USA

The stock market not only can't find its footing in 2025, but it's also in danger of losing its grip altogether. The benchmark S&P 500 is in the red for 2025, talk of a private sector recession runs rampant and a chaotic geopolitical snapshot shows angst over the Russia-Ukraine war. Additionally, President Donald Trump on April 2 announced high "reciprocal" tariffs on scores of major U.S. trading partners, along with a 10% across-the-board tariff on all other nations. Mexico and Canada were exempt from these new levies, but the two countries have already been hit with tariffs on goods that don't comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement Trump negotiated in his first term, in addition to tariffs on steel and aluminum. Meanwhile, bellwether semiconductor stocks are slidin...

On March 4, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump instituted major tariffs affecting imports from Canada, Mexico and China. Such actions earlier ignited global trade tensions, prompting swift reactions from the affected nations and raising questions about their potential economic impact. The reason for these tariffs is officially to pressure these nations to enhance efforts against unfair trade practices and drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl, into the United States. Any positive impact on the U.S. economy is questionable but negative impacts seem certain. Under the decisions, the U.S. government imposed a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico. Canadian energy products are subject to a 10% tariff. The tariff on Chinese goods has been increased from 10% to 20%. Officially, t...

A key economic adviser to President Donald Trump on Monday pushed back on talk of recession stemming from uncertainty around his administration's tariff policies, even as a survey of American households showed consumers growing more pessimistic about their prospects, and U.S. stocks plunged.In an interview with CNBC, Kevin Hassett, who heads the National Economic Council, said there were many reasons to be optimistic about the U.S. economy, despite some predictions of a contraction in gross domestic product in the first quarter and concerns about inflation.Trump's tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico were already having the intended effect of bringing manufacturing and jobs back to the United States, he said."There are a lot of reasons to be extremely bullish about the economy going forwar...

Beijing’s tariffs on certain US agricultural goods in retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s latest hike on Chinese imports came into force yesterday, as trade tensions mount between the world’s two leading economies. Since retaking office in January, Trump has unleashed a barrage of tariffs on major US trading partners, including China, Canada and Mexico, citing their failure to stop illegal immigration and flows of deadly fentanyl. After imposing a blanket 10 percent tariff on all Chinese goods early last month, Trump hiked the rate to 20 percent last week. Beijing reacted quickly and announced fresh measures of its own, with levies of 10 and 15 percent imposed on several US farm products, including chicken, wheat, corn and cotton. Soybeans, sorghum, pork, beef, aquatic pr...

President Donald Trump says his administration is making “very big” moves and has acknowledged there’s likely a “period of transition” or “disturbance” that could result. When asked during an interview that aired this weekend on Fox News about the likelihood of a recession being one of those outcomes, Trump told Maria Bartiromo: “I hate to predict things like that.” Fears of a severe economic downturn have escalated in recent weeks, and stocks plunged Monday on Trump’s comments, continuing a steep selloff driven by concerns about the impact of tariffs on US economic growth. But are recession fears justified? Here’s what history and the current economic picture can tell us about the potential for a recession:What is a recession?The traditional (and official) definition of a US rec...

US tariffs have sparked widespread concern among American industry players, economists and media outlets over potential adverse impact on the US economy that could raise costs and burdens for US businesses and consumers, according to several US media reports. Highlighting growing concerns in the US, volatility returned to Wall Street on Monday, with most major US indices swinging to significant losses after the US administration dismissed concerns over the possibility of upcoming tariffs causing a recession, according to the Associated Press. Shortly after market opening on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 1 percent, while the S&P 500 shed 1.4 percent, CNBC reported. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that "economists fear that Trump's tariffs, once...

American President Donald Trump’s policy choices since he took office in January have seesawed, confusing markets. Tariffs have been declared on some of the US’ closest trading partners, but then withdrawn or postponed. However, few still doubt that Mr Trump intends to impose tariffs, rather than just threatening them as a negotiation tactic. The eventual timeline, extent, and applicability of these duties are still unknown, however. This makes their impact on any particular sector or the US economy as a whole hard to predict, and is weighing on sentiment. In fact, some in the US are now beginning to fear

A sell-off in the US stock market gathered steam on Monday, fuelled by rising concern about the cost of the trade war to the world's largest economy. The S&P 500, which tracks the biggest American companies, fell about 2% in early trade, while the Dow Jones dropped 0.9% and the Nasdaq sank more than 3.5%. The falls came after President Donald Trump ducked questions about whether the US economy was facing a recession or price rises as a result of tariff moves, while warning instead of a "period of transition". Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, however, insisted there would be no contraction in the US, although he acknowledged that the price of some goods may rise. Investors fear that tariffs - which are taxes on goods applied as they enter the country - will lead to higher...

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled potential changes for the US Fed's closely watched "dot plot" interest-rate projections as part of a policy framework review underway at the US central bank and expected to wrap up by the end of summer. Powell said that the US Federal Reserve is likely to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged in the coming months as it waits for widespread uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump's policies. "On the communications…particularly our post-meeting communications, we're going to take a close look at the SEP and also compare ourselves to what other central banks around the world do," Jerome Powell said at a research conference in New York, referring to the US Fed's summary of economic projections. US Fed chair Powell said the Tr...