Happy Wednesday, and welcome to your morning wrap of the latest political and business headlines from around the world.
Starting in the United States, President Donald Trump has called Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell a “numbskull” who has kept interest rates too high, Reuters reported.
"I think he's done a bad job, but he's going to be out pretty soon anyway. In eight months, he'll be out," Trump said during a meeting at the White House with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
It is the latest jab Trump has taken at Powell, whom he has been criticising for months for not cutting interest rates. The former President has routinely floated the possibility of firing him.
Powell’s term as chair of the central bank runs through until May 15, and he has repeatedly said he will not leave early.
"Our economy is so strong now, blowing through everything. We're setting records," Trump said overnight. "But you know what? People aren't able to buy a house because this guy is a numbskull. He keeps the rates too high, and is probably doing it for political reasons."
Economists have warned, however, that cutting rates is not justified by current macroeconomic conditions and could backfire. Some have also said the President’s attacks are eroding confidence in the Fed’s independence.
Meanwhile, CNBC reported that top economist Mohamed El-Erian has called on Powell to voluntarily step down to protect the bank’s autonomy.
“If Chair Powell’s objective is to safeguard the Fed’s operational autonomy (which I deem vital), then he should resign,” El-Erian said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Mohamed El-Erian (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
To Gaza, where the United Nations Human Rights Office says more than 1000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while attempting to access food, Associated Press reported.
Most of the deaths have occurred near aid sites run by an American contractor, the office said.
The comments come as experts warn the enclave — home to more than two million Palestinians — is at risk of famine due to Israel’s blockade and nearly two-year offensive.
Israel has accused militant group Hamas of siphoning off aid and blames UN agencies for failing to distribute food it has allowed in. Its military claims it has only fired warning shots near aid sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed US contractor, rejected what it called “false and exaggerated” statistics from the United Nations.
In business news, the United States’ largest automaker, General Motors, said tariffs on imported cars and auto parts cost the company US$1.1 billion in the three months ending in June, CNN reported.
The hit was responsible for a 21% drop in the company’s net income. GM now expects tariffs could cost it between US$4 billion and US$5 billion by the end of the year.
The US auto industry has been significantly affected by tariffs introduced during the Trump administration, particularly the 25% tax on imported cars and parts that took effect well before most other levies.
GM, which builds a large number of its vehicles in Mexico and Canada, said it remained on track to generate adjusted operating income of between US$10 billion and US$12.5 billion for the year, down from the US$14.9 billion it earned in 2024.
Turning to the United Kingdom, where the estate of tech tycoon Mike Lynch, who died last year when his yacht sank, owes tech giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) £700 million, the BBC reported.
HPE bought Lynch’s tech company Autonomy in 2011 for £8.5b but later claimed Lynch and the company’s former chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, misrepresented its finances.
The High Court overnight ruled that HPE ended up paying more than it would have had the company’s true financial position been “correctly presented”.
The ruling was delayed after Lynch and his teenage daughter were among seven people who died when his yacht sank off the coast of Sicily last August.
A spokesperson for Lynch had prepared a statement on the ruling last year, calling HPE’s claim a wild “overstatement”.
And finally this morning, Coca-Cola has confirmed it will release a new Coke made with cane sugar, CNN reported.
It comes after a social media post from Trump last week in which he claimed he persuaded the company to replace high-fructose corn syrup.
In its earnings report, released overnight, the company said it would launch a product made with US cane sugar. Some versions of Coke already use cane sugar, including versions of the soda sold in Mexico.
American-made Coke is made with high-fructose corn syrup, an ingredient that Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has aggressively advocated against.
