WASHINGTON — President Trump insisted Thursday that a Chinese government spokesman was mistaken in denying trade talks to de-escalate massive tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two largest economies. “[China is] saying it’s ‘fake news’ that trade talks are happening,” a reporter prompted Trump at the White House. “Well, they had a meeting this morning,” the…
There are not many certainties in the world of money, but this traditionally has been one of them: When life turns scary, people take refuge in American government bonds. Investors buy U.S. Treasuries on the assumption that, come what may — financial panic, war, natural disaster — the federal government will endure and stand by…
The bedrock of the financial system trembled on Friday, with government bond yields rising sharply as the chaotic rollout of tariffs shook investors’ faith in the pivotal role played by the United States in the financial system. U.S. government bonds, known as Treasuries because they are issued by the U.S. Treasury, are backed by the…
For the past week, President Trump has been urging calm in the face of the financial chaos that he created and resisting calls for him to rethink his approach. “I know what the hell I’m doing,” he told Republicans on Tuesday as the massive tariffs he had imposed sent global markets into a tailspin. “BE…
The world’s most widely followed stock-market benchmark slid into a correction on Thursday, a drop that underscores how the two-year-long bull market is running out of steam in the early days of the Trump administration. The move stems from investors’ growing pessimism about the whipsawing policy pronouncements from Washington over the past few weeks. On-again,…
“He was in turmoil,” his wife, Kelly Johnson, recalled of that night last spring, in an interview conducted last fall. “We assumed we were done. I was saying, ‘Well, it’s been great. It’s been a nice, but short little ride.’ We thought we were going home.” Mr. Johnson spent the night praying in the living…
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance loudly berated President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Friday in an explosive televised shouting match unlike any seen in the Oval Office between an American president and foreign leader in modern times. Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance castigated Mr. Zelensky for not being grateful enough for U.S. support…
A Manhattan federal judge on Friday banned Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team from regaining access to the U.S. Treasury Department’s most sensitive payment and data systems until the conclusion of a lawsuit that claims the group’s access is unlawful. The judge overseeing the case, Jeannette A. Vargas, ruled that members of the so-called Department of Government…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will skip a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations in Cape Town next week, according to people familiar with his plans, deepening the rift between the United States and South Africa over policies the Trump administration believes are anti-American. The decision to forgo such…
President Trump said on Sunday night that he had ordered the Treasury secretary to stop producing new pennies, a move that he said would help reduce unnecessary government spending. “Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” he said in a post on Truth Social….