AFP USA

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs will likely push up prices and constrain growth, and could put the Federal Reserve in the unenviable position of having to choose between tackling inflation and unemployment, the central bank’s chair said Wednesday.US financial markets fell following Jerome Powell’s remarks, with all three major Wall Street indices ending the day in the red as investors dumped tech stocks. “Tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation,” Powell told the Economic Club of Chicago, warning that the inflationary effects “could also be more persistent.””Avoiding that outcome will depend on the size of the effects, on how long it takes for them to pass through fully to prices, and, ultimately, on keeping longer-term inflation expectations well anchored,” he added, echoing similar remarks earlier this month. Unlike some other central banks, the US Fed has a dual mandate from Congress to ensure both stable prices and maximum sustainable employment over time.It keeps those twin objectives in balance by lowering or raising interest rates, which act as either a throttle or a brake for demand in the world’s largest economy.Powell said that while the Fed’s employment and inflation goals were largely in balance, policymakers could find themselves in the “challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension.”- ‘Continued volatility’ -Trump’s stop-start tariff policy has unnerved investors and trading partners unsure about the long-term strategy, and what it might mean for international trade. Amid the rollout of the tariffs, global financial markets spiraled, pushing volatility to heights not seen since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.  “You’ll probably see continued volatility,” Powell said Wednesday. “But I wouldn’t try to be definitive about exactly what’s causing that.””I would just say markets are orderly and they’re functioning kind of as you would expect them to in this time of high uncertainty,” he added. Most economists have warned that tariffs will push up prices — at least temporarily — while acting as a drag on growth.The Trump administration has insisted that the levies are just one part of an overall economic agenda including tax cuts and deregulation designed to stimulate supply, boost growth, temper inflation, and return manufacturing jobs to the United States.Tariffs would be “likely to move us away from our goals,” Powell said, referring to the Fed’s dual mandate.Futures traders currently see a roughly 85 percent chance that the Fed will vote to pause again at the next interest rate decision in May, according to data from CME Group. 

Comedian Nate Bargatze, one of the United States’ most successful stand-ups, will host this year’s Emmy Awards, organizers said Wednesday.The funnyman is being handed the reins of television’s most prestigious prize show for its 77th edition, which takes place in Los Angeles in September and will be broadcast on US network CBS.”It’s a huge honor to be asked to host such an iconic awards show and I’m beyond excited to work with CBS to create a night that can be enjoyed by families around the world,” Bargatze said in a statement.Last year’s show was hosted by the well-received father-and-son pairing of Eugene and Dan Levy, for an evening that saw a boost in viewing figures compared with previous editions.The Television Academy, which hands out the prizes, will be hoping that Bargatze’s growing popularity and everyman persona will add to the show’s appeal.”Nate is one of the hottest comics in the business with a remarkable and hilarious brand of comedy that deeply resonates with multi-generational audiences around the globe,” Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego said.”We are thrilled to be able to leverage his one-of-a-kind perspective to entertain TV fans watching this year’s Emmy telecast.”Bargatze is on something of a career roll, playing to sell-out audiences in the United States and seeing success around the world through his Netflix specials.His six stand-up specials have included “The Greatest Average American,” which earned him a Grammy nomination for best comedy album.

A Democratic senator arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday to press for the release of a US resident thrust to the center of a storm over President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies when he was mistakenly deported to the Central American country.Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains imprisoned in a notorious jail in his native country despite a US federal judge’s order, backed by the Supreme Court, for his return to the United States.US Senator Chris Van Hollen said after landing in San Salvador that he hoped to meet with high-level government officials and possibly Abrego Garcia, who he said had been “illegally abducted” and wrongly deported.”I told his wife and his family I would do everything possible to bring him home, and we’re going to keep working at this until we’re successful,” Van Hollen, who represents Maryland, Abrego Garcia’s home state, said in a video.Van Hollen said before taking off that he wanted to show the Trump administration and El Salvador that Abrego Garcia’s supporters would not let up in the campaign for his return.A legal US resident, Abrego Garcia was protected by a 2019 court order determining that he could not be deported to El Salvador, but he was sent there around a month ago.The Trump administration has admitted its mistake, and has been ordered by the Supreme Court to “facilitate” the 29-year-old’s return.But the administration — pressed on what action it was taking to remedy its error in lower court hearings — has not announced any efforts toward Abrego Garcia’s return.El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said during a White House visit on Monday he did not have the power to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.Trump told reporters he did not have the authority to intervene, leaving the man in limbo.- ‘Picking on most vulnerable’ -Trump’s critics have warned that his defiance of the courts has placed the country on the cusp of a constitutional crisis.”This is about due process. This is about rule of law,” Van Hollen said.”What bullies do is they begin by picking on the most vulnerable. But if we get rid of the rule of law and due process in the United States, it’s a short road from there to tyranny.”The White House claims that it is complying with the courts and says, without providing evidence, that Abrego Garcia is a gang member. He denies the accusation and has never been charged of crimes in either country.District Judge Paula Xinis said the case against him amounted to “nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant” of his gang membership.West Virginia Republican congresswoman Riley Moore posted on X Tuesday that he had also traveled to El Salvador to see the prison where immigrants deported by the Trump administration are being held.He declared himself supportive of Trump’s actions, however.Another Democratic senator, Cory Booker, was also mulling a trip to the country but has not yet made an announcement on timing.Two Democrats in the House of Representatives — Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California — were also reportedly planning to visit.

US President Donald Trump touted tariff negotiations with Japan on Wednesday while China angrily accused Washington of “blackmail” in a trade war that the WTO warns will have “severe” economic consequences for the global economy.Trump remained upbeat about his strategy of imposing global tariffs, then negotiating individual trade agreements, with the goal of lowering barriers to US products and forcing more manufacturing to be based in the United States.He said he would meet a Japanese delegation Wednesday both on tariffs and another of his longtime complaints — the cost of the US military deployments to defend the crucial Pacific ally.”Japan is coming in today to negotiate Tariffs, the cost of military support, and ‘TRADE FAIRNESS.’ I will attend the meeting,” Trump posted on his Truth Social app.The multiple negotiations the Trump administration says are underway are running parallel to a full trade war against top US economic rival China.While the rest of the world has been slapped with a blanket 10 percent tariff, China faces levies of up to 145 percent on many products. Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods.There is little sign of rapprochement, with the White House insisting that China make the first move.”If the US really wants to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation, it should stop exerting extreme pressure, stop threatening and blackmailing, and talk to China on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.”There is no winner in a tariff war or a trade war,” Lin said, adding: “China does not want to fight, but it is not afraid to fight.”Beijing’s commerce ministry noted that taking into account previous tariffs and the new ones, certain Chinese products now cumulatively face 245 percent duties to enter the US market.While concern is growing that the US economy could be rocked by the trade war, China said on Wednesday that it saw a forecast-beating 5.4 percent in the first quarter as exporters rushed to get goods out of factory gates ahead of the US levies.Heron Lim from Moody’s Analytics told AFP the impact would be felt in the second quarter, as tariffs begin “impeding Chinese exports and slamming the brakes on investment.”World Trade Organization head Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the uncertainty brought by the tariffs “threatens to act as a brake on global growth, with severe negative consequences for the world, the most vulnerable economies in particular.”- Japan test case? -Trump posted that he hoped “something can be worked out which is good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!”And Japan’s envoy said he was optimistic of a “win-win” outcome for both countries.South Korea, a major semiconductors and auto exporter, said Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok would meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent next week.”The current priority is to use negotiations… to delay the imposition of reciprocal tariffs as much as possible and to minimize uncertainty for Korean companies operating not only in the US but also in global markets,” Choi said on Tuesday.Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management called the discussions with Japan in particular the “canary in the tariff coal mine.””If Japan secures a deal — even a half-baked one — the template is set. If they walk away empty-handed, brace yourself. Other nations will start pricing in confrontation, not cooperation,” he wrote in a newsletter.The Daiwa Institute of Research warned on Wednesday that Trump’s reciprocal tariffs could cause a decline of 1.8 percent in Japan’s real GDP by 2029.Chip stocks across Asia slumped after Nvidia said it expected a $5.5 billion hit due to a new US licensing requirement on the primary chip it can legally sell in China.Trump also ordered a probe on Tuesday that may result in tariffs on critical minerals, rare-earth metals and associated products such as smartphones.Although popular among Republicans, the tariffs war is politically risky for Trump at home. California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom announced he was launching a new court challenge against Trump’s “authority to unilaterally enact tariffs, which have created economic chaos, driven up prices, and harmed the state, families, and businesses.”burs-sms/aha

The United States on Wednesday eliminated a key government agency that tracked foreign disinformation, framing the move as an effort to preserve “free speech.”The closure of the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference hub, previously known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC), comes as leading experts monitoring propaganda have been raising the alarm about the risk of disinformation campaigns from US adversaries such as Russia and China.In December, just weeks ahead of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the US Congress failed to extend the agency’s funding following years of Republican allegations that it censored conservative views.In a statement on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the closure of the unit, saying it was the responsibility of government officials to “preserve and protect the freedom for Americans to exercise their free speech.””Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” Rubio said. “That ends today.”The announcement comes at a time when the State Department is expected to propose an unprecedented dismantling of Washington’s diplomatic reach, shuttering programs and embassies worldwide to slash the budget by almost 50 percent, according to US media.The GEC, established in 2016, had long faced scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, who accused it of censoring and surveilling Americans. Its closing leaves the State Department without a dedicated office for tracking and countering disinformation from US rivals for the first time in over eight years.The unit has also come under fire from billionaire Trump advisor Elon Musk, who accused the GEC in 2023 of being the “worst offender in US government censorship (and) media manipulation” and called the agency a “threat to our democracy.”Musk has overseen the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with radically reducing government spending.The GEC’s former leaders have pushed back on those views, calling their work crucial to combating foreign propaganda campaigns.Last June, James Rubin, special envoy and coordinator for the GEC at the time, announced the launch of a multinational group based in Warsaw to counter Russian disinformation on the war in neighboring Ukraine.The State Department had said that the initiative, known as the Ukraine Communications Group, would bring together partner governments to coordinate messaging, promote accurate reporting of the war and expose Kremlin information manipulation.In a previous report, the GEC also warned that China was spending billions of dollars globally to spread disinformation and threatening to cause a “sharp contraction” in freedom of speech around the world.

TikTok on Wednesday said it is testing a feature that would let people add “Footnotes” providing informative context to videos that might be misleading.The feature being tested in the United States, where the short-form video sharing app has some 170 million users, appears similar to Community Notes on X, formerly Twitter.Unlike X though, TikTok will continue its own fact-checking program to fight misinformation, head of operations Adam Presser said in a blog post.”Footnotes will draw on the collective knowledge of the TikTok community by allowing people to add relevant information to content on our platform,” Presser said.”It will add to our suite of measures that help people understand the reliability of content and access authoritative sources, including our content labels, search banners, our fact-checking program, and more.”Adult US users who have been on TikTok for more than six months and haven’t violated its community guidelines were invited to apply to contribute to Footnotes.Contributors will also be able to rate Footnotes left by other people.Footnotes deemed as “helpful” will be made visible on TikTok, at which point any users can vote on them as feedback regarding their merit, according to Presser.”Whether the content discusses a complex STEM-related concept, shares statistics that could misrepresent a topic, or updates about an ongoing event, there may be additional context that could help others better understand it,” Presser said.”That’s why we’re building Footnotes.”Footnotes will augment TikTok’s existing integrity measures such as labeling content that can’t be verified and partnering with fact-checking organizations such as AFP to assess the accuracy of posts on the platform.Meta early this year ended its third-party fact-checking program in the United States, with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg saying it had led to “too much censorship.”As an alternative, Zuckerberg said Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram, would use “Community Notes,” similar to the Elon Musk-owned X.Community Notes is a crowd-sourced moderation tool that X has promoted as a way for users to add context to posts, but researchers have repeatedly questioned its effectiveness in combating falsehoods.Supporters of President Donald Trump, among others, have contended without proof that conservative voices were being censored or stifled under the guise of fighting misinformation, a claim professional fact-checkers vehemently reject.TikTok is adding Footnotes as its China-based parent company ByteDance faces a deadline to sell the app or have it banned in the United States.Trump has said there was a deal on the sale of TikTok, but tariffs recently imposed by Washington on Beijing derailed it.ByteDance, while confirming recently that it was in talks with the US government on finding a solution, warned that there remained “key matters” to resolve.

The uncertainty kicked up by Donald Trump’s stop-start tariff rollout will undoubtedly hit growth, the president of the World Bank said Wednesday, ahead of next week’s semi-annual meeting of global financial leaders in Washington.”Uncertainty and volatility are undoubtedly contributing to a more cautious economic and business environment,” Ajay Banga told reporters, alluding to the market turbulence unleashed by the new US administration’s tariff policy. This uncertainty would “certainly” cause slower growth than previously anticipated, he added during the virtual event. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Spring Meetings kick off on Monday, with the Bank keen to promote its agenda to drive job creation in developing and emerging market economies. But the gathering of finance ministers and central bankers will take place against a challenging international backdrop, with US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy threatening to derail economic growth in many parts of the world.Since taking office in January, the US president has imposed 25 percent levies on several sectors including, autos, steel and aluminum, as his administration seeks to redress what it says is an unfair trading relationship with the rest of the world. The White House also imposed a new “baseline” tariff of 10 percent on most countries, and announced higher import taxes on dozens of trading partners, only to then temporarily roll many of them back. China — America’s third-largest trading partner — has been hit with a barrage of new tariffs totalling 145 percent overall. Beijing, in turn, has announced retaliatory tariffs of 125 percent on US goods.- ‘The right questions’ – The United States is the top shareholder at the World Bank Group, and has historically been a key driver of policy at the Washington-based institution, which has been led by a US citizen for most of its history.Shortly before leaving office, Joe Biden’s administration committed the United States to $4 billion in new funding for the World Bank’s agency that leverages donor funds to provide loans and grants to some of the world’s poorest countries. The Trump administration has so far refused to commit to that $4 billion figure, raising questions about how much money it plans to contribute to the World Bank and other international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Speaking on Wednesday, Banga indicated that the Bank would make do with a smaller budget if the United States did not provide funding at the same level as before, but that he still hoped Washington would come around. “We’re having a constructive dialogue with the US administration,” he said. “I don’t know where it’ll end, but I’ve got no problem with the dialogue I’m having.””They’re asking the right questions, and we’re trying to give them the right answers,” he added. – Nuclear, gas financing -Donald Trump has a long public record questioning the impact of man-made climate change. Since his return to office, concerns have been raised that his administration’s view on climate change could hit the World Bank, which has committed to increasing its climate finance portfolio to 45 percent of total lending. Banga told reporters on Wednesday that, while “the words might be a problem in different people’s eyes,” the Bank’s climate actual commitments should be less controversial. “We are not taking away from education and schools and development to fund something,” he said. “What’s inside the 45 (percent) is a commitment that half of it, over time, will go to resiliency and adaptation.”Banga also suggested that the Bank could soon take another look at funding nuclear and natural gas energy projects — something that would require approval from donor countries. “There is no reason why a country in Africa should not care about affordable, accessible electricity,” he said. “And it includes gas, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, wind and nuclear where it makes sense,” he added. 

French President Emmanuel Macron will on Thursday meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff, the Elysee palace said, as transatlantic tensions soar over the war in Ukraine. Witkoff, who recently met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Rubio are heading to Paris for talks on ending the war in Ukraine, the State Department said separately.US President Donald Trump’s push for a ceasefire in Ukraine has yet to bear fruit despite his pledges to end the war quickly. Russia’s strikes that have recently killed dozens of people including many many children in Ukraine’s cities of Sumy and Kryvyi Rig show how the war is taking a hefty toll despite a series of diplomatic efforts.Macron has taken the lead in seeking to forge a coordinated European response to protecting Ukraine, both during the current conflict and in its eventual aftermath after Trump shook the world by opening direct negotiations with Russia. The State Department said Rubio was travelling with Witkoff to meet European officials for talks on the goal of stopping the war triggered by Russia’s invasion in 2022.A French diplomatic source said Rubio and France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot would discuss “the war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear file”.This will be Rubio’s third trip to Europe since taking office.Witkoff said on Monday, just days after his third meeting with Putin, that he himself sees a peace deal “emerging”.Talks to end the Gaza war have also stalled, with Israel saying on Wednesday it would keep blocking humanitarian aid from entering the Palestinian territory, where a relentless military offensive has turned the Palestinian territory into a “mass grave”, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said blocking aid to the besieged territory of 2.4 million people was to pressure the Palestinian militant group Hamas.The Paris talks also come after discussions between the United States and Iran on Tehran’s nuclear program were held Saturday in Oman.Another round is scheduled for April 19, also in Oman.Separately, the French defence minister, Sebastien Lecornu, will travel to Washington on Thursday.He is set to meet with Pete Hegseth, US Defense Secretary, for talks on a number of issues including Ukraine, Iran and Gaza.He was also expected to hold talks with National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy.lb-dt-dab-ah-as/rmb

One of the architects of US President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz has advocated a shake-up of the global trade and financial systems, centred on a radical strategy to weaken the dollar.Stephen Miran, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, outlined his idea in a 41-page essay titled “A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System”.Little known until now, the Harvard-trained economist’s paper — published in November after Trump’s election win — has garnered attention in recent weeks due to its emphasis on tariffs and a weak dollar.Some analysts say the essay provides the intellectual rationale for Trump’s trade war.- ‘Mar-a-Lago Accord’ -For Miran, tariffs and moving away from a strong dollar could have “the broadest ramifications of any policies in decades, fundamentally reshaping the global trade and financial systems”.Miran’s essay argues that a strong dollar makes US exports less competitive and imports cheaper, while handicapping American manufacturers as it discourages investing in building factories in the United States.”The deep unhappiness with the prevailing economic order is rooted in persistent overvaluation of the dollar and asymmetric trade conditions,” Miran wrote.The dollar is traditionally a safe haven currency for investors in the event of war or crisis, and it has slumped in recent days over concerns about Trump’s trade policies.It is used by used by foreign companies and governments to buy oil, aircraft and other goods at dollar-denominated prices.The strong dollar tends to make US government bonds attractive to foreign investors, giving the United States an almost unlimited capacity to borrow.Miran called for a pact similar to that of the 1985 Plaza Accord, signed in New York by the United States, Britain, France, West Germany and Japan.The landmark agreement, named after the New York hotel where it was inked, allowed for a controlled weakening of the then-overvalued dollar to reduce the US trade deficit.Miran said the new agreement could be called the “Mar-a-Lago Accord”, after Trump’s Florida resort.”President Trump views tariffs as generating negotiating leverage for making deals,” Miran wrote.”It is easier to imagine that after a series of punitive tariffs, trading partners like Europe and China become more receptive to some manner of currency accord in exchange for a reduction of tariffs.”- Replenish government coffers -To lower the value of the US currency, Miran said US partners could sell dollars in their possession.Another proposal would be to swap the Treasury bonds held by creditors — usually borrowed over a few years — for 100-year debt.As a result, the US would not have to repay them regularly, and would limit the potential rise in interest rates caused by fears over such a financial upheaval on the markets, Miran said.He also suggested imposing a “user fee” on foreign official holders of Treasury securities, as a way to replenish government coffers. Countries that cooperate could see their tariffs lowered and could continue to rely on the US military umbrella, he said.- ‘De facto default’ -Vicky Redwood, senior economic adviser at UK-based Capital Economics, said forcing US lenders to swap bonds would amount to a “de facto default on US debt”.Charging a user fee on Treasury repayments abroad seemed “highly unrealistic”, experts at Swiss bank Pictet said in a note, and “could be interpreted as breach of contract, or akin to a default”.For Eric Monnet, professor at the Paris School of Economics, it all depends on the content of the contract. “If the US manages to get (other) countries to agree, legally it can be done without default,” he said at a recent conference.- A risky plan -Economists have largely been very critical of Miran’s ideas.”If the US really does want to reduce its trade deficit, there are better ways to do it,” Redwood said.She also pointed to the risk of soaring US borrowing rates, which have taken off in recent days, a sign of growing concern about US economic policy.The potential “Mar-a-Lago Accord is misguided from both a theoretical and practical perspective”, Pictet experts wrote in their note, questioning Miran’s thinking on the origins of the dollar’s overvaluation.Adam Slater, an economist at British firm Oxford Economics, told AFP that in order to significantly narrow the trade deficit, the dollar would likely have to depreciate by more than 20 percent.

Democratic US Senator Chris Van Hollen flew to El Salvador on Wednesday to press for the release of a US resident mistakenly deported to the Central American country.Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains imprisoned in a notorious jail for terrorists in his native country despite a US federal judge’s order, backed by the Supreme Court, for his return to the United States.Van Hollen said in a video post before taking off that he wanted to show President Donald  Trump’s administration and El Salvador that Abrego Garcia’s supporters would not let up in the campaign for his return.”I hope to meet with representatives of the government. I hope to have the chance to actually see Kilmar and see what his condition is,” said Van Hollen, who represents Maryland, Abrego Garcia’s home state.A legal US resident, Abrego Garcia was protected by a 2019 court order determining that he could not be deported to El Salvador, but he was sent there around a month ago.The Trump administration has admitted its mistake, and has been ordered by the Supreme Court to “facilitate” his return.But the administration — pressed on what action it was taking to remedy its error in lower court hearings — has not announced any efforts toward Abrego Garcia’s return.El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said during a White House visit on Monday he had no intention of releasing Abrego Garcia, while Trump told reporters he did not have the authority to intervene.Trump’s critics have warned that his defiance of the Supreme Court has placed the country on the cusp of a constitutional crisis.”This is about due process. This is about rule of law,” Van Hollen said.”What bullies do is they begin by picking on the most vulnerable. But if we get rid of the rule of law and due process in the United States, it’s a short road from there to tyranny.”The White House claims that it is complying with the courts and that Abrego Garcia is a gang member. He denies the accusation and has never been charged in either country.District Judge Paula Xinis said the case against him amounted to “nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant” of his gang membership.West Virginia Republican congresswoman Riley Moore posted on X Tuesday that he had also traveled to El Salvador to see the prison where immigrants deported by the Trump administration are being held.He declared himself supportive of Trump’s actions, however.Van Hollen’s fellow Democratic Senator Cory Booker, of New Jersey, is also mulling a trip to the country but has not yet made an announcement on timing and his didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Two Democrats in the House of Representatives — Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California — are also planning to visit, according to US media.