs. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the independent federal agency created after the 2008 financial crisis to shield people from fraud and abuse by lenders and financial firms, has been muzzled, at least temporarily. “Everything is on […]
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American political culture goes through phases. Between 1933 and 1963 that culture went through a Hamiltonian phase. Leaders believed in centralizing power to build big things. Franklin Roosevelt created the Tennessee Valley Authority and the rest of the New Deal. Dwight Eisenhower built the national highways system and founded NASA. A lot of the stuff […]
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Who gets the kidneys and livers and hearts donated by people who die? For decades, the U.S. government has enforced strict rules — devised by doctors and ethicists — to ensure they go to the patients who need them the most. The system is supposed to be fair. Increasingly, it is not. Doctors in the […]
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During his first term in office, President Trump described the European Union “as a foe,” established “to hurt the United States on trade.” He repeated the charge at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, but in more vulgar terms: “The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That’s the purpose of it, […]
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The European Commission on Wednesday proposed to substantially loosen the requirements on companies to report on the social and environmental impacts of their operations. The proposal would limit the rules to companies with more than 1,000 employees and revenue over 50 million euros ($53 million), which means that about 80 percent of companies currently covered […]
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