Trump threatens to halt trade with some countries unless the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates – US politics live

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who was Trump’s first pick to run the US Department of Labor before resigning in April amid a flurry of scandals, broke several of the agency’s rules during her chaotic tenure, the agency’s internal watchdog found in a report published yesterday.

Chavez-DeRemer’s violations included – among other things – abusing public funds for personal travel, regularly drinking alcohol during work, and having “an inappropriately close and unprofessional relationship” with an agent on her protective detail, according to the report.

She also had government workers carry out personal tasks for her and accepted gifts without reporting them through the official channels, the department’s office of inspector general found. The office noted that ۳۸ witnesses described the environment created by Chavez-DeRemer and her top staff, as “toxic, intimidating and humiliating”.

The report shed new light on the excesses of one of Trump’s lesser-known, but highly embattled, cabinet picks. Details of the investigation, including allegations of employee abuse, workplace drinking, and an affair between Chavez-DeRemer and a colleague, have been reported on since early this year.

The US Department of Transportation opened an inquiry on Thursday into Tesla’s new CyberCab, the company’s latest take on a self-piloting robotaxi.

The service debuted this week in Austin, Texas. Tesla’s founder, Elon Musk, billed it as “the future of transportation” in a post to social media.

Just one problem, according to the Department of Transportation: Tesla informed regulators that the vehicles were compliant with the agency’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. But the CyberCab lacks some crucial components, namely “conventional manual controls, such as a brake pedal, gas pedal, steering wheel, and mirrors,” which would typically be necessary to meet those criteria, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Now, the agency is reviewing how Tesla decided its vehicle met federal guidelines.

“Among other things, NHTSA will consider the extent to which Tesla’s certification depended on determinations that certain FMVSS are inapplicable to the Cybercab,” the agency continued.

President Trump threatened in a social media post on Friday to stop trade with some countries unless the US Federal Reserve moves to cut interest rates.

Trump cited August’s strong jobs report as sufficient justification to lower rates, and warned that, if the central bank didn’t go along, he’d halt trade between the US and any nations with which it maintains a trade deficit.

“LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, aiming the appeal directly at his handpicked new Federal Reserve chairman, Kevin Warsh.

“The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart – BE PATRIOTS for a change,” Trump wrote.

The US runs a trade deficit – meaning it imports more goods from those nations than it exports to them – with dozens of countries, including some of its closest trading partners, among them Mexico, Canada and China.

Trump has long tried to lean on the US central bank to lower interest rates, a move that, according to conventional monetary policy wisdom, can stimulate economic growth but risks worsening inflation. Despite Trump’s pleas, Warsh has hinted the Fed may instead raise interest rates to curb inflation, which remains well above its target of ۲%.

Warsh suggested the possibility of a rate hike during a speech at a summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, late last week. The Federal Reserve committee responsible for setting interest rate targets will meet on ۱۵-۱۶ September and announce whether the body will hike, maintain, or lower the current rate.

The upcoming Labor Day weekend is set to be the most expensive on record for travelers paying at the pump, according to data from AAA. Americans will pay an average of about $۴.۱۵ for a gallon of gas this weekend – more than any other Labor Day weekend on record.

At the same time, the price of diesel fuel has hit an all-time high of $۵.۸۵.

Bringing down gas prices was a central promise of President Trump’s ۲۰۲۴ campaign, but that pledge has been undercut by the war in Iran and the closure of the strait of Hormuz, which has strangled energy markets.

A Trump administration official told the Washington Post that President Trump is planning a trip to Ireland next week onboard his Qatari-gifted Air Force One – the same jet whose security vulnerabilities led Trump to secretly switch planes using a catering truck back in July.

In Ireland, Trump reportedly plans to meet with Irish leaders and attend a golf tournament hosted at one of his golf clubs located in Doonbeg, Ireland, the Post reported on Friday.

Trump had previously said that the aircraft’s security features would be beefed up before it returned to service. The scope of that work, as well as when, or if, it was fully completed, remains unclear.

North Carolina is slated to begin sending out mail-in ballots today for November’s midterm elections, the first state to do so in spite of President Trump’s efforts to curtail voting by mail.

More states are planning to follow North Carolina’s lead and start sending ballots in the coming weeks. As they do, the administration’s plan to overhaul mail-in voting may increasingly collide with the efforts of state elections officials trying to gear up for the midterms.

Trump first issued an executive order in March seeking to impose new restrictions on voting by mail, mandating that states turn over voter data and only send ballots to a list of confirmed US citizens, to be compiled by the federal government. Under the plan, USPS could refuse to deliver ballots in states that didn’t go along. (Under the US constitution, states run their own elections, not the federal government.)

Months of legal wrangling ensued. As things currently stand, a federal judge’s order has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from fully enforcing its new plan. The Trump administration has asked the supreme court to toss that order.

The US Department of Labor dropped its August jobs report on Friday, and it was an unexpectedly strong showing for the US labor market, with American firms adding an estimated ۱۶۲,۰۰۰ new roles for the month.

After a slow summer for hiring, the rosy August report will likely be a boon to the Trump administration. It arrives as Republicans, bracing for the midterms, seek to downplay the economic side effects of the escalating war in Iran, including creeping inflation, high gas prices, and turmoil in the bond market.

According to the report, the added jobs have had little effect on the unemployment rate, which is holding at ۴.۱%. The report also revised up job growth estimates from the two previous months, including bumping July up from an estimated loss of ۲۳,۰۰۰ jobs to an increase of ۲۱,۰۰۰.

More than three years into his Senate term, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has been frequently dodging work, as well as his own constituents, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday evening.

Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, was once a darling of his party, but has aligned himself more closely with Republicans since his ۲۰۲۲ election. Now, the Journal is reporting that Fetterman has forgone many of the duties of his office to focus on supporting Israel and making the rounds in conservative media.

Fetterman has reportedly made a habit of denying or canceling meetings with constituents, including, in one case, bailing on a group of paralyzed veterans who’d arrived at his office. Not long after informing his staffers he wasn’t feeling well enough to take the meeting, Fetterman allegedly turned up at the office looking none the worse for wear, telling staff that he had an interview with Fox News he didn’t want to miss.

In another notable incident, Fetterman reportedly declined to attend a funeral for three police officers killed near York, Pennsylvania, after learning the event would take three hours or longer.

“This may be a nonstarter,” Fetterman reportedly told the staffer who informed him of the event’s expected duration.

Russian state news agency Tass said the two US envoys ⁠seeking to end the war between Russia and Ukraine would visit both countries on Saturday and Sunday, but the Kremlin declined to comment.

President Donald ​Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, last visited Moscow in January, when they held four hours of late-night talks with President Vladimir ⁠Putin in the Kremlin.

“I wouldn’t make any announcements right now, but we will inform you when these contacts take place,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters when ⁠asked about the Tass report.

A Missouri House race has been rocked by the Wednesday arrest of Republican candidate Thomas Ross, whom prosecutors accuse of attempting to frame his primary opponent Louise Secker for cocaine possession.

In June, Ross allegedly gave his former campaign manager, identified by the initials “CS” in court documents, a bag of cocaine and Adderall. The two allegedly devised a plan for the former manager to stash the drugs in Secker’s purse or vehicle.

On ۲۱ June, prosecutors said, Ross asked for an update on the plot.

“Taking it no luck with the substance of it all?” he wrote in a text to his staffer. “Substance” was a euphemism for the narcotics, authorities say.

“I am actually creeping down to the car show right now and seeing if I can see your car. I have had it on me for a couple days in order to be able to take full advantage of any opportunity that arises,” the former manager replied, according to court documents.

“I thought I had it at the forum Walter went to, but never got close [and] car was locked.”

The Joplin police department in Missouri alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on ۳۰ July to a public corruption matter. It’s unclear how the police were alerted to the alleged scheme. The next day, the federal agency gave the former manager a covert recording device, which he used to tape a conversation with Ross.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he will ask Europeans to repay the American aid provided to Ukraine under the administration of his predecessor Joe Biden.

Trump has long demanded that Europeans shoulder more of the cost of Western support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, which began more than four years ago.

“Hundreds of Billions of Dollars was given to Ukraine and NATO, free of charge, that Europe would have paid for – If they were only asked, but we will be asking for that money, though somewhat belatedly!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.

The president did not specify which countries he believed should pay.

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The Missouri supreme court blocked a Republican-drawn new congressional map ⁠from being used in November’s midterm ⁠elections, a blow to the party’s ​odds for maintaining its narrow US House majority.

The ruling could save the House seat of longtime Democratic U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver. His Kansas City-based district had been dismantled under the redrawn map.

“Despite the cynical and deeply shameful attempt to silence many of our neighbors, the people fought back and won,” Cleaver said in a social media post on Thursday.

The decision marked a setback for Republicans in a national redistricting battle, AP reported, as Republicans had hoped Missouri’s new congressional boundaries could help them win an additional seat and hold on to their slim House majority in the midterms.

“The referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise,” the court said in its ruling. The legislation containing the new districts “did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters.”

As a result, the congressional map adopted after the ۲۰۲۰ census “remains in full force and effect for the November ۲۰۲۶ general election.”

Missouri attorney general Catherine Hanaway, a Republican, said she would immediately appeal to the US supreme court, asserting that the decision “has thrust our state into a full‑fledged constitutional crisis.”

Meanwhile, Missouri governor Mike Kehoe, a Republican who backed the redrawn map, said on X: “We are extremely disappointed in today’s decision by unelected judges and their lack of respect for the legislative process.”

Trump condemned the ruling in a post on Truth Social, saying it was “a Dark Day for ’Justice’ in Missouri!”.

But Richard von Glahn, executive ⁠director of People Not Politicians, told reporters that “the Missouri constitution says what it says, and those words matter.”

He added: “This is what democracy looks like. The people of Missouri demanded a voice, and the court just confirmed what we’ve been saying all along. People, not politicians, will have the final say.”

In other developments:

• The Trump administration filed an emergency request asking the US supreme court to lift order blocking USPS from implementing mail-in voting restrictions. Chuck Schumer said the president was “[attempting] to destroy the integrity of our elections” with the move.

• Excavation work on Donald Trump’s “Great Triumphal Arch” project in Washington is set to begin in the coming weeks, interior secretary Doug Burgum said. Congressman Don Beyer, whose district includes Arlington National Cemetery, described the arch project as “illegal, gridlock-increasing [and] narcissistic”.

• Maryland’s supreme court has decided that a Democrat-backed congressional redistricting amendment can go before voters in the state in November in a win for Democrats.

• Donald Trump announced an interim replacement for army secretary, Dan Driscoll, who suddenly resigned earlier this week amid reports of tension between him and defense secretary Pete Hegseth.

• Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has been asked to testify before a congressional subcommittee as part of an investigation into the “potential misallocation” of federal funds by the region’s Homeless Services Authority. Congressman Robert Garcia described the move as “another attempt by Donald Trump and House Republicans to launch a witch-hunt against Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles.”