If President Trump’s proposed tariffs on steel and aluminium go into effect, Europe could drag blue jeans and breakfast beverages into the ring, according to Joseph Sternberg, the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Page Editor for Europe.
“The EU is going to focus on trying to find ways that they can retaliate without damaging the EU economy itself,” explained Sternberg.
Early on Wednesday, the European Union released a list of American goods that it could tax, including Levi’s jeans, orange juice, and motorboats.
“That list is worth about $3.5 billion each year,” Sternberg said. “The point here is to try to send this message that the U.S. isn’t the only trading country in town here.”
More broadly, the tariffs could also decrease foreign investment into the U.S., said Sternberg.
It could start “affecting the willingness of European companies to invest in the U.S. and those companies are creating a lot of American jobs too.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/starting-a-tariff-war).
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
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.