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As Trump Returns to G7, Rift With Allies Is Even Deeper

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In 2018, the president called for the group to embrace Russia and stormed out of the summit. Now he is seeking to shrink America’s military role abroad and embarking on a more expansive trade war.When President Trump last attended a Group of 7 meeting in Canada, he was in many ways the odd man out.At that meeting, in 2018, Mr. Trump called for the alliance of Western countries to embrace Russia, antagonized allies and ultimately stormed out of the summit over a trade battle he began by imposing metals tariffs on Canada.As he returns on Sunday for the Group of 7 meeting in Alberta, those fissures have only deepened. Since retaking office, the president has sought to shrink America’s military role abroad and made threats to annex the summit’s host after embarking on a much more expansive trade war.Mr. Trump is now facing a self-imposed deadline of early July to reach trade deals. His trade adviser even promised in April that the tariffs would lead to “90 deals in 90 days.” Despite reaching framework agreements with Britain and China, the administration has shown scant progress on deals with other major trading partners.The future of the president’s favored negotiating tool is uncertain as a legal battle over his tariffs plays out in the courts. But a failure to reach accords could lead the Trump administration to once again ratchet up tariffs and send markets roiling.“I think we’ll have a few new trade deals,” Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday as he left for the summit.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Where’s the Inflation From Tariffs? Just Wait, Economists Say.

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    Are predictions for a jump in consumer prices too early, or just wrong?Tariffs raise consumer prices. It’s a view held by most economists since long before President Trump entered the White House.Prices rose when Mr. Trump imposed levies on China in his first term, though that did not translate to noticeably higher inflation overall. Forecasters have been bracing for months for it to happen again on a much larger scale, given that his tariffs this time are substantially larger and more widespread.But data released this week showed that inflationary pressures remained more muted than expected at this stage, raising an uncomfortable question for economists: Are their predictions wrong?Economists are undeterred — for now. It’s not that tariffs aren’t affecting prices, they say. It’s that this isn’t happening in a significant enough way just yet to show up in broad measures of inflation like the Consumer Price Index. They argue that the impact will be much more significant this summer.“Inflation is very likely going to increase,” said Marc Giannoni, chief U.S. economist at Barclays, who formerly worked at the Federal Reserve’s regional banks in Dallas and New York. “It is a question of time, not so much of if.”Mr. Trump’s tariffs have already rippled through the economy in several ways.Businesses rushed to stock up on products before levies were imposed, and now imports of foreign goods are down sharply. Uncertainty has skyrocketed, stoked by the administration’s frequent pivots on its trade policy. On Thursday, it announced that steel tariffs would soon apply to appliances made with the metal, including dishwashers, washing machines and refrigerators. More

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    New China Trade ‘Deal’ Takes U.S. Back to Where It Started

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    If a handshake agreement holds, it will merely undo some of the damage from the trade war that President Trump started.After two days of tense negotiations, the United States and China appear to have walked back from the brink of a devastating economic conflict — maybe.Officials from the two countries reached a handshake agreement in the early hours of Wednesday in London to remove some of the harmful measures they had used to target each other’s economies as part of a clash that rapidly intensified in recent months.It remains unclear whether the truce will hold — or crumble like one struck in May did. Even if the agreement does prove durable, its big accomplishment appears to be merely returning the countries to a status quo from several months ago, before President Trump provoked tensions with China in early April by ramping up tariffs on goods it produces.“It seems like we’re negotiating in circles,” said Myron Brilliant, a senior counselor at DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group and former executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.“You escalate, you de-escalate,” he added. “At the end of the day we’re not really further along.”As a result of this week’s negotiations, tariffs will stay where they are. Further details are scant, other than the likely rollback of aggressive policies the two countries adopted since May.China is expected to loosen restrictions on exports of minerals that had threatened to cripple an array of American manufacturers. The United States will in return relax new limits that it placed on its own exports of technology and products, as well as walk back threats to cancel visas for Chinese students in the United States.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    U.S. Court Agrees to Keep Trump Tariffs Intact as Appeal Gets Underway

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    The appeals court’s decision delivered an important but interim victory for the Trump administration.A federal appeals court agreed on Tuesday to allow President Trump to maintain many of his tariffs on China and other U.S. trading partners, extending a pause granted shortly after another panel of judges ruled in late May that the import taxes were illegal.The decision, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, delivered an important but interim victory for the Trump administration, which had warned that any interruption to its steep duties could undercut the president in talks around the world.But the government still must convince the judges that the president appropriately used a set of emergency powers when he put in place the centerpiece of his economic agenda earlier this year. The Trump administration has already signaled it is willing to fight that battle as far as the Supreme Court.The ruling came shortly after negotiators from the United States and China agreed to a framework intended to extend a trade truce between the two superpowers. The Trump administration had warned that those talks and others would have been jeopardized if the appeals court had not granted a fuller stay while arguments proceeded.At the heart of the legal wrangling is Mr. Trump’s novel interpretation of a 1970s law that he used to wage a global trade war on an expansive scale. No president before him had ever used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose tariffs, and the word itself is not even mentioned in the statute.But the law has formed the foundation of Mr. Trump’s campaign to reorient the global economic order. He has invoked its powers to sidestep Congress and impose huge taxes on most global imports, with the goal of raising revenue, bolstering domestic manufacturing and brokering more favorable trade deals with other countries.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • 113 Shares59 Views

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    U.S. and China Agree to Walk Back Trade Tensions

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    Negotiators said the two governments would stick to a previous truce and reduce tensions that had escalated in recent weeks between the world’s largest economies.The United States and China have agreed to a “framework” that is intended to ease economic tension and extend a trade truce that the world’s two largest economies reached last month, officials from both countries said on Tuesday.After two days of marathon negotiations in London, top economic officials from the United States and China are now expected to present the new framework to their leaders, President Trump and President Xi Jinping, for final approval.The agreement is intended to solidify terms of a deal that the United States and China reached in Switzerland in May that unraveled in recent weeks. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was part of the negotiating team, said American concerns over China’s restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals and magnets had been resolved.“We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus,” Mr. Lutnick told reporters in London, describing the agreement as a “handshake.”He added that Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi would be briefed on the agreement before it took effect.“They were focused on trying to deliver on what President Xi told President Trump,” Mr. Lutnick said. “I think both sides had extra impetus to get things done.”The U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, who took part in the discussions, said they were also focused on ensuring compliance with what was agreed to in Geneva about rare earth mineral exports and tariffs. He said the two sides would remain in regular contact as they tried to work through their economic disagreements.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Trump Aides Urge Court to Spare Tariffs as They Dismiss Worries in Public

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    The dueling narratives come as the administration is asking an appeals court to preserve a set of tariffs recently deemed to be illegal.Shortly after a federal trade court declared many of President Trump’s tariffs to be illegal, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, took to television to brush aside the setback.“It cost us a week, maybe,” Mr. Lutnick said this month on Fox News, noting that other countries remained eager to strike new deals despite tariffs being in legal jeopardy.“Everybody came right back to the table,” he added.With the fate of the president’s tariffs hanging in the balance, the Trump administration has tried to project dueling narratives. Top aides have insisted publicly that their negotiations remain unharmed, even as some of those same officials have pleaded with the court to spare Mr. Trump from reputational damage on the global stage.The administration will face two crucial tests on Monday. The government is scheduled to submit a new legal brief to a federal appeals court outlining why the tariffs should not go away, while Mr. Lutnick and other close Trump advisers meet with their Chinese counterparts in London to hammer out new trade terms.The court could factor in “any sort of public statements the administration makes” as it decides whether to preserve existing tariffs as the case plays out, said Ted Murphy, a co-leader of the trade practice at the law firm Sidley Austin.While Mr. Murphy said it remained to be seen how judges would view the government’s recent bullishness, he said that a decision that invalidated the president’s tariffs could “weaken the U.S. position” abroad.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • 113 Shares82 Views

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    U.S. and China to Hold Economic Talks in London

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    Top American economic officials will meet with their Chinese counterparts next Monday in hopes of breaking a trade stalemate, President Trump said.President Trump said on Friday that the United States and China would begin their second round of economic talks on Monday in London, resuming negotiations over tariffs and global supplies of rare earth minerals that have begun to threaten the global economic growthThe American delegation will be led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social. It was not immediately clear who would represent China, but He Lifeng, China’s vice premier for economic policy, led the previous round of talks in Switzerland.The talks come at a fragile moment for the global economy, which has been slowed by uncertainty and supply chain disruptions. The United States in April paused some of the tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on dozens of countries to provide time for trade negotiations.Those levies, as well as steep import taxes on Chinese goods, were thrust into further uncertainty in late May, when a U.S. trade court deemed them illegal. The tariffs, however, currently remain in place while an appeal process unfolds. As the U.S. delegation meets in London, the Trump administration has a deadline to make its case to a federal appeals court for why the tariffs should continue.The announcement of Monday’s talks came a day after Mr. Trump held a call with Xi Jinping, China’s president, that was intended to break a deadlock that threatened to derail a trade truce that the countries reached in early May in Geneva. Under that truce, the United States reduced Mr. Trump’s tariff on Chinese imports to 30 percent from 145 percent, and China lowered its import duty on American goods to 10 percent from 125 percent.But in recent weeks, the tension between the two countries returned, tied to mineral exports to the United States, which China had recently halted. The Trump administration also proposed a plan to revoke visas for Chinese students associated with the Communist Party or studying in critical fields.Mr. Bessent, who has been leading the negotiations with China for the United States, recently acknowledged that the talks had stalled and suggested that it would be up to the two leaders to get them back on track.Then, last week, Mr. Trump said on social media that China had “violated” the agreement that was brokered in Switzerland. Beijing rejected that notion, accusing Washington of severely undermining the trade truce.The back and forth continued this week when Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday that Mr. Xi was “VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH.”A day later, however, Mr. Trump said that his 90-minute call with Mr. Xi had been productive.“I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi, of China, discussing some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal,” Mr. Trump said, adding that it “resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries.” More

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    As Trump’s Tariffs Reshape Trade, Businesses Struggle With Economic Uncertainty

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    At the worst point of the labor shortage that emerged in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdowns, Thunderdome Restaurant Group had 100 people sign up for a job interview and only 15 show up. Of the two workers it hired, one never came in.The job market has cooled significantly since then, and Joe Lanni, who runs the Cincinnati-based company with his brother, now faces a different dilemma: how to grow the business, which has over 50 locations, while controlling costs as concerns about the economy spread.So they’re rethinking menu items like freshly made tortillas that require a dedicated full-time worker. They are also planning to shutter a handful of locations where sales have been softest, while adding more outposts of their fast casual restaurants that are doing well.Uncertainty about the economy has skyrocketed as President Trump has begun to radically reshape the global trading system with tariffs, cut off a crucial supply of workers with an immigration crackdown and floated big changes to the rules and regulations that govern how businesses operate. Consumers, who fuel the American economy, have become more hesitant to spend, and according to recent surveys, both the services and manufacturing sectors are slowing.But the economy does not appear to be at the cliff’s edge just yet, and employers like Mr. Lanni don’t want to be too cautious and miss out on opportunities.As his restaurants gear up for outdoor service this summer, Mr. Lanni said, he still expects head count across the company to swell by about 200 people, to around 1,500 employees, before receding in the fall. The stakes are high, however.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • 125 Shares105 Views

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    Marina von Neumann Whitman Dead: International Trade Expert Was 90

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    She was the first woman to serve on the White House Council of Economic Advisers. At General Motors, she became one of the highest-ranking women in corporate America.Marina von Neumann Whitman, an expert in international trade who in 1972 became the first woman to be appointed to the White House Council of Economic Advisers and who later was one of the few women to join the executive leadership at General Motors, died on May 20 in Concord, Mass. She was 90.Her son, Malcolm Whitman, said her death, in a hospital, was from complications of pneumonia.Dr. Whitman was just 36 when President Richard M. Nixon nominated her for his three-person economic council, making her the highest-ranking woman in his administration.“As a woman, she will be outnumbered on the council two to one, but not in terms of brains,” the president said in the Oval Office with Dr. Whitman and her family by his side. (The council’s other members at the time were Herbert Stein and Ezra Solomon.)Dr. Whitman was an academic economist by training — she taught at the University of Pittsburgh and later at the University of Michigan — but she alternated her work in the classroom with extensive stints in the public and corporate sectors.Dr. Whitman in 2010. Over the years she alternated her work in the classroom, as a professor of economics, with stints in the public and corporate sectors.Scott R. Galvin, Michigan Photography, University of MichiganBefore joining the Council of Economic Advisers, she had worked for it as a staff economist and then served on the president’s board overseeing price controls.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More