Aurelia Butler

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    in Economy

    Trump pledges to impose sweeping tariffs on imported cars

    Unlock the US Election Countdown newsletter for freeThe stories that matter on money and politics in the race for the White HouseDonald Trump has elevated his threat to impose sweeping tariffs on imported cars including from Mexico and the EU, placing increased US trade protectionism at the heart of his agenda if he wins a new White House term. Speaking at the Economic Club of Chicago on Tuesday, Trump lashed out at European car manufacturers, including Mercedes-Benz, and vowed to slap high levies on imported vehicles, arguing that it was the only way to force production to return to the US.“We’re going to put tariffs on them . . . and you know what they can do? Mercedes-Benz will start building in the United States,” Trump said, while mocking the company’s existing presence in America.“They build everything in Germany, then they assemble it here. They get away with murder,” the former president said. “They take it out of a box, we could have our child do it,” Trump added.In response to the comment, the United Auto Workers union, posted on X: “Trump is a scab.”The Republican presidential candidate’s ire was also directed at car imports from Mexico. “If I’m going to be president of this country, I’m going to put a 100, 200, 2,000 per cent tariff [on cars from Mexico],” he said. “They’re not going to sell one car into the United States,” Trump added.During his time in the White House between 2017 and 2021, Trump launched trade wars with China as well as G7 allies, and renegotiated a trade pact with Canada and Mexico.But the former president has expanded the scope and scale of his trade pledges during this year’s election campaign, promising to apply up to 20 per cent tariffs on all imported goods, 60 per cent levies on all Chinese imports, and other tariffs on countries that are moving away from using the dollar.“To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff,” Trump said. Economists have warned that his tariff plans — in addition to other elements of his economic agenda, such as sweeping tax cuts and efforts to undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve — risk triggering a new inflationary spiral in America and increasing costs for ordinary consumers.Trump said that if he won the election he would not seek to “order” the central bank what to do in terms of monetary policy, but said the president should be allowed to speak about interest rates.He also mocked the role of the Fed chair, which is held by Jay Powell, who the former president appointed to lead the central bank early in his administration but has since criticised.“I think it’s the greatest job in government. You show up to the office once a month, and you say let’s see, flip a coin, and everybody talks about you like you’re a God,” Trump said.During his session in Chicago, which was moderated by Bloomberg News, Trump was asked if he was in favour of breaking up Google, the technology company, as the Department of Justice is considering. He responded that Google had “a lot of power” but his main complaint was that it did not show enough positive stories about him. “I called the head of Google the other day and I said: ‘I’m getting a lot of good stories lately, but you don’t find them’,” Trump said. “I think Google is rigged,” he added. But he was sceptical of a big break-up that would “destroy the company”. “What you can do without breaking it up is make sure that it’s more fair,” Trump said. Video: America divided: the women who vote for Trump | FT Film More

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    in Economy

    Trump says president should weigh in on, but not order, Fed rate decisions

    “I think I have the right to say I think you should go up or down a little bit. I don’t think I should be allowed to order it, but I think I have the right to put in comments as to whether or not the interest rates should go up or down,” the former president said during a Bloomberg News interview at the Chicago Economic Club.In previous comments, Trump had been more explicit that he believed presidents “should have at least (a) say” in Fed rate decisions.How Trump would deal with the U.S. central bank should he win a second four-year term as president has been a matter of keen interest in economic circles and on Wall Street following reports earlier this year that a group of his allies had drafted proposals aimed at eroding the Fed’s independence if he wins. The group’s proposals asserted that Trump should be consulted on rate decisions, and Fed banking regulation proposals should be subject to White House review.The Fed chair and the other six members of its board of governors are nominated by the president and subject to confirmation by the Senate. The presidents of the 12 regional Fed banks are chosen by their own boards of directors, subject to approval by the Fed board.But the Fed enjoys substantial operational independence to make policy decisions that wield tremendous influence over the direction of the world’s largest economy and global asset markets.Among the pegs supporting the U.S. dollar’s stature as the world’s reserve currency, for instance, is the Fed’s ability to set monetary policy on its own without political oversight. That status, in turn, is key to granting the U.S. government a nearly unchecked ability to borrow on global bond markets at relatively low interest rates despite having a $35 trillion debt load, dubbed the “exorbitant privilege.”Trump in Tuesday’s interview declined to answer directly a question about whether he would try to oust Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump first appointed to run the U.S. central bank — only to later berate Powell and threaten to remove him for raising rates.”I did because he was keeping the rates too high, and I was right,” Trump said of his threats during his time in the White House to try to remove Powell.Either Trump or his Democratic rival for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris, will have the opportunity to appoint a new Fed chief when Powell’s term as chair expires in 2026. More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    One-Year Bitcoin (BTC) Cycle on Verge of Being Broken

    The price of Bitcoin has been testing significant resistance in the last few days, and the accompanying chart indicates that this level is almost at the top of the cryptocurrency’s long-term declining channel at $66,000. This level has frequently served as a ceiling for Bitcoin, as it has never been able to decisively break past it. But recent signs suggest that the market may be changing.For example, the spot premiums for Bitcoin and Ethereum are declining, which has not happened since June. The digital asset may be about to witness a major development, as indicated by this and the ongoing increase in the global M2 money supply, which is directly related to Bitcoin’s liquidity.The amount of $66,000 is the immediate resistance and one of the key price levels to keep an eye on. A bullish breakout may be indicated if Bitcoin is able to break above this level with significant volume. Traders are monitoring $62,000 as a critical support level in case of a decline. Subsequent collapses may point to a more significant adjustment. Last but not least, there is still psychological resistance at $60,000, and a decline below it may result in additional losses as traders reevaluate their holdings.The narrative surrounding the Bitcoin rally is further reinforced by the global liquidity index hitting new highs. This implies that market liquidity is sufficient to sustain additional price increases which, if the trend continues, could drive Bitcoin toward new all-time highs. But volatility is to be expected, so the next few weeks will be crucial for the movement of Bitcoin’s price.Even though there is a chance to break the one-year cycle, a lot will depend on how Bitcoin handles these crucial price points.This article was originally published on U.Today More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    Trump’s WLFI crypto coin launches with strong initial demand

    The public sale started today and was open exclusively to participants who have qualified through a whitelist process that kicked off in September.The project sold over 220 million tokens to more than 1,700 unique wallets within the first 20 minutes.Despite a series of website outages during the rollout, nearly 2,900 investors managed to acquire 344 million tokens within the first hour.Due to regulatory constraints in the U.S., the sale is limited to accredited investors, as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).To qualify, investors must have a net worth over $1 million (not counting their home) or an annual income of at least $200,000 (or $300,000 with a spouse) for the past two years.The WLFI coin is the governance token for the DeFi platform, which enables investors to borrow, lend, and earn interest.Trump and his team have set an ambitious goal of raising $300 million, with 100,000 accredited U.S. investors already whitelisted ahead of the launch.The WLFI token stands apart from traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin because it is non-transferable and doesn’t generate any yield.Moreover, 63% of the total token supply is reserved exclusively for accredited investors, restricting access to a select group.The DeFi project is fronted by Eric Trump, Donald Trump’s son, and was first announced in August. Eric Trump referred to World Liberty Financial as “digital real estate,” positioning the Ethereum-based project as an ambitious competitor in the DeFi space.In a recent blog post, World Liberty Financial stated its goal to become a global “one-stop shop for DeFi,” competing with established decentralized platforms like Uniswap. More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    Bitcoin Omega Candle Inevitable: ‘$1 Million BTC’ Samson Mow

    Mow also accompanied his tweet with a picture to illustrate his thought as best as possible.In one of the tweets published earlier, the JAN3 CEO explained that an Omega candle would be a huge candle on a Bitcoin chart that would propel BTC’s growth to a high extent, and it usually happens unexpectedly.Another Bitcoin evangelist and BTC advisor to the president of El Salvador Max Keiser prefers to call this a “God candle.” This year, he has also tweeted multiple times that a God Bitcoin candle is inevitable.According to Mow’s earlier tweets, the Omega candle that he expects is bound to lead Bitcoin to the $1 million price mark inevitably. As the year started, Mow reckoned that spot Bitcoin ETFs approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in January would create a BTC demand shock, while the Bitcoin halving (which took place on April 20) would create a supply shock for BTC. Once these two shocks clash against each other, an Omega candle should emerge, he tweeted.Since then, Bitcoin has been pushed down by almost 1.5%, and it is currently changing hands at $65,525 per coin.Still, the famous investor and author of the “Rich Dad Poor Dad” book, Robert Kiyosaki, recently tweeted that he expects Bitcoin to hit $500,000 next year and very likely to reach $1 million by 2030 since, by that time, AI will have disturbed the world of finance greatly. Kiyosaki cited a book, “Money GPT” authored by his friend-writer that is allegedly about to come out, where the author explores the potential impact of ChatGPT and other AI bots on financial markets and trading in general.This article was originally published on U.Today More

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    in Cryptocurrency

    Bitcoin (BTC) on Verge of Hitting New High of $78,000: Details

    He said that, in his opinion, it would be great for Bitcoin to drop to the $60,000 price level and shatter the hopes of the community. However, he mentioned that after this drop, BTC would rebound to $66,000 and then see another drop toward $57,000. After that, the Bitcoin price would finally break out toward $78,000.This surprising-yet-crucial take from Martinez seemed confusing at the time. However, Bitcoin is surprisingly following this same path. In the last few weeks, the leading cryptocurrency actually witnessed a drop to $60,000 before rebounding to $66,000 and again retracing to $57,000. The first three points from Martinez’s prediction have come to fruition.Bitcoin, as of writing time, is trading at $65,673 after an increase of 1.18% in the last 24 hours. The cryptocurrency is already up 9.45% in value over the last 30 days. The current sentiment on the market is very bullish, and seeing the anticipation around the “Uptober” theory, it is likely that BTC is on the verge of hitting a new all-time high.This article was originally published on U.Today More