Economy https://www.washingtonsun.com/economy Economy en-US Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:30:00 GMT Is the Trump Family Preparing to Cash Out on Its Own Crypto? https://www.washingtonsun.com/donald-trump/trump-family-crypto-world-liberty-financial-vesting Jeff Stein President Donald Trump and his three sons have taken a step that would permit them to sell World Liberty Financial’s digital tokens. Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:30:00 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/donald-trump/trump-family-crypto-world-liberty-financial-vesting Zach Witkoff and Eric Trump
President Trump hugs his sons Barron, Don Jr., and Eric after taking the oath of office in January 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/AP)
President Donald Trump and his three sons have taken a step that would permit them to cash out the digital “tokens” created by the family’s cryptocurrency firm, intensifying concerns from ethics experts about potential conflicts of interest.

On May 19, four anonymous digital wallets simultaneously moved more than 20 billion in $WLFI — one of the two crypto “tokens” launched by the Trumps’ firm — to a vesting contract. The new contract kicks off a waiting period after which the accounts are able to sell their holdings.

One of the exchanges was for the precise amount of crypto that Trump was awarded when setting up the firm, World Liberty Financial, which he controls. Three of the others match precisely the amount of crypto given to other relatives of the president. Trump’s sons — Don Jr., Eric, and Barron — are the only other family members who have been identified as founders.

The change to the holdings has not been previously reported. In a statement to The Washington Sun, Eric Hageman, a partner at a law firm representing World Liberty Financial, said that new governance rules approved by the company required its founders to move the tokens to a vesting contract and denied that the new vesting contract represented a first step toward a sale of the tokens.

“The premise of your questions is misguided,” Hageman said. “WLFI token holders approved a governance proposal that obligated the founders to burn 10 percent of their holdings.”

However, three experts who reviewed World Liberty Financial’s governance documents told The Washington Sun that the transaction was optional, and government watchdogs are concerned the Trump family is taking steps to get a payout.

“It has never been clear what World Liberty Financial was supposed to do other than enrich the Trumps, and here we have them taking the first avenue they can to offload their coins,” said Zach Everson, the research director at Public Citizen.

David Wachsman, a spokesman for World Liberty Financial, emphasized that there was still a two-year vesting period before the tokens could be sold. "You must note that co-founder’s tokens are unable to be sold for a very long time," Wachsman said. "There are no imminent sales."

World Liberty Financial brands itself as a "next-generation financial platform" that will improve the speed and efficiency of sending money between platforms. Government watchdogs have long warned that it could instead amount to a legal way for foreign investors and domestic consumers to curry favor with the Trump family by purchasing a “token” currency of little real value.

While their value would decline if sold, the tokens owned by the family are currently valued at more than $1 billion. The president has already reported more than $550 million in income from sale of World Liberty Financial tokens, while retail investors have lost $1 billion from their investments in the company, according to an analysis by a blockchain company.

Hageman said the founders were obligated to remove 10% of their $WLFI holdings from circulation, and that “the only way” to do so was to move them into a vesting contract. Wachsman also said that "all" the co-founders of the company agreed to the "overwhelmingly popular governance proposal."

The company's latest governance rules, approved on May 6, state that founders "will have the option to elect less favorable unlock terms or remain locked indefinitely." Before the transfers, the crypto tokens were considered “locked” and could not be moved. After the transfers, the tokens can be sold after a vesting period.

Additionally, the governance document states the conditions of the vesting contract apply "if" founders "opt in." It adds that if a founder "does not affirmatively accept this new vesting schedule, their tokens will not be burned and they will continue to have their tokens locked indefinitely." The tokens can be used to vote on World Liberty Financial’s governance.

"They could've stuck with the indefinite lock," said Molly White, a crypto expert who runs a newsletter covering cryptocurrency, technology, and tech policy. “They say explicitly in the WLFI proposal that was voted in that it was optional … The Trump family is laying the groundwork to cash out their WLFI stake.”

Trump’s personal allotment of 14.175 billion in $WLFI tokens has a current market value of roughly $1 billion, though that would surely plummet if the president tried to sell them. The other three accounts, appearing to belong to Trump’s sons, each contain roughly 2.75 billion in $WLFI tokens, which would likely be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the event of a sale.

The opportunity to use Trump’s crypto firm to buy influence with the White House has raised alarms. Chinese crypto billionaire Justin Sun bought $75 million in $WLFI tokens, after which the Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed an outstanding civil fraud lawsuit against Sun and his businesses. Four days before Trump’s inauguration, a firm backed by top officials in the United Arab Emirates also purchased a 49% stake in the family crypto firm.

The White House has previously said Trump has "no involvement in business deals that would implicate his constitutional responsibilities.”

Hageman and Wachsman did not respond to requests for comment explaining the diverging interpretations of the company’s governance documents.

“It’s right there in the documents: It’s an option. The terms of the deal make it clear that the big insider holders have the option to choose which investment path their tokens go down,” said Corey Frayer, who served as senior adviser to former SEC chair Gary Gensler, who is now the director of investor protection for Consumer Federation of America. “Within that set of options, one of them is to exit out. And it looks like they’re trying to turn their monopoly money into something that is real.”]]> Trump Officials Are Selling an Economy Americans Aren’t Buying. Sound Familiar? https://www.washingtonsun.com/economy/trump-economy-public-opinion-voters Jade Lozada “There is a pretty strong parallel between the way the Biden administration handled the question of inflation,” one expert said. Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:04:00 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/economy/trump-economy-public-opinion-voters Trump Economy AP-25093385134282
President Donald Trump has acknowledged that his policies have created price pressures but has argued that the temporary economic pain. (Arne Dedert/picture-alliance/dpa/AP)
The midterm elections are getting closer, and the Trump administration’s explanations for rising inflation are getting further from what many voters and independent economists are describing.

Trump’s economic policy advisers have zeroed in on indicators like wages, GDP and stock market growth to sell Americans on a humming economy. Americans are reporting a different experience. In a July Pew Research Center poll, 60% of U.S. adults said that President Donald Trump’s second-term policies have made the economy worse.

The dissonance has reminded former Biden officials of a dynamic they caution can be a losing battle: trying to explain the economy to American voters.

“During the Biden administration, there was a genuine disconnect between improving macroeconomic indicators and how households experience the cumulative increase in their day-to-day prices,” said Tonantzin Carmona, who served as Biden’s special assistant for economic policy on the National Economic Council.

The economic conditions are different now than when Biden was president. Trump is presiding over a ballooning stock market, while Biden was tasked with jump-starting a sputtering pandemic economy with record-high unemployment. The former president’s policies stoked inflation to highs that Trump hasn’t been able to tamp back down, despite the economic growth driven by the AI industry.

That’s led economists to question the White House’s continued focus on positive indicators that don’t reflect workers’ struggles with high inflation.

After sweeping back into power by castigating President Joe Biden for being out of touch with the average American’s pocketbook, Trump and Republicans are experiencing the other side of their own messaging playbook.

“There is a pretty strong parallel between the way the Biden administration handled the question of inflation,” said William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “In neither case were the respective administrations in touch with what people were thinking, feeling, experiencing on the ground in their daily lives.”

Trump’s economic agenda has made for a challenging political environment ahead of the midterms.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a recent Treasury analysis found that if companies passed the total costs of U.S.-Canada tariffs on to consumers, there would be a near-zero effect on inflation. The countries are locked in a trade war, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rolling out tariffs on $20 billion worth of U.S. goods and Trump outright banning many Canadian imports.

“So the pain to the U.S. — there is none,” Bessent said Tuesday at a Breitbart News event.

The Treasury Department did not respond to multiple requests for the report Bessent cited.

Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis found that tariffs contributed 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points to core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, as of July. Year-over-year core inflation punched in at 3.3% that month.

Economists at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank found that tariffs in fact account for a lesser share of inflation in recent months, but that’s likely because soaring energy prices are driving inflation numbers up.

Bessent’s remarks are the latest example of the Trump administration characterizing the economy differently than how people are feeling it. On Tuesday, Bessent touted rising wages, particularly for workers without college degrees and those in the bottom quartile of income earners.

High school-educated workers may be experiencing good times, but on the whole, the nation’s rising wages aren’t keeping up with inflation, meaning workers have less purchasing power than they once did.

“Inflation is a little bit higher than we would like, but — this is important — coming down,” Christopher Phelan, Trump’s chief economic adviser, said Tuesday at the Breitbart event. Inflation increased by 0.4% in August, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday.

Sameera Fazili, the former deputy director of Biden’s National Economic Council, said Bessent’s comments reflect the challenge administration officials face in spinning good news from poor economic conditions.

“When you’re a communicator communicating the policy, you always want to have hard numbers to back the talking point that the political offices are asking you to deliver,” Fazili said. “What voters are upset about is the price level that they are experiencing right now, and instead he is trying to find some talking point on inflation and future price increases.”

Former Biden administration officials say the Trump administration is repeating their mistakes, with a key difference: They argue Trump’s inflation woes are self-inflicted, related to his tariff policies and the Iran war, compared to Biden’s pandemic-era problems.

“The distinction today, though, is that some of the Trump administration policies can themselves add to the affordability pressures people are describing,” Carmona, who’s currently the director of economic policy at the left-leaning Century Foundation, added.

The Iran war has added more than $100 billion in extra costs to Americans’ energy bills as of this week, according to an estimate by Brown University’s Climate Solutions Lab. Soaring energy costs trickle down to production and transit expenses for food, apparel and other necessities, as tariffs also raise prices for certain common goods.

Several Republicans in tight races have criticized Trump’s trade agenda, citing economic concerns. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who’s in one of the most competitive races of the midterm cycle, has come out against the president’s trade war with Canada. So has John Sununu, the Republican Senate contender in New Hampshire, as The Washington Sun previously reported.

Democratic Senate candidates in Michigan, Ohio and Alaska, looking to retake the Senate majority, have hammered their Republican opponents on trade.

“Consumer confidence is lower than it has ever been. That means it's lower than when we had 9% inflation in 2022,” said Neera Tanden, who served as Biden’s domestic policy adviser. “I think that is a product of the fact that costs and wages are out of whack for basically the bottom 60 to 70% of workers.”

“The greatest irony to me is there is no president that I'm aware of who has adopted a series of policies that raise costs and create additional burdens for working-class people,” added Tanden, who is currently the president and CEO of the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

The president himself has acknowledged that his policies have created price pressures but has argued that the temporary economic pain is worth it to achieve bigger goals, such as eliminating a nuclear threat from Iran or reshoring American manufacturing.

"Guys come up, 'You know, I wish you didn't do the war in Iran. Gasoline's up,'" Trump said in his speech at the Republican midterm convention on Wednesday. "And I say ... let me ask you one question: Can Iran have a nuclear weapon? 'Absolutely not.' Well then, I'm right, then I win."

White House spokesperson Kush Desai defended the impact of Trump’s policies on the economy in a statement to The Washington Sun.

“Last year, President Trump increased America’s average tariff rate by nearly sevenfold yet inflation cooled,” Desai said. “While President Trump had always been clear about temporary disruptions as a result of Operation Epic Fury, the August CPI report showing dramatic month-over-month declines in beef, prescription drug, and auto insurance costs is proof that the Administration’s policies continue to deliver long-term economic relief for the American people.”

“That's the argument you make when you've run out of economic arguments,” said Lindsay Owens, the president and CEO of the left-leaning Groundwork Collaborative. “You saber-rattle about foreign adversaries, and you wax poetic about a bygone period of American manufacturing.”]]> U.S. Inflation Accelerates as Gas Prices Continue to Climb https://www.washingtonsun.com/economy/us-inflation-accelerates-gas-prices-iran-war Associated Press The figures show that inflation remains stubbornly elevated, more than five years after prices first soared as the economy emerged from the COVID pandemic. Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:16:27 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/economy/us-inflation-accelerates-gas-prices-iran-war Gas prices
There are few signs of the Iran war cooling, and even President Trump has said gas prices won't retreat until after the midterm elections in November. George Walker IV/AP
By Christopher Rugaber

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation accelerated last month as gas prices spiked in the wake of renewed fighting in the Middle East, underscoring the affordability challenges that are top of mind for many voters with midterm elections now just seven weeks away.

The consumer price index rose 3.4% last month compared with a year ago, the Labor Department said Friday, the same as in July. But on a monthly basis, inflation quickened, as costs jumped 0.4% from July to August, up from an increase of just 0.1% the previous month.

The figures show that inflation remains stubbornly elevated, more than five years after prices first soared as the economy emerged from the COVID pandemic. Persistent inflation has presented a major challenge for the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve and has soured many voters on the Trump administration’s economic track record.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices were 2.4% higher in August than a year ago, down slightly from July's 2.5% and the third straight decline. But on a monthly basis, core prices rose 0.3% from July to August, the largest increase since April.

The larger-than-expected monthly increase in core prices will likely embolden those Fed officials who have pushed for the central bank to lift its benchmark interest rate at its meeting next week. Wall Street investors now see about 70% likelihood the Fed will increase rates Sept. 16, according to CME Fedwatch.

The Trump administration is seeking to counter voter concerns about high prices and rising interest rates as the midterm elections approach. President Donald Trump on Wednesday promised $5,000 payments to every American adult if the GOP keeps a majority in Congress, a move that would require congressional approval and could stoke inflation. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has stepped up buybacks of Treasury bonds in an effort to keep longer-term interest rates lower. Yet on Thursday the yield on the 10-year Treasury reached a nearly three-year high.

Renewed fighting in the Middle East has pushed up energy costs, with the nationwide average cost of a gallon of gas on Friday jumping more than 7% from a month ago to $4.30.

Hotel room prices and airfares also rose last month while new and used cars got more expensive. Apparel and grocery prices were unchanged from July to August.

Inflation as one-time shock, or something more

Many economists and Federal Reserve officials have long considered higher gas prices one of several “one-time” shocks that are lifting inflation, along with tariffs and surging investment in AI data centers. For months, the hope has been that as the war against Iran wound down, and the effects of tariffs faded, inflation would grind lower.

Yet there are few signs of the Iran war cooling, and even Trump has said gas prices won't retreat until after the midterm elections in November. And while Trump's trade fight with Canada will impact a small number of imports, it is a reminder that tariffs remain a threat that could push up other costs.

“This is not one and done,” said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide. “It's unclear when tensions in the Middle East are going to settle down. ... This seems like it could be a prolonged disruption.”

While core prices are rising more slowly than overall prices, more expensive oil and gas could spread through more of the economy. Pricier jet fuel will likely push up airfares, and more expensive diesel will raise shipping costs, which could make groceries and other goods shipped by truck more expensive. On Thursday, a wholesale price report showed a jump in chemical prices, likely a result of more expensive oil.

What will the Federal Reserve do?

Federal Reserve policymakers are split on whether to hike at a meeting next week, so much so that differences of a few hundredths of a percentage point in Friday's inflation report could determine whether the central bank boosts its benchmark interest rate or leaves it unchanged. The Fed, which is tasked with keeping inflation in check, typically lifts borrowing costs to slow spending and limit price increases.

Investors and analysts differ over whether the Fed will hike rates at their Sept. 15-16 meeting. Chair Kevin Warsh suggested he was leaning toward a rate hike in a high-profile speech two weeks ago, but he did not commit to doing so at a specific time.

And last Thursday, Fed governor Christopher Waller, echoing some other Fed officials, suggested that if Friday’s inflation report shows price increases cooling, then he would support keeping rates where they are. Waller is one of the 12 officials who vote on each Fed rate decision.

Waller's heavy emphasis on August's figures has raised the stakes for Friday's report. If the monthly core figure rounds up to 0.3%, some Wall Street analysts expect the Fed would then hike rates. But if it rounded down to 0.2% or lower, then a hold could be more likely. If it is somewhere in between, it's not clear what the Fed may do. One analyst called such considerations “ludicrous precision.”

For his part, Warsh doesn't want to tip his hand about his next moves, which some economists say will make this kind of uncertainty more common before Fed meetings.]]> Key Republicans Were Blindsided by Trump’s Call for $5,000 Checks https://www.washingtonsun.com/congress/key-republicans-blindsided-trumps-call-5000-checks Jeff Stein, Al Weaver, Reese Gorman One senior Senate Republican aide said “it’s not going to happen,” pointing to inflation. Thu, 10 Sep 2026 17:47:57 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/congress/key-republicans-blindsided-trumps-call-5000-checks Trump, Thune
Trump's $1.2 trillion proposal came as a surprise to senior Republicans across Washington, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
Key congressional Republicans were blindsided by President Donald Trump’s pledge to send $5,000 stimulus checks to American households if the party wins the midterm elections, according to more than a dozen lawmakers, aides and policy experts.

At a midterm rally in Dallas, Trump announced Wednesday that Congress would approve a dividend payment of $5,000 to “every” adult citizen should Republicans keep the House and Senate in November. The president has made at least two other similar promises during his second term, none of which have been implemented.

The $1.2 trillion proposal came as a surprise to senior Republicans across Washington, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who had not been briefed on the idea by the White House or consulted ahead of the announcement, the sources told The Washington Sun.

The White House also did not appear to consult with leading conservative think tanks or advocacy groups, they said.

One person briefed on Trump’s pledge described the planning that went into the proposal as “not very vigorous.” Several people who spoke to The Sun requested anonymity to talk candidly about private discussions.

The White House has been looking for a way to reverse its declining approval ratings on the economy, which has been plagued by high gas prices and persistent inflation. Trump has long seen the political upside in calling for direct benefit payments to Americans, but congressional Republicans have traditionally opposed the concept as expensive and wasteful.

“Of course they didn’t know. No one knew it was coming. The Republicans on the Hill I talk to were not kept in the loop on this,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the president of the American Action Forum and former director of the Congressional Budget Office. “It’s a bad idea. There’s no need for it economically and it looks desperate politically.”

Some Republican lawmakers have publicly embraced the idea since Trump’s speech. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) said in a social media post that he "will get a bill ready so that we can get the Trump Dividend passed immediately after the November 3rd election."

Vice President JD Vance also defended Trump’s proposal as a "dividend for American workers," adding it was a way to help Americans "share in some of the benefit of this incredible wealth that we're creating in the United States."

Still, the consensus on Capitol Hill was that Trump’s proposal was a last-minute political ploy with no chance of advancing even if Republicans do hold on to both branches of Congress.

One senior Senate Republican aide said “it’s not going to happen” and pointed to the inflation attributed to the stimulus checks approved by the Biden administration during the pandemic.

Republicans are also concerned about the plan’s impact on the deficit. Sending every American a $5,000 dividend would cost roughly $1.2 trillion in a single year, amounting to 3.5% of the nation’s gross domestic product, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) criticized the plan on social media, arguing "dependency is evil & soul-sucking in all its forms." Roy told The Washington Sun he had no advance notice of the plan.

Only one GOP lawmaker said he had talked to Trump about the idea. Another person in touch with several Republican congressional offices said, “If there was a heads-up, the circle was very small.”

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota), the House majority whip, pointed out that Trump has talked about sending Americans dividend payments since he's been back in office. “Donald Trump thinks out of the box. He's not a traditional policy-making legislator,” Emmer said. “And what I found so refreshing last night, while I had never heard the specific number, he wants every American to share in the success.”

Even some of the president’s allies criticized the plan. Stephen Moore, an outside adviser to Trump, agreed that the plan was likely to increase inflation and called on Trump to run on higher take-home pay from faster growth as the result of tax cuts and business deregulation.

“I think it’s not a very good idea,” Moore said. “I’d prefer the Republican plan B: ‘We’ll do more pro-growth thing and we’ll put more money in your pockets.’”

Trump has promised Americans a dividend, rebate, or check 15 times since returning to office, and none of those have materialized, according to a tally by Groundwork Collaborative, a left-leaning organization. The White House announced Thursday that roughly 1 million Americans would be getting $500 rebates starting in “a few weeks” to offset excessive Affordable Care Act fees.

“American voters can add their $5,000 checks to the growing list of empty promises from the president, right below lower prices and a cap on credit card interest rates,” said Elizabeth Pancotti, the organization's vice president for policy, advocacy and research.

Wilbur Ross, who served as commerce secretary during Trump's first term and is attending the convention in Texas, said it’s possible that Republicans will eventually come around to the idea, but it was too soon to say how the party would react. "It was news to everybody," Ross said.]]> China Says a Trade Deal With U.S. Could Come Soon As Xi's Trip Nears https://www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/china-us-trade-deal-xi-trip Associated Press Weeks before the Chinese president comes to Washington, a Chinese government spokesperson said the countries aim to ax $30 billion of tariffs from each side. Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:35:22 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/china-us-trade-deal-xi-trip President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands
President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before their meeting in South Korea. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)
BEIJING — China and the United States hope to reach an agreement on lowering import taxes soon, a Chinese government spokesperson said Thursday, fueling expectations that an announcement could come when the leaders of the two countries meet in two weeks.

Negotiators are striving to implement reciprocal tariff reductions on $30 billion worth of goods “at an early date,” Commerce Ministry spokesperson Huang Ling said at a weekly briefing.

The $30 billion will be from each side, China's official Xinhua News Agency said.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to meet in Washington on Sept. 24 for what will be their third face-to-face talks in the past year. Both governments characterize the meetings as a way to stabilize relations in an era of competing interests between the world's two largest economies.

“Leaders’ diplomacy plays an irreplaceable strategic guiding role in China-U. S. relations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Thursday.

Trump and Xi agreed at their previous meeting in May in Beijing to launch a U.S.-China Board of Trade that would manage trade between the two countries, along with a parallel Board of Investment. The agreements came after a truce was reached in a blistering tariff war in which Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese imports to extremely high levels and China responded in kind.

The talks on reciprocal tariff reductions are a central part of the negotiations on creating the Board of Trade. The goal is to identify and reduce tariffs on equivalent amounts of “nonsensitive” goods on each side, the U.S. said.

“Trade will be front and center at the summit,” Barclays Bank said in a research note this week on the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting, noting that the truce the two countries reached on tariffs expires on Nov. 10. But it cautioned that the scope for a broad trade deal is limited, and that targeted tariff reductions are more likely.

But as the U.S. and China have already reduced mutual trade reliance, the “overall trade significance will be more limited than before, given the smaller bilateral volume,” said Gary Ng, a senior economist at French bank Natixis.

Chinese exports to the U.S., for example, fell sharply last year, after the U.S. rolled out elevated tariffs.

An agreement on reciprocal tariff reductions could likely benefit the U.S. more, as $30 billion is roughly 28% of its exports to China, while it is only around 10% the other way around, Ng said.]]> White House Says It Will Send $500 ACA Rebates to Offset Premium Spikes https://www.washingtonsun.com/healthcare/trump-white-house-aca-obamacare-rebates-premium-spikes Paige Winfield Cunningham, Ben T.N. Mause Officials have been considering the idea for at least a year, worried voters will punish them for high health insurance costs. Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:50:12 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/healthcare/trump-white-house-aca-obamacare-rebates-premium-spikes President Donald Trump
Trump said the rebate checks would go out “in just a few weeks.” (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
President Donald Trump announced that about 1 million Americans will receive $500 from the government as a rebate for excessive Affordable Care Act fees.

“Our administration is doing the right thing and giving the money back to the people who were wrongly ripped off,” Trump said in a video posted to X from the White House's account.

Trump said the rebate checks would go out “in just a few weeks.”

The administration said it would send the $500 checks to adults in 30 states, including multiple political battlegrounds with key races to be decided in November: Alaska, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. The 30 states all rely on the federal marketplace Healthcare.gov, instead of running their own marketplaces.

The effort comes ahead of a second year of double-digit premium spikes on the marketplaces where Americans without employer-sponsored coverage can buy federally subsidized health plans.

Democrats, who passed the 2010 health care law creating the marketplaces, have faced criticism for costly marketplace plans.

But the script flipped last year after congressional Republicans refused to extend pandemic-era subsidies, prompting about 3 million people to leave the marketplaces as their costs rose again. Many middle-income people were no longer eligible for subsidies, leaving them struggling to afford their full monthly premiums.

Marketplace insurers in all 50 states are proposing to hike premiums a median of 15% next year, according to an analysis by KFF, a nonpartisan health policy organization.

Administration officials had floated the idea of rebates in fall 2025, according to sources inside the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Axios first reported the plan on Wednesday.

It's the second refund initiative Trump has announced within 24 hours. Speaking at the GOP midterm convention on Wednesday, Trump promised he would send a $5,000 dividend to every American adult if Republicans retain majorities in the House and Senate in the midterm elections. The proposal would cost roughly $1.35 trillion and would require congressional approval.

Trump also lauded a one-time dividend of $1,776 sent to military service members last December. The president has proposed other ideas to send money from the federal government to American citizens from savings the administration says came from efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency and tariff refunds. Neither materialized.

He also issued stimulus checks during his first administration to combat a sluggish economy beset by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his rebate announcement, Trump again pitched his health care plan — a scant, one-page proposal released earlier this year that suggests a few ways to cut costs in the nation’s health care system but falls far short of any kind of comprehensive reform.]]> Trump Says Oil Prices Will Remain High Until After the Midterms https://www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/trump-gas-prices-drop-after-the-midterm-elections Associated Press The president said gas prices will be "tumbling downward" after the election. Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:34:13 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/trump-gas-prices-drop-after-the-midterm-elections APTOPIX Trump
President Donald Trump said the Iran war would end "immediately" after the election. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
By AAMER MADHANI

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that oil prices that have surged because of the Iran war likely won’t come down until after U.S. midterm elections.

Oil prices on Wednesday jumped more than 3%, pushing international Brent crude past the $100 threshold for the first time since July as salvos between the U.S. and Iran escalated.

“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to take a little bit longer than the midterm.”

Trump, in an exchange with reporters before traveling to Dallas for the midterm Republican convention, added that he believes Iran will finally relent after the pivotal elections are held in the U.S.

“I think the war’s going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” Trump said.

The president at the outset of the war said it would last a matter of weeks. The conflict is now in its seventh month. The U.S.-Israel war against Iran has led to a dramatic slowdown of Gulf oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz, which about 20% of the world’s petroleum passed through prior to the conflict.

The comments were a striking acknowledgment from Trump about the conflict as his Republican administration faces mounting pressure to address high gas prices as the war in Iran grinds on with no conclusion in sight.

Trump last week downplayed the conflict as “small potatoes" even as Republicans expressed concern the war will loom large with voters left navigating elevated gas prices and higher inflation.

The U.S. has tapped its strategic petroleum reserves, which in early August fell below 300 million barrels, down by more than 100 million barrels since the start of 2026.

Trump's prediction that the war won't be wrapped up until after Nov. 3 comes after Vice President JD Vance last week steered clear of predicting that the conflict would be over by the midterm elections, in which Republicans are trying to hang on to their narrow majorities in Congress.

Vance told reporters he didn’t want to set “artificial timelines” for the war's end.

“But when you ask, ‘When will this end?’ You’re asking me a question like, ‘When will the Iranians stop shooting at ships?’” Vance said. “I think the reality is, I don’t know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians.”

U.S. benchmark crude on Wednesday gained 2.4%, pushing the price to $95.25 a barrel, and U.S. gasoline prices rose sharply overnight.

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline ticked up 7 cents overnight t o hit $4.22, now more than a dollar above what it cost at this point last year, according to AAA.

Diesel prices, which can have an outsize impact on consumers because it is used in shipping and production, hit an all-time high Friday and have continued to climb since. The average price per gallon rose to $5.94 overnight, up 9 cents from Friday.

Jet fuel has become so expensive that U.S. and international carriers have cut flights while raising fares and fees.

Markets reacted after the U.S. military reported striking five Iranian tankers in response to attempted missile attacks on a Navy warship and after attacks by an Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group ignited fires at oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
___

AP writer Cathy Bussewitz contributed reporting.
]]> Sam Altman Privately Rejected Giving OpenAI Shares to the Government https://www.washingtonsun.com/technology/sam-altman-privately-rejected-open-ai-government-equity Jeff Stein The remarks follow months of reports connecting Altman to the idea of giving the government equity in his company. Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:30:00 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/technology/sam-altman-privately-rejected-open-ai-government-equity Sam Altman
OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman told conservative economic policy experts that he does not support having the government take shares in the company. (Francis Chung/POLITICO/AP)
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman privately told a group of conservatives this summer that he did not support having the government take shares in the company, distancing himself from a proposal that he and his firm were widely understood to have supported.

For months, OpenAI has been connected to the idea that it is interested in voluntarily ceding shares to the government. Altman has spoken to senior Trump administration officials about the idea, as The Washington Sun first reported in June. The Financial Times reported that OpenAI had proposed giving the government a 5 percent stake in the company, citing Altman’s private comments. The New York Times wrote that Altman had directly pitched President Donald Trump on creating a “government investment fund” seeded with shares in OpenAI. And The Associated Press reported that Altman told Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) that he wants the public to have equity in artificial intelligence companies.

At the off-record meeting with conservative economists on July 29, Altman said that he supports some version of redistributing company shares to the American public, according to three people present and notes taken by one participant reviewed by The Washington Sun. But he also was adamant that he would oppose the government taking equity in his firm and would resist any efforts for federal control over the company, those in the room said.

Altman’s comments, previously unreported, provide new insight about the intentions of the leader of one of the most powerful technology companies in the world, as companies like his own and Anthropic navigate public backlash against the rise of AI.

To those present, Altman appeared confused why anyone could think he wanted the government to take shares in the company.

"To most people in Washington, 'public shares in OpenAI' obviously means government control," said one of the economists who attended the meeting. “But he did not seem to understand that and seemed confused that anyone would think that’s what it meant. He said, 'That's not what we're talking about.' … I had the sense that he did not see as big of a difference between individual Americans owning shares and the government owning shares as there is in reality.”

The economists spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the off-record discussion.

In a statement to The Sun, the company said it supported creating a “government-administered public wealth fund,” which it distinguished from one in which the government took a “controlling or ownership stake in AI companies, which we would not support.”

"We think AI should create economic opportunity for everyone,” the statement said. “In April, we published an industrial policy blueprint with several ideas, including a public wealth fund that would let people share directly in the economic gains from AI. We’ve also talked with policymakers in both parties about related ideas, including whether AI companies could contribute equity to help seed a fund, but we are not close to anything specific.”

Several experts expressed confusion about Altman’s position. Theoretically, it would be possible for OpenAI to at some point donate “nonvoting” shares to a private entity overseen in part by government officials, which would limit federal control over the firm. But this would still amount to ceding stakes to the government.

"Everything we've seen from Sam Altman and OpenAI over the years implied a pretty conventional government ownership stake in the companies, including voting rights, dividend rights, other kinds of shareholder rights," said Matt Bruenig, founder of the People's Policy Project, a left-leaning think tank. "The distinction they are drawing is hard to understand: How does a government-administered public wealth fund that owns equity not have an ownership stake in companies? These sentences are contradictory."

The position also diverges from that understood by others in Washington who have met with Altman. In a meeting in Sanders’ office in late June, Altman said he had seen the senator’s bill requiring AI giants to turn over 50 percent of their shares to the government and agreed that the government should have some stake in the AI companies, though not 50 percent, according to another person familiar with the matter, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to recount that private discussion.

By contrast, the economists who attended the July 29 meeting came away from the discussion with Altman believing that OpenAI agreed with their fierce opposition to expanding the government’s control over the private sector.

Some experts have long been skeptical that OpenAI really would be voluntarily willing to turn over what would amount to billions of dollars to the government. Jeremy Bearer-Friend, an AI expert and law professor at George Washington University who helped design the Sanders plan, said there is nothing in corporate law currently stopping Altman from ceding shares to the government.

Shareholders could sue the company if it made that decision, but it would have the freedom to try.

“They already could have done it,” Bearer-Friend said.

The same day Altman met with conservative economic policy experts, the OpenAI executive also briefed a group of economists influential with Democratic policymakers. Several attendees of that second meeting did not recall the equity stakes question being discussed.

Both meetings started with presentations from Altman about the mathematical breakthroughs made by the OpenAI models. To the conservative economists, Altman stressed that OpenAI had the least politically biased model of any of the major AI companies, two of the people at that meeting said. The liberal economists did not remember Altman discussing the political orientation of the OpenAI model.]]> U.S. Hits Iran's Aviation Industry With Crippling Sanctions https://www.washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/us-iran-war-airline-industry-sanctions-treasury Associated Press The Trump administration accused the 36 entities targeted this week of supporting the Islamic Republic's efforts to use its aviation sector to move weapons, personnel, and illicit cargo. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 15:22:05 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/foreign-policy/us-iran-war-airline-industry-sanctions-treasury Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
“Let this be a warning to anyone doing business with Iran’s remaining airlines, all of which we sanctioned today: You are at risk of being cut off from the global financial system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press release. Gerald Herbert/AP
By Farnoush Amiri

The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions on additional elements of Iran's aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading partners.

The latest actions are part of the Trump administration’s Operation Economic Outcast campaign that is aimed at severing “critical financial lifelines” for the already heavily sanctioned Iranian government. The new penalties target the remaining facets of Tehran’s already beleaguered aviation ecosystem, which Washington has sanctioned for years.

“Let this be a warning to anyone doing business with Iran’s remaining airlines, all of which we sanctioned today: You are at risk of being cut off from the global financial system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press release.

The Trump administration accused the 36 entities targeted this week of supporting the Islamic Republic's efforts to use its aviation sector to move weapons, personnel, and illicit cargo. The moves will subject foreign firms and governments that do business with the targeted entities to sanctions themselves, including a freeze on any assets they may have in U.S. jurisdictions.

In a post on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called out the longstanding U.S. sanctions campaign against Iran, saying that the fallout “has been disastrous for America, including its standing worldwide.”

“After failing to achieve its aims through sanctions or war, Washington’s “novel” solution is…more sanctions. Seriously?” Araghchi wrote Tuesday afternoon.

The administration also claimed that private entities based in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Malaysia have provided parts and logistics services to Iran’s Mahan Air. The major airline, which flies from Tehran to a few dozen destinations in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, has been subject to U.S. counterterrorism sanctions since 2019 for its support for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which the State Department has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

The airline was first targeted by the U.S. under the Obama administration in 2011, when it accused Mahan Air of being used to send weapons to Iranian proxies in Lebanon and Yemen.

The latest sanctions campaign is part of a two-pronged economic and military approach by President Donald Trump as he struggles to bring an end to a more than six-month-old war with Tehran.

Last week, the U.S. announced penalties against Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi, a Turkish bank, which it accused of being established to enable Iran’s efforts to transfer oil revenues from China to Turkey, where they could then be converted to cash and gold.

The U.S. also said the institution “knowingly offered” banking services to Iranian financial entities, including those already sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2022 for funneling Tehran’s oil sales.

An Egyptian bank’s operations in the United Arab Emirates were also limited last month as part of the campaign, but the administration stopped short of imposing sanctions as it grapples with how to sever Iran's economic footprint without upending the global financial system.
]]> Canada Seeks Closer Ties to Europe as It Hits the U.S. With Billions in Tariffs https://www.washingtonsun.com/economy/canada-tariffs-billions-us-goods Associated Press Canada is exploring ties with the European Union that could stop just short of membership, a Canadian official familiar with the discussions said. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:33:53 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/economy/canada-tariffs-billions-us-goods Canada US Trade
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has criticized U.S. tariff policy. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)
By Rob Gillies

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday that Canada would move faster to reduce its economic reliance on the United States and deepen ties with Europe as retaliatory tariffs took effect on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods and the country braced for U.S. President Donald Trump’s response.

“In too many areas, they wanted dependency, not a true economic partnership,” Carney said in a prerecorded video outlining his government’s plan to withstand the trade war. The prime minister said four decades of deeper economic integration had left Canada too reliant on the U.S.

Canada is exploring ties with the European Union that could stop just short of membership, a Canadian official familiar with the discussions said.

Options could include expanding existing agreements, negotiating a new treaty or creating other forms of cooperation. The official said Canada is already consulting provinces, territories and labor groups about what a deeper relationship with the EU could look like, but no model has been chosen.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks publicly.

Carney is due in Strasbourg, France, next week, where he will attend European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union address Sept. 16 and address the European Parliament the following day.

The trade war began after Trump returned to office and imposed a series of tariffs on Canadian goods despite having negotiated and repeatedly praised the North American trade agreement during his first term. Many of those tariffs violate the pact.

The rupture is especially striking because the countries have long shared one of the world’s closest relationships, with deeply integrated economies, close defense and security cooperation, vast cultural ties and, before relations deteriorated, about 400,000 people crossing the border each day.

Canada looks beyond the US

The latest U.S. trade actions will cause short-term pain, Carney acknowledged, but he said they would push Canada to move faster on investment, infrastructure and trade diversification. He acknowledged the shift would be costly but said standing still would cost more.

Carney contrasted Canada’s deteriorating relationship with Washington with its push to deepen ties elsewhere. “For the past year and a half, we have been steering our economy toward trusted partners,” he said.

“It was easy business, but it meant we relied too much on one economic partner,” he said. “That time is over.”

Canada retaliates as Trump response looms

Carney defended the retaliation, saying Canada was matching the latest U.S. measures dollar for dollar while supporting affected workers and industries and accelerating efforts to expand trade with other countries.

“We can’t let American goods into Canada tariff-free while they charge our companies to export to them,” he said.

Canada was not seeking to escalate the confrontation, he said, but the tariffs were necessary to protect Canadian workers.

The prime minister also defended Canada’s decision to walk away from the talks, saying Washington sought limits on French-language and cultural protections, influence over future trade deals, and terms that would weaken the auto, steel and forestry sectors.

How the trade war ends could carry consequences far beyond Canada, testing whether a smaller U.S. ally can resist Trump’s economic pressure without being forced to yield.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has suggested Washington could retaliate by blocking some Canadian products from the U.S. market.

The Canadian official said Ottawa does not intend to change course regardless of whether Trump responds with nothing or what the official called a “nuclear response.” The government’s strategy will remain focused on building more at home and diversifying trade abroad, the official said.

The tariffs hit hundreds of American products, including steel, aluminum, cheese, appliances, clothing, cosmetics and farm equipment, at rates of 15%, 25% or 50%. They cover about $20 billion in American goods, roughly 6% of the $333.6 billion the United States exported to Canada last year.

Since Canada-U.S. trade talks collapsed Aug. 21, Trump and his administration have imposed additional tariffs and issued a series of threats and attacks portraying Canada as weak and dependent.

Trump’s trade war and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have fueled anger and rallied support for Carney. Canadians have sharply cut travel to the United States and boycotted U.S. goods.

Carney praised those efforts, saying “every time we choose to buy Canadian and travel in Canada, we are sending a message that nobody is in the stands, 40 million of us are on the ice.”

Neither side is rushing back to the table

Gabriel Brunet, a spokesman for Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, said officials from both countries remain in contact even though formal negotiations have not resumed.

“Canadian and American officials have maintained ongoing discussions on a range of issues, although formal trade negotiations are not taking place at this stage,” Brunet said.

Former U.S. trade official Wendy Cutler said neither side appeared eager to make the first move.

“With a growing public approval rating now topping 70%, Prime Minister Carney is not in any hurry to reach out to Washington. But importantly, he has not closed the door to talks,” she said. “Clearly, at this point each side does not want to look too anxious to reengage in fear of looking weak.”

Associated Press writer Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.]]>