By Julia Harte (Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s April 9 decision to hike tariffs on China hit as Steve Egan, a promotional product distributor in Tampa, Florida, was in the middle of ordering 5,000 rubber ducks from a Chinese vendor. The ducks were for a local non-profit that wanted to hand them out at parades and special events. Overnight, the ducks’ cost jumped from 29 to 45 cents apiece, according to Egan.  That order is now … Read more…

By Nathan Layne and Tim Reid (Reuters) -The Social Security Administration could lose thousands more staff beyond the 7,000 already targeted for cuts due to a move by the Trump administration to reclassify government employees, making them easier to fire, worker advocates said on Friday. President Donald Trump said last week his administration would proceed with plans to designate tens of thousands of federal workers as “at will” employees involved in policy decisions, stripping them … Read more…

By Nathan Layne (Reuters) -The White House wants to defund a bipartisan board that advises the president and Congress on Social Security policy, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the Trump administration moves to cut costs and eliminate independent voices in government. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget has notified staff at the Social Security Advisory Board that it plans to cut the board’s annual budget from around $3 million … Read more…

By Lewis Krauskopf NEW YORK (Reuters) -A packed upcoming week for markets will test a U.S. stocks rebound, with investors focused on a wave of corporate results led by Apple and Microsoft, while the prospect of global trade developments threatens to cause volatility at any time. The monthly U.S. employment report, data on first-quarter U.S. economic growth and an inflation update add to the potential market-sensitive events in the coming week, as investors weigh whether … Read more…

By Karen Freifeld (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s nominee for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, was arrested on fraud charges in 2010 and faced lawsuits in two states for writing $2 million in bad checks to casinos, according to government records and court filings. Isaacman is a billionaire pilot and astronaut who founded Shift4 Payments company as a teen-ager and commanded the first civilian space crew in 2021 aboard a SpaceX capsule. Isaacman’s nomination is scheduled … Read more…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was not happy with Russia’s strikes on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight and said without elaborating the U.S. was putting a lot of pressure on Russia to make a deal. “You have no idea what pressure I’m putting … We’re putting a lot of pressure. We’re putting a lot of pressure on Russia, and Russia knows that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He … Read more…

By Douglas Gillison and Chris Prentice WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has lost 16% of its workforce since this time last year, two sources briefed on the matter said, leaving Wall Street’s top regulator with gaps across key divisions at a time of market turmoil. Most of those staff members left since February when more than 600 accepted Trump administration offers to resign and retire early, according to one of the … Read more…

By Sarah N. Lynch and Peter Eisler WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Justice Department is terminating grants totaling $811 million for a wide range of services to crime victims, including trauma recovery centers and sign language interpretation, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The grants were worth $811 million when awarded, a total reported exclusively by Reuters. It was not immediately clear, however, how much of this funding remained unspent when the cuts occurred. … Read more…