Author: rpnadmin

As trade tensions flared between the world’s largest economies, communication between the United States and China has been so shaky that the two superpowers cannot even agree on whether they are talking at all.At a White House economic briefing this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent demurred multiple times when pressed about President Trump’s recent claim that President Xi Jinping of China had called him. Although top economic officials might usually be aware of such high-level talks, Mr. Bessent insisted that he was not logging the president’s calls.“I have a lot of jobs around the White House; running the switchboard isn’t…

Cheaper goods from China are set to become a lot more expensive for U.S. consumers with the May 2 expiration of a loophole that allowed lower cost packages to enter the country duty-free.Ultra-low cost retailers like Shein and Temu are among the major players that until Friday relied on a tax loophole that allowed them to ship low-value parcels to the U.S. tax-free, allowing them to undercut U.S.-based sellers. American shoppers relied on the de minimis loophole, too, for bargain-basement prices that couldn’t be matched for goods made in the U.S.With the end of the loophole, which exempted packages worth…

A federal appeals court in Washington ruled on Thursday night that, for now, the Trump administration could continue to withhold money from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, federally funded organizations that provide news coverage to countries with limited press freedoms.In doing so, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit temporarily reversed parts of two lower-court rulings from last month that stopped the administration from cutting off funds to the news outlets.The appeals court kept in effect parts of one lower court ruling, which required that Trump officials bring…

Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., a bespectacled, soft-spoken 56-year-old nominated by President Trump, turned his high-backed leather chair toward a government lawyer at the federal courthouse in Brownsville, Texas, and asked a question. Can the president define what counts as an invasion, then declare that an invasion is happening, and then use a 1798 war powers law to expel the so-called invaders?“Yes,” answered Michael Velchik, a Justice Department lawyer.Judge Rodriguez followed up: Wouldn’t that make Mr. Trump’s powers under the wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, “effectively limitless?”The question hinted at a groundbreaking ruling that Judge Rodriguez issued on Thursday when…

Harvard, White House in court over funding Harvard, Trump administration have court hearing over funding threats 02:30 Washington — President Trump said Friday his administration will be rescinding Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, further escalating the ongoing feud with the Ivy League school.”We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” the president said in a post to Truth Social.Mr. Trump did not provide further details about the effort to strip Harvard of its designation as a 501(c)(3) organization, but he has floated taking such a step as recently as last month.Roughly 2 million organizations…

Voters line up to cast their ballots at Allegiant Stadium on Nov. 5, 2024, in Las Vegas, behind a sign reading “Vote, Bumoto, Vote” — directions in English, Tagalog and Spanish. David Becker/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption David Becker/Getty Images Pauline Lee is the daughter of immigrants who came to the United States as teenagers, with nothing. “When they came here they were dirt poor,” she recalled. They worked entry-level jobs at first, before they both went on to study and build successful careers in California. Lee is proud of her family’s immigration stories — and the fact that…

A day before President Trump removed him from his job as national security adviser, Michael Waltz checked his phone during a White House cabinet meeting — perhaps forgetting that there were cameras in the room.A photographer for Reuters captured the moment on Wednesday, with Mr. Waltz seen from the side, seated with other suited officials around a table. When zoomed in, the photograph clearly shows what was on his phone screen: a list of his conversations on what appears to be a modified version of the messaging app Signal.The contents of the screen indicate that Mr. Waltz had been in…

Washington — Abbe Lowell, a criminal defense attorney who has represented a number of high-profile political clients, is launching a new law firm to push back on President Trump’s crusade against several major practices. Lowell & Associates has hired multiple attorneys who left firms that cut deals with the Trump administration as the president sought to punish prominent practices to settle his long-held grievances against his political opponents. Mr. Trump has issued executive orders targeting major law firms that represented his political opponents, were involved in legal challenges against him or hired attorneys connected to the investigations into him. Lowell’s previous clients…

The chaos and cruelty of the Trump administration reaches new lows each week. Trump’s catastrophic “Liberation Day” has wreaked havoc on the world economy and set up yet another constitutional crisis at home. Plainclothes officers continue to abduct university students off the streets. So-called “enemy aliens” are flown abroad to a mega prison against the orders of the courts. And Signalgate promises to be the first of many incompetence scandals that expose the brutal violence at the core of the American empire. At a time when elite universities, powerful law firms, and influential media outlets are capitulating to Trump’s intimidation,…

More companies are starting to warn that they will have to pass on higher costs to American consumers, raising prices for products like strollers, mattresses, power tools and cast-iron cookware as President Trump’s tariffs take hold.Some company officials said they had been left with no choice but to raise prices as they pay more to import goods and materials into the United States. Other firms have said they will soon run out of inventory for certain products because they have paused orders from China.Mr. Trump has upended the global trading system, hitting foreign countries with punishing levies in an attempt…