Connect with us

Business

Trump says he’s ‘very angry’ with Putin, threatens oil penalties

Published

on



President Donald Trump said he’s “pissed off” at Russian President Vladimir Putin and would consider “secondary tariffs” on Russian oil if a ceasefire with Ukraine can’t be reached, NBC News reported.

Trump said he was “very angry” about recent comments by Putin suggesting ways to install a new leadership in Ukraine and sideline President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, NBC reported, citing a phone interview with Trump on Sunday.

“I was pissed off about it. But if a deal isn’t made, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, I’m going to put secondary sanctions on Russia,” Trump said. He told NBC he plans to speak to Putin this week. 

Putin has been testing Trump to see how far he can go in pressing Europe to ease sanctions on Russia. Trump portrayed his threat against Putin as a bargaining tool.

“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” he said.

“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States. There will be a 25% tariff on all – on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil,” he said.

Read more: Putin Tests How Far Trump Will Go Against Europe on Sanctions

While Ukraine has said it would immediately observe a ceasefire, the Kremlin appeared to catch the White House off guard by declaring that its participation was dependent on removing sanctions on Russian Agricultural Bank, or RSHB, and other financial institutions involved in foreign trade in food and fertilizers.

After three days of negotiations in Saudi Arabia last week, the US announced on Tuesday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to the Black Sea truce as the next stage in Trump’s efforts to end the war, following their acceptance of a 30-day halt to strikes on energy infrastructure.

Trump on Monday appeared to invent a new economic statecraft tactic by threatening what he dubbed “secondary tariffs” on countries that buy oil from Venezuela to choke off its oil trade with other nations. 

The threat, confirmed in an executive order by Trump, said countries could face 25% tariffs on trade with the US if they purchase oil and gas from Venezuela, which is already under heavy US sanctions. The move was meant to pressure Venezuela for the “tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals” that Trump said Venezuela has sent to the US.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Jeep maker Stellantis is already taking drastic actions to shut down some production following Trump’s tariffs

Published

on



Automaker Stellantis is temporarily halting production at a plant in Canada and a plant in Mexico shortly after President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on imported vehicles. The move will result in the temporary layoff of 900 U.S. employees.

Stellantis, which owns car brands like Jeep, Citroën and Ram, will be temporarily pausing production at the Windsor assembly plant in Canada for for the weeks of April 7 and 14. Operations will resume at the facility the week of April 21.

The company will also be temporarily pausing production at the Toluca assembly plant in Mexico for the month of April, starting on April 7.

Due to the production pause, there will be temporary layoffs at the Warren and Sterling stamping plants in Michigan and at the Indiana and Kokomo transmission plants and Kokomo casting facility in Indiana.

Stellantis plans to continuously monitor the situation to determine if further action is necessary.

In a email from North American Chief Operating Officer Antonio Filosa sent to employees, Filosa said that Stellantis will quickly adapt to the policy changes imposed by Trump. He noted that the actions that the company is taking “are necessary given the current market dynamics.”

“We understand that the current environment creates uncertainty,” Filosa wrote. “Be assured that we are very engaged with all of our key stakeholders, including top government leaders, unions, suppliers and dealers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as we work to manage and adapt to these changes.”

Late last month Trump said he was placing 25% tariffs on auto imports, a move the White House claimed would foster domestic manufacturing but could also put a financial squeeze on automakers that depend on global supply chains.

Stellantis has also been dealing with some of its own challenges. In December CEO Carlos Tavares stepped down amid an ongoing struggle with slumping sales.

Stellantis’ North American operations had been the company’s main source of profits for some time, but struggles piled up last year, with the company citing rising competition and larger market changes.

In efforts to revive sales, Stellantis previously made a number of leadership changes in October, which included naming new heads of operations in North America and Europe.

In January the company announced plans to reopen an assembly plant in Illinois and build the next generation Dodge Durango in Detroit as it looked to resolve issues with the UAW.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Gap, Nike and Levi’s took years to diversify from China. Now sky high tariffs on nations like Vietnam are ruining their strategies

Published

on



© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.



Source link

Continue Reading

Business

‘Fake news’—Tesla’s Elon Musk dashes investor hopes he may finally be leaving politics, insisting he’s not going anywhere

Published

on



  • Elon Musk denied rumors he would soon be leaving the Trump administration. When news leaked in Politico that Trump told his inner circle the Tesla CEO would soon return to the private sector full-time, shares in the beleaguered carmaker surged.

Amid all the grim news around Tesla, investors finally had cause to cheer on Wednesday. Politico leaked rumors that CEO Elon Musk would, at long last, return to run his business empire full-time, leaving his newfound love of politics behind.

Shares in the company reversed their losses, soaring on the hopes that President Trump had in fact told his inner circle that the entrepreneur would soon be gone just as the article reported. 

Not so fast, Musk countered—he wasn’t going anywhere. 

“Fake news,” posted the Tesla CEO, who only two weeks earlier proudly shared a glimpse of his new D.C. office as head of Trump’s government efficiency task force DOGE. In two brief words, he dashed hopes among his investors that his political career as cost-cutter-in-chief was all but over.

Hours earlier, Tesla shocked shareholders with its worst quarterly sales since the spring of 2022 almost three full years earlier. Not even the most pessimistic analyst forecast anything close to the 13% decline in volumes. 

It was the latest warning sign that Tesla and its core autos business was rusting away.

Musk staked his domestic political capital on Wisconsin race—and lost

Whether by coincidence or not, the report landed just shortly after Trump learned that Musk’s campaign to help Republicans win control of the Wisconsin state supreme court proved a complete disaster. 

The Tesla CEO splurged nearly $25 million in the belief that electing Brad Schimel would alter the very course of western civilization. 

“This is one of those things that may not seem that it’s going to affect the entire destiny of humanity,” Musk told a rally in Green Bay in all earnestness, “but I think it will.” 

It isn’t the first time the Tesla CEO has felt this strongly about a vote. Only two months prior, he told Germans that electing the nationalist far-right AfD into power would determine the fate of Europe, if not the entire world: “I do not say it lightly when I think the future of civilization could hang on this election.” 

Instead, AfD came second, and Musk accused the country of “suicidal empathy.” Just as with the AfD, Musk’s endorsement of Schimel did not appear to have helped at all, and may have even hurt—a fact likely not gone unnoticed by Trump.

Amid the entrepreneur’s declining popularity and weeks of anti-Tesla boycotts that had owners afraid of leaving their cars unattended, investors are starting to say enough is enough.

Brief Musk stopovers to hold Tesla investors by the hand no longer cut it

On Wednesday, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called Tesla “the most disruptive technology company in the world” thanks to Musk. Yet, even he is now warning the longer its CEO stays at DOGE, the more permanent damage he will inflict on Tesla’s brand.

Only last week, Ives had praised Musk for holding investors by the proverbial hand during a Tesla meeting, in which he promised staff they would make history by turning scarce resources into an infinitely sustainable abundance.

“The future we’re headed for is one where you can literally just have anything you want,” Musk told them in comments that also helped soothe shaky investor nerves.

But after Wednesday’s dreadful delivery figures, Ives is seemingly no longer satisfied with brief Musk stopovers to rally the troops.

“With major protests erupting globally at Tesla dealerships, Tesla cars being keyed and a full brand crisis tornado now underway, this has turned into a life of its own and cast a dark black cloud over Tesla’s stock,” he wrote. “Musk needs to get his act together or else unfortunately darker times are ahead for Tesla with today’s disaster Q1 delivery number a stark reminder.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © Miami Select.