Elon Musk, the billionaire ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, has praised the far-right Alterative for Germany party ahead of the election due in Germany early next year. The party wants to end Western support for Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders. Henry Ridgwell reports. …
Leave a commentThe U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday lowered its target interest rate but signaled it might take longer than previously expected to bring inflation down to the central bank’s target rate of 2% per year. That means there will likely be fewer rate reductions in 2025 than had been projected. The Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee lowered the target range of the federal funds rate, a benchmark that is used to set rates for everything from mortgages to credit card loans, by one-quarter of a percentage point to between 4.25% and 4.5%. The reduction was widely expected, but FOMC members updatedmore
Leave a commentWASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday thanked deep-pocketed Democratic donors who raised record sums in last month’s election loss to President-elect Donald Trump and urged them not to lose hope and to remain politically engaged. Biden and Harris, along with their spouses, in remarks at the Democratic National Committee holiday reception sought to buck up key donors who the Democratic Party needs to stay committed as it tries to pick up the pieces. Republicans scored a decisive victory taking the White House and Senate while maintaining control of the House in an election where donorsmore
Leave a commentPresident-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to carry out the largest deportations in U.S. history raises questions about its feasibility and its legality. VOA immigration correspondent Aline Barros reports on how the U.S. military may be involved in those plans. …
Leave a commentPresident-elect Donald Trump has nominated New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik to be his United Nations ambassador. VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer looks at the representative’s rising career and what lies ahead. …
Leave a commentWashington — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is vowing to make swift and sweeping changes as he takes office on January 20, deporting millions of migrants in the country illegally, imposing tariffs on imported goods that could raise consumer prices for Americans and pardoning rioters who tried to upend his 2020 reelection loss. Six weeks ahead of taking office for a new four-year tenure in the White House, Trump seemed emboldened by his victory last month, making him only the second American president elected to a second, nonconsecutive term after Grover Cleveland in the 1890s. “People like me now, you know?” hemore
Leave a commentU.S. senators will soon be weighing in on President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks. With many of the choices facing questions about their beliefs and qualifications, the confirmation process could look different this time. VOA Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more. …
Leave a commentIn India, there are expectations that strategic ties with the United States will deepen during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. But New Delhi is bracing for pressure on trade ties with its biggest trading partner. From New Delhi, Anjana Pasricha reports. …
Leave a commentSince 2004, former New York Times editor and now artist Sheryl Oring has been giving Americans a chance to speak their truth to the world. Dressed in 1950s secretary attire, she invites the public to speak their mind and records it on her vintage typewriter as part of a project called, “I Wish To Say.” Elena Wolf has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Vladimir Badikov …
Leave a commentWASHINGTON — Several of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and appointees were targeted with “violent threats,” including bomb threats and “swatting,” a spokesperson for the U.S. president-elect said Wednesday. The threats were made Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and law enforcement and authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those targeted, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Leavitt did not say who was targeted, and she did not elaborate on the nature of the apparent threats. Spokespeople for the FBI and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Leavitt said the attacks “ranged from bomb threatsmore
Leave a commentPresident-elect Donald Trump says he intends to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy disagrees with much of the scientific community on subjects including vaccines and HIV/AIDS. VOA’s Anita Powell has our story. …
Leave a commentU.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced a set of economic advisers he wants to appoint for his administration, including international trade attorney Jamieson Greer as his pick to be the U.S. trade representative. Greer served in Trump’s first administration as the chief of staff to the trade representative, and Trump said Tuesday that Greer played a key role in both imposing tariffs on China and in the creation of a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico. Trump said Kevin Hassett is his choice to lead the White House National Economic Council. Hassett led the Council of Economic Advisers during Trump’smore
Leave a commentBANGKOK — Southeast Asia could see a new wave of factories moving in from China to evade the soaring tariffs U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has proposed to impose on the world’s second-largest economy, trade experts tell VOA. But the trade surpluses the region has built up with the United States and its heavy use of Chinese inputs for its own exports may blunt the benefits, they add. A number of firms with factories in China, both Chinese and foreign owned, moved their plants to Southeast Asia to skirt the tariffs Trump imposed on the country — as high as 25% onmore
Leave a commentPresident-elect Donald Trump made a largely unexpected pick to run the world’s largest military, nominating Fox News television host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary. VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb has more. …
Leave a commentNearly three weeks after the 2024 election, with almost all of the votes counted, it has become clear that Donald Trump won his second term in the White House by orchestrating a nationwide rightward shift in voting patterns that largely persisted across most of the 50 states, whether their electoral votes went to Trump or to his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. The main force behind Trump’s victory was strong support from his base, which is generally made up of white Americans without a college degree. His win would not have been possible, however, had the president-elect not improvedmore
Leave a commentwashington — U.S. farm industry groups want President-elect Donald Trump to spare their sector from his promise of mass deportations, which could upend a food supply chain heavily dependent on immigrants in the United States illegally. So far Trump officials have not committed to any exemptions, according to interviews with farm and worker groups and Trump’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan. Nearly half of the nation’s approximately 2 million farmworkers lack legal status, according to the Labor and Agriculture departments, as well as many dairy and meatpacking workers. Trump, a Republican, vowed to deport millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegallymore
Leave a commentWASHINGTON — The chair of the Democratic National Committee informed party leaders on Monday that the DNC would choose his successor in February, an election that will speak volumes about how the party wants to present itself during four more years of Donald Trump in the White House. Jaime Harrison, in a letter to members of the party’s powerful Rules & Bylaws Committee, outlined the process of how the party would elect its new chair. Harrison said in the letter that the committee would host four candidate forums — some in person and some virtually — in January, with the finalmore
Leave a commentU.S. President Joe Biden will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, the White House said Monday, calling it a “commitment to our democratic values” despite Trump’s skipping Biden’s own swearing-in. Then-President Trump refused to attend Biden’s inauguration in 2021, after falsely claiming Biden’s election win was fraudulent and whipping up a mob of supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol. “The president promised that he would attend the inauguration of whoever won the election,” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told reporters flying with Biden on Air Force One. “He and the first lady are going to honor that promise and attendmore
Leave a commentWASHINGTON — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, to be agriculture secretary. “As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country,” Trump said in a statement. If confirmed by the Senate, Rollins would lead a 100,000-person agency with offices in every county in the country, whose scope includes farm and nutrition programs, forestry, home and farm lending, food safety, rural development, agricultural research, trade and more. It had a budget of $437.2 billion in 2024. Themore
Leave a commentScott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a former NFL player who ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term. Turner, 52, is the first Black person selected to be a member of the Republican’s Cabinet. Here are some things to know about him: From professional football to politics Turner grew up in a Dallas suburb, Richardson, and graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was a defensive back and spent nine seasons in the NFL beginning in 1995, playing for the Washington Redskins, San Diegomore
Leave a commentU.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate Scott Bessent as secretary of the treasury, according to a statement released Friday night. Bessent, 62, is the founder of Key Square Capital Management, a hedge fund, and has worked on and off for Soros Fund Managment since 1991. If confirmed, Bessent will be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. He is a deficit hawk and has said he would work to lower the U.S. national debt. “This election cycle is the last chance for the U.S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sortmore
Leave a commentNATO allies are preparing for a potentially turbulent transatlantic relationship after the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. During his first term, he questioned NATO’s relevance and berated allies for not spending more on defense. But as Henry Ridgwell reports, many European nations are echoing calls to spend more in the face of the threat from Russia. …
Leave a commentPresident-elect Donald Trump’s choice to serve as the next U.S. secretary of state is Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who has been in the Senate since 2011 and serves on the chamber’s foreign relations and intelligence committees. VOA’s Chief National Correspondent Steve Herman has more. …
Leave a commentU.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s latest nominee for U.S. attorney general has established herself as a staunch conservative, Trump loyalist and outspoken defender of the president-elect, both personally and professionally. Trump announced his selection of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday, just hours after former Florida U.S. Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration for the post. From his Truth Social media account, Trump praised Bondi and what she will bring to the office. “For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans — Not anymore,” Trumpmore
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