Corporate America is sounding the alarm on tariffs
CNN
Some of America’s biggest companies say President Donald Trump’s erratic trade policy is leading consumers to spend less, raising costs for their businesses and making it impossible to plan for the future.
America’s largest companies say President Donald Trump’s erratic trade policies are leading consumers to spend less on airline tickets and burritos, raising costs for businesses and making it impossible to plan future investments. PepsiCo, American Airlines, Chipotle, IBM, Procter & Gamble and other companies announced quarterly earnings this week, giving investors their first public comments on the impact of Trump’s tariffs. They all signaled that the import taxes are hurting consumers and the economy. “We expect more volatility and uncertainty, particularly related to global trade developments, which we expect will increase our supply chain costs,” PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said in a statement. The company lowered its full-year profit outlook. The Trump administration has made a series of dizzying announcements on tariffs on imported goods, the heaviest on China, provoking countries to retaliate with tariffs of their own. The United States has imposed a 10% universal tariff on virtually every good coming into the country, plus higher rates for certain goods, and 145% tariffs on China — essentially a trade embargo on the world’s second largest economy. These whiplash policy decisions, along with a consumer slowdown, have been a nightmare for America’s biggest companies. Companies have not called out Trump by name, but they all say tariffs are taking a toll on business.
The United States is considering whether to strike Iran as turmoil intensifies for the country’s authoritarian regime.
The US has completed its first sale of Venezuelan oil since the US attached Venezuela and captured its president, Nicolás Maduro, earlier this month, according to an administration official.
President Donald Trump enacted a new 25% tariff on “certain advanced computing chips” on Wednesday, according to a White House fact sheet. That includes Nvidia’s H200 chip and AMD’s MI325X. However, chips imported to support building up the US technological supply chain would be exempt.
Verizon said some of its wireless services were down Wednesday, leaving many customers without access to voice and data services.
YouTube will now let parents limit the amount of time their teens can spend scrolling through its short-form video feature, Shorts, or block them all together.
Last month, Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson penned a first-person piece about her long year as “the federal government whisperer,” receiving tips from hundreds of federal workers. On Wednesday, the FBI searched her home, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.
Price hikes picked up speed for US-based businesses toward the end of last year, a potential signal that inflation has yet to peak and prices could soon rise faster for consumers.
Trump is threatening to take “strong action” against Iran just after capturing the leader of Venezuela. His administration is criminally investigating the chair of the Federal Reserve and is taking a scorched-earth approach on affordability by threatening key profit drivers for banks and institutional investors.
Perhaps no data point better encapsulates the American economy right now than this nugget from Delta’s quarterly earnings:
China recorded the world’s biggest ever trade surplus in 2025, as well as a 20% jump from 2024, capping off a year in which the world’s largest manufacturer defied US trade pressure by ramping up exports to other global markets.
Saks Global, the parent company of luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, filed for bankruptcy protection late Tuesday, according to court documents filed in US Bankruptcy Court in Houston, Texas.
China on Wednesday reported a strong export run in 2025 with a record surplus of nearly $1.2 trillion, as producers braced for three more years of a Trump administration set on slowing the production powerhouse by shifting US orders to other markets.
Microsoft says it will ask to pay higher electricity bills in areas where it’s building data centers, in an effort to prevent electricity prices for local residents from rising in those areas. The move is part of a broader plan to address rising prices and other concerns sparked by the tech industry’s massive buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure across the United States.