The Latest: Trump promises to hike steel, aluminum tariffs to 50% starting Wednesday

Washington, Jun 4 (AP) President Donald Trump has promised to hike nearly all of his tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum to a punishing 50 per cent on Wednesday, a move that would hammer businesses from automakers to home builders, and likely push up prices for consumers.

Meanwhile, the White House has officially asked Congress to claw back USD 9.4 billion in already approved spending, taking funding away from programs targeted by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. It's a process known as “rescission,” which requires Trump to get approval from Congress to return money that had previously been appropriated.

Here's the latest: Wall Street ticks quietly higher in premarket as Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs due to kick in Futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all rose 0.2 per cent in light trading before the bell Wednesday morning.

The European Union's top trade negotiator, Maroš Šefcovic, met Wednesday with his American counterpart, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Šefcovic said talks were “advancing in the right direction at pace.” There's been no official update on the status of the steel and aluminum tariffs as of early Wednesday morning. Those tariffs are expected to hit a broad range of businesses hard and likely push up prices for consumers.

Read more about the financial markets While you were asleep: Trump's overnight posts range from China's president to Biden's autopen Trump was active on his social media site in the 2 am ET hour.

“I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL,” he said in one post.

The Republican president said last week that he'll stop being “Mr. NICE GUY” with China on trade after he accused the country of breaking an agreement with the US.

Trump and Xi are expected to speak by telephone this week.

In another overnight post, Trump criticised the use of an automatic pen by by his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, calling it a “scandal.” Ukraine's backers meet to drum up arms and ammo. The Pentagon chief is absent Senior officials from nearly 50 nations gathered Wednesday, with the Pentagon's chief absent for the first time since the group organising the military aid was set up three years ago.

The Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting at NATO headquarters is going to be chaired by the United Kingdom and Germany.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth would only arrive in Brussels after it's over. He'll participate in a meeting of NATO defence ministers Thursday.

His absence is the latest in a series of steps Washington has taken to distance itself from Ukraine's efforts to repel Russia's full-scale invasion, which began on February 24, 2022.

Before Wednesday's meeting, the UK said that it plans a tenfold increase in drone production to help Ukraine. Drones have become a decisive factor in the war, now in its fourth year.

Read more about efforts to support Ukraine Europe and the US are meeting in Paris to negotiate a settlement of a tense tariff spat The European Union's top trade negotiator, Maroš Šefcovic, met Wednesday with his American counterpart, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“We're advancing in the right direction at pace,” Šefcovic said at a news conference. He said ongoing technical meetings between EU and US negotiators in Washington would be soon followed by a video conference between himself and Greer to then “assess the progress and charter the way forward.” Brussels and Washington are unlikely to reach a substantive trade agreement in Paris. The issues dividing them are too difficult to resolve quickly.

President Trump regularly fumes about America's persistent trade deficit with the European Union, which was a record USD 161 billion last year, according to the US Commerce Department.

Read more about tariff negotiations between the US and Europe Environmentalists criticise Trump administration push for new oil and gas drilling in Alaska Top Trump administration officials — fresh off touring one of the country's largest oil fields in the Alaska Arctic — headlined an energy conference led by the state's Republican governor on Tuesday that environmentalists criticised as promoting new oil and gas drilling and turning away from the climate crisis.

Several dozen protesters were outside Gov. Mike Dunleavy's annual Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage, where US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin were featured speakers.

The federal officials were continuing a multiday trip aimed at highlighting Trump's push to expand oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in the state.

Calls for additional drilling — including Trump's renewed focus on getting a massive liquefied natural gas project built — are “false solutions” to energy needs and climate concerns, protester Sarah Furman said outside the Anchorage convention hall, as people carried signs with slogans such as “Alaska is Not for Sale” and “Protect our Public Lands.” Read more about environmentalists' reactions Trump administration revokes guidance requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would revoke guidance to the nation's hospitals that directed them to provide emergency abortions for women when they are necessary to stabilise their medical condition.

That guidance was issued to hospitals in 2022, weeks after the US Supreme Court upended national abortion rights in the US. It was an effort by the Biden administration to preserve abortion access for extreme cases in which women were experiencing medical emergencies and needed an abortion to prevent organ loss or severe hemorrhaging, among other serious complications.

Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labour Act, emergency rooms that receive Medicare dollars to provide an exam and stabilising treatment for all patients. Nearly all emergency rooms in the US rely on Medicare funds.

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would no longer enforce that policy.

The move prompted concerns from some doctors and abortion rights advocates that women will not get emergency abortions in states with strict bans.

Read more about the administration revoking guidance on emergency abortions Trump formally asks Congress to claw back approved spending targeted by DOGE The White House on Tuesday officially asked Congress to claw back USD 9.4 billion in already approved spending, taking funding away from programs targeted by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

It's a process known as “rescission,” which requires Trump to get approval from Congress to return money that had previously been appropriated. Trump's aides say the funding cuts target programs that promote liberal ideologies.

The request, if it passes the House and Senate, would formally enshrine many of the spending cuts and freezes sought by DOGE. It comes at a time when Musk is extremely unhappy with the tax cut and spending plan making its way through Congress, calling it on Tuesday a “disgusting abomination” for increasing the federal deficit.

White House budget director Russ Vought said more rescission packages and other efforts to cut spending could follow if the current effort succeeds.

“We are certainly willing and able to send up additional packages if the congressional will is there,” Vought told reporters. (AP) GSP

Source: PTI