Reuters (March 18)
Top banking heads in Australia believe the Trump administration’s “protectionist policies would likely strain the global economy in the medium term with higher costs and lack of certainty.” However, they believe Australia is “better placed than Canada, which sells 85% of its exports to the U.S.” In contrast, Australia’s U.S. exports are, “small compared to its overall export trade,” amounting annually to only about $15 billion.
Tags: $15 billion, Australia, Banking, Canada, Certainty, Exports, Global economy, Higher costs, Protectionist policies, Strain, Trade, Trump administration
Institutional Investor (March 12)
“February was a disaster for many biopharma, life sciences, and other health care hedge funds. Most lost money, several by double-digit rates, and as a result were in the red heading into March.” Whether the Trump administration will “slow down or pause the approval process for drugs currently in development” is making investors “jittery.” On top of that, “the stock market’s general volatility and sell-off have been especially rough on fledgling companies with little or no revenue and earnings — including this sector — exacerbating investor concerns.”
Tags: Approval process, Biopharma, Development, Disaster, Drugs, February, Health care, Hedge funds, Investors, Jjittery, Life sciences, Sell-off, Stock market, Trump administration, Volatility
American Banker (February 24)
“Banks have been encouraged by the Trump administration’s promises to reduce their regulatory burdens, but the simultaneous efforts to reduce the federal workforce — including among independent bank regulators — could have unforeseen consequences in supervision and enforcement.” Experts say, this could lead to weaker crisis response.
Tags: Bank regulators, Banks, Crisis response, Encouraged, Enforcement, Experts, Federal workforce, Independent, Promises, Regulatory burdens, Supervision, Trump administration, Unforeseen consequences
Wall Street Journal (December 28)
“Corporate America pulled back on diversity programs in 2024 under pressure from activists.” The new year will bring greater challenges as the incoming Trump administration gears up “to end diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies.” Many corporates “still support diversity efforts, even if they avoid the term, bend to the demands of activists or try to sidestep skirmishes with Trump’s administration. CEOs also risk backlash among customers and employees.”
Tags: 2024, Activists, Backlash, CEOs, Corporate America, Customers, DEI, Demands, Diversity programs, Employees, Equity, Inclusion, Pressure, Sidestep, Trump administration
Institutional Investor (November 23)
“Plan fiduciaries investing according to environmental, social, and governance principles may be breathing a sigh of relief after the Department of Labor finalized the rule allowing retirement plans to take these factors into consideration.” The new DOL rules “reversed two regulations issued under the Trump administration, which banned plan fiduciaries from investing in ‘non-pecuniary’ instruments.”
Tags: Banned Non-pecuniary, Department of Labor, ESG, Factors, Fiduciaries, Investing, Regulations, Relief, Retirement plans, Reversed, Rule, Trump administration
Financial Times (August 26)
“British society is so deeply divided—politically, socially, geographically and generationally—that it is unable to react. The UK has become a mere chessboard, a toy in the hands of a force far greater than that of its inhabitants; the geopolitical interests of the Trump administration,” which seeks to use the UK “as the latest battlefield on which to achieve its twin goals of undermining the EU, and challenging its rival China.”
Tags: Battlefield, Chessboard, Divided, EU, Geopolitical interests, Society, Trump administration, U.S., UK
Chicago Tribune (July 18)
“The nuclear arms control edifice that was built up over half a century is in danger of coming apart” as the Trump administration withdraws from the INF Treaty and does not seek to extend New START. “After more than 50 years of U.S.-Russian arms control negotiations and agreements, there is scope for thinking anew about how best to reduce nuclear dangers. But abandoning long-standing agreements and conditioning any new negotiations on including China are not the best way to do that.”
Tags: Agreements, Arms control, China, INF Treaty, Negotiations, New Start, Nuclear, Russia, Trump administration, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (February 12)
“In Germany, a Cold War deal to host U.S. nuclear weapons is now in question” as debate “flares up for the first time since the 1980s.” Chancellor Merkel’s coalition partners “are reconsidering their support for a decades old arrangement that puts Germany under the U.S. nuclear shield, a development that could further undermine the country’s already-tense relationship with the Trump administration.”
The Week (February 14)
“It’s three whole weeks into the Trump administration, and this is already looking like the most dysfunctional White House in memory. While we had plenty of other things to worry about when contemplating a Donald Trump victory during the campaign, this should have been utterly predictable.”
