Beshear says Trump's tariff spree undermines the president's supporters
Also on Wednesday, he threatened 50 percent tariffs on Brazil over the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally who is accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the country's 2022 election.
'Look at what he's doing to critical trading partners like Canada — 22 percent of our exports go to Canada — or Japan, who he's pushing toward China,' Beshear said. 'Japan invests in Kentucky at a level of almost no other state. You know, the largest Toyota manufacturing facility isn't in Japan; it's in Georgetown, Kentucky.'
A car drives past the entrance to the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, on Jan. 27, 2010. | Ed Reinke/AP
But even some Republicans aren't enamored with the president's tariffs. A POLITICO-Public First poll conducted in June found that 1 in 4 Trump voters say his tariffs are hampering trade negotiations with other countries. And under half of Trump voters would support his tariffs on China — a central pillar of the president's trade agenda — if the result were to be higher prices at home.
'This is, what was it, first across the board, then reciprocal, then industry-specific,' Beshear told Welker. 'I think there was a company-specific tariff proposed. Now, we have tariffs on countries if he doesn't like who that country is prosecuting. It is chaos. It is increasing costs.'
Beshear also panned the Medicaid work requirements Trump signed into law in his 'big, beautiful bill' on July 4. Many Americans support the mechanism, but Beshear called it a 'ruse' — that's 'going to be devastating to rural economies.' The Congressional Budget Office estimated that nearly 5 million people could lose Medicaid coverage for noncompliance with work requirements by 2034.
'What they're doing is they're doubling the paperwork on everyone, not just able-bodied adults, but everyone,' Beshear said. 'What they're hoping, sadly, is that parents with a special needs child who are really busy don't check a box, people who are helping their parents or grandparents with their long-term care needs don't check a box. And then, they kicked off their coverage for six months or more. It is wrong. It's cruel.'
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Fox News
22 minutes ago
- Fox News
Mother of slain soldier held by Hamas terrorists for 4K days makes plea to Trump
It has been 4,000 days since Hadar Goldin, a 23-year-old Israeli soldier and budding artist, was ambushed and killed by Hamas terrorists during a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza. His remains have never been returned. For his mother, Leah Goldin, the passage of time has only deepened the urgency. In a wide-ranging interview marking the grim milestone, she thanked President Donald Trump and his advisors for their efforts so far— and asked for them to ensure that no ceasefire, normalization deal or regional agreement moves forward without the return of her son. "We are turning to and hoping that President Trump and his people — who understand this issue — will recognize that the real victory over Iran is to bring everyone home immediately and unconditionally. Hadar is a symbol, and the Saudis must make this demand on their side, because you can't speak of normalization while we remain in a state of abnormality. "These deals are a bluff — and this selective process is horrific. It's killing the families and the hostages. The further we go without bringing everyone back and ending this awful war, the more Hadar Goldins there will be. It's unbearable." Hadar Goldin was born to a prominent family of educators and raised on values of faith, service and compassion. Hadar was known for his gentle character, sharp intellect and deep artistic talent. He had just gotten engaged. In his free time, he drew portraits, wrote poetry and taught children with disabilities. He was serving in the elite Givati Brigade when, on Aug. 1, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, Hamas violated a ceasefire — agreed upon hours earlier with U.S. and U.N. mediation — by launching a surprise attack. Hadar was killed and dragged into a tunnel inside Gaza. For his mother, that moment shattered not only her family's world, but also what she calls "the Israeli military's sacred code." "The IDF's ethos is never to leave a soldier behind," she said. "But on August 28, 2014, Israel signed a ceasefire with Hamas without demanding Hadar's return. That broke something fundamental." Over the past decade, Leah Goldin has met with world leaders, lawmakers and military officials across the U.S. and Europe, seeking justice for her son and others like him. She points to U.N. Security Council Resolution 2474, passed in 2019, which obligates all parties to an armed conflict to return the remains of the dead as a humanitarian act and confidence-building measure. "This is international law," she said. "And yet Hadar is still in Gaza." Goldin credits the Trump administration for taking the issue seriously. "When the resolution passed in 2019, it was Trump's people — Jason Greenblatt, Nikki Haley — who led the way," she said. Today, Goldin sees a rare opportunity — a convergence of diplomatic efforts with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Gaza — to demand Hadar's return before any agreements are finalized. "Saudi Arabia has enormous leverage," she said. "They're leading the Islamic world. If they want normalization with Israel, then let them demand the return of Hadar and all of the hostages as a gesture of goodwill." She also praised Steve Witkoff, a Trump envoy on both Iran and Saudi issues, and urged him to connect the dots. "He's in charge of the deals. He knows the hostages matter. Don't say you'll finish the business and deal with the hostages later. That's immoral." Goldin says she has lost trust in the Israeli government, which she believes has repeatedly sidelined her son for political convenience. "It's the same people for 11 years, just in different chairs," she said. "They sign ceasefires, they release terrorists — but leave Hadar behind." Since Hamas' October 7 massacre, Leah and her family have taken on a new role: advising and supporting the families of current hostages through the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, a group they helped build in the days after the attack. "My son Tzur, who also served in special forces, said no family should go through this alone," she said. "So we organized — gave them our contacts, our tools, our lessons. But it's painful. Because we've seen this before. And we know how easy it is to be forgotten." She calls the ongoing hostage negotiations "a nightmare of selection," where some are prioritized and others left behind. "As a daughter of Holocaust survivors, this feels like moral collapse," she said. Goldin says she will not stop until Hadar — and all the hostages — come home. "Hadar is not just my son," she said. "He's a symbol now. And in every ceasefire, in every backroom deal, in every 'business as usual' moment — I want the world to remember his name."
The Hill
27 minutes ago
- The Hill
US manufacturers are stuck in a rut despite subsidies from Biden and protection from Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats and Republicans don't agree on much, but they share a conviction that the government should help American manufacturers, one way or another. Democratic President Joe Biden handed out subsidies to chipmakers and electric vehicle manufacturers. Republican President Donald Trump is building a wall of import taxes — tariffs — around the U.S. economy to protect domestic industry from foreign competition. Yet American manufacturing has been stuck in a rut for nearly three years. And it remains to be seen whether the trend will reverse itself. The U.S. Labor Department reports that American factories shed 7,000 jobs in June for the second month in a row. Manufacturing employment is on track to drop for the third straight year. The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, reported that manufacturing activity in the United States shrank in June for the fourth straight month. In fact, U.S. factories have been in decline for 30 of the 32 months since October 2022, according to ISM. 'The past three years have been a real slog for manufacturing,'' said Eric Hagopian, CEO of Pilot Precision Products, a maker of industrial cutting tools in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. 'We didn't get destroyed like we did in the recession of 2008. But we've been in this stagnant, sort of stationary environment.'' Big economic factors contributed to the slowdown: A surge in inflation, arising from the unexpectedly strong economic recovery from COVID-19, raised factory expenses and prompted the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates 11 times in 2022 and 2023. The higher borrowing costs added to the strain. Government policy was meant to help. Biden's tax incentives for semiconductor and clean energy production triggered a factory-building boom – investment in manufacturing facilities more than tripled from April 2021 through October 2024 – that seemed to herald a coming surge in factory production and hiring. Eventually anyway. But the factory investment spree has faded as the incoming Trump administration launched trade wars and, working with Congress, ended Biden's subsidies for green energy. Now, predicts Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, 'manufacturing production will continue to flatline.' 'If production is flat, that suggests manufacturing employment will continue to slide,' Zandi said. 'Manufacturing is likely to suffer a recession in the coming year.'' Meanwhile, Trump is attempting to protect U.S. manufacturers — and to coax factories to relocate and produce in America — by imposing tariffs on goods made overseas. He slapped 50% taxes on steel and aluminum, 25% on autos and auto parts, 10% on many other imports. In some ways, Trump's tariffs can give U.S. factories an edge. Chris Zuzick, vice president at Waukesha Metal Products, said the Sussex, Wisconsin-based manufacturer is facing stiff competition for a big contract in Texas. A foreign company offers much lower prices. But 'when you throw the tariff on, it gets us closer,'' Zuzick said. 'So that's definitely a situation where it's beneficial.'' But American factories import and use foreign products, too – machinery, chemicals, raw materials like steel and aluminum. Taxing those inputs can drive up costs and make U.S producers less competitive in world markets. Consider steel. Trump's tariffs don't just make imported steel more expensive. By putting the foreign competition at a disadvantage, the tariffs allow U.S. steelmakers to raise prices – and they have. U.S.-made steel was priced at $960 per metric ton as of June 23, more than double the world export price of $440 per ton, according to industry monitor SteelBenchmarker. In fact, U.S. steel prices are so high that Pilot Precision Products has continued to buy the steel it needs from suppliers in Austria and France — and pay Trump's tariff. Trump has also created considerable uncertainty by repeatedly tweaking and rescheduling his tariffs. Just before new import taxes were set to take effect on dozens of countries on July 9, for example, the president pushed the deadline back to Aug. 1 to allow more time for negotiation with U.S. trading partners. The flipflops have left factories, suppliers and customers bewildered about where things stand. Manufacturers voiced their complaints in the ISM survey: 'Customers do not want to make commitments in the wake of massive tariff uncertainty,'' a fabricated metal products company said. 'Tariffs continue to cause confusion and uncertainty for long-term procurement decisions,'' added a computer and electronics firm. 'The situation remains too volatile to firmly put such plans into place.'' Some may argue that things aren't necessarily bad for U.S. manufacturing; they've just returned to normal after a pandemic-related bust and boom. Factories slashed nearly 1.4 million jobs in March and April 2020 when COVID-19 forced many businesses to shut down and Americans to stay home. Then a funny thing happened: American consumers, cooped up and flush with COVID relief checks from the government, went on a spending spree, snapping up manufactured goods like air fryers, patio furniture and exercise machines. Suddenly, factories were scrambling to keep up. They brought back the workers they laid off – and then some. Factories added 379,000 jobs in 2021 — the most since 1994 — and then tacked on another 357,000 in 2022. But in 2023, factory hiring stopped growing and began backtracking as the economy returned to something closer to the pre-pandemic normal. In the end, it was a wash. Factory payrolls last month came to 12.75 million, almost exactly where they stood in February 2020 (12.74 million) just before COVID slammed the economy. 'It's a long, strange trip to get back to where we started,'' said Jared Bernstein, chair of Biden's White House Council of Economic Advisers. Zuzick at Waukesha Metal Products said that it will take time to see if Trump's tariffs succeed in bringing factories back to America. 'The fact is that manufacturing doesn't turn on a dime,'' he said. 'It takes time to switch gears.'' Hagopian at Pilot Precision is hopeful that tax breaks in Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill will help American manufacturing regain momentum. 'There may be light at the end of the tunnel that may not be a locomotive bearing down,'' he said. For now, manufacturers are likely to delay big decisions on investing or bringing on new workers until they see where Trump's tariffs settle and what impact they have on the economy, said Ned Hill, professor emeritus in economic development at Ohio State University. 'With all this uncertainty about what the rest of the year is going to look like,'' he said, 'there's a hesitancy to hire people just to lay them off in the near future.'' 'Everyone,' said Zuzick at Waukesha Metal Products, 'is kind of just waiting for the new normal.''
CNBC
28 minutes ago
- CNBC
Dollar a touch higher, currency reaction muted as Trump's deals 30% tariff threat to EU and Mexico
The euro briefly hit a three-week low on Monday before partially recovering, while the dollar gained marginally after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 30% tariff on imports from two of the largest U.S. trading partners from Aug. 1. Analysts pointed to the so-called TACO (Trump always chickens out) trade as keeping a cap on any bigger moves in forex markets. Trump on Saturday announced the latest tariffs in separate letters to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum that were posted on his Truth Social media site. Both the European Union and Mexico described the tariffs as unfair and disruptive, while the EU said it would extend its suspension of countermeasures to U.S. tariffs until early August and continue to press for a negotiated settlement. "If Trump actually manages to extract significant concessions from U.S. trading partners by threatening them with tariffs, this could be seen as positive for the dollar. This is especially true if the concessions involve trading partners lowering their tariffs on U.S. products," wrote Commerzbank analysts in a morning note. However they also flagged a downside to the U.S. dollar being the high uncertainty facing U.S. companies as they face potential tariffs at any time, and the impact on their willingness to invest. Reaction in the currency market to Trump's latest tariff threats was largely muted, though the euro did slip to a roughly three-week low early in the session. The single currency later regained some ground and last traded 0.1% lower at $1.168175. Elsewhere, sterling was down 0.1% to $1.3475, while the Japanese yen rose marginally to 147.33 per dollar. Against the Mexican peso, the dollar rose 0.3% to 18.683. Investors have grown increasingly desensitized to Trump's slew of tariff threats, with his latest upheaval in the global trade landscape doing little to prevent U.S. stocks from scaling record highs and offering just a slight boost to the dollar. "It seems like financial markets have become insensitive to President Trump's tariff threats now, after so many of them in the past few months," said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "Judging by the limited market reaction, markets might think that the latest threat from Trump is actually a manoeuvre to extract more concessions." In other currencies, the Australian dollar fell 0.11% to $0.65665, while the New Zealand dollar slid 0.36% to $0.5988. Outside of tariff news, Trump on Sunday said that it would be a "great thing" if Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stepped down, again threatening to undermine the central bank's independence as he called for interest rates to be lowered. Traders could get a better clue on the future path for U.S. rates when inflation data for June comes due on Tuesday, where expectations are for U.S. consumer prices to have picked up slightly last month. Markets are currently pricing in just over 50 basis points worth of Fed easing by December. In Asia, data on Monday showed China's exports regained momentum in June while imports rebounded, as exporters rushed out shipments to capitalize on a fragile tariff truce between Beijing and Washington ahead Trump's August deal deadline.
