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Trump Confirms Tariff Exemption for Electronics Is Temporary: ‘NOBODY Getting Off the Hook’– slaynews.com

pgnewser April 15, 2025 0

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President Donald Trump has clarified that electronics are not exempt from his new tariffs, warning that “NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook.’”

The warning comes as Trump redoubled his promise to end “unfair” trade policies once and for all.

The president confirmed that America’s trading partners are not “off the hook.”

The clarification came after his administration appeared to back away from targeting products like smartphones imported largely from China.

Trump’s reversal caused the stock market to rally Monday as confidence in tech stocks rebounded.

Companies like Apple are largely reliant on supply chains based in Asia, especially China.

Meta’s Zuckerberg disputes US antitrust case in trial testimony – Reuters

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

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 Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand on Monday at a high-stakes trial in Washington over U.S. antitrust enforcers’ claims that the company spent billions of dollars to acquire Instagram and WhatsApp to fend off Facebook competitors.
The FTC is seeking to force Meta to restructure or sell Instagram and WhatsApp, testing President Donald Trump’s promises to take on Big Tech while posing an existential threat to a company that by some estimates earns about half of its U.S. advertising revenue from Instagram.

This AI already writes 20% of Salesforce’s code. Here’s why developers aren’t worried– venturebeat.com

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

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When Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei declared that AI would write 90% of code within six months, the coding world braced for mass extinction. But inside Salesforce, a different reality has already taken shape.

“About 20% of all APEX code written in the last 30 days came from Agentforce,” Jayesh Govindarajan, Senior Vice President of Salesforce AI, told me during a recent interview. His team tracks not just code generated, but code actually deployed into production. The numbers reveal an acceleration that’s impossible to ignore: 35,000 active monthly users, 10 million lines of accepted code, and internal tools saving 30,000 developer hours every month.

Yet Salesforce’s developers aren’t disappearing. They’re evolving.

JUST IN: Tech Company Commits To $500 Billion Investment In U.S. Infrastructure– wltreport.com

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

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Nvidia on Monday announced it would design and build factories to produce NVIDIA AI supercomputers entirely in the United States.

“Together with leading manufacturing partners, the company has commissioned more than a million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test NVIDIA Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas,” Nvidia announced.

Yahoo Finance reports:

As part of this $500 billion commitment, Nvidia said it is building two new supercomputer manufacturing plants in Texas in partnership with contract manufacturers Foxconn (2354.TW) and Wistron (3231.TW).

Nvidia expects to mass-produce supercomputers at those sites in 12 to 15 months. The chipmaker said its latest Blackwell AI chips are already in production at TSMC’s (TSM) plant in Phoenix.

WATCH: UAW Boss Stuns MSNBC Hosts, Praises Trump’s Tariffs: ‘Bring Work Back’– trendingpoliticsnews.com

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

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A top boss in America’s largest auto union praised President Donald Trump for sticking to his guns amid a high-stakes international tariff war that he promises will bring millions of manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

Despite endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris, the United Auto Workers have come solidly around to Trump since he began instituting sharp tariffs on other countries, which for decades have benefited from U.S. companies shifting their manufacturing and production lines overseas. The change “will bring work back” to his union members, UAW president Shawn Fain told a stunned MSNBC host on Monday.

“Now, we’ve been very clear,” Fain said. “We do believe, and we know, when it comes to auto, when it comes to heavy truck, and agricultural implementation, we know that tariffs will influence these companies to do the right thing and reinvest in this country and reinvest in factories in this country.”

U.S. Moves into Panama Canal, Kicking China Out

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

Hegseth Secures ‘First and Free’ Passage for U.S. Ships in Panama Canal– www.breitbart.com
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PANAMA CITY, Panama — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had one mission on his trip to Panama — to secure a deal to get “first and free” passage for U.S. ships in the Panama Canal, a critical waterway for the United States’ economy and military that was at risk of falling under China’s control.

As the secretary and his team flew the down from Washington on Monday evening to meet with Panama’s leaders, such a deal with Panama was far from certain.

While the U.S. had built the canal in the early 1900s and maintained it for decades before handing it over to Panama, China had in recent years poured money into projects and infrastructure attached to it. As a passageway between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans that handles more than 40 percent of U.S. maritime trade, if China were able to close the canal, it would be a catastrophe for the U.S.

President Donald Trump, early on in his administration, made retaking the canal from Chinese influence a top priority. In December, even before he took office for the second time, he posted about it on Truth Social:


 

GOP faces tough trade-offs on spending and taxes in sweeping bill– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

GOP faces tough trade-offs on spending and taxes in sweeping bill– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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With a budget resolution now in place, congressional Republicans are forging ahead with crafting their major fiscal overhaul. However, leadership is facing some major dilemmas over spending cuts and tax policy.

Republicans are looking to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act through budget reconciliation, a legislative process that allows bills to bypass the filibuster and pass with only a simple majority in the Senate. They also want to add new tax cuts proposed by President Donald Trump to the mix.

However, given some Republicans’ contradictory desires regarding the fiscal legislation, there will have to be some major trade-offs if the party wants to push through such big tax and spending cuts with the slim Republican majority in the House and demands from Republicans in the Senate.

“I have a very strong feeling we’ve got a lot of problems here that Republicans are going to have to work out between the House and the Senate,” G. William Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told the Washington Examiner.

Meta’s Blockbuster FTC Antitrust Trial Kicks Off. Meta Stock Edges Higher After Tariff News. – Investor’s Business Daily

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

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Meta Platforms (META) is going to federal court today for a long-awaited antitrust trial that will force the tech giant to defend its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta stock was ahead slightly in early trading.

The $1.4 trillion market cap social media titan is accused by the Federal Trade Commission of abusing monopoly power to acquire photo-sharing app Instagram and messaging platform WhatsApp more than a decade ago. The FTC filed the original antitrust lawsuit in 2020 before it spent nearly five years winding through appeals and other motions in the courts.

UK confident of keeping British Steel going after taking control– www.channelnewsasia.com

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

UK confident of keeping British Steel going after taking control– www.channelnewsasia.com
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SCUNTHORPE, England: Britain expressed confidence on Monday (Apr 14) that it could secure enough raw materials to keep the blast furnaces at its last maker of virgin steel burning, after the government seized operational control from its Chinese owners.

Ministers said British Steel’s owners, China’s Jingye Group, had wanted to shut the furnaces at the Scunthorpe plant after they rejected a government funding proposal, which would have forced Britain to import steel instead.

The government recalled parliament at the weekend – the first Saturday recall since the 1982 Falklands War – to give it powers to direct the company’s board and workforce and to order raw materials.

By Monday morning, it had approved the appointment of an interim chief executive and chief commercial officer – both long-term employees of the plant – and said it had established that enough raw materials were in the country.

“We need to make sure we get it into the blast furnaces,” Treasury department minister James Murray said.

The CEO of one of Thailand’s leading manufacturers says his customers are rushing to stock up during Trump’s tariff pause– fortune.com

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

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Thailand, along with the rest of Southeast Asia, got some temporary relief when the U.S. President Donald Trump chose to delay his “Liberation Day” tariffs by 90 days. Now, the country’s U.S.-bound exports only have a 10% tariff, as opposed to the 36% threatened by Trump.

Asian markets have gone on a wild ride since Trump first unveiled his reciprocal tariffs on April 2, falling and rising according to the president’s statements. Thailand’s benchmark SET index fell by 9% between April 2 and April 9, only to rally after Trump announced his tariff pause. Still, the index has yet to recover from the “Liberation Day” hit. 

“Reciprocal tariffs, we thought, were excessively high,” said Victor Cheng, the CEO of Delta Electronics Thailand, last week before Trump announced his tariff pause. 

U.S. actions were causing “anxiety and great concern,” Cheng said, but noted that customers had yet to change or cancel any orders due to the tariffs and were instead adopting a wait-and-see attitude. Cheng added later, after Trump paused his tariffs, that customers are using the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs to “stock up”.

The CEO also explained why his U.S. customers, and not his company, “will have to bear the extra tariff on top of the original selling price.” He points out that most of Delta Electronics Thailand’s products are classed as “free on board”, which means responsibility passes from the seller—his company—to the buyer—the U.S. customer.

Colleges fear Trump ‘chilling effect’ on foreign student enrollment– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser April 14, 2025 0

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President Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown on foreign students in the United States is expected to have a chilling effect on enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities this fall, according to higher education analysts.

School experts worry foreign enrollment at U.S. schools could take a nose dive as the Trump administration continues its immigration enforcement initiative that has targeted students who support the terrorist organization, Hamas, and federal immigration officers raid dorm rooms in search of student visa recipients who refuse to leave despite their status being revoked.

Dr. William Brustein, special assistant to the president for global affairs and a distinguished history professor at West Virginia University, said arrests and visa revocations in recent weeks will hurt America’s ability to attract international students to institutions.

“I am fairly confident that the Trump’s administration’s crackdown on student visa recipients who it alleges engaged in pro-Hamas protests in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre of Israelis will indeed have a chilling effect on foreign student enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities this fall,” Brustein wrote in an email.

Trump’s tariffs prompt China to retaliate with 34% levy on U.S. imports, rare earth element export controls– www.cbsnews.com

pgnewser April 4, 2025 0

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Beijing — China announced Friday that it will impose a 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products beginning April 10. The new tariff matches the rate of the U.S. tariff announced by President Trump this week, which he called a “reciprocal” measure, claiming China had tariffs and other measures in place on U.S. goods already that amounted to a 67% trade barrier.

For Mr. Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs, the White House used a formula to calculate the sum of all the trade practices it deems unfair from other nations, including currency manipulation, tariffs and other barriers, in reaching its decision on how heavily to tariff almost every other country in the world. Economists have questioned the methodology, and many foreign governments have complained the levies are unfair and misrepresent their trade imbalances with the U.S.

The Commerce Ministry in Beijing also said in a notice that it would impose more export controls on rare earths elements, which are materials used in high-tech products such as computer chips and electric vehicle batteries.

The Chinese government said it would add 27 U.S. companies to lists of firms subject to trade sanctions or export controls. According to China’s tightly controlled media, the expanded export controls would cover seven types of rare earth related items, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium.

How companies like Delta and Cisco are sticking up for their DEI policies– fortune.com

pgnewser April 4, 2025 0

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… But that doesn’t mean they aren’t scared. Around 55% of leaders surveyed say they have serious concerns about lawsuits, additional government actions, and shareholder votes, forcing them to make serious changes to their programs. Costco and Apple, for example, were recently faced with proposals from anti-DEI shareholder activists, both of which were voted down.

Keeping a cool head right now is critical. Some research suggests that businesses that rapidly change viewpoints on issues customers care about could face backlash for coming off as “inauthentic.” And experts say that despite the fear created by Trump’s recent executive orders focused on eliminating DEI, if a corporate diversity program is open to everyone and compliant with existing civil rights laws, it’s perfectly legal.

“Despite the increased scrutiny, many companies seem to be taking a measured approach, rather than rushing to end or scale back IE&D efforts,” Jeanine Conley Daves, an employment attorney at Littler and member of the firm’s IE&D consulting practice, told Fortune. “It makes sense not to make extensive changes to efforts and initiatives that have helped to build a strong company culture.”

Trump’s Tariffs Deliver Biggest Shock to Global Markets Since Pandemic– time.com

pgnewser April 4, 2025 0

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HONG KONG — Shares slid further in Europe and Asia on Friday as markets shuddered while investors counted the potential costs of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest set of tariffs.

The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.8% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1%.

Everything from crude oil to Big Tech stocks to the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies has fallen. Even gold, a traditional safe haven that recently hit record highs, pulled lower after Trump announced his “Liberation Day” set of tariffs, which economists say carries the risk of a potentially toxic mix of weakening economic growth and higher inflation.

Trump’s tariffs will deliver a big blow to climate tech– www.technologyreview.com

pgnewser April 4, 2025 0

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The growing policy uncertainty and weakening economic conditions alone may already be causing some of this to occur.

Since Trump took office, companies have canceled, delayed, or scaled back at least nine US “clean energy supply chain” developments or operations, according to the Big Green Machine, a database maintained by Jay Turner, a professor of environmental studies at Wellesley College, and student researchers there. The projects that have been affected represent some $8 billion in public and private investments, and more than 9,000 jobs.

They include KORE Power’s planned battery facility in Arizona, which the company halted; Envision Automotive Energy Supply’s paused expansion in Florence County, South Carolina; and Akasol’s closure of two plants in Michigan.

VW also scaled back production at its recently expanded EV factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, amid slower-than-expected growth in sales and, perhaps, the expectation that the Trump administration will strive to roll back consumer tax credits for vehicle purchases.