Economic Glance
Procter & Gamble will cut up to 7,000 jobs, or approximately 6% of its global workforce, in the next two years as the maker of Tide detergent and Pampers diapers wrestles with tariff-related costs and customers who have grown anxious about the economy.
The job cuts, announced at the Deutsche Bank consumer conference in Paris on Thursday, make up about 15% of its current non-manufacturing workforce, said chief financial officer Andre Schulten.
“This restructuring program is an important step toward ensuring our ability to deliver our long-term algorithm over the coming two to three years,” Schulten said. “It does not, however, remove the near-term challenges that we currently face.”
Procter & Gamble to cut up to 7,000 jobs amid economic and tariff pressure
Trump says he is doubling tariffs on imported steel to 50% – as it happened
Donald Trump made a surprise announcement doubling tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% during a speech in Pittsburgh celebrating a deal between US Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation.
The exact nature of the US Steel deal Trump blessed remained unclear. Although the president insists that it is “a partnership”, Nippon Steel has never withdrawn its bid to buy and control US Steel as a wholly owned subsidiary. The US Steel website still describes the deal as “US Steel’s agreement to be acquired by NSC”.
If the deal is a purchase of US Steel by its Japanese rival, Trump would be breaking a campaign promise to block any such sale.
Trump held a bizarre press conference in the Oval Office with Elon Musk, during which the billionaire said farewell to his role as a special government employee and the president repeated false claims about government spending his donor-turned-aide had stopped.
Federal Trade Court Blocks Trump From Imposing Sweeping Tariffs Under Emergency Powers Law
A federal trade court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law, swiftly throwing into doubt Trump’s signature set of economic policies that have rattled global financial markets, frustrated trade partners and raised broader fears about inflation intensifying and the economy slumping.
The ruling from a three-judge panel at the New York-based Court of International Trade came after several lawsuits arguing Trump has exceeded his authority and left U.S. trade policy dependent on his whims.
Trump has repeatedly said the tariffs would force manufacturers to bring back factory jobs to the U.S. and generate enough revenue to reduce federal budget deficits. He used the tariffs as a negotiating cudgel in hopes of forcing other nations to negotiate agreements that favored the U.S., suggesting he would simply set the rates himself if the terms were unsatisfactory.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that trade deficits are a national emergency “that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base — facts that the court did not dispute.”
The administration, he said, remains “committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.”
CFTC leaders exit as Trump pick prepares to take helm
In a series of departures announced in a matter of weeks, the agency’s entire top rung is set to turn over as Brian Quintenz, President Trump’s nominee for CFTC chair, prepares to take the reins.
Commissioners Summer Mersinger and Christy Goldsmith Romero both plan to depart by the end of the week, while fellow Commissioner Kristin Johnson has said she will leave “later this year.”
Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham has promised to remain at the agency until Quintenz is confirmed, at which time she too will depart. The commission, which typically has five members, has been short one person since former Chair Rostin Behnam stepped down in January.
The relatively low-profile agency is expected to play a key role in regulating the digital asset market alongside the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Trump administration says 5.3 million student loan borrowers will have wages garnished this summer
The garnishments will happen in waves, with the first borrowers seeing the pay deductions in early June. Monday, the Education Department started sending 30-day notices to around 195,000 defaulted borrowers to notify them that they will be subject to the Treasury Offset Program, which collects past-due debts owed to state and federal agencies. Under this program, Treasury can withhold money including tax refunds, wages, Social Security payments, and disability benefits to pay delinquent debt.
Later this summer, "all 5.3 million defaulted borrowers will receive a notice from Treasury that their earnings will be subject to administrative wage garnishment," the department says in its first timeline of the enforcement action.
Trump tariffs live updates: China retaliates with 34% tariff as Trump digs in, vows to 'never change' policies
President Trump has played down the shock impact of his tariff shift on markets, which kept spiraling downward on Friday as fears for the global economy grew.
US trading partners have vowed to retaliate after Trump ended months of suspense on Wednesday by revealing broad reciprocal duties on all countries, in what he has referred to as "Liberation Day." On Friday, China announced it will impose countermeasures against the US starting April 10, including a 34% tariff on US goods.
Trump's administration is imposing a baseline tariff of 10% across all countries beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday. The US is upping those duties for various partners whom he described as bad actors starting next Wednesday, April 9.
Trump vowed to "never change" his policies on Friday, even as he touted progress with Vietnam, a country set to see one of the biggest US tariff hits.
US corporations push to roll back Trump-era tax policies they once endorsed
US corporations and their supporters in Washington are pushing aggressively to roll back tax policies they once endorsed, in a move that could return hundreds of billions of dollars to some of America’s biggest companies.
As congressional negotiators attempt to keep the government funded past 19 January, an agreement is emerging that ties the corporate tax breaks to an increase in support for vulnerable American families – an effort to make the deal more palatable for Democrats.
Just six years ago the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group for CEOs of large US firms, described the Trump-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as “a remarkable, once-in-a-generation opportunity”. Now, the group is leading “a six-figure advocacy campaign” to roll back parts of it, according to Politico, and threatening that failing to secure new tax cuts will lead to “slower job creation, smaller wage increases and lower overall economic growth”.
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