*By Conor White*
As the government shutdown drags on, calls from some conservative corners have increased for President Trump to declare a national emergency in order to get federal employees back to work while diverting funds to build a border wall. However, conservative radio show host Erick Erickson is cautioning the president against doing just that.
On Monday, President Trump told reporters he would prefer not to call a national emergency, but stopped short of ruling it out entirely.
"I'm not looking to call a national emergency. This is so simple, you shouldn't have to," he said. "Now, I have the absolute legal right to call it, but I'm not looking to do that because this is too simple."
Erickson said President Trump and the GOP should not be nearsighted when considering their options to solve the shutdown.
"A future progressive president could look at this president and says 'Hey, he declared a national emergency on this because he thought it was a national emergency ー I'm going to do it on my pet issue,'" Erickson said.
"The president never wants to be in a position, because of respect for the office, to set precedents his successor could abuse," he added.
Erickson acknowledged, however, that Trump's other option ー negotiating with Democrats ー won't be acceptable to his supporters.
"I think if the president were to cave on this with \[House Speaker\] Nancy Pelosi, he would hurt himself with his base," Erickson told Cheddar.
Erickson believes the president has done a bad job of communicating to the public that the $5 billion is not just for a border wall, but also for more border patrol agents and customs enforcement, and says the only way to fix it is to talk directly to the American people.
"I think at this point he's got to hit the campaign trail and make the case," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/should-trump-declare-a-national-emergency-to-end-shutdown).
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.
