The on-again, off-again tariffs between the United States and other countries are again under scrutiny, with the U.S. president not budging. VOA White House Correspondent Carolyn Presutti reports. …

NEW YORK — Wall Street’s sell-off hit a new low Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalating trade war dragged the S&P 500 more than 10% below its record, which was set just last month. A 10% drop is deemed a correction by professional investors, and the S&P 500’s 1.4% slide on Thursday sent the index to its first since 2023. The losses came after Trump upped the stakes in his trade war by threatening huge taxes on European wines and alcohol. Not even a double-shot of good news on the …

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened the European Union with 200% tariffs on wine, champagne and other spirits produced in the 27-nation bloc after the EU levied what he said was “a nasty 50% tariff” on American-distilled whiskey. Trump contended in a post on his Truth Social media platform that the EU is “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World.” He said it was formed in 1993 “for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States” economically. Later, asked by …

WASHINGTON — The U.S. budget deficit for the first five months of fiscal 2025 hit a record $1.147 trillion, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday, including a $307 billion February deficit for President Donald Trump’s first full month in office that was up 4% from a year earlier. The October-February deficit, which included nearly four months until Jan. 20 under former president Joe Biden, topped the previous record $1.047 trillion from October 2020 to February 2021, a period marked by high COVID-19 relief spending and pandemic-constrained revenues. The Treasury said February’s …

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump met Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on Wednesday for wide-ranging talks that reflected differences over trade and the conflict in Gaza, although both leaders pledged to expand cooperation between the two countries. The annual White House meeting around the time of St. Patrick’s Day is usually a relatively straightforward affair for both the United States and Ireland. Trump, sitting next to Martin in the Oval Office, said “of course” he would respond to retaliatory tariffs announced Wednesday by the European Union, of which Ireland is …

Berlin — A one-day strike by workers at 13 German airports, including the Frankfurt and Munich hubs and all the country’s other main destinations, caused the cancelation of most flights on Monday. The 24-hour walkout, which started at midnight on Sunday, involves public-sector employees at the airports as well as ground and security staff. At Frankfurt Airport, 1,054 of the day’s 1,116 scheduled takeoffs and landings had been canceled, German news agency dpa reported, citing airport traffic management. All of Berlin Airport’s regular departures and arrivals were canceled, while Hamburg Airport …

All three major U.S. stock indexes dropped sharply in Monday morning trading, with investors worried about the uncertainty of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on key trading partners and then his refusal to rule out the possibility of a U.S. recession in the coming months.   The key Dow Jones average of 30 blue chip stocks dropped more than 1%, with the broader S&P 500 index falling 2 percentage points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq barometer off more than 3 percentage points.   The S&P 500 finished Friday with a 3.1% weekly …

U.S. President Donald Trump is keeping new tariffs in place on Mexico, Canada and China to pressure them to block the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States, top White House economic officials said Sunday. “If fentanyl ends, I think these [tariffs] will come off,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told NBC’s “Meet the Press” show. “But if fentanyl does not end, or he’s uncertain about it, he will stay this way until he is comfortable,” he said. “This is black and white. You got to save American …

NEW DELHI — India said Friday it is working to lower trade barriers with the United States as it tries to reach a bilateral trade deal with Washington this year. The two countries said after a February White House meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they will try to reach a deal by fall, aiming to increase bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters Friday the objective of the bilateral trade agreement would be “to strengthen …

WASHINGTON — Calls to revoke China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status have grown louder in recent months. In a memo released on the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump asked his Cabinet members to “assess legislative proposals regarding PNTR.” Three days later, Republican Representative John Moolenaar, the chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Democratic lawmaker Tom Suozzi introduced the first bipartisan bill that would revoke China’s PNTR status. China has held PNTR status since 2000, when Congress first passed legislation on …

US President Donald Trump convened cryptocurrency leaders at the White House to talk about digital assets and his goal to build a strategic reserve of bitcoin. Michelle Quinn reports. Camera: Michelle Quinn …

President Donald Trump said Friday that he was committed to making the U.S. a world leader in cryptocurrencies as industry leaders heaped praise on him for reversing what they said had been unfair attacks on digital assets by the previous administration.  “I thought it was very important that we stay in the front of this one,” Trump said at the first-ever White House “Crypto Summit.”  A former crypto-skeptic, Trump has warmly embraced an industry that’s shown him significant love in return and spent heavily to help him win last year’s …

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a solid 151,000 jobs last month, but the outlook is cloudy as President Donald Trump threatens a trade war, trims the federal workforce and promises to deport millions of immigrants. The Labor Department reported Friday that hiring was up from a revised 125,000 in January. Economists had expected 160,000 new jobs last month. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.1% as the number jobless Americans rose by 203,000. Employment rose in health care, finance, transportation and warehousing. The federal government shed 10,000 jobs, the most since …

Beijing’s next moves may be cautious, though, analysts say …

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday criticized the United States for imposing tariffs on Chinese imports and vowed to “resolutely retaliate” if Washington continues to increase pressure on Beijing. Speaking to local and foreign media outlets during the annual meeting of China’s parliament on Friday, Wang questioned the effectiveness of the U.S. government’s tariffs against China and called on Washington to avoid conflicts and confrontation. “The U.S. should think about what they have gotten out of all the trade wars and tariff wars that they have initiated …

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday establishing a government reserve of bitcoin, a key marker in the cryptocurrency’s journey toward possible mainstream acceptance. Under Trump’s new order, the U.S. government will retain the estimated 200,000 bitcoin it’s already seized in criminal and civil proceedings, according to Trump’s “crypto czar” David Sacks. “The U.S. will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called ‘digital gold,’” Sacks said …

Top diplomats from the United States and Canada held talks Wednesday that included discussion of trade, while U.S. President Donald Trump delayed a new 25% tariff on vehicle imports from Canada and Mexico for a month. The U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly collaborated on “shared global challenges, secure borders, reciprocal trade, and economic prosperity.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump spoke with top officials at automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis before announcing the tariff delays. …

BEIJING — China’s finance minister on Thursday left the door open to more stimulus measures on top of those announced at the annual parliament meeting this week, in the event the tariff-hit economy veers off its track towards its roughly 5% growth target. Lan Foan, speaking to the media alongside other officials a day after Premier Li Qiang’s annual address to lawmakers, said China had ample policy room to deal with any domestic and external threats to economic growth. The government announced on Wednesday more fiscal resources will be deployed in …

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday he is imposing new 25% tariffs at midnight on exports from America’s two biggest trading partners, Mexico and Canada, ignoring evidence that the neighboring countries curtailed illegal migration and the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S. as he had demanded. “The tariffs, you know, they’re all set,” Trump said at the White House. “They go into effect tomorrow.” All three major U.S. stock indexes fell sharply near the end of trading for the day as Trump made the announcement. The fallout from the …

U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to impose new tariffs Tuesday on Canadian and Mexican exports to the United States, but Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday they may not be as high as the 25% figure Trump was planning. “That is a fluid situation,” Lutnick told the Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures.” “There are going to be tariffs on Tuesday on Mexico and Canada. Exactly what they are, we’re going to leave that for the president and his team to negotiate,” he said. Lutnick’s comments were the first …

WASHINGTON — On a recent cold day in February, Virginia resident Raymond Fong sat outside the Tysons Corner mall for nearly two hours on a stool he brought from home to wait in line for a taste of milk tea from a new China-based beverage business. China’s popular fruit and milk tea chain, Heytea, is one of a number of Chinese businesses that are looking for better economic opportunities abroad amid a slowing economy at home. While U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs are creating more uncertainties for Chinese businesses at home, …

New Delhi  — India and the European Union agreed to wrap up a free trade deal by the end of this year, the two sides announced Friday following talks in the Indian capital between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen. While negotiations between India and the EU have dragged on for years, analysts say there is a greater urgency to conclude a pact as the threat of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump prompts many countries to ramp up efforts to increase access to markets …

WASHINGTON — As U.S. President Donald Trump moves forward with an expanding net of tariffs, including an additional 10% for Chinese imports starting next week, industry insiders and experts say closing existing loopholes and workarounds that companies use to avoid trade taxes is also key. One practice that so far has helped companies from China — and others — to avoid being hit with tariffs is transshipment, or the transfer of goods to a second country, where the “Made in China” label is switched for another. Berwick Offray, a ribbon manufacturer …

NEW DELHI — The European Union plans to urge India to lower its high tariffs on cars and wine to boost trade, as it seeks to reduce its reliance on China, a senior official from the bloc said, ahead of a visit by the European Commission president to New Delhi. Echoing U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of reciprocal tariffs, the official said the EU would press India to cut tariffs on some goods and broaden market access for its products, while offering flexibility on agriculture issues to expedite free trade agreement …

U.S. consumer confidence plunged in February in its biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index dropped from 105.3 in January to 98.3 this month, the largest month-to-month decline since August 2021. With U.S. consumer spending accounting for about 70% of the world’s largest economy, the three major stock indexes on Wall Street all fell on news of the report. The tech-heavy NASDAQ dropped by more than a percentage point. The Conference Board said in a …

Ongoing freezes in federal funding are impacting the U.S. agricultural industry. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more from the Midwestern state of Wisconsin. …