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Trump says he would let Fed’s Powell finish term if he wins: report

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Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump raises his fist during Day 1 of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 15, 2024. 

Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

Donald Trump will allow Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to complete his term at the central bank if he won the November election, the Republican presidential candidate told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview.

“I would let him serve it out, especially if I thought he was doing the right thing,” Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek. President Joe Biden nominated Powell to serve a second four-year term as Fed chief in May 2022.

Powell is also a Fed governor, a position he will hold until Jan. 31, 2028.

These comments mark an about-face from the former president, who has had a strained relationship with the central bank leader.

Powell took the helm as Fed chief in February 2018, and he had faced criticism from then-President Trump over the years on interest rate policy.

Back in 2019, Trump criticized the central bank and its leader — even as policymakers lowered rates three times that year, eventually to a target range of 1.5% to 1.75% — arguing the U.S. was at an economic disadvantage against other countries with lower rates.

As recently as February of this year, Trump told Fox Business that he would not reappoint Powell to lead the Fed. “I think he’s political,” he told journalist Maria Bartiromo. “I think he’s going to do something to probably help the Democrats, I think, if he lowers interest rates.”

Read the Bloomberg Businessweek article here.

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Economics

Trump advisor Hassett confident tariffs will stay despite judges’ ruling

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National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 14, 2025. 

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

A top economic advisor to President Donald Trump expressed confidence Thursday that court rulings throwing out aggressive tariffs will be overturned on appeal.

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said in an interview that he fully believes the administration’s efforts to use tariffs to ensure fair trade are perfectly legal and will resume soon.

“We’re right that America has been mishandled by other governments,” Hassett said during a Fox Business interview. “This trade negotiation season has been really, really effective for the American people.”

The comments follow a ruling from judges on the Court of International Trade who said Trump exceeded his authority on tariffs, which are aimed both at combating barriers against American goods abroad and stemming the flow of fentanyl across the U.S. border.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that fentanyl is the primary driver in domestic overdose deaths, the judges ruled that related tariffs “fail because they do not deal with the threats set forth in those orders.”

Hassett bristled at the ruling and said the administration will continue its anti-fentanyl efforts.

“These activist judges are trying to slow down something right in the middle of really important negotiations,” he said. “The idea that the fentanyl crisis in America is not an emergency is so appalling to me that I am sure that when we appeal, this decision will be overturned.”

The administration has multiple options to get around the judges’ ruling, including other sections of trade laws it can utilize. However, Hassett said that’s not the plan at the moment.

“The fact is that there are measures that we can take with different numbers that we can start right now. There are different approaches that would take a couple of months to put these in place,” he said. “We’re not planning to pursue those right now, because we’re very very confident that this ruling is incorrect.”

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Economics

America’s immigration detention centres are at capacity

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IN APRIL Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), lamented that it takes too long to deport illegal immigrants. At the Border Security Expo in Phoenix he told a crowd of startup bosses vying for government contracts that a better deportation system would function more like Amazon, the tech giant whose delivery drivers zigzag the country at record speed. “Like Prime, but with human beings,” he said.

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Economics

Demand for American degrees is sinking

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Trump’s war on universities is driving talent away

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