“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took a snarky swipe Monday at Canada’s military preparedness after the trade war between the two neighbors deepened in recent days,” the New York Post reports.
Said Bessent: “What are they going to do — take their two submarines from the Edmonton Mall and sic them on us?”
“Top economic policymakers from many of the world’s wealthiest nations begin two days of meetings on Monday in Asheville, N.C. at an incredibly challenging moment. Global inflation is high, growth is choked by war in the Middle East, and rising borrowing costs are straining government budgets,” the New York Times reports.
“But on the eve of the summit of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations, those questions were clouded by a series of controversies around participation, including whether the Trump administration would let Russia attend while refusing to allow South Africa’s delegation to join.”
John Cassidy: “In principle, it’s easier to estimate the economic costs of the war; in practice, the task is far from straightforward. Even if the calculation is restricted to the United States, you first have to count the military outlays on things such as munitions, additional troop deployments, and repairing the extensive damage that Iranian counterstrikes have done to American bases in the Middle East.”
“Then there are the financial costs that higher energy prices have imposed on American households and businesses. Plus, there are more indirect costs, such as the penalties that Americans have paid in terms of higher inflation and rising interest rates. Only by putting all these things together is it possible to estimate the total cost.”
“Profits are booming at America’s biggest companies—and their leaders say that likely won’t change soon,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Chalk the good times up to a confluence of fortunate events: red-hot artificial-intelligence spending, federal spending and the windfall companies are getting in the form of refunds of some of their past tariff payments. Plus, a booming stock market and high home values are helping many shoppers keep spending, even as plenty of others struggle to absorb rising prices.”
“America’s grocery squeeze has thus far been most painfully felt in a few expensive categories, like beef, coffee and chocolate,” Axios reports.
“Now, the forces pushing up food prices are starting to pile up: expensive grain, soaring fertilizer and fuel, plus unpredictable weather and raging wars.”
”The next grocery price shock could hit much harder — and much wider.”
“President Donald Trump escalated his trade war with Canada on Sunday by declaring he wants the USA to reject all products coming from North of the border — unless those companies are willing to relocate from Canada to the States,” Mediaite reports.
Said Trump: “I don’t want Canadian cars, I don’t want Canadian parts, I don’t want Canadian anything.”
He added: “They’ve been ripping us off for decades, and it’s going to stop. This should have happened long ago with other Presidents, just as stopping Iran should have happened long ago. They want to be treated like a State, but they aren’t one. I deal with the Leadership of many Countries, but I find Canada to be the worst.”
“Ontario Premier Doug Ford expressed firm opposition to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada this weekend, saying that the result of a trade war could be harmful to both countries,” ABC News reports.
Said Ford: “Everyone’s feeling bullied by President Trump, and this is the worst thing you could do for the American economy. I just don’t see the purpose. It’s absolutely backwards.”
“Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent faces a major test of his economic diplomacy skills this week as he presses finance leaders from the G20 major economies to shrink global trade imbalances, boost growth and sever business ties to Iran, while trying to calm worries about rising U.S. debt and bond yields,” Reuters reports.
“After shunning the Group of 20 process last year in South Africa, Bessent is seeking to revamp it under U.S. leadership to push the Trump administration’s worldview in the Blue Ridge Mountains city of Asheville, North Carolina.”
“Kevin Warsh cleared a crucial hurdle at his first appearance as the Federal Reserve’s chairman at its annual conference in Jackson, Wyo,” the New York Times reports.
“He offered his most comprehensive views to date about the state of the economy. He cleared up confusion about the central bank’s commitment to getting inflation down to its 2 percent target after sending mixed messages the month prior. And he acknowledged that the Fed might have ‘work to do’ to make good on that pledge, suggesting a readiness to raise interest rates if price pressures do not ease.”
“But the path ahead for Mr. Warsh is a precarious one. Financial markets now see a quarter-point increase at the central bank’s next meeting on Sept. 15-16 as more likely than not, leaving Mr. Warsh with a tough decision whether to follow through with action.”
Financial Times: Warsh puts Fed on collision course with Trump ahead of midterms.
New York Magazine: “In terms of their relations with the U.S. Canada, and Iran have very little in common. One is America’s closest neighbor and second-largest trade partner, sharing the world’s longest international border, extensive economic and cultural ties, and a long history of friendly cooperation. The other has been a U.S. adversary for nearly five decades, including a new war that has now lasted more than six months.”
”What Canada and Iran do have in common is an enemy: they’re both targets of new economic offensives by President Trump — and they’re both equally unlikely to capitulate to them.”
“Consumer sentiment among Republicans and independents is ‘starting to fade’ ahead of the midterm elections,” Semafor reports.
“The Conference Board said last week that its overall consumer confidence index had dropped to its lowest level since January. Economists had predicted it would remain higher.”
“With markets wobbling and the world watching, Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh went back to basics yesterday morning: He affirmed that the Fed is determined to get inflation down and may have to raise interest rates to accomplish it,” Axios reports.
“If the Warsh Fed follows through with rate hikes, it would increase borrowing costs for Americans and potentially put him in the crosshairs of the rate-cut loving president who appointed him.”
“The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is eating into sales at U.S. fast-food restaurants, eroding a source of growth the industry long relied on,” the Financial Times reports.
“The vast majority of those targeted for deportation are from Latin American countries — a crucial segment of the fast-food industry, with 35 percent of Latino people in the U.S. consuming fast food on any given day, according to a 2018 study by the health department.”
“Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh promised to bust inflation in his first major speech since his nomination by President Donald Trump, but he also lavished attention on a new focus for the Fed: artificial intelligence,” the Washington Post reports.
The Economist: “The demographic maths look ugly. The Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan scorekeeper, thinks America will have 2.3m fewer 18- to 64-year-olds in 2026 than it expected at the start of 2025. Economists at the Federal Reserve reckon that the total population could grow by less than 0.2% this year—the slowest pace since 1951, when the Korean war pulled young men out of the civilian count. The hit to the workforce is larger, since immigrants are likelier to work than native-born Americans. Since January the labour force has shrunk by more than 1m.”
“This is putting the labour market under strain. In 2022-24 employers added more than 230,000 jobs a month on average; in the past year and a half, that has slowed to 30,000. Yet the number unemployed, just below 7m, has barely budged. With migration collapsing and the population greying, job gains are structurally limited.”
“Much of the public outcry over data-center construction has centered on electricity costs, water consumption and noise. Now, a new battlefront is opening up over jobs, too,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Call it the backlash to the backlash: Nationwide resistance to the construction has grown so broad that politicians on both sides of the aisle have halted approvals or tightened oversight as midterm elections approach. Unions and construction trade groups are now entering the fray from the other side, warning that such actions endanger thousands of building-related jobs. They are threatening to withhold support of candidates opposing the data-center projects.”
“Kevin M. Warsh, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, sought to alleviate concerns about his commitment to taming elevated inflation in a closely-watched speech on Friday,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Warsh, delivering his first address to the world’s leading economic policymakers at the Fed’s annual conference in Jackson, Wyo. affirmed that the central bank is chiefly focusing on getting inflation down after half a decade of it overshooting the Fed’s 2 percent target.”
“The Fed would not waver on that goal, Mr. Warsh said, although he stopped short of saying whether the current moment required higher interest rates.”
NOTUS: “Donald Trump’s supporters are shouldering more of the pain at the pump, even if they’re not complaining about it as much. Gas prices are up, on average, more than a buck since the Iran war began, and Americans are ponying up more to fill the tank — but they’re not suffering equally.”
“About 87% of workers in the Trumpiest fifth of the U.S. commute by car, almost 40% more than the fifth of the country that went most heavily for Kamala Harris in 2024.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.