Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared on Wednesday that he will begin advocating for a ban on individual stock trading in Congress, arguing that major portfolio gains by lawmakers undermine voter confidence in the system.
When pressed during an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR85WkgO8bc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with &#8220;Bloomberg Surveillance&#8221; on whether President Donald Trump is prepared to sign off on stock trading legislation <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-panel-votes-to-ban-stock-trading-for-lawmakers-president-and-vp-but-spares-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">making its way</a> through Congress, Bessent said he did not believe a &#8220;perfect bill&#8221; had been introduced yet, but did express a desire for a crackdown.
&#8220;I am going to start pushing for a single stock trading ban because the — it is the credibility of the House and the Senate that you look at some of these eye-popping returns, whether it&#8217;s Representative Pelosi, Senator Wyden, every hedge fund would be jealous of them,&#8221; Bessent said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
I am pushing for a ban on single-stock trading in Congress. The American people deserve better than politicians like <a href="https://twitter.com/RonWyden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RonWyden</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerPelosi</a> with hedge-fund level returns. Public service should be about serving the people, not getting rich. <a href="https://t.co/yaXFGRfiMz">pic.twitter.com/yaXFGRfiMz</a>
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent/status/1955713416292601876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, was referring to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) — both of whom are <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/06/21/us-news/pelosi-added-millions-to-net-worth-last-year-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimated</a> to be worth <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/net-worth-update-senator-ron-wyden-made-estimated-8241k-stock-market-last-month" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millions</a> of dollars.
&#8220;And you know, the American people deserve better than this. People shouldn&#8217;t come to Washington to get rich,&#8221; Bessent continued. &#8220;They should come to serve the American people and it brings down trust in the system because, I can tell you, that if any private citizen traded this way, the SEC would be knocking on their door.&#8221;
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
Pelosi&#8217;s well-known success in the stock market during her time in Congress has drawn intense scrutiny, but it may not be examined by the Securities and Exchange Commission or be a focus of any formal investigation any time soon. In fact, just last month, senators <a href="https://x.com/SenRickScott/status/1950637197272727566" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot down</a> a measure seeking an inquiry into her trades.
During a recent appearance on CNN, Pelosi <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nancy-pelosi-visibly-perturbed-by-cnns-random-act-of-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to Trump accusing her of insider trading, rejecting the claim.
&#8220;That’s ridiculous,” Pelosi said. &#8220;In fact, I very much support the — stop the trading of members of Congress, not that I think anybody’s doing anything wrong, if they are, they are prosecuted and they go to jail. But because of the confidence it instills in the American people, don’t worry about this. But I have no concern about the obvious investments that have been made over time, I’m not into it, my husband is, but it isn’t anything to do with anything insider.&#8221;
As some other lawmakers <a href="https://www.notus.org/money/shri-thanedar-stock-act-violation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">violate</a> disclosure rules that are currently in place, Bessent pointed out that both <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5267113-donald-trump-congressional-stock-trading-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump</a> and House Minority Leader Hakeem <a href="https://punchbowl.news/article/house/bipartisan-group-eyes-stock-trading-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeffries</a> (D-NY) have voiced support for a congressional stock trading ban.
&#8220;The House and the Senate, they&#8217;re supposed to be working for the American people — their constituents,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;They&#8217;re supposed to be making law. And they shouldn&#8217;t be trading every day. I&#8217;m not going to name names, but there was one person in Congress who had 12 or 13 hundred trades two years ago. And you know, my hedge fund didn&#8217;t have that many trades.&#8221;
Bessent also warned, &#8220;There&#8217;s something going on on Capitol Hill in terms of information leakage that is statistically &#8230; not sound.&#8221;

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Bessent Targets ‘Eye-Popping’ Stock Gains Made By Members Of Congress

Congress

Nancy Pelosi

Scott Bessent

Stock Market

Treasury Department

Trump Administration

U.S.

As we pass the halfway point of the 2020s, it’s safe to say we’ve all had front row seats to what many people have described as the vibe shift. You don’t really have to pay attention to business to understand that something is changing in corporate America. You don’t have to be looking at stocks every day to realize that the balance of power is shifting away from the heights of wokeness we saw at the beginning of the 2020s. President Trump’s latest executive <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/08/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-guarantees-fair-banking-for-all-americans/">order</a>, prohibiting politicized debanking, is creating massive positive waves for conservatives concerned about losing access to their finances — and investors who don’t want the banks they invest in playing politics. This comes on the heels of other executive orders targeted at biased AI <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/preventing-woke-ai-in-the-federal-government/">programs</a> and divisive, discriminatory <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/">DEI policies</a>.
These big steps are the results of top-down exercises in executive power. And a frequent criticism I hear, as someone whose job it is to pay attention to business, is that Trump’s executive orders will just create a facade of non-wokeness, under which companies will resume their previous biased policies. As it happens, answering that criticism is a major part of my work in the world of corporate engagement. Because the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-year-the-dei-tide-turned?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=10&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Year+The+DEI+Tide+Turned">pushback</a> against ESG, DEI, &amp; corporate wokeness isn’t just coming from the White House. It’s coming from ordinary investors all across this country who want the businesses they invest in focusing on… well, business.
Let’s take debanking as an example. Months before Trump’s debanking executive order came down, banks like <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/major-win-jpmorgan-chase-ends-political-debanking?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Major+Win%3A+JPMorgan+Chase+Ends+Political+Debanking">JPMorgan Chase</a> &amp; <a href="https://x.com/IsaacWillour/status/1929918865842012351">Citigroup</a> adopted explicit guarantees: no more debanking based on clients’ political beliefs or affiliations. These banks weren’t just anticipating the regulatory and political shift coming from Washington — they were hearing from shareholders. Why? Because when businesses play politics, they don’t just incur the wrath of Republican politicians. These gambles with brand value and deviations from the core business model hurt ordinary Americans, who rightly expect Citigroup to create value for their kids’ college fund instead of opining on gun control through their lending policies.
When JPMorgan Chase debanked Ambassador Sam Brownback, investors took notice. And the investors I work with aren’t the type to sit back and take it. Shareholders like <a href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/my-bid-to-make-jpmorgan-less-woke-progressive-discrimination-conservatives-christians-shareholders-sec-banking-finances-583c7999?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAhg8WubEGKB7cvLlardDDcKkGeJqpUicqcbM1xoLBHMGeBHqpP1w-ZC4shMtQk%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68957d1d&amp;gaa_sig=hpzyOTrRxsQ-AO0cLmG4VpK0q2-FpzuLTXkXA0T73nZM0Iu73898-9shhfsDz68MpAEbFs9tDXU_DvlMbfl-Fw%3D%3D">David Bahnsen</a> and other ordinary <a href="https://investor.bankofamerica.com/regulatory-and-other-filings/all-sec-filings/content/0001193125-24-064529/d529855ddef14a1.pdf">investors</a> were attending annual meetings and putting pressure on these companies from the inside for years, not to be right-wing or give special privileges to conservatives, but to play it neutral: serve everyone, because everyone needs banks. And because banks have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders, there have been real arguments occurring between investors and company reps for years on the debanking issue. Add to this pressure from red state fiduciaries cutting ties with activist banks (turns out, pro-energy states don’t take kindly to banks demonizing the energy industry), and the supercharging effect of an executive order, and you start to see how corporate America is slowly shifting back towards normalcy. And that’s just the debanking issue.
If you had to sum up why the backlash to corporate wokeness is working in one sentence, try this one: the pro-sanity business ecosystem has become too big to ignore, and too committed to fail. Think about it as a coalition. One part is ordinary investors and institutions who invest for return — these aren’t professional activists, a dynamic that companies are only recently having to get used to. Another part is financial professionals, another part are legal advocates like Alliance Defending Freedom, working to make sure companies can’t just ignore their own shareholders (because they try — often). Another part is friendly journalists and X personalities like Robby Starbuck, putting millions of eyes on this issue. Another part is the countless advocacy groups providing the research &amp; data that fuel our ability to talk to these companies, such as Consumers’ Research and the 1792 Exchange. Effective corporate engagement happens when all these forces align on a single aim: getting companies out of politics &amp; back to business. 
And we’re seeing real results on a whole host of issues. Beyond the debanking issue, we’re seeing companies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/08/us-banks-quit-net-zero-alliance-before-trump-inauguration">ditch</a> anti-energy commitments in droves (turns out, net zero becomes a fantasy the minute you look at the energy demands of the real world.) We’re seeing companies commit to treating their religious employees with the same respect &amp; privileges afforded to non-religious ones, including through workplace affinity groups and inclusion in charity matching programs. We’re seeing companies like <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/pepsico-puts-out-viewpoint-neutral-media-buying-content-policy-website">PepsiCo</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ibm-rolls-back-dei-commits-to-political-neutrality?author=Isaac+Willour&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=IBM+Rolls+Back+DEI%2C+Commits+To+Political+Neutrality">IBM</a> commit to not using their ad policies to discriminate against conservative news outlets like the Daily Wire. And we have good reason to believe that, as corporate engagement increases, more wins are coming.
So, what about that façade of nonwokeness? Aren’t companies just going to lie? As it happens, vigilance from actual investors is a fantastic way to safeguard against that. People generally have the biggest incentive to do something when it hurts to not do it. So, who has the biggest incentive to make sure businesses aren’t playing politics? The people who own the business: shareholders. The investors we represent have a clear incentive to be in the details — because the problem of corporate wokeness isn’t just a PR or branding issue. It’s an issue that affects the bottom line Americans depend on.
The vibe shift we’re seeing goes far beyond Washington, even though Washington matters. What’s happening in America, in real time, is conservative investors and institutions waking up and realizing that they’ve been leaving their financial influence on the table. And we truly have no blueprint for how much winning is possible when that influence is brought to bear. So, from Washington, to the halls of conservative institutions, to the ordinary mom-and-pop investors sitting at their kitchen table in West Texas — here’s to winning. The best is yet to come.
* * *
Isaac Willour is an award-winning journalist focusing on race, culture, and American conservatism, as well as a corporate relations analyst at Bowyer Research. His work has been featured at outlets including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Opinion, C-SPAN, and The Daily Wire. He is a member of the Young Voices contributor program and can be found on X <a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacWillour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@IsaacWillour</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Flag and Wall street sign

Why The Pro-Sanity Coalition Is Winning Again In Corporate America

Banks

Business

Corporations

debanking

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

JP Morgan

Wall Street

Woke Culture

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s (D-CA) indignant reaction to a recent question from CNN&#8217;s Jake Tapper gave away the game, revealing just how rare an occasion it is for a member of her party to be held to account by almost anyone in media.
Pelosi&#8217;s name had come up multiple times during spirited debate in the Senate over a bill — presented by Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) — that would bar members of Congress from owning stock. Tapper pressed Pelosi on the issue, using a comment from President Donald Trump to kick off the conversation.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Pelosi chastises Tapper for asking about Trump accusing her of insider trading:
“Why do you have to read that?&#8221;
“It isn&#8217;t anything to do with anything insider. But the president has his own exposure, he&#8217;s always projecting.&#8221;
“Let&#8217;s not give him any more time on that, please.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/rMQbobt9eB">pic.twitter.com/rMQbobt9eB</a>
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesternLensman/status/1950667689711776189?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Let me just read what he said,&#8221; Tapper stated, after technical difficulties prevented him from playing a clip he&#8217;d intended to air. &#8220;Nancy Pelosi became rich —&#8221;
&#8220;Why do you have to read that?&#8221; Pelosi demanded to know, clearly annoyed by the direction the interview was taking. &#8220;We‘re here to talk about the 60th anniversary of Medicaid. That&#8217;s what I agreed to come to talk about.&#8221;
&#8220;I wanted to —&#8221; Tapper tried again, but Pelosi interrupted him again.
&#8220;— And what that means, and the election,&#8221; she continued.
Tapper pushed back, saying that he had only &#8220;wanted to give you a chance just to respond. He accused you of insider trading, what&#8217;s your response to that?&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s ridiculous,&#8221; Pelosi laughed. &#8220;In fact, I very much support the — stop the trading of members of Congress, not that I think anybody&#8217;s doing anything wrong, if they are, they are prosecuted and they go to jail. But because of the confidence it instills in the American people, don&#8217;t worry about this. But I have no concern about the obvious investments that have been made over time, I&#8217;m not into it, my husband is, but it isn&#8217;t anything to do with anything insider.&#8221;
Pelosi then attempted to make the conversation about President Donald Trump, suggesting that he was only shining a spotlight on her to deflect from something he must have done.
&#8220;The president has his own exposure, so he&#8217;s always projecting,&#8221; she claimed. &#8220;He&#8217;s always projecting, and let&#8217;s not give him any more time on that, please. We&#8217;re going forward here.&#8221;
She then pivoted again to claim that the man who entered her San Francisco home and attacked her husband had been &#8220;inspired by [Trump]&#8221; before suggesting that it would be better if they could just go back to talking about Medicaid.
Trump, as he gave remarks from the White House on Wednesday, called for Pelosi to be investigated and claimed, &#8220;Nancy Pelosi became rich by having insider information &#8230; I think that&#8217;s disgraceful &#8230; She has the highest return of practically anybody in the history of Wall Street.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump calls for Nancy Pelosi to be INVESTIGATED for insider trading
“Nancy Pelosi became rich by having insider information &#8230;I think that&#8217;s disgraceful.&#8221;
“She has the highest return of practically, ANYBODY in the history of Wall Street…
HOW DID THAT… <a href="https://t.co/M6pM9UR9Nn">pic.twitter.com/M6pM9UR9Nn</a>
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) <a href="https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1950616450126795233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

US-POLITICS-VOTE-MIDTERMS-DNC

Nancy Pelosi Visibly Perturbed By CNN’s Random Act Of Journalism

Nancy Pelosi Visibly Perturbed By CNN's Random Act Of Journalism

Insider Trading

Jake Tapper

Media

Politics

A Senate panel on Wednesday advanced a bill that seeks to prohibit members of Congress, presidents, and vice presidents from trading or holding individual stocks — although the ban would not force a full divestment for current office holders until if and they win and start another term.
Part of an effort led by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), the legislation passed through the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in an 8-7 vote. Democrats joined with Hawley in supporting the <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26036909/s-1498-hawley-substitute-as-modified-wal25677.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">measure</a>, while the rest of the Republicans opposed it.
“Americans have watched politicians earn a fortune using information not available to the general public while the average family struggles to get by. It&#8217;s just wrong,&#8221; Hawley said. &#8220;Members of Congress should be focused on delivering results for their constituents, not returns on investments. It&#8217;s time to find out where members stand. It&#8217;s time we restore trust in Congress and ban all members from trading and holding stocks.&#8221;
Featuring a name <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/06/29/opinion/pelosis-prime-profits-prove-its-time-to-ban-congress-stock-trading/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inspired</a> by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her strong performance in the stock market, the bill initially offered by Hawley sought to keep just lawmakers and their spouses from stock picking, but allow for investment in diversified mutual funds, Exchange-Traded Funds, and Treasury bonds. President Donald Trump even <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sen-hawley-reintroduces-pelosi-act-to-curb-congressional-stock-trading-trump-signals-approval" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> he would sign the legislation.
A change was later offered to add the president and vice president to the ban, part of what Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/07/29/white-house-lobbies-hawley-stock-trading-ban" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> to be Hawley&#8217;s bid to gain Democrat support. But with the White House raising Article II concerns, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee ultimately approved a version that bars only current office-holders from stock trading if they get elected to another term — effectively giving Trump a pass, given he&#8217;s in his second term. Still, that was enough for the Democrats.
&#8220;The American people think ALL politicians, Democrats and Republicans, use our position to enrich ourselves,&#8221; Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) <a href="https://x.com/SenatorSlotkin/status/1950599974686691459" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> in a post on X. &#8220;Today, we sent a bill to the Senate floor that bans Members of Congress, the President, and VP from trading stocks. It’s not perfect, but it’s a good first step, and we should pass it into law.&#8221;
Business Insider <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/congressional-stock-trading-ban-clears-senate-committee-republicans-arguing-insults-2025-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> that even though full divestment from individual stocks would not be required immediately, it would prevent Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and lawmakers from buying stocks right way and, 90 days after enactment, disallow them from selling stocks.
Now the legislation heads to the full Senate, where the GOP has a 53-seat majority.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he opposed exempting Trump because he believes &#8220;everybody should be treated fairly.&#8221; He also bemoaned how it excluded the courts and staff of office-holders.
Another Republican on the panel, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfalT1gSTbo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">derided</a> what he called &#8220;legislative demagoguery.&#8221; He noted that insider trading laws and financial disclosure rules already exist. In addition, Johnson warned the measure would &#8220;make it very unattractive&#8221; for people to run for office, particularly those with business experience.
There is GOP support for a congressional stock trading ban in the House. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has signaled that she will <a href="https://x.com/RepLuna/status/1950317068911263752" target="_blank" rel="noopener">force</a> a vote.
&#8220;Members of Congress should be banned from trading individual stocks because their access to privileged, nonpublic information creates unavoidable conflicts of interest that erode public confidence in government,&#8221; Luna <a href="https://x.com/RepLuna/status/1950589449600929876" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X.
&#8220;As lawmakers, we receive classified briefings, shape economic policies, and interact with industry leaders, giving us insights that can influence stock prices. Even if no laws are broken, the appearance of profiting from this access fuels distrust among Americans,&#8221; she added. &#8220;The American people do not trust the US government and banning stock trading is a step forward to building that trust.&#8221;

Sen. Josh Hawley

Senate Panel Votes To Ban Stock Trading For Lawmakers, President, And VP — But Spares Trump

Corruption

Donald Trump

Executive

Josh Hawley

Rand Paul

Ron Johnson

U.S. Senate

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised on Monday that the Trump administration would make &#8220;several announcements in the next 48 hours&#8221; regarding President Donald Trump&#8217;s trade agenda.
Bessent said during an interview with CNBC&#8217;s &#8220;Squawk Box&#8221; that the president is actively &#8220;trying to get everyone across the finish line&#8221; on agreements. Bessent&#8217;s comments come hours after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in an interview alongside Trump on Sunday, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/06/stock-market-today-live-updates.html">said</a> that tariffs will take effect on August 1, pushing back the plan for Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs to hit countries around the world on July 9 after a 90-day reprieve.
&#8220;What President Trump is concerned about is the quality of the deals, not the quantity,&#8221; Bessent said.
&#8220;My mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals,&#8221; he added. &#8220;So it&#8217;s going to be a busy couple of days. But importantly, too, President Trump has said that the countries would not go back to the recipricol [tariff] rate until August 1.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecScottBessent</a> on trade negotiations: &quot;We are going to have several announcements in the next 48 hours&#8230; What President Trump is concerned about is the quality of the deals, not the quantity&#8230; It&#39;s going to be a busy couple of days.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/xBWFDoaP7l">pic.twitter.com/xBWFDoaP7l</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1942197285720350979?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Treasury Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bessent-trump-will-revive-foreign-tariffs-if-countries-dont-move-along-by-august-1?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Bessent%3A+Trump+Will+Revive+Foreign+Tariffs+If+Countries+Don%E2%80%99t+%E2%80%98Move+Along%E2%80%99+By+August+1">told</a> CNN on Sunday that Trump plans to send letters to countries, warning them to &#8220;move things along&#8221; or tariffs will &#8220;boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level.&#8221;
&#8220;So I think we’re going to see a lot of deals very quickly,&#8221; Bessent added.
Trump is also ramping up <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-threatens-tariffs-for-countries-backing-anti-american-global-alliance?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Trump+Threatens+Tariffs+For+Countries+Backing+%E2%80%98Anti-American%E2%80%99+Global+Alliance">pressure</a> on countries that align with &#8220;anti-American&#8221; trade policies of the BRICS nations, which include Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Ten countries have recently become &#8220;partner states&#8221; with BRICS, which could potentially lead to their inclusion as member nations. The 10 &#8220;partner states&#8221; include Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.
&#8220;Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff,&#8221; Trump posted on Truth Social as the BRICS nations met in Rio de Janeiro. &#8220;There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!&#8221;
The stock market is down on Monday amid President Trump&#8217;s renewed push for trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 70 points Monday morning, the S&amp;P 500 futures fell 0.3%, and the Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.5%.

Bessent Promises ‘Several’ Trade Announcements Over ‘The Next 48 Hours’

Economy

Global Politics

Tariffs

Trade War

NEW YORK (Reuters) — Wall Street advanced on Tuesday as investors welcomed a fragile truce with Israel and Iran while parsing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell&#8217;s congressional <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jerome-powell-suggests-delaying-rate-cuts-beyond-july-meeting-while-fed-studies-tariff-impact">testimony</a> for clues regarding the U.S. central bank&#8217;s path forward.
All three major U.S. stock indexes were on track for their second straight session of solid gains following U.S. missile strikes on Iran&#8217;s uranium enrichment assets.
The benchmark S&amp;P 500 was less than 1% below its all-time closing high reached on February 19.
Late Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire agreement, but then on Tuesday, the president <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-holds-ceasefire-after-israel-refrains-from-major-retaliation-for-irans-strike-on-civilians">stepped in</a> to urge Israel to stand down on a retaliatory attack on Iran after Iran killed at least four people in an attack in southern Israel targeting civilians just before the ceasefire went into effect.
Still, investors viewed the ceasefire as a sign of de-escalating tensions.
&#8220;The market has learned very precisely over the last generation that any time there’s a geopolitical flare-up in the Middle East that affects U.S. financial markets, those effects will be short-lived,&#8221; said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon in Charlotte, North Carolina.
&#8220;The ceasefire is just cementing that view,&#8221; Ladner added.
Crude prices slid on waning supply concerns related to the conflict, dragging energy shares lower.
Powell, speaking before the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, reiterated his view that rate cuts can wait until the economic effects of tariff increases are better known, adding &#8220;we are well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.&#8221;
Financial markets have been pricing in a more than 20% likelihood that the Fed will lower its key interest rate at the conclusion of its upcoming July policy meeting, and a near 70% probability that its first rate cut will land in September.
&#8220;We think September&#8217;s very likely and we think while July is not a zero probability event, it&#8217;s definitely a long shot,&#8221; Ladner said.
On the economic front, Consumer Confidence deteriorated this month, with pessimism toward the jobs market falling to its lowest level since March 2021.
The Commerce Department is expected to release its final take on first-quarter GDP on Thursday, and on Friday its closely watched Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report will shed light on inflation, consumer spending and income growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 513.96 points, or 1.21%, to 43,095.74, the S&amp;P 500 gained 71.64 points, or 1.19%, to 6,096.94, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 305.28 points, or 1.56%, to 19,936.25.
Among the 11 major sectors of the S&amp;P 500, Tech shares led the gainers, while energy stocks were the sole decliners.
Among megacap stocks, Tesla shares shed 2.0%.
Airline stocks gained altitude amid cooling Middle East tensions. The S&amp;P 1500 Airlines index advanced 2.3%.
But defense stocks lost ground, with Lockheed Martin and RTX Corp both off about 2.9%.
Shares of crypto companies rose after bitcoin hit a one-week high. Coinbase Global and Strategy advanced 11.7% and 3.8% respectively.
Broadcom touched a record high, after HSBC raised the semiconductor manufacturer to &#8220;buy&#8221; from &#8220;hold&#8221;. The stock was last up 3.4%.
Package delivery firm FedEx is expected to report quarterly results after the closing bell.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.38-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 195 new highs and 49 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 3,430 stocks rose and 1,007 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.41-to-1 ratio.
The S&amp;P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 109 new highs and 49 new lows.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Kanchana Chakravarty in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)

Traders work on the floor of the NYSE in New York

Wall Street Rallies, S&P 500 Nears Record High As Middle East Tensions Cool

Iran

Israel

Middle East

On Thursday, after the Court of International Trade blocked President Donald Trump from imposing some of his harshest tariffs on foreign countries the day before, stock markets around the world soared.
“Futures for the S&amp;P 500 index jumped 1.5 percent, suggesting that stocks will open sharply higher when trading begins in New York,” the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/business/stocks-trump-tariffs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, adding that stocks rose in France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. The dollar rose on Wednesday after the ruling. The yield on the 30-year Treasury note climbed back over 5%. Chip giant Nvidia’s stock rose on Wednesday by more than 6%.
The Court’s ruling implies that ultimately “extreme tariffs and rapidly changing tariffs are less likely to happen going forward, which reduces uncertainty somewhat,” analysts at Panmure Liberum, a British investment bank, opined. But they cautioned that in the immediate future, the dispute between the Court and the Trump administration “will add significant uncertainty to the mix, making it even harder for U.S. businesses to plan.”
Trump had used the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify his call for higher tariffs. The Court gave Trump 10 days to end them, prompting the Trump administration to immediately file its plans to appeal the decision.
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“The ruling does not affect tariffs issued by the Trump administration under separate legal authorities, including levies on steel, aluminum and cars, and others that Mr. Trump has threatened on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and other critical products,” The Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/business/trump-tariffs-blocked-federal-court.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pointed out</a>.
The Court of International Trade has nine judges appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The Court’s ruling on the tariffs was made by a tribunal of three judges; two of whom were appointed by Republicans and one of whom was appointed by Trump.
The panel did note two other statutes that Trump could use to justify tariffs, and that he has other avenues available to carry out his economic plans.
“The bottom line is that this ruling is just a <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/treasury-auction-boj-mof-debt-0b226a31?mod=article_inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-type="link" data-testid="hyperlink">temporary setback</a> for the president and won’t really stop him. It makes things harder for Trump, but falls well short of taking tariffs off the table,” Barron&#8217;s <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/can-court-really-stop-trump-tariffs-a51402c1?mod=barronsgooglenews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.

Stock chart Stock market graph trading analysis investment financial, stock exchange financial or forex graph stock market graph chart business crisis crash loss and grow up gain and profits win up trend.

World’s Stock Markets React To Court Ruling Against Trump’s Tariffs

Retail giant Target revealed on Tuesday that customer boycotts damaged its sales in the first quarter, following the company&#8217;s January decision to scale back several diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Sales fell 2.8% from last year to $23.85 billion, below the $24.23 billion Wall Street expected, with Target now expecting a low-single digit decline in annual sales for 2025, a significant downgrade from its March projection of a 1% increase.
According to the company’s earnings <a href="https://corporate.target.com/press/release/2025/05/target-corporation-reports-first-quarter-earnings#:~:text=For%20fiscal%202025%2C%20the%20Company,be%20approximately%20%247.00%20to%20%249.00.">report</a>, “Comparable sales decreased 3.8 percent in the first quarter, reflecting a comparable store sales decline of 5.7 percent and comparable digital sales growth of 4.7 percent.”
Target, previously a staunch supporter of leftist causes, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-rolls-back-dei-joining-other-major-companies-like-walmart-meta">announced</a> in January it would phase out several DEI initiatives after criticism from conservative activists and the White House.
Despite the reversal, the company continues to receive backlash from both the Right and the Left, with many conservatives arguing that the retailer’s retreat from DEI policies has come too late.
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In February, Target was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-faces-shareholder-lawsuit-over-pride-campaign-dei-initiative-fallout">hit</a> with a class action lawsuit from shareholders who accused the retailer of misleading them about the risks posed by its DEI initiative, which the plaintiffs allege contributed to Target&#8217;s stock having plummeted more than 37% over the past year.
Rev. Jamal Bryant, who <a href="https://apnews.com/article/40-day-target-boycott-fast-dei-d1d40f79f5f1b3afb2dfe8561e7729a0">led</a> a nationwide 40-day boycott of Target stores after the company ended DEI initiatives in “a spiritual act of resistance,” called for a continuation of that effort.
“We faced several additional headwinds this quarter, including five consecutive months of declining consumer confidence, uncertainty regarding the impact of potential tariffs, and the reaction to the updates we shared on [DEI] in January,” Target CEO Brian Cornell <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/21/business/target-earnings-dei-tariffs">said</a> on an earnings call.
“I want to be clear that we’re not satisfied with these results,” Cornell added. “We’ve got to drive traffic back into our stores and visits to our site.”
The company faces additional challenges from potential tariffs on Chinese imports. While President Donald Trump&#8217;s threatened 145% tariffs were reduced to 30% in a May 12 deal, with some higher tariffs paused for 90 days, Target remains <a href="https://apnews.com/article/target-first-quarter-earnings-tariffs-ed5765bac92257a0bab3815ece31f5c1">vulnerable</a> due to its higher reliance on discretionary items compared to competitors like Walmart, according to the AP.
&#8220;We look at competition,&#8221; Cornell explained regarding potential price hikes. &#8220;We make adjustments literally each and every week, so we&#8217;re constantly adjusting pricing. Some are going up. Some will be reduced.&#8221;
The retailer operates nearly 2,000 stores nationwide with more than 400,000 employees, making its financial performance a significant indicator for the broader retail sector.
Out of 35 merchandise categories Target tracks, the company is currently gaining or maintaining market share in only 15, the AP reported.

Target’s DEI Drama Costs Big As Boycotts Impact Sales

Retail

U.S. job growth fuels a market rebound with all major stock indexes on the rise, President Donald Trump orders an end to taxpayer funding for NPR and PBS, and political unrest brews in Canada despite a fresh Liberal Party election win.
It’s Monday, May 5, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Trump’s “Boom” vs. Canada’s Meltdown! Plus No Money for NPR &amp; PBS." width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/abxF1FM1trM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
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<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trumps-good-and-bad-economy-canada-in-crisis-5-5-25/id1576594336?i=1000706333334" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
 
<h2>Trump Touts Economic Comeback</h2>
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Topline: President Trump takes a victory lap as the economy shows signs of improvement. 
After a tumultuous month, stocks are rallying following a better-than-expected jobs report and optimism about trade deals. In the last week or so, markets have taken a bullish turn. On Friday, the DOW, NASDAQ, and S&amp;P 500 all jumped about a point and a half – the S&amp;P saw its ninth straight day of gains, the longest streak in twenty years. Overall, the DOW is now within 2% of where it was when Trump kicked off his &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs, while the S&amp;P 500 and NASDAQ are higher than before. Markets have been fickle — there’s always a chance those gains are erased in a day or two — but this is a remarkable recovery so far.
Meanwhile, the April jobs report showed considerably more growth than projected. Economists expected 133,000 new jobs last month, but the number came in at 177,000 — 33% higher. Unemployment also held steady, and hourly wages saw a 4% increase from the same month last year. 
It’s worth noting who those new jobs are going to: Under President Joe Biden, foreign-born workers added nearly four and a half million jobs, but over the same timeframe, the number of American-born workers fell. But in April, the number of foreign-born workers decreased, meaning the net job growth last month was concentrated among workers born in America. Job growth was also concentrated in the private sector, as government employment declined for its third straight month due to the efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project.
Markets also seem to be buoyed by reports that China may be willing to strike a deal with the United States to end the escalating tariff hikes that followed Trump’s Liberation Day announcement last month. Early last week, China was projecting an apparent willingness to dig in for a protracted trade war and weather the economic storm – the Chinese Communist Party said it was prepared to increase payouts for the unemployed, subsidize new housing projects, and incentivize its people to buy more domestic products. But on Friday, we saw our first major sign that Beijing was open to de-escalation, with the country’s commerce ministry saying, “If [The U.S.] wants to talk, our door is wide open.” 
As a sign of that new willingness to strike a deal, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/world/asia/us-china-tariffs-fentanyl.html">Wall Street Journal</a> reported that Beijing is weighing a potential crackdown on fentanyl production as a show of goodwill, and has been reaching out for details on what the White House is looking for on that front.
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<h2>Trump Orders Elimination Of Funding For Public Broadcasters</h2>
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Topline: NPR and PBS threaten legal action after Trump ends their taxpayer funding.
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday to eliminate about $535 million in annual funding to NPR, PBS, and other public media. NPR and PBS vowed to fight the order in court.
President Trump has made it clear for some time that he is no fan of public broadcasting. Recently, he said, “Republicans must defund and totally disassociate themselves from NPR and PBS, the radical left monsters that so badly hurt our country.” He’s also said that taxpayer funding of media networks is “outdated and unnecessary” and “corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.”
In a statement on Friday, Patricia Harris, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, immediately shot back, saying that the private nonprofit authorized by Congress is not “subject to the President’s authority.” Harris said Congress authorized the funding, so only Congress can revoke it. 
Paula Kerger, president of PBS, also issued a statement calling Trump’s order “blatantly unlawful.” 
“This is probably the most difficult and serious threat in the time that I&#8217;ve been in public broadcasting,” Kerger told PBS News Hour. “This idea that funds that had already been put aside for public broadcasting would be taken away.”
<h2> Oh Canada&#8230;</h2>
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Topline: Canada&#8217;s election season might be over, but the political drama is just beginning. Last week, Mark Carney led his Liberal party to a stunning comeback but <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/federal-election-2025/article/how-did-the-federal-election-change-canadas-representation-in-parliament/">fell just short</a> of a majority.
The Liberal Party of Canada has been in power for nearly ten years. Last week marked its fourth consecutive win, with Mark Carney as Prime Minister.  However, the party isn&#8217;t nearly as popular as that showing would lead you to believe – especially in the “prairie provinces,” where voters favored the conservatives by more than <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/canada/canada-election-2025-how-each-province-voted-liberal-fortresses-and-conservative-strongholds/articleshow/120733997.cms?from=mdr">2:1</a>. Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, was so unpopular that he had to step down to avoid a total electoral blowout. 
The Liberal surge in the polls happened around the same time Trump started floating the idea that Canada should become America’s 51st state. Many Canadians, particularly in Canada’s more densely populated east, rallied around Carney as “the best man to take on Trump,” but recent polling suggests that some Canadians would rather be part of the United States – or their own independent country – than remain in Canada under a Liberal government. According to polling from Angus Reid in early April, three-in-10 voters from Alberta and roughly 1-in-3 from neighboring Saskatchewan said that they would support leaving the country if Carney won – at least 20% in each province would have supported secession even if he lost. 
For reference, Quebec – a province with a large, influential openly separatist party – also reported 30% support for secession from Canada. Québécois separatists have existed for centuries, and the Bloc Québécois has been a major force in Canadian politics for decades. By contrast, Western separatism is younger and less organized, and so far, it has been more of a grassroots phenomenon, but as of now, it appears to be just as intense. 
Canada’s prairie provinces are <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/444816/canada-median-age-of-resident-population-by-province/">younger</a>, <a href="https://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/dashboard/gdp-per-capita/">wealthier</a>, less densely populated, and more dependent on resource extraction – mining, drilling, exporting oil. That’s put them into conflict with the federal government, which has taken steps to restrict the construction of pipelines and refineries. Former Prime Minister Trudeau went so far as to argue for phasing out the production of fossil fuels entirely before Western outcry forced him to walk that position back. Carney has also been a vocal advocate of <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/mark-carney-investing-net-zero-climate-solutions-creates-value-and-rewards">net-zero policies</a> and was a leading figure in the ESG movement (Environmental, Social, and Governance) when he worked in the financial sector. He was also an economic advisor to Trudeau, leading many skeptics to fear his government would be more of the same.
Last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith put forward legislation that would significantly lower the signature threshold for citizen-led referendums – as of now, that legislation has been tabled, and Smith and Carney are currently in talks, which are <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/smith-carney-first-step-1.7525714">reportedly</a> going well. However, the possibility of secession appears to be a piece of leverage, and as of now, it’s still on the table.

MorningWire-0505

Morning Brief: Trump’s Good And Bad Economy & Canada In Crisis

Canada

Morning Wire

National Public Radio (NPR)

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

The United States economy added more jobs than expected in April, while government positions continued to decline, according to the April jobs report.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_05022025.htm">report</a> on Friday, showing that jobs had increased in April by 177,000, much more than the 133,000 that had been projected by the Dow Jones. At the same time, federal jobs declined by around 9,000 while the healthcare, transportation and warehousing, financial activities, and social assistance industries all saw growth. 
&#8220;This is the second month in a row where the jobs report has beat expectations,&#8221; <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/05/jobs-boom-more-americans-working-for-higher-pay/">said</a> White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. &#8220;Wages are continuing to rise and labor force participation is increasing. This is exactly what we want to see. More Americans working for higher wages. More winning is on the way!”
The healthcare industry added 51,000 jobs, including 22,000 in hospitals and 21,000 in ambulatory services, while transportation and warehousing increased by 29,000, according to the report. The 177,000 jobs were lower than the 185,000 jobs that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-cant-lose-march-job-growth-vastly-outpaces-expectations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were added</a> in March, which also beat job growth expectations. 
Unemployment remained at 4.2%, and the labor force participation rate changed little. This was the first jobs report released after President Donald Trump announced &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs. Most of those tariffs have been lowered to 10% across the board, with a 145% tariff on China.
The markets responded positively to the jobs report, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&amp;P 500, and the Nasdaq all jumping more than 1%.
Responding to the news, the White House&#8217;s official &#8220;Rapid Response&#8221; X account celebrated the job gains made in the private sector and the decline in government employment. According to the White House, more than 95% of the jobs added to the economy under President Donald Trump have come from the private sector, while around 25% of the jobs created during President Joe Biden&#8217;s final two years were government jobs.
&#8220;Federal employment has already shrank by 26,000 jobs under Trump after ballooning by 139,000 jobs in Biden’s last two years. President Trump is right-sizing government while unleashing private-sector growth,&#8221; the account posted.
Trump and his top donor, Elon Musk, have pushed for a variety of cuts across the federal workforce — from the IRS to the State Department — through Musk&#8217;s Department of Government Efficiency project. Some of the cuts have come through firings, while other departments have pushed federal employees to accept buyouts to vacate their jobs.
The White House also celebrated the job gains made among native-born Americans during President Trump&#8217;s first three months in office.
&#8220;Biden relied on government jobs and foreign-born workers. Native-born workers have fueled 97.6% of job growth under President Trump,&#8221; the White House posted. &#8220;In Biden’s final two years, native-born Americans accounted for only HALF (56.9%) of employment gains.&#8221;

President Trump Announces Aviation Safety Executive Orders In The Oval Office Of White House

Solid April Jobs Report Shows Govt Employment Drops As Private Sector Growth Beats Expectations

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Elon Musk

Jobs

Karoline Leavitt

Stock prices tumbled on Wednesday after a new report showed that the U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter of 2025.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%, while The S&amp;P 500 dropped 1.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5%, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/29/stock-market-today-live-updates.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNBC</a>. The drop in value followed a report from the Commerce Department that showed the U.S. GDP shrank 0.3% in the first three months of the year.
“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers,” President Donald Trump posted on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114427089568235019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Truth Social</a> on Wednesday morning. “Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”
The underwhelming economic report hit after economists predicted that the U.S. GDP would grow by 0.4% in the first quarter. GDP contracted instead as Trump’s tariff policies drove up imports, which are subtracted from net exports as part of the calculation of a final GDP figure. It is the first contraction in the U.S. economy since the first quarter of 2022, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/us-gdp-q1-2025-1f82f689" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
Trump paused and cut billions in government spending, which suppressed GDP growth. Consumer spending fell, as well.
Trump’s moves on trade – hefty tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico, alongside a flat 10% tariff across the board with higher duties threatened – had the largest impact on the GDP report. Net exports, which is U.S. exports minus imports, subtracted 5% from the rest of the GDP calculation, according to WSJ.
Wells Fargo economist Shannon Grein said that the topline GDP contraction makes the U.S. economy appear weaker than it is.
“The headline decline overstates weakness because a lot of that was tariff-induced pull-forward,” Grein said. “Overall, I think that it was a relatively solid underlying report when it comes to demand.”
The GDP report has sparked concerns that the United States could be in recession. A recession is typically defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, said that Trump’s tariffs have spurred significant new investment in the United States. He also downplayed the impact of tariffs on the latest GDP numbers.
“I have the pleasure of running the investment accelerator, which gets to recruit these companies, and you&#8217;ve never seen anything like the companies committed to building in America. Technology companies have committed over $2.5 trillion to build in America based on your tariffs,” Lutnick said. “Sovereign countries all backing, the whole Middle East and all these countries backing their sovereign wealth funds, they all want to invest in America, and they&#8217;re coming in, again, over $3 trillion committed.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Commerce Secretary <a href="https://twitter.com/howardlutnick?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@howardlutnick</a>: &quot;Technology companies have committed over $2.5 trillion to build in America based on your tariffs&#8230; Then you&#39;ve got the whole pharma industry knows it&#39;s got to come home&#8230; Auto is coming home, industrial is coming home.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/BHXpjTovB9">pic.twitter.com/BHXpjTovB9</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1917608615269261580?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump announced new investments and pledges to the United States from companies committed to building domestically because of tariffs totaling $8 trillion.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
President Trump and Commerce Secretary Lutnick tout the 8 TRILLION dollars of new investments in America as a result of tariffs.
Lutnick: &quot;And this is all driven by your tariff policies. No chance this would be happening without it.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Q8nLnX294F">pic.twitter.com/Q8nLnX294F</a>
&mdash; Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1917606795486585080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

New York Stock Exchange

Stock Prices Drop After New Data Shows GDP Shrank Since Start Of Year

Department of Commerce

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the dropping stock market is the fault of former President Joe Biden, adding that slow economic growth is from &#8220;the Biden overhang&#8221; and &#8220;has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS.&#8221;
Trump made the comment on <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114427089568235019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Truth Social</a> as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&amp;P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all dipped again Wednesday morning. Since Trump&#8217;s massive tariff rollout, which began with hitting China, Canada, and Mexico in early February, the <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/djia?mod=mw_quote_switch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dow Jones</a> has dropped by around 5,000 points, the <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/comp?mod=mw_quote_switch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nasdaq</a> is down nearly 2,000 points, and the <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/spx?mod=mw_quote_switch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">S&amp;P 500</a> is down around 500 points.
&#8220;This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden &#8216;Overhang.&#8217; This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!&#8221;
The president has <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-tells-americans-to-be-patient-as-global-markets-keep-dropping-over-tariffs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">repeatedly</a> asked Americans to remain patient as his economic and trade policies take effect, but many Americans are still uneasy about how Trump&#8217;s tariffs will affect the U.S. economy. On Wednesday, a U.S. Department of Commerce report showed that gross domestic product fell at a 0.3% annualized pace over the first quarter of 2025, CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/30/trump-gdp-tariffs-biden-overhang.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. It was the first quarter of negative growth since the first quarter of 2022.
The Commerce Department report pointed to Trump&#8217;s tariffs as a reason for the decline in GDP in Q1, as companies tried to get ahead of the tariffs by ramping up imports. The Trump administration&#8217;s cut to defense spending also contributed to the GDP slowdown.
In January 2024, Trump took credit for a rising stock market under former President Biden. In a Truth Social post, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/111840568643216314" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, &#8220;THIS IS THE TRUMP STOCK MARKET BECAUSE MY POLLS AGAINST BIDEN ARE SO GOOD THAT INVESTORS ARE PROJECTING THAT I WILL WIN, AND THAT WILL DRIVE THE MARKET UP.&#8221;
The stock market reacted positively last week after the Trump administration hinted that the trade war with China might be coming to an end. Last Tuesday, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned against a prolonged trade war, Trump said the 145% tariff on China &#8220;will come down substantially, but it won’t be zero.&#8221; As the White House says that numerous countries are ready to make a trade deal, Trump is still trying to bring China to the negotiating table.

Trump: This Is Biden’s Stock Market

Joe Biden

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