Chris Zephro’s warehouse full of latex masks, “Saw” movie props, and zombie apocalypse games is a testament to his love of horror.
“Horror is not necessarily Halloween. It’s really a lifestyle,” Zephro said.
But the fake blood inside his Santa Cruz, California, warehouse pales in comparison to the real-life cash bleed from his business ever since the Trump administration launched a trade war with China last spring.
Electronics imported to the United States will be exempt from President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, according to a US Customs and Border Protection notice posted late Friday.
Smartphones, computer monitors and various electronic parts are among the exempted products. The exemption applies to products entering the United States or removed from warehouses as early as April 5, according to the notice. The exemption, which comes after the Trump administration on Wednesday imposed a minimum tariff rate of 145% on Chinese goods imported to the United States, does not include the 20% tariff on Chinese goods for the country’s role in the fentanyl trade. The tariff exemption would have a major impact on tech giants like Apple, which make iPhones and other products in China.
As the deadline to strike a deal over TikTok approaches this week, President Donald Trump has signaled that he is confident his administration can broker an agreement with ByteDance, the social media app’s China-based parent company.
Speaking with reporters on Air Force One late Sunday, Trump said that “there’s tremendous interest in TikTok.” He added that he would “like to see TikTok remain alive.” The president’s comments came less than one week before an April deadline requiring ByteDance to divest or face a ban in the United States.
“We have a lot of potential buyers,” Trump said.
US President Donald Trump has refused to say whether the US economy is facing a recession or price rises in the wake of his administration’s flip-flopping on tariff threats against some of its closest trading partners.
Asked if he was expecting a recession this year, Trump said there was a “period of transition” taking place.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, however, insisted there would be no contraction in the world’s largest economy, while acknowledging that the price of some goods may rise.
It comes after a volatile week for US financial markets as investors grappled with uncertainty from his administration’s U-turn on some key parts of its aggressive trade policies.
The extraordinary developments for one of America’s most popular social media apps over this weekend will be one for the history books. The banning — and unbanning — of TikTok involved actions from a former president, a sitting president and a future president and gripped 170 million Americans who use the app daily.
With just hours to go before a nationwide ban was set to come into effect, TikTok went dark late Saturday. By midday on Sunday it was back online, crediting then-President elect Donald Trump. But its long-term fate in America remains undetermined.
So what on earth happened? Here’s a countdown to the ban – and its unbanning:
President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that even more tariffs could be coming as soon as next week: This time China was his target, as Trump threatened to unleash a wave of higher taxes on imports from America’s second-biggest trading partner.
In an Oval Office press conference that echoed similar off-the-cuff remarks on Monday, Trump said that he is considering a 10% across-the-board tariff on all Chinese goods starting as early as February 1. On Monday, Trump threatened 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada but deflected on China, noting that former President Joe Biden left in place extensive tariffs that Trump imposed during his first administration.
Bitcoin on Sunday hit a new record above $80,000. The world’s largest cryptocurrency surged in the run-up to Tuesday’s US presidential election, rose sharply immediately on election night after it became clear Donald Trump would win and has continued rising in the days since his victory.
Bitcoin is up 80% this year, dwarfing the S&P 500’s still-electric 25.7% gain this year. After briefly touching the $80,000 milestone, bitcoin was trading just below it Sunday mid-morning.
The crypto industry believes Trump’s victory is a bullish sign for Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Although Trump was once a bitcoin skeptic, once saying it “was based on thin air,” he has fully embraced crypto in recent months — unlike the Biden administration, which has sought to rein in crypto.
President Donald Trump touts the economy’s quick recovery as evidence of his administration’s success. He’s not wrong, but it’s not the full picture.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spent all last week testifying about the recovery on Capital Hill. His message: This is a tale of two economies, and one looks much stronger than the other.
On paper, the economy is roaring back even stronger than Powell and many economists expected.: More than 22 million jobs vanished in the spring lockdown, but 10.6 million jobs have since been added back.
For years, Twitter (TWTR) and Facebook (FB) have enjoyed a healthy rivalry: They’ve competed for acquisitions, talent and advertising dollars, and sometimes gone so far as to copy each others’ features in the never-ending pursuit to grow their audiences.
But the clash between the two tech companies appeared to take on new life this week after Twitter’s decision to place fact-check labels on some of President Donald Trump’s tweets sparked a series of threats, including an imminent executive order regulating social media companies.
The CEOs of the two companies traded criticisms in public. Former employees posted their own jabs on social media. And some legislators were quick to highlight the differences between the approach Twitter and Facebook took, potentially only adding to the tensions.
The manufacturers most affected by US tariffs on imported goods are worried about their future, according to the Federal Reserve.
The Fed’s Beige Book, which compiles anecdotes on business activity from across its 12 districts, showed Wednesday that manufacturers in all districts expressed concern about tariffs. In many districts, manufacturers said US trade policy had driven up their costs and disrupted supply.
Dispatches From The Front 