Author: Marketplace

Amid the uncertainty triggered by President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcements, many investors started looking for places outside the U.S. to park their capital. One beneficiary? Japan. More foreign money flowed into Japanese stocks and bonds than ever before — about $50 billion worth. Also on this morning's show: a conversation about the value of the U.S. dollar and what happens if it loses its status as the reserve currency.

From the BBC World Service: Beijing has announced a 90-day pause of its tariff measures, which had banned dozens of American companies from trading with Chinese firms. Now, companies are rushing to ship products before that 90-day window closes. Plus, the Eurovision Song Contest is the world's biggest TV show. The annual event is taking place this week in Switzerland, with hundreds of thousands of fans already massing in the host city of Basel. We'll learn about the economic impact.

President Donald Trump talks a lot about wanting to build more stuff here in the U.S. But the future of manufacturing might not even be on earth, but in orbit.

It might sound kind of out there — or way out there — but space manufacturing is already happening on a small scale. There's a mini boom of companies looking to do more of it, according to recent reporting in Wired by journalist Jonathan O'Callaghan. He says space has some unique qualities that make it attractive for manufacturing.

Early estimates say the GOP’s tax bill will add $3.8 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years. (This, despite President Trump’s insistence on shrinking the national debt.) But amid economic instability caused by the trade war and federal spending cuts, will the bond market snap up all that government debt? Plus: What to look for in Thursday's producer price index, why moving manufacturing to the U.S. will be easier for some sectors than others and how grocery store generics became so popular.

 

On today’s show, Kimberly continues to make us smart about the GOP’s massive tax bill. This time, we’re digging into a small (but important) detail buried in the bill that could have enormous consequences for the regulation of artificial intelligence: a clause that would block states from enforcing AI laws for ten years. We’ll break down what’s at stake. And, the U.S. dollar is getting weaker. We’ll explain what it could mean for the economy.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "House panel advances tax portion of Trump agenda bill after marathon meeting" from The Hill
• "State AI laws would be banned under clause buried in House budget bill" from Stat News
• "G.O.P. Targets a Medicaid Loophole Used by 49 States to Grab Federal Money" from The New York Times
• "US Is Not Negotiating for Weaker Dollar as Part of Tariff Talks" from Bloomberg

• "Republicans push for a decadelong ban on states regulating AI" from The Verge 

  
  

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The House's proposed tax plan includes a 5% tax on remittances. These are electronic transfers of money sent by people in the U.S. — often immigrants — to friends and family abroad. There are some exceptions to the tax, including most transfers made by U.S. citizens. We'll learn how this might play out. Also: a (sorta) stock market milestone, a crypto company in the S&P and a bill that could hurt renewables in Texas.

California regulators are allowing State Farm insurance to charge 17% more following this year's LA wildfires. State Farm says it needs the rate increase — on top of the 20% it got last year — because it’s in financial distress following the fires. But the issue of higher premiums goes well beyond California. We'll hear more, then learn why there are concerns about the U.S. dollar remaining the world's reserve currency.

From the BBC World Service: It’s the second day of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tour of the Middle East. So far, there's been the red carpet treatment in Riyadh, culminating in billions of dollars in Saudi investment. Later in the tour, Trump is expected to meet Syria's interim leader to lift sanctions against the country. Plus, in France, the shop-on-a-truck idea has branched out into new areas such as beauty and cosmetics.

The excitement around AI has gotten a bit frothy. Those two magic letters are everywhere, promising everything. Authors Emily Bender and Alex Hanna want us all to take a beat and a more critical look, per their new book "The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want."

Bender is a linguist at the University of Washington who helped popularize the term "stochastic parrots" to describe large language models. And Hanna is the director of research at the Distributed AI Institute, formerly an AI ethicist at Google. She says claims of AI's artistic prowess can be misleading.

New data shows us that despite President Trump’s new tariffs, the inflation rate for some categories of goods stayed the same or even fell in April. In this episode, we’ll break down why — and explain when we might start to see price hikes. Plus: We take a trip down the supply chain, three retailers share how business is going and “How We Survive” host Amy Scott tells us how to make retirement account investments more climate-friendly.