*By Amanda Weston*
The battle of the billionaires may be heating up ahead of the 2020 presidential race, as former mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg took a swipe at ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz after he announced a potential run for president as an independent during an interview on "60 Minutes" Sunday.
Bloomberg, who is reportedly considering his own White House bid on the Democratic ticket, released [a statement](https://www.mikebloomberg.com/news/mike-bloomberg-statement-independent-run/) on Monday that said in part that "there is no way an independent can win."
"In 2020, the great likelihood is that an independent would just split the anti-Trump vote and end up re-electing the President," Bloomberg said.
The two billionaires are looking in part to capitalize on their corporate success to gain an edge against President Trump, who leveraged his business career to gain the presidency.
"Anything is really possible at this point, and you don't want to ignore a white billionaire announcing a candidacy for president," Julia Manchester, reporter at The Hill, told Cheddar Monday. "We saw it happen in 2015 and \[Trump]\ won."
Bloomberg, who served as mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013 as a centrist Republican, switched political parties last year in a move thought to foreshadow a 2020 bid for president. Monday's back-and-forth sparked further speculation Bloomberg will enter the race.
"Some would say shows that he's clearly inching toward it ー he's clearly thinking about it," Manchester said. "However, I don't think this statement confirms that."
In his statement, Bloomberg said running as an independent would be too risky.
"That's a risk I refused to run in 2016 and we can't afford to run it now. We must remain united, and we must not allow any candidate to divide or fracture us. The stakes couldn’t be higher."
Bloomberg did not expressly name Schultz.
"You're seeing a lot of Democrats expressing concern that an independent such as Schultz getting in could split that ticket, and that's their biggest concern," Manchester said.
"You already have a huge field as well as two progressives ー potentially Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, that could very well split the ticket."
A third billionaire, President Trump, also weighed on Schultz's possible run on Monday, [tweeting](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1089881244312178688) that he "doesn’t have the 'guts' to run for President!"
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/there-is-no-way-an-independent-can-win-bloomberg-says-as-schultz-considers-2020-bid).
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
The Supreme Court is allowing Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now.
Rep. John Moolenaar has requested an urgent briefing from the White House after Trump supported a deal giving Americans a majority stake in TikTok.
