Gas prices average $4.31 a gallon and Washington’s energy chief denies breaking a promise
Pump prices are up nearly 45 percent, and cabinet secretaries spent Sunday tying the relief timetable to the Iran war.
Cabinet & Insiders
Pence urges Trump to restore the Russia sanctions as his cabinet defends the diesel deal
The former vice president broke with the administration on Sunday while the energy and treasury secretaries called the waiver an incentive for Moscow.
Zelensky holds his first call with Trump’s envoys since the diesel deal
Kyiv says intelligence sharing has resumed after a pause, as the Ukrainian president pushes for an in-person meeting.
Trump’s envoys press Ukraine to let Russian gas flow west again
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have raised resuming Russian gas transit through Ukraine in peace talks, drawing an objection from Berlin.
Vance says the US has ‘decisively won’ part of the Iran war as voters press him on costs
At a CBS News town hall the vice-president defended the war, the economy and the administration’s visa rhetoric.
Lutnick’s objections stall the tariff talks between Washington and Mexico
The commerce secretary has resisted significant cuts to tariffs on Mexican steel, aluminium and vehicles, slowing a deal that officials say is not at an impasse.
Washington weighs sanctions relief for shadow-fleet tankers as senators call the diesel deal a betrayal
The energy secretary said the administration is discussing easing sanctions on vessels carrying Russian oil to bring down record freight rates, days after a bipartisan group of senators objected to the diesel agreement.
Vance invokes wartime powers to expand Delek’s refinery in Tyler, Texas
The administration is using the Defense Production Act to lift fuel output at a single named refiner, with no cost or timeline disclosed.
A six-hour meeting in Florida sits behind Washington’s new push to end the Ukraine war
US envoys pressed Ukrainian negotiators at a Miami golf club, and the trips to Moscow that were meant to follow have been postponed.
Washington says Gulf oil flows have recovered to most of their pre-conflict level
The US energy secretary puts flows through the Strait of Hormuz at 80% to 90% of where they were before the war, one report of the same remarks puts the recovery at 44%, and Saudi Arabia is looking for export routes that avoid the strait.
The Pentagon revises its Iran war troop death toll as House Democrats press for strike records
The department has updated the number of troops who died during the war to 21, the defence secretary called the report that surfaced it fake, and lawmakers want an account of a strike carried out on 1 September.
Republican opposition widens to the Pentagon’s plan to livestream an execution
The defence secretary has promised a public military execution in December, the vice president says he will not watch, and the president has not decided.
Citi expects the Treasury to cut long-bond sales next month
Citigroup told clients that Scott Bessent is likely to shrink auctions of long-dated government debt, and could cancel the 20-year bond altogether.
Five Indian IT firms lose green-card sponsorship as Vance opens a visa-fraud probe of universities
Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL were suspended alongside Microsoft and Adobe, and the inquiry now extends to student exchange visas.
Bessent hires Judy Shelton as a Treasury adviser on currency policy
The Treasury Secretary has taken on the economist whose nomination to the Federal Reserve Board failed, giving her a brief that covers currency policy.
US and 14 other economies sign a joint pact on industrial overcapacity
Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the declaration broadens the overcapacity fight beyond China and that EU countries are united behind it.
Reports of Bessent’s temper land while credit investors doubt his reassurances
A new account describes the Treasury secretary berating staff, and seven senior officials are reported to have left.
The 30-year mortgage rate climbs to its highest level in nearly three years
The White House had predicted a fall; Trump blamed the Fed and Bessent blamed an energy shock.
Washington and Moscow explore selling Russian gas to Europe again
Reports say Trump’s envoys discussed a US investor for the Nord Stream pipelines while the war continues.
White House makes enrollment in Trump Accounts automatic for every US child
The Treasury Department will enroll tens of millions of children without an application and has cleared the way for donations of individual stocks.
Hassett presses Powell to leave the Fed board as Justice Department closes its inquiry
The White House’s top economic adviser said it is time for Jerome Powell to give up his remaining seat on the Federal Reserve Board.
Energy Department offers Vistra up to $4.2 billion to squeeze more power out of its reactors
A conditional federal loan commitment would fund uprates and modernisation at Vistra nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Trump prepares an order widening tax-exempt diesel access, and rules out an export ban
The White House is easing limits on red-dyed, tax-exempt diesel to blunt fuel inflation while rejecting the export controls the industry had feared.
Bessent softens his bond-market talk after yields kept rising
The Treasury secretary has pulled back from his claim to be the house after an attempt to talk yields down failed to take.
Bessent concedes he cannot control the bond market
The Treasury secretary defended his claim to be “the house” in US debt markets while acknowledging the limits of official intervention as long yields rise.
Energy Secretary says Trump knew the Iran war would lift energy prices
Chris Wright told CBS that the president was “well aware of the risks to energy flows” before the war began, and would not rule out further military action.
Trump names Jay Clayton AI czar with a 120-day brief
The director of national intelligence will lead a Super Intelligence task force reporting on AI risks and the government’s oversight role.
Bessent rejects AI alarmism and proposes a US-China incident channel
The Treasury secretary said AI labs must own their risks, while also telling Axios that rising Treasury yields reflect a global move rather than a US problem.
Trump expected to name intelligence director Jay Clayton as AI czar
The job has sat vacant since March, and the president is filling it with the official who runs US intelligence.
Seoul Disputes Trump’s Alaska LNG Investment Announcement
Korean officials said no deal exists to fund the Alaska gas pipeline, a day after the president and his commerce secretary announced one.
Washington Presses Europe to Release Diesel Reserves as Trump Weighs an Export Ban
US officials told European capitals to tap emergency diesel stockpiles or face an American export ban, as UK pump prices passed two pounds a litre.
Boeing wins the Navy’s F/A-XX fighter award worth more than $20 billion
The Pentagon picked Boeing over Northrop to build the Navy’s first sixth-generation carrier aircraft.
Trump announces South Korean funding for Alaska LNG as Seoul says nothing is approved
The president presented a $54 billion Alaska gas project as backed by South Korean money and part of a $200 billion energy package, while Seoul said the investment has not been approved and will require commercial viability.
Washington presses France and Germany to release diesel stocks or face a US export ban
Energy Secretary Chris Wright has asked Europe to release more than a third of its diesel reserves, with a US export ban held out as the alternative, as the administration weighs restrictions on foreign diesel sales.
Boeing wins the US Navy’s next-generation carrier fighter contract
The Pentagon picked Boeing for the F/A-XX programme in a deal worth more than $20 billion.
White House weighs a diesel export ban and taps the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced a new release from US reserves and pressed European countries to draw down their own diesel inventories.
US import bans on Canadian dairy, alcohol and motorcycles take effect
The measures replace tariffs with outright prohibitions on a defined list of goods, with no date set for a return to negotiations.
Trump says he is looking very seriously at a diesel export ban
The threat from the world’s biggest diesel exporter lands as UK pump prices set a record.
Bessent says Iran’s oil exports will reach zero within two weeks
The Treasury secretary said Tehran is completing its final crude shipments to China and will soon have nothing left to trade.
Energy secretary says nearly 13 million barrels a day still cross Hormuz
Chris Wright said oil flows through the contested strait are averaging close to 13 million barrels a day and that the US military is keeping them moving.
Washington rules out a blanket diesel export ban while weighing a fuel tax pause
The energy secretary says the United States will not stop exporting diesel, even as officials discuss voluntary cuts by refiners and a pause in fuel taxes.
White House weighs limits on diesel exports as analysts warn the plan would raise pump prices
The energy secretary has sounded out refiners on voluntary curbs while ruling out a blanket ban, and the industry is pushing back.
Energy secretary asks refiners to cut diesel exports voluntarily rather than by order
Chris Wright says the administration is not pursuing an outright export ban, even as the White House keeps a ninety-day version under review.
The Energy Department puts about $2 billion into squeezing more power through existing lines
Chris Wright announced a grant programme called Speed to Power across 26 states, aimed at getting more electricity out of the grid already in the ground rather than building new lines.
Energy secretary rejects the diesel export ban Trump has backed
Chris Wright called a blanket ban a blunt tool, hours after reports that the White House was preparing a 90-day restriction.
White House adviser attacks Fed officials pushing for rate hikes
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett questioned why policymakers would tighten with core inflation running near 2%.
White House Weighs Diesel Export Curbs as Its Energy Secretary Objects
Officials are drafting a plan for a 90-day ban on diesel exports while the energy secretary says the tool does not work.
Trump Backs a Diesel Export Ban as US Diesel Tops $6.50 a Gallon
The president’s endorsement reverses an administration position that had resisted fuel export restrictions, and his own energy officials have argued against it.
Trump Backs a Diesel Export Ban as Fuel Prices Hit Records
The president said a decision would come fast, while the Treasury secretary said the administration is still examining whether a ban is feasible.
Treasury says every Iranian airline will be grounded worldwide from Wednesday
Scott Bessent says secondary sanctions will shut Iranian carriers out of the global aviation system from 23 September.
White House moves to put NIH grant decisions under political control
Budget director Russell Vought is pushing an executive order that would let a political appointee veto biomedical research awards.
US proposes an AI incident alert system to China days before Xi’s state visit
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered Beijing a notification mechanism for AI incidents, while the US trade representative confirmed chip export controls were not on the agenda.
White House moves to put NIH research grants under a presidential board
Trump has asked his budget director to draft an order routing the biomedical agency’s grant approvals through the White House.
Bessent and He Lifeng meet at JPMorgan to set the table for the Trump-Xi summit
Treasury, the US trade representative and China’s vice premier gathered in Manhattan on Sunday to prepare a leaders’ meeting on tariffs, AI and rare earths.
Bessent and Greer to meet China’s He Lifeng in New York before the summit
The last working-level session before the two presidents meet is set for Sunday at JPMorgan Chase headquarters.
Pentagon’s Iran war bill reaches $43.6 billion as its casualty count is challenged
A new military estimate puts the cost of the war at $43.6 billion while a newspaper report says more American troops have died than the Pentagon has disclosed.
Trump says he will create an AI Force and name a second AI czar
The president announced a new body modelled on the Space Force and gave no detail on its budget or where it would sit.
Trump demands 1 per cent rates after the hike as Warsh says the Fed will stay in its lane
The president attacked the decision within hours while insisting he still backs the chair he appointed.
White House weighs wartime powers to build refining capacity
The administration is considering Defense Production Act funds for refiners as record diesel prices feed straight into freight and food costs.
Bessent defends bond buybacks and $5,000 checks in a contentious hearing
The Treasury secretary told House lawmakers that rising yields reflect global issues, not US fiscal policy.
Bessent Blames Global Forces for the Bond Sell-Off in a Contentious House Hearing
The Treasury secretary defended his buyback programme, a joint yen intervention and the president’s proposed $5,000 dividend as Democrats pressed him on yields and energy costs.
Treasury sanctions Russia’s VTB Bank under its Iran authority
The designation puts one of Russia’s largest banks inside the Iran sanctions programme, exposing any foreign institution that keeps dealing with it to secondary sanctions.
Energy Secretary Wright tells oil traders not to bet on a quick Hormuz deal
The cabinet officer closest to the oil market is warning that the chokepoint premium will not come off soon.
Bessent mocks his critics as the ten-year yield closes on 5%
The Treasury secretary has a new name for detractors of his bond buyback programme, which has not stopped long yields reaching multi-year highs.
The Fed goes into its September meeting with a rate rise all but priced
Markets expect the first US rate increase in years next week, and Kevin Warsh has left himself little room to talk them out of it.
White House weighs the Defense Production Act to expand US refining
With American refineries running flat out and diesel at a record, the administration is examining wartime industrial powers to add capacity.
Bessent presses financial power abroad while the bond rout deepens at home
The Treasury Secretary is sanctioning a large bank, talking the yen higher and buying back long-term debt, with the bond market so far unmoved.
Bessent tells yen traders: ‘I am the house now’
The US Treasury secretary dared markets to test his resolve on a stronger yen days before an expected Bank of Japan rate rise.
US sanctions the rest of Iran’s aviation sector under Operation Economic Outcast
The Treasury designated the remaining Iranian carriers and their suppliers, and the secondary-sanctions perimeter now runs well beyond Iran.
Trump envoys shuttle Moscow to Kyiv and leave without a breakthrough
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner made their first wartime visit to the Ukrainian capital after meeting Vladimir Putin, reporting substantive progress but agreeing nothing.
Bessent forecasts $40 oil as Washington tightens Iran’s finances
The Treasury secretary says Iran has 30 million barrels left to sell and that crude falls once the conflict ends.