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      Donald Trump’s Chicken-and-Egg Inflation Problem

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      A surge in egg prices underscores how persistent inflation is spooking the markets and could check the president’s boldest economic policies.Egg prices are on an epic run, part of an inflation surge that could but the brakes on President Trump’s economic plans.Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJust in: Lawyers for Elon Musk said he’d withdraw his $97.4 billion bid for control of OpenAI if the company halted its efforts to become a for-profit enterprise. More below.Separately: You might recall that several years ago I wrote a series of columns, following a raft of mass shootings, that inspired the creation of a “merchant category code” for gun retailers so credit card companies could better identify suspicious activity the way they already did to help prevent money laundering and sex trafficking.Well, this week Representative Riley Moore, Republican of West Virginia, introduced a bill to make it illegal for credit card companies to require “merchant category codes that distinguish a firearms retailer from general-merchandise retailer.” That means gun retailers would be able to mask what they sell. What do you think of what’s happening?Scrambling Trump’s economic plans President Trump inherited a strong economy with booming labor and stock markets. But one economic holdover could tie his hands: stubbornly strong inflation.Investors are already getting antsy, with stock markets briefly plunging and the bond market suffering its worst day of the year so far after unexpectedly worrying revelations in the latest Consumer Price Index report. It raises questions about what options the White House and Fed would have to maneuver if prices continued to rise.The latest: The C.P.I. data showed headline prices over the past three months running at an annualized pace of 4.5 percent — well above the central bank’s 2 percent target.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      State Department Revises Plan to Buy Armored Teslas

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      Tesla’s name was removed from a State Department document that listed planned vehicle purchases after the existence of the list was reported late Wednesday. The potential award raised questions about why the government was giving a lucrative contract to the company, which is led by Elon Musk, one of President Trump’s most important advisers.A department procurement forecast for 2025 detailed purchases the agency expected to make, including $400 million for armored Tesla vehicles. The document did not specify which Tesla model, but the electric Cybertruck, which has a body of high-strength stainless steel, would be the most suitable.Later on Wednesday, a different version of the procurement document appeared online. It referred to “armored electric vehicles,” omitting any mention of Tesla.Mr. Musk spent more than $250 million to help elect Mr. Trump, who then appointed him as the leader of a cost-cutting initiative that’s been called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.Plans to spend $400 million on Tesla pickups raised eyebrows given that Mr. Musk has been posting almost hourly on X, the social media site he owns, about wasteful government spending.Tesla and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment. On X, Mr. Musk shared a post from a supporter that said a report on the topic by Rachel Maddow of MSNBC was a “hit piece.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      USAID Lifesaving Aid Remains Halted Despite Rubio’s Promise

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      When Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last month that lifesaving humanitarian work would be exempt from a freeze on foreign aid, global health workers breathed a collective sigh of relief.But a new directive has put such exemptions on hold.Several senior employees at the U.S.A.I.D. Bureau of Global Health received an email Tuesday telling them to “please hold off on any more approvals” pending further directions from the acting chief of staff, according to a copy reviewed by The New York Times.Senior officials at the Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs received similar instructions during a meeting this week, according to a person familiar with what transpired.For weeks, U.S.A.I.D. officials and the organizations, contractors and consultants who partner with them have struggled to continue the kind of work that Mr. Rubio promised to preserve — “core lifesaving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and substance assistance.”Some waivers have been issued to programs that fall under Mr. Rubio’s definition of “lifesaving” aid, but the payments system called Phoenix that U.S.A.I.D. relies on to disburse financial assistance has been inaccessible for weeks. That means even programs that received waivers have struggled to continue.The State Department did not reply to a request for comment for this article.On Tuesday, Elon Musk, the billionaire tech entrepreneur empowered by President Trump to combat the agency, told reporters in the Oval Office that the administration had “turned on funding for Ebola prevention and for H.I.V. prevention.” But in reality, the Ebola funding and virtually all of the H.I.V. prevention funding remains frozen, according to two U.S.A.I.D. employees and several aid groups.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Some Migrants Sent by Trump to Guantánamo Are Being Held by Military Guards

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      Dozens of Venezuelan migrants sent by the Trump administration to the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are being guarded by troops rather than civilian immigration officers, according to people familiar with the operation.While the Trump administration has portrayed the detainees as legally in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, military guards and medics are doing the work, the people said.The Trump administration has not released the migrants’ names, although at least two have been identified by their relatives through pictures released of the first flight.By not disclosing the migrants’ identities, the government has prevented their relatives from learning where they are being held and complicated lawyers’ efforts to challenge their detention.Spokespeople for the Homeland Security and Defense Departments have been unwilling or unable to answer detailed questions about what is happening to the migrants at the base.But The New York Times has obtained the names of 53 men who are being held in Camp 6, a prison building where until recently the military held Al Qaeda suspects. The Times has published the list.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Here Are the Names of 53 Migrants Taken to Guantánamo Bay

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      The Times has obtained a list of the names of the men, whom the U.S. government has described as Venezuelan citizens under final deportation orders.The New York Times has obtained a list of 53 men whom the Homeland Security Department has sent from an immigration detention site in Texas to a prison building at the military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.The U.S. government has not released the men’s names but has described them as Venezuelan citizens under final deportation orders. By not disclosing the migrants’ identities, the government has prevented their relatives from learning where they are being held and complicated efforts by lawyers who want to challenge their detention.The Times is publishing the list. But we have not independently assessed the Trump administration’s characterization of the 53 men being housed in the prison, called Camp 6, as “high-threat illegal aliens” or violent gang members.The Times has found listings for 50 of the men in the U.S. immigration service’s Detainee Locator, which allows the public to search for people by name.Until recently, the men had been listed as being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in El Paso. U.S. cargo planes began moving migrants to Guantánamo, and the agency switched their locations to “Florida.” Detainee operations at Guantánamo Bay are overseen by the U.S. Southern Command, which is near Miami, and the overall base is supervised by Navy headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla.As of Wednesday, the military had brought about 100 migrants to Guantánamo. The people who are not named on the list were being held in a separate facility.Two of the names subsequently showed up in a lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday in part by their relatives, seeking legal access to the detainees. The relatives said they recognized the men in pictures from a transfer operation that the government had made public.Three of the names, marked with asterisks, did not appear to be in the locator system, which requires exact spellings.Here is the list:Acosta Carreno, Yonniel DanielAlviares Armas, Jhonatan AlejandroAzocar-Moreno, AlexandroBastidas Paz, JhoanBellorin-Cardiel, Javier AlejandroBermudez Gamez, JoseBriceno-Rojas, Adrian JoseCardozo Oliveros, CarlosCastillo Rivera, Luis AlbertoCeballos-Jemenez, Kleiber EduardoChirino Torres, JonathanChirinos Rodriguez, Edixon LeonelDuarte-Marin, AllinzonDuran-Arape, MayfreedEscalona Hernandez, Jefferson *Esteira Medina, Misael JoseGomez Lugo, Tilso RamonGuerrero Mejias, Bryan SleydherGuevara-Varguillas, Sergio GabrielGuilarte, Oswal YonaikerLiendo-Liendo, Endry JoseLindado Mazo, Ricardo JoseMarquez Sanchez, Jesus DavidMedina Andrade, Jose GregarioMendez Canas, Freddy JavierMendez Ramos, Jesus EnriqueMontes Fernandez, FranyerMundaray-Salazar, Argelis JoseOrelanna, Deiby Jose *Oviedo-Hurtado, Brayan AlbertoPalma-Osorio, Carlos DavidParedes Salazar, Jose AlejandroPrado Pirona, JesusPurroy Roldan, Yoiner JoseQuintero Quintero, YohandersonRios Salas, Luis AlbertoRivas-Rivas, Lorwis JoseRivero Pinero, BrayanRodriguez Diaz, KevinRodriguez Fermin, RafaelRojas Pena, JuniorSanchez Vasquez, JuniorSandovalascanio, Anthony YosmarSantana-Jara, AndresSimancas Rodriguez, JoseSulbaran D’Avila, Erick JohanTiberio-Pacheco, JulioUvieda Machado, AlexisUzcategui Uzcaegui, Diuvar *Velazquez-Penaloza, Julio JoseVillasana Villegas, Douglas JesusWullians Oropeza, DaimerYanes-Gonzalez, Ali Jose More

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      Bondi Announces Lawsuit Against New York Over Immigration

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      The attorney general, citing a law allowing New Yorkers to get a driver’s license regardless of citizenship or legal status, accused the state of “prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens.”The Trump administration sued New York on Wednesday over its migrant policies, accusing state officials of prioritizing “illegal aliens over American citizens,” as Washington ramped up its political and legal battles with states over deportations.Attorney General Pam Bondi, in her first news conference, specifically cited New York’s “green light” law, which allows people in the state to get a driver’s license regardless of citizenship or legal status.Ms. Bondi, flanked by federal agents in raid jackets, vowed to put an end to those practices.“It stops,” Ms. Bondi said. “It stops today.”The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Albany, said New York state law was the most egregious in that it requires state authorities “to promptly tip off any illegal alien when a federal immigration agency has requested his or her information.”That, the lawsuit said, was “a frontal assault on the federal immigration laws, and the federal authorities that administer them.”Gov. Kathy Hochul’s spokesman, Avi Small, said the governor “supports deporting violent criminals who break our laws, believes that law-abiding families should not be targets and will coordinate with federal authorities who have a judicial warrant.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Elon Musk’s DOGE Overhauls the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

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      The upheaval at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers a glimpse into the playbook that Elon Musk and other Trump allies seem to be writing in real time.At first, things at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau seemed eerily calm.The Biden-appointed director of the agency, which was created after the 2009 financial crisis to regulate banks and other lenders, was not immediately fired by President Trump. The lawyers at the agency continued with their business. In late January, they said a remittance company was misleading customers about its fees and ordered it to pay a $2.5 million fine.And then the chaos began.On the morning of Feb. 1 — a Saturday — the director was dismissed, as my colleague Stacy Cowley, who has followed every twist and turn of this story, reported. By the next Friday, Feb. 7, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and a close Trump adviser, was installed as the C.F.P.B.’s acting director. Representatives from the new Department of Government Efficiency, which is led by Elon Musk and is not a formal executive-branch department, arrived and got access to the computer systems.Musk posted a message on his X account: “CFPB RIP.”Musk’s cost-cutting team has been operating with little transparency. Members don’t announce what they’re doing, who’s doing it or how. So it’s worth understanding what’s happening at the C.F.P.B., both because of the direct impact on the agency’s work and because it’s a glimpse into the playbook that Musk and his team, working with Trump officials like Vought, seem to be writing in real time.The panic strategyRussell Vought on Capitol Hill this week.Haiyun Jiang for The New York TimesLast Saturday, Vought ordered the nearly 1,700 people who work at the agency to stop much of their work. The edict prompted widespread fear and deep concern about the agency’s future. People worried that their work phones and computers were being tracked. One employee I spoke with, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation, felt panic, and then remembered that Vought had spoken in 2023 of his intent to demoralize workers in the civil service.“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought had said.Some employees tried to plug away at their jobs. Two of them told me that after they saw Musk’s post on X about his team’s preference for working on weekends, when federal offices are closed, they decided they would do the same. On Saturday, they saw three employees from Musk’s team in the bureau’s basement, working in conference rooms with the windows papered over.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      New Trump Executive Order Calls for ‘Reform’ to the U.S. Diplomatic Corps

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      President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday calling for “reform” to the Foreign Service, America’s corps of professional diplomats, “to ensure faithful and effective implementation” of his foreign policy agenda.It was the latest of several recent moves by Mr. Trump to assert greater control over the federal work force, which the president largely views with a blend of suspicion and hostility. Mr. Trump and his allies believe that left-leaning bureaucrats will work to thwart his agenda and that he should have far more power than past presidents to install proven loyalists throughout the government.To that end, Mr. Trump’s order, titled “One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations,” directs the secretary of state to “implement reforms in recruiting, performance, evaluation and retention standards.” It also directs officials to “revise or replace the Foreign Affairs Manual,” along with “any handbooks, procedures or guidance” governing diplomacy.The executive order also makes explicit the price of defying Mr. Trump’s orders. “Failure to faithfully implement the president’s policy is grounds for professional discipline, including separation,” it says.All foreign policy arms of the government, it adds, must devise “an effective and efficient means” of ensuring that the president’s orders are followed.The executive order would appear to challenge basic and longstanding principles of the Foreign Service: that career diplomats should be hired based on their qualifications and expertise, not their political views, and that dissent should be welcomed and not punished.As part of the federal civil service, professional diplomats enjoy special job protections against partisanship and political retribution. Mr. Trump seems intent on weakening those protections.In an initial statement, the American Foreign Service Association, which represents professional diplomats, said it was still assessing the impact of the order. But the group noted that its members posted around the world “carry out the foreign policy initiatives of the president, regardless of party.”“We hope that any administration would value the expertise and knowledge of the Foreign Service, including its ability to provide advice on foreign policy matters,” the statement said, adding that the group would “always defend the integrity and nonpolitical nature of the Foreign Service so that our members can continue to serve the American people.”Separately, State Department officials are grappling with more proposed cuts to personnel. Some ambassadors have been told this week to present lists of cuts of 10 to 20 percent of employees who are local citizens, said a person briefed on the demands, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.Edward Wong More