Tag: Trump, Donald J

Plastic Spoons, Umbrellas, Violins: A Guide to What Americans Buy From China

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ITEM Pct. from China Importsfrom China in millions 1 Baby carriages 97% $380 2 Artificial plants 96% $991 3 Umbrellas 96% $491 4 Filing cabinets 96% $88 5 Vacuum flasks 96% $1,634 6 Fireworks 95% $465 7 Children’s picture books 93% $505 8 Portable lighting 91% $901 9 Combs 91% $367 10 Travel kits 90% $42 ITEM Pct. from China Importsfrom China in millions 1 Telephones 42% $50,085 2 Computers 26% $35,473 3 Electric batteries 58% $17,022 4 Other toys 76% $13,463 5 Motor vehicles; parts and accessories 11% $9,059…

Republican Bill to End E.V. Tax Credit Could Hurt G.M. and Ford

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Sales of electric vehicles have been rising in recent years, partly because of a $7,500 tax credit from the federal government that helps lower the cost of buying one. But a budget bill that House Republicans released on Monday would end that tax credit. Their proposal would also put new restrictions on other tax breaks that have encouraged automakers to invest tens of billions of dollars in new battery plants in the United States. By next year, the bill would do away with the $7,500 tax credit for buyers of…

Trump Is Breaking the Rule That Every Barroom Brawler Knows

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Provoking your enemies, alienating your friends and actively sabotaging your own defenses is no one’s idea of a sound national security plan. And yet, this is the playbook that President Trump has apparently followed over the first 100 days of his second term. You can see it most clearly in the global fight he kicked off with China. He’s been scrapping for this showdown since before he entered politics, so you’d think that before taking on such a global powerhouse, he’d strengthen every alliance, game out every possible countermeasure and…

The Clock Ticks for TikTok

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Another round in the TikTok fight The warnings against TikTok aren’t letting up, with U.S. security officials saying China is using the platform to meddle in elections and lawmakers calling the video app a global threat. The sharp rhetoric isn’t new, but it raises a question for policymakers and business: Is the new push to force ByteDance, the company’s Chinese owners, to divest a real step change or just political posturing? The House is barreling toward a vote on Wednesday that would force ByteDance to sell. Representative Steve Scalise, Republican…

Trump Gives CNBC a Rambling Answer on Why He Backtracked on TikTok Ban

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Former President Donald J. Trump offered a rambling and confusing explanation on Monday of why he had reversed himself on whether the United States should ban TikTok over concerns that its Chinese ownership poses a threat to national security. In a CNBC interview, Mr. Trump said that he still considered the social media app a national security threat but that banning it would make young people “go crazy.” He added that any action harming TikTok would benefit Facebook, which he called an “enemy of the people.” “Frankly, there are a…

Chinese Influence Campaign Pushes Disunity Before U.S. Election, Study Says

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A Chinese influence campaign that has tried for years to boost Beijing’s interests is now using artificial intelligence and a network of social media accounts to amplify American discontent and division ahead of the U.S. presidential election, according to a new report. The campaign, known as Spamouflage, hopes to breed disenchantment among voters by maligning the United States as rife with urban decay, homelessness, fentanyl abuse, gun violence and crumbling infrastructure, according to the report, which was published on Thursday by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonprofit research organization…

Trump’s Tariffs Hurt U.S. Jobs but Swayed American Voters, Study Says

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The sweeping tariffs that former President Donald J. Trump imposed on China and other American trading partners were simultaneously a political success and an economic failure, a new study suggests. That’s because the levies won over voters for the Republican Party even though they did not bring back jobs. The nonpartisan working paper examines monthly data on U.S. employment by industry to find that the tariffs that Mr. Trump placed on foreign metals, washing machines and an array of goods from China starting in 2018 neither raised nor lowered the…

Flush With Investment, New U.S. Factories Face a Familiar Challenge

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The Biden administration has begun pumping more than $2 trillion into U.S. factories and infrastructure, investing huge sums to try to strengthen American industry and fight climate change. But the effort is facing a familiar threat: a surge of low-priced products from China. That is drawing the attention of President Biden and his aides, who are considering new protectionist measures to make sure American industry can compete against Beijing. As U.S. factories spin up to produce electric vehicles, semiconductors and solar panels, China is flooding the market with similar goods,…