Latest news with #Trump2.0
Axios
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- Axios
Supreme Court ruling could bring fresh risks to California EV rules
The Supreme Court ruled Friday that fuel producers have standing to challenge EPA approval of California vehicle emissions and electric vehicle policies. Why it matters: The 7-2 decision enables more lines of attack against California officials, who are already battling GOP and Trump 2.0 efforts to thwart rules that go beyond federal standards. Disputes over California's vehicle rules are a big deal, especially as the state defends separate rules — not directly at stake here — to phase out sales of gas-powered cars by 2035. It's the country's largest auto market and other states, under the Clean Air Act, have discretion to follow its policies. Driving the news: The ruling, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, overturns an appellate decision on standing, siding with fuel producers who say they're harmed by the "clean car" rules. But it doesn't address the merits of the EPA Clean Air Act waiver issued in 2022 that reinstated rules first issued in 2012. (The ruling notes that President Obama's EPA had approved a waiver that was rescinded under Trump in 2019.) The rules address tailpipe emissions, and automakers' EV manufacturing shares through model year 2025. State of play: California had successfully challenged gasoline and ethanol producers' standing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit, but Kavanaugh harshly criticized California's reasoning. "The regulations likely cause the fuel producers' monetary injuries because reducing gasoline and diesel fuel consumption is the whole point of the regulations," he wrote for the majority. "The government generally may not target a business or industry through stringent and allegedly unlawful regulation, and then evade the resulting lawsuits by claiming that the targets of its regulation should be locked out of court as unaffected bystanders," Kavanaugh wrote. The other side: The Environmental Defense Fund, which supports California's rules, emphasized that today's high court decision is narrow. "While the Supreme Court has now clarified who has grounds to bring a challenge to court, the decision does not affect California's bedrock legal authority to adopt pollution safeguards, nor does alter the life-saving, affordable, clean cars program itself," EDF general counsel Vickie Patton said in a statement. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement that he's disappointed with today's ruling, but added: "[W]e will continue to vigorously defend California's authority under the Clean Air Act." The intrigue: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a dissent, said she feared the decision would further fuel perceptions that the court is overly sympathetic to corporate interests. "For one thing, it could have denied certiorari, recognizing that one of the core components of California's emissions program—the electric-vehicle mandate—is about to sunset," she wrote. Justice Sonia Sotomayor penned a separate dissent. What we're watching: How and whether it influences disputes over EPA's 2024 blessing of California's separate rules to end gas-powered car sales in 10 years.
Asia Times
14 hours ago
- Business
- Asia Times
Hong Kong's stablecoin moment eclipses dollar peg debate
As global markets obsess over Hong Kong's 42-year-old currency peg to the US dollar, Financial Secretary Paul Chan seems more intrigued by the next four decades for the city's economy. The currency speculators testing the Hong Kong monetary authority have a point, of course. The Hong Kong dollar is experiencing extreme volatility as the US exchange rate gyrates amid questions about Donald Trump's tariffs and the direction of US Federal Reserve policy. To be sure, there is no serious discussion about Hong Kong abandoning its current 7.75–7.85 fixed rate band to the US dollar anytime soon. But the Trump 2.0 era financial chaos is straining the peg as rarely before. That has Hong Kong policymakers and markets alike wondering if there is a better currency framework for the city. But the real intrigue in Chan's office lies in implementing Hong Kong's new stablecoin legislation. By expanding its cryptocurrency licensing regime and embracing an 'open model' system for digital assets, Chan's administration hopes to morph Hong Kong into a crypto hub. The plan is to encourage overseas institutions to issue such cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong. Not only might it boost competitiveness, but it also offers the city a first-mover advantage over the US and Singapore in global payments. Chan puts the global market value of stablecoins at about US$240 billion, with trading volume topping $20 trillion in 2024. As the Hong Kong Monetary Authority puts it, the bill will 'enhance Hong Kong's existing regulatory framework on virtual-asset activities, thereby fostering financial stability and encouraging financial innovation.' Hong Kong was early to the space. In 2023, regulators launched a virtual asset licensing regime. It requires crypto firms that officially operate in Hong Kong to obtain licenses and meet certain standards to ensure the protection of retail investors. 'Hong Kong's new stablecoin policy sets a global benchmark by mandating full reserve backing, strict redemption guarantees and HKMA oversight,' YeFeng Gong, risk and strategy director of HashKey OTC, tells CNBC. The idea is that once there are global payments systems on blockchain for companies and consumers, the impacts of sanctions, tariffs and other kinds of trade curbs will be mitigated. In theory, average citizens may be able to use HK dollar stablecoins to settle overseas purchases through apps like Alibaba Group's Alipay as early as next year, with the exchange rate difference dropping to zero. It's the nightmare moment many banks have been dreading. The US, too, presumably. In March, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US would use stablecoins to ensure the US dollar hegemony in payments and protect its reserve-currency status. 'As President Trump has directed,' Bessent said, 'we are going to keep the US dollar the dominant reserve currency in the world, and we will use stablecoins to do that.' Of course, the US is having enough trouble with 'fiat' money. A 'lackluster' auction of US Treasury securities fueled worries about disappearing demand while the supply of new debt increases. This came amid Moody's Investors Service's downgrading of the US's AAA credit rating as national debt heads toward $37 trillion. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, says Washington's fiscal trajectory is a bigger-than-acknowledged. Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, says that 'while the selling of US Treasuries in the immediate aftermath of the Moody's downgrade was relatively modest, Treasury yields have climbed steadily since the end of April as budget negotiations have come to the fore.' Could stablecoins help address the problem? In a May 2025 study, Sang Rae Kim, economist at Kyung Hee University, looked at how reserve-backed stablecoins affect the Treasury markets and credit intermediation. Kim found that large stablecoin 'issuance events induce statistically significant increases in Treasury prices.' Yet as Chan's team plans for the future, current economic dislocations are creating challenges. Not least of which is being caught between a brawling US and China. Even so, it's worth remembering that Hong Kong's currency peg is the ultimate 'widow maker' trade. For more than two decades, hedge fund managers, George Soros most famously, have tested the HKMA. The peg endured years later, even as speculative investors like Kyle Bass, founder of Hayman Capital Management, and Bill Ackman, chairman of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, bet against it. Through assertive market intervention and fancy footwork, the HKMA has preserved the roughly 7.8 exchange rate established in 1983. For generations, Hong Kong's iron-clad link to the world's reserve currency served the economy well. Stability affords investment banks, exporters and entrepreneurs confidence to headquarter Asian operations in the city. It has long been touted as Hong Kong's secret weapon. The most famous such assault came in 1997 and 1998 from Soros, who 'broke' the British pound. After attacking the Malaysian ringgit and Thai baht, Soros targeted Hong Kong's peg and stocks. He lost. The HKMA overwhelmed Soros and his acolytes with a $15 billion show of force. In targeting Hong Kong in recent years, hedge fund players like Bass tested Chinese leader Xi Jinping's mettle. One big worry is control. Hence, economist Zhou Luohua of Renmin University of China calls the peg the economy's 'Achilles' heel.' 'If property and stock prices start to fall, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority can't provide sufficient liquidity like the Federal Reserve or other central banks as its money supply capacity is determined by the size of its US dollar reserves,' Zhou explains. 'If asset prices are plunging, it would trigger an exodus of funds at the same time, translating into a 'double hit' for the Hong Kong economy.' In April 2018, former HKMA head Joseph Yam argued it's time to scrap the peg so that Hong Kong can protect itself in times of turmoil. As China reduces capital controls, Yam worried 'small' Hong Kong risks getting swamped by 'huge' mainland money flows. There are some options, of course. The most obvious: soften the peg by establishing a Singapore-style basket of currencies. If the HKMA has greater flexibility, it could more easily vanquish the Soros's and Bass's of the world as well as property hoarders. Maintaining the status quo, Yam cautions, means even less affordable housing. It also makes Hong Kong more of an arbitrage vehicle between US and Chinese investors than a place that shares its fruits with middle-class households. Still, odds are that the peg is not going anywhere anytime soon. The protests in recent years challenging China's influence came as Trump's tariffs – both from 2017 to 2021 and now – throw Xi's economy off balance. China might decide that now isn't the time for experimentation with the dollar peg. Yet there is experimentation in the digital asset space that could render these 'old economy' concerns moot. And help Hong Kong get its financial groove back in short order. Follow William Pesek on X at @WilliamPesek
Economic Times
a day ago
- Health
- Economic Times
Step up to the global vaccine plate
Agencies Representational The Modi government is under pressure from the domestic vaccine industry to substantially increase its financial investment in Gavi (formerly, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation), the Vaccine Alliance, threatened by the prospect of its largest-by-far donor, the US, under Trump 2.0 pulling the plug on the PPP that helps vaccinate half the world's children against some of the deadliest diseases. Gavi is now desperately looking at large emerging economies like China and India, along with Gulf states, to make up the shortfall. For New Delhi, it's an opportunity to help local vaccine manufacturers heavily involved in Gavi, and also boost India's role as a major global current fiscal predicament is an outcome of Trump, ironically a champion of the alliance in his first term when he pledged a generous $1.1 bn for 2020-23. But in an extraordinary somersault, Trump 2.0 has suspended all external funding, including for global health, pulled out of WHO, and appears to be reneging on an earlier pledge to Gavi by the Biden administration one year ago of $1.58 bn over a period of five years. Significantly, the Trump regime's FY26 budget request to Congress and senate now being debated indicates drastic reductions in funding for global health. It does not even include funding for Gavi. To make matters worse, US secretary of health Robert F Kennedy Jr is a vaccine-sceptic who has questioned the efficacy and safety of vaccines. A vocal critic of Gavi, Kennedy has made numerous public statements and written articles expressing concerns about the organisation's transparency, accountability and impact on global health. India has had a special relationship with Gavi for long. In 2014, it was the first recipient country to become a donor to the alliance formed at the start of the new millennium with the help of core partners WHO, Unicef, World Bank, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with solemn pledges of support from a host of developed nations led by the US. As the Indian vaccine industry grew in leaps and bounds over the past decade, local manufacturers today represent over 50% of Gavi's vaccine procurement by volume. In terms of value, Gavi has procured 3 bn doses worth $3 bn from Indian manufacturers during 2016-24. Worried at the impact on India by Gavi's financial crisis, Indian Vaccine Manufacturers Association (IVMA) appealed to the PM, FM and health minister, among others, urging GoI to come to Gavi's aid. 'India has long benefited from Gavi's programmes, both in terms of access to life-saving vaccines and through support for the export of vaccines manufactured by Indian companies. A reduction in Gavi's funding would, therefore, adversely impact our export ecosystem, restrict market access, and challenge our shared mission to advance global health equity,' their letter said. It urged GoI to consider a 'financial contribution of $260 mn annually for the next 5 years to bridge the impending funding gap and support Gavi's continued efforts'. Such a commitment, IVMA believes, would reinforce India's global leadership in health diplomacy, and its image as a champion of multilateral institutions and 'global south-south' cooperation. This, along with sustaining the global reach of Indian vaccines that is crucial for the domestic manufacturing ecosystem. Such an increase in financial commitment to Gavi from the current $15 mn - although quadrupled in less than a decade from India's contribution when it first became a donor - may be difficult for GoI. This is particularly so when it's dealing with financial challenges posed by the burden of importing expensive military hardware and Donald Trump's tariff demands. A more realistic financial commitment expected from India would be around $100 mn. Over the past decade, one area India has gained considerable respect in is the global health space, particularly during the pandemic when the country significantly contributed with its vaccine manufacturing abilities to the worldwide effort to cope with an unparalleled health crisis. India recently became the world's third-largest economy, surpassing Japan. But the latter gives as much as $1.54 bn in total contributions and pledges, while China's contribution is $120 China poised to fill the vacuum left in global health and other development initiatives by an increasingly isolationist US, India would do well to weigh the gains of protecting a vital domestic industry, as well as promoting strategic global outreach against the financial burden. Health minister J P Nadda, a former Gavi board member, will be India's representative at the organisation's pledging summit in Brussels next week. It could be an opportune moment for India to punch its weight on the global healthcare front. The writer is an independent journalist (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Why Infy's Parekh takes home more than TCS' CEO despite being smaller Central bankers print currency for all, but why do they chase gold? Worrying cracks hiding behind MG Motor's own 'house of Windsor' Why failed small businessmen die by suicide when those behind big blow-ups bounce back? 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Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Trump's foreign student crackdown: Brain drain or global gain?
The American Dream has been a driving force for thousands of youngsters from developing countries, across the globe. However, under Trump 2.0 what is now being witnessed is the American urge to tie sovereign concerns with education. An example of this is from May this year, when the Trump administration announced sweeping policy changes to revoke visas for Chinese students, targeting those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or those studying in critical fields like STEM courses. Students from other countries as well have been at the receiving end of policy changes under Trump 2.0, as US embassies have been directed to stop processing visas for new students. The directives have come as the government prepares to implement comprehensive social media screening for all international applicants after incidents in Harvard, that followed pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations last year. President Trump has often described top American Universities as havens for 'Marxist maniacs and lunatics'. Thus, there are two dominant issues here, at hand which seem to be driving the administrative changes in the US towards education for foreign students. The first issue is that of the People's Republic of China using students for purposes of espionage, which the US administration has zero tolerance for. While the issue has become a flashpoint in 2025, then FBI director, Christopher Wray had told a Senate hearing in 2018 that what was being witnessed was 'non-traditional collectors (of intelligence), especially in academic setting', and that every Chinese student who is sent by China has to go through a party and a government approval process. Thus, this ensures that no Chinese student who goes abroad is untethered from the State. In 2020, under Trump 1.0, the administration had started selectively revoking visas for Chinese graduate students with ties to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) institutions and the Biden administration had expanded the security. In June this year, Yunqing Jian, a Chinese student at the University of Michigan, was arrested by the FBI for allegedly smuggling fusarium graminearum, a dangerous biological pathogen into the US. The fungus is toxic to humans as well as livestock and causes significant crop damage as well. Jian, who had received funding from the Chinese government for her work on the pathogen in China has been charged with illegally importing biological pathogens. Her ties to the CCP are being scrutinised. Her partner, Zunyong Liu has also been charged with the smuggling. These are not lone incidents. In 2018, Li Chaoqun who studied electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, was arrested, and convicted in 2022, for acting as an illegal agent of China's ministry of state security. Ji had been tasked with gathering biographical information on US-based engineers and scientists, including those working for defence contractors, to recruit them as spies for China. He had also lied about his contacts with the Chinese intelligence in his US Army Reserves Application, and in 2023, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. In 2024, Fengyun Shi, a 26-year-old graduate at the University of Minnesota, pleaded guilty to misdemeanour espionage charges under the Espionage Act. He had used a drone to take photos of US naval facilities near Newport News Shipyard in Virginia, which is a site for manufacturing nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. Shi was sentenced to six months in prison and deported to China after his visa was revoked. Sun Tzu's Art of War, China's ancient treatise on statecraft and warfare emphasises intelligence gathering as critical to military success, with spies being a cost-efficient way to outmanoeuvre enemies without direct conflict. He had identified five types of spies, ranging from local spies, inward spies, converted spies, doomed spies and surviving spies. In the current times we live in students and academics fit the role of surviving spies, the ones that return with intelligence. China's intelligence operations are diverse and given that every State, including the US wants to safeguard its sovereignty, a defensive approach as the US is currently taking, in revoking visas of Chinese students with ties to the CCP is understandable. The action is not one without a basis. However, what is also a fact is that Chinese students contribute billions of dollars to the American economy. How the US navigates this fallout is something that will be worth understanding. The other set of visa revocations is taking place in the US as the Trump 2.0 administration sees elite universities such as Harvard as failing to address anti-Semitism, particularly in the context of pro-Palestinian protests on campuses. While concerns of self-censorship, lack of freedom of expression emerge owing to such visa revocations, fact also remains that owing to normalisation of hatred of Jews, two Israeli staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were killed in Washington D.C. in May this year. The suspect Elias Rodrigues had shouted Free Palestine, after the shooting, which happened outside the Capital Jewish Museum. A normalisation of hatred and anti-Semitism, instead of actual utlisation of education visas is seen as unpalatable by Trump 2.0. Rep. Josh Gottheimer linked the shooting to a 'relentless global campaign to demonise Jews and Israel,' pointing to campus protests as part of this trend. While there are several concerns around the steps being taken, fact remains that there has been rational basis, linked to American's concerns of sovereignty. What this could lead to, however, is the emergence of educational hubs in other parts of the world. How other countries and regions leverage the opportunities is yet to be seen, but collective global hubs can fill in the vacuum, reshaping higher education. This article is authored by Sriparna Pathak, professor, China Studies and International Relations, Jindal School of International Affairs, OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
‘Fulfillment' is a splendid novel by a rising literary star
Don't look now, but a colossal literary career is sneaking in under the radar. Three years ago, Lee Cole's splendid debut, 'Groundskeeping,' explored the impact of the 2016 presidential election on a divided Kentucky family. He is back with 'Fulfillment,' a companion piece and a colder, wiser novel for Trump 2.0, lit by an eerie glow. We have been here before and yet haven't learned anything, a country playing Russian roulette, a loaded pistol pressed against the chin.
