AFP USA

Donald Trump celebrated Tuesday the first 100 days of what is already one of the most radical and far-reaching presidencies in US history, but polls show Americans becoming disenchanted with the economic and political tumult.The 47th president will mark the milestone in trademark style, seeking to rejuvenate his base with a rally in the battleground state of Michigan that swung his way in November as he soundly defeated Kamala Harris.Trump has shaken up the United States like few presidents before him. His billionaire backer Elon Musk has led dramatic cutbacks of the federal workforce, and the president himself has reshaped relations with the world by unveiling sweeping tariffs, berating allies and eliminating much foreign aid.Polls show that the honeymoon period that Americans historically accord presidents at the start of their terms has evaporated for Trump.A poll published Sunday by The Washington Post and ABC News found that only 39 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance.The survey showed net disapproval even on what was his most popular issue — his aggressive crackdown on immigration — as controversy swirls over deportations without due process.Trump angrily dismissed the polling, but has been tacitly acknowledging that he must moderate some policies as stock market turmoil takes a toll.Wall Street, down more than six percent since Trump took office, ticked up Tuesday on news he would soften some of the sweeping tariffs impacting automakers.- ‘We’ve done everything’ -He also recently backtracked on threats to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has warned that Trump’s tariffs would likely reignite inflation.After a 2017-2021 term in which some aides sought to rein him in, Trump has surrounded himself this time with unabashed loyalists — and told reporters he was on track to accomplish all of his second-term goals.”I think either we’ve done everything, or it’s in the process of being done,” Trump said as he prepared to fly to his rally at a community college in Warren, Michigan.In a Q&A with reporters, he was asked about his preference for the next pope, and he joked: “I would like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice.”In the grand entrance hallway of the White House, Trump has removed a portrait of Barack Obama, the United States’ first Black president, to make way for a painting of himself surviving an assassination attempt.He has used threats of cutting off government access and contracts to pressure law firms whose partners once were involved in cases against him, and he has frozen billions of dollars in funding for universities — hotbeds of criticism against the administration.- Stretching limits -Unlike most presidents, Trump has focused more on energizing his base than broadening his appeal — and many supporters are still with him.”He’s amazing. Everybody’s worried about tariffs. We don’t care — look at everything else that’s coming together too,” said Donna Fitzsimons, a 65-year-old merchandise seller at Michigan the rally venue ahead of Trump’s appearance.”People don’t realize it takes time to get where you need to go.”The rival Democratic Party has seized on economic anxieties although it has also struggled in polling.”Trump is to blame for the fact that life is more expensive, it’s harder to retire, and a ‘Trump recession’ is at our doorstep,” the Democratic National Committee said, calling the 100 days a “colossal failure.”Even with Congress narrowly in Republican hands, Trump has tested the limits of presidential power by signing more than 140 executive orders, many of which have faced court scrutiny.He has sought to end birthright citizenship — which is guaranteed by the US Constitution — and Musk has summarily axed billions of dollars appropriated by Congress.Trump has shown signs of impatience. He promised on the campaign trail to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours, but Russia has rebuffed a broad ceasefire offer.The former reality TV star has claimed the pledge was made “in jest,” although CNN reported that he made it more than 50 times before taking office, and was even at pains to point out that he was being serious.aue-mlm-sct-ft/bgs

Canada’s The Metals Company said Tuesday it applied to the United States to mine deep-sea minerals in international waters, a world first made possible by President Donald Trump’s embrace of the industry.Metal-containing deep-sea nodules, which have the appearance of potato-size pebbles and typically contain nickel and cobalt, are highly sought for use in electric vehicle batteries and electric cables.But environmental groups have raised the alarm about the ecological cost of their extraction.The request for a commercial exploitation license, submitted to US authorities by the TMC USA subsidiary, is for the mining of polymetallic nodules — deposits made up of multiple metals — in 9,700 square miles (25,200 square kilometers) of the Pacific’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone.”Today marks a major step forward — not just for TMC USA, but for America’s mineral independence and industrial resurgence,” said Gerard Barron, chairman and CEO of The Metals Company.TMC, which hopes to be the first firm to harvest the valuable nodules, said in March it would seek the first commercial deep-sea mining license from Washington.It marked an abrupt shift in strategy as it had initially indicated that it would submit its request to the International Seabed Authority in June, which has jurisdiction over the seabed in international waters.TMC justified cutting out the ISA because of the organization’s slow pace in adopting a mining code that establishes the rules for exploiting seabed minerals.- ‘Rogue and dangerous’ -Just weeks after TMC’s about-turn, Trump signed an executive order speeding up the review of applications and the issuing of exploitation permits — including in international waters. “This latest development is just a confirmation they are a rogue and dangerous actor,” Emma Wilson of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition told AFP.”A moratorium at the ISA would send a clear signal to states and companies that are choosing to act outside the ISA that the global community is united in defending international law.”Washington, not a member of the ISA, governs the commercial extraction of minerals from the international seabed under a 1980 law that was the basis of Trump’s executive order.The United States hopes underwater mining will create 100,000 jobs and increase GDP by $300 billion over a decade, according to a US senior administration official, who also emphasized Washington’s desire to outpace China in the field. Beijing has strongly condemned Trump’s move, accusing him of violating international law and harming the interests of the international community as a whole. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which established the ISA but has never been ratified by the United States, the seabed in international waters is considered the common heritage of humanity.Greenpeace campaigner Ruth Ramos said the announcement would “be remembered as an act of total disregard for international law and scientific consensus.”Environmental campaigners argue that deep-sea mining threatens ecosystems about which little is known. 

The White House said Tuesday it will soften tariffs on automakers, sparking optimism in Detroit whose car manufacturing industry has been on tenterhooks awaiting details on President Donald Trump’s fast-evolving policy.The measures, which include a guarantee that a carmaker wouldn’t face multiple tariffs on the same vehicle, are designed to prod US and foreign companies to expand or build new factories to support domestic manufacturing.Automakers have been among the hardest-hit sectors by Trump’s multi-pronged assault on free trade. The announcement of relief is being timed in parallel with a visit by the president later Tuesday to the Detroit area to celebrate his 100th day in office.”The president will sign the executive order on auto tariffs later today,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.Analysts have warned that the myriad levies could result in higher prices, denting US car sales and threatening jobs.But Trump, who has slammed free trade deals from his first presidential campaign in 2016, has embraced tariffs as necessary to spur more auto manufacturing in the United States.But the administration determined that some relief was needed to give companies enough time to move supply chains to the country, a senior Commerce Department official said in a briefing.”You’re going to see a massive resurgence of domestic auto manufacturing,” the official said. – Grace period -Besides a 25 percent tariff on finished imported cars, the industry has also been affected by Trump’s 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum. Automakers are also set to face new tariffs on foreign auto parts expected to take effect on May 3.Trump’s new policy includes a guarantee that a company wouldn’t face both a 25 percent levy for an imported vehicle and 25 percent on steel or aluminum; the importer would pay the higher of the two levies, but not both, a Commerce official said.The other change is that companies that import parts for vehicles assembled in the United States would be able to offset 15 percent of the vehicles list price in the first year and 10 percent in the second year. That modification is designed to give companies two years to move supply chains to the United States.Automakers told the Trump administration there would be “dramatic increases in production… as the payoff to America” from a two-year grace period, a Commerce official said.Roughly half the cars sold in the United States are assembled within the country, with another 25 percent coming from Mexico and Canada and the remainder from a broader swath of nations including Germany, Japan and South Korea.Automakers have already announced some investment decisions in light of the tariffs. But analysts have cautioned that Trump’s approach will not incentivize multi-billion-dollar investments if the industry does not believe the tariffs will last throughout Trump’s administration and beyond.General Motors said earlier this month that it plans to boost truck production at its plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana.GM is looking at other actions “we could implement quickly, efficiently and with low near-term costs,” Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said Monday.Jacobson declined to comment on GM’s plans for South Korea, where it builds a number of low-cost vehicles that have become popular with US consumers focused on price. Ford CEO Jim Farley said the company “welcomes and appreciates these decisions by President Trump, which will help mitigate the impact of tariffs on automakers, suppliers and consumers,” according to a statement.”Ford sees policies that encourage exports and ensure affordable supply chains to promote more domestic growth as essential,” said Farley, who estimated that US factories could build four million more cars annually, supporting hundreds of thousands of new jobs.Nissan, Honda and Volvo have been among the foreign automakers that have announced steps to boost investment in the United States.

Retail giant Amazon insisted Tuesday it had never approved a proposal — slammed by the White House — to show consumers how much US tariffs add to each price tag.”The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen,” said Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle.Earlier Tuesday, Punchbowl News reported that the e-commerce site would show “how much Trump’s tariffs are adding to the price of each product,” citing a person familiar with the matter.According to CNN and the Wall Street Journal, citing several sources, Trump called Bezos to raise concerns after being told about the report.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the reported plan “a hostile and political act by Amazon.” “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” she added during a briefing in Washington.Saying he would take Amazon’s statement at “face value,” top Trump advisor Stephen Miller, told Fox News that Amazon customers “complain all the time they can’t see where products are coming from and where they’re made.””A lot of American consumers want to buy products from America,” he added.After taking office in January, Trump slapped a 10 percent baseline tariff on most countries, along with higher levies on dozens of countries — only to then pause the elevated rates for 90 days to allow for trade talks. The White House has also imposed steep duties on China, and additional sector-specific measures — leading Beijing to impose its own retaliatory tariffs on US goods.Trump’s tariffs already starting to have an impact on businesses in the United States. Package delivery giant UPS said Tuesday it plans to cut 20,000 positions worldwide in 2025 following a significant drop in business for Amazon, its largest customer.UPS Chief Executive Carol Tome said the firm, which had around 490,000 employees at the end of 2024, was reacting to a “changing trade environment.”

The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed President Donald Trump’s political ally David Perdue to be ambassador to China, a key trade partner that the Republican president has hit with punishing tariffs.Perdue, a 75-year-old multi-millionaire business executive, served as a Republican senator for Georgia from 2015 to 2021 — but failed in a bid for governor of the state in 2022.He is expected to play a key role in managing the relationship between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies. A Trump ally, he backed the former president’s false claims regarding alleged fraud in the 2020 presidential election, which the billionaire Republican lost to Joe Biden.A special grand jury had recommended indicting Perdue over those claims, but the district attorney ultimately declined to charge him in that case.Since taking office in January, Trump has ignited a trade war with China, imposing new tariffs totaling 145 percent, in addition to sector-specific levies on products such as electric cars.He hailed Perdue as a “loyal supporter” when he announced his pick, touting the entrepreneur’s business experience as making him well-suited for the diplomatic role in Beijing.While in the Senate, he served on the Armed Services Committee — chairing its Sea Power subcommittee — and on the Foreign Relations Committee. He was one of the richest members of Congress, and one of its most active traders on the stock market while in office.The New York Times reported in 2020 that the US Department of Justice had investigated him for possible insider trading.Prosecutors did not bring charges in that case.

Donald Trump on Tuesday is celebrating the first 100 days of what is already one of the most radical and far-reaching presidencies in US history, as polls show Americans are becoming disenchanted with the economic and political tumult.The 47th president will mark the milestone in trademark style, seeking to rejuvenate his base with a rally in the battleground state of Michigan that swung his way in November as he soundly defeated Kamala Harris.Trump has shaken up the United States like few presidents before him. His billionaire backer Elon Musk has led the decimation of the federal workforce, and the president himself has reshaped relations with the world by slapping sweeping tariffs, berating allies and eliminating the vast majority of foreign aid.Polls show Trump has quickly seen the honeymoon that Americans historically accord presidents at the start of their terms evaporate.A poll published Sunday by The Washington Post and ABC News found that only 39 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s performance.The survey showed net disapproval even on what was his most popular issue — his aggressive crackdown on immigration — as controversy swirls over deportations without due process.Trump angrily dismissed the polls, writing on his Truth Social platform that they are “fake” and saying: “We are doing GREAT, better than ever before.”But even famously defiant Trump has been tacitly acknowledging that he must moderate some policies as stock market turmoil takes a toll.Wall Street, down more than six percent since Trump took office, ticked up Tuesday on news he would soften some of the sweeping tariffs impacting automakers.He also recently backtracked on threats to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has warned that Trump’s tariffs would likely reignite inflation.- ‘Having a lot of fun’ -After a 2017-2021 term in which some aides sought to rein him in, Trump has surrounded himself this time with unabashed loyalists.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth marked the 100 days with a video promoting a collectible miniature of Mount Rushmore in which Trump’s likeness has been added to presidential greats.”The first time, I had two things to do — run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,” Trump said in an interview with The Atlantic magazine.”And the second time, I run the country and the world,” he said, adding “I’m having a lot of fun.”Trump since January 20 has also unleashed political revenge.In the grand entrance hallway of the White House, he has moved a portrait of Barack Obama, the United States’ first Black president, to make way for a painting of himself surviving an assassination attempt.He has used threats of cutting off government access and contracts to pressure law firms whose partners once were involved in cases against him, and he has frozen billions of dollars in funding for universities — hotbeds of criticism against the administration.- Stretching limits -Unlike most presidents, Trump has focused more on energizing his base than broadening his appeal — and many supporters are still with him.Frank Tuoti, a 72-year-old retired machinist from New Hampshire, said: “So far, I’m very satisfied with the job he’s doing.” But he concedes that the tariff instability has made him “a little concerned about the economy.”The rival Democratic Party has seized on economic anxieties although it has also struggled in polling.”Trump is to blame for the fact that life is more expensive, it’s harder to retire, and a ‘Trump recession’ is at our doorstep,” the Democratic National Committee said, calling the 100 days a “colossal failure.”Even with Congress narrowly in Republican hands, Trump has tested the limits of presidential power by signing more than 140 executive orders, many of which have faced court scrutiny.Trump has sought to end birthright citizenship — which is guaranteed by the US Constitution — and Musk has summarily axed billions of dollars appropriated by Congress.Trump has shown signs of impatience. He promised on the campaign trail to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours, but Russia has rebuffed a broad ceasefire offer.Reminded of his promise to end the war on “day one” in an interview with Time magazine, the former reality TV star responded: “Obviously, people know that when I said that, it was said in jest.”

Retail giant Amazon insisted Tuesday it had never approved a proposal — slammed by the White House — to show consumers how much US tariffs add to each price tag.”The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen,” said Amazon spokesperson Tim Doyle.Earlier Tuesday, Punchbowl News reported that the e-commerce site would soon start showing “how much Trump’s tariffs are adding to the price of each product,” citing a person familiar with the matter. The White House swiftly slammed the report, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt calling it “a hostile and political act by Amazon.” “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” she added during a briefing in Washington.After taking office in January, Trump slapped a 10 percent baseline tariff on most countries, along with higher levies on dozens of countries — only to then pause the elevated rates for 90 days to allow for trade talks. The White House has also imposed steep duties on China, and additional sector-specific measures — leading Beijing to impose its own retaliatory tariffs on US goods.Trump’s tariffs already starting to have an impact on businesses in the United States. Package delivery giant UPS said Tuesday it plans to cut 20,000 positions worldwide in 2025 following a significant drop in business for Amazon, its largest customer.UPS Chief Executive Carol Tome said the firm, which had around 490,000 employees at the end of 2024, was reacting to a “changing trade environment.”

Canada’s The Metals Company said Tuesday it applied to the United States to mine deep sea minerals in international waters, a world first made possible by President Donald Trump’s embrace of the industry.Deep sea metals are highly sought for use in electric vehicle batteries and electric cables, but environmental groups have raised the alarm about the ecological cost of their extraction.The request for a commercial exploitation license, submitted to US authorities by the TMC USA subsidiary, is for the mining of polymetallic nodules — deposits made up of multiple metals — in the Pacific’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone.”Today marks a major step forward — not just for TMC USA, but for America’s mineral independence and industrial resurgence,” said Gerard Barron, chairman and CEO of The Metals Company.TMC, which hopes to be the first firm to harvest the valuable nodules, said in March it would seek the first commercial deep-sea mining license from Washington.It marked an abrupt shift in strategy as it had initially indicated that it would submit its request to the International Seabed Authority in June, which has jurisdiction over the seabed in international waters.TMC justified cutting out the ISA because of the organization’s slow pace in adopting a mining code that establishes the rules for exploiting seabed minerals.Just weeks after TMC’s about-turn, Trump signed an executive order speeding up the review of applications and the issuing of exploration permits — including in international waters. Washington, not a member of the ISA, governs the commercial extraction of minerals from the international seabed under a 1980 law that was the basis of Trump’s executive order.Greenpeace campaigner Ruth Ramos said the announcement would “be remembered as an act of total disregard for international law and scientific consensus.”Environmental campaigners argue that deep-sea mining threatens ecosystems about which little is known. 

US consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to survey data published Tuesday, reflecting concerns about President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.The Conference Board’s US consumer confidence index fell 7.9 points to 86.0 in April, the research organization announced in a statement, noting that mentions of tariffs in write-in responses had reached an “all-time high.”This was the lowest level since May 2020, a spokesperson confirmed to AFP. “Consumer confidence declined for a fifth consecutive month in April,” Conference Board senior economist Stephanie Guichard said in a statement.”The three expectation components — business conditions, employment prospects, and future income — all deteriorated sharply, reflecting pervasive pessimism about the future,” she added. Donald Trump’s tariff plans have unnerved investors, sending market volatility soaring and consumer confidence plunging. Confidence in the financial markets has also tanked, according to Guichard, with 48.5 percent of consumers expecting stock prices to fall over the next 12 months — the highest share since October 2011.In another worrying sign, average 12-month inflation expectations reached seven percent this month which, Guichard said, was the “highest since November 2022, when the US was experiencing extremely high inflation.”If sustained, higher inflation expectations can cause a vicious cycle of price hikes, as businesses preemptively raise prices in anticipation that their costs will rise further in the future. “Bad confidence numbers don’t translate into poor consumer spending, luckily,” Navy Federal Credit Union corporate economist Robert Frick wrote in a note shared with AFP. “The real test of how Americans spend will be seen tomorrow when personal income numbers are released,” he said. “Those have been rising strongly, and history shows that if we have money, we’ll spend it despite the jitters we may be feeling,” he added. 

The White House on Tuesday slammed Amazon over reports it would soon tell consumers how much US President Donald Trump’s tariffs have contributed to the price tag on its goods.”This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during a briefing in Washington. “Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” she added. Earlier Tuesday, Punchbowl News reported that the e-commerce site will soon start showing “how much Trump’s tariffs are adding to the price of each product,” citing a person familiar with the matter. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.After taking office in January, Trump slapped a 10 percent baseline tariff on most countries, along with higher levies on dozens of countries — only to then pause the elevated rates for 90 days to allow for trade talks. The White House has also imposed steep duties on China, and additional sector-specific measures — leading Beijing to impose its own retaliatory tariffs on US goods.The uncertainty kicked up by the on-again, off-again tariff rollout has shaken financial markets, briefly pushing volatility up to levels not seen since the Covid-19 pandemic.While the endpoint of Trump’s tariffs is currently unknown, they are already starting to have an impact on businesses in the United States. Package delivery giant UPS said Tuesday it plans to cut 20,000 positions worldwide in 2025 following a significant drop in business for Amazon, its largest customer.UPS Chief Executive Carol Tome said the firm, which had around 490,000 employees at the end of 2024, is taking the actions to “reconfigure” its operations in reaction to a “changing trade environment.”