Donald Trump is backtracking on some of his wild economic moves.

The president said Tuesday that has “no intention” of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, after days of insults and threats over whether Powell would cut interest rates. It’s quite a reversal from Trump saying Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough,” the week before. Still, Trump would like those rate cuts.

“I would like to see [Powell] be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates,” Trump said Tuesday while swearing in the new Securities and Exchange Commission chair. “It is a perfect time to lower interest rates.”

Trump also backed down from threatening China on Tuesday, saying that he wouldn’t seek to punish China any further in the Oval Office and telling reporters that tariff rates against the country would be lowered.

“[The rates] will come down substantially, but it won’t be zero,” Trump said, adding that “we’re going to be very nice, and they’re going to be very nice, and we’ll see what happens.” China appears to be reciprocating, with a spokesperson for the country’s Foreign Ministry telling reporters Wednesday that “the door for talks is wide open.”

It seems that the struggling stock market and panicked U.S. executives have persuaded Trump to modify whatever concepts of a plan he has for the economy, as every economic indicator spells disaster. Trump’s tariff whiplash, where he has alternated between raising and lowering tariffs, has caused market chaos for several weeks.

Instituting an astronomical tariff rate of 145 percent against China, one of the country’s largest trading partners, has not inspired confidence from American businesses, and China is holding firm on getting Trump to back down. Tuesday’s shift from the president indicates that he is fearful of what will happen if his current approach backfires.

Vice President JD Vance admitted outright on Wednesday that the United States is prepared to completely abandon Ukraine. 

“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes, or for the U.S. to walk away from this process,” he said from India. “We’ve engaged in an extraordinary amount of diplomacy, of on-the-ground work.

“The current lines, somewhere close to them is where you’re ultimately, I think, going to draw the new lines in the conflict,” Vance added, making it clear that Ukraine would have to give up territory to Russia.

This comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff decided not to attend the planned meeting between the U.S., Ukraine, and other European leaders, due to what Rubio’s spokesperson called “logistical issues.” 

The U.S. has been unilaterally trying to strong-arm Ukraine into a ceasefire with Russia, while the Europeans try to support Ukraine’s attempts to fight off the Russian invasion. These talks were supposed to be an attempt to bridge the gap between the U.S. and Europe and to make Putin negotiate on more equitable terms that don’t see him retaining large chunks of Ukrainian territory. But Vance just gave the Kremlin yet another green light. 

Elon Musk’s far-right turn as the head of the Department of Efficiency has apparently tanked Tesla’s earnings.

In a humiliating first-quarter report published Tuesday, Tesla reported that profits had crashed by a whopping 71 percent, falling to a mere $409 million, compared with $1.39 billion from the same quarter last year.

The company vastly underperformed compared to Wall Street’s expectations for per-share profit, reporting an adjusted earnings per share of 27 cents, well below the expectations of 41 cents.

Sales slipped dramatically as well, dropping 13 percent from the same period last year. The electric vehicles have become controversial symbols of Donald Trump’s administration and Musk’s cost-cutting antics at DOGE, making them targets of widespread vandalism.

Musk was reportedly considering stepping back as DOGE czar when his special government employee status ends next month, which should come as no surprise. The Washington Post reported that the billionaire bureaucrat was tired of “attacks” from the left.

Dan Ives, a Wedbush Security financial analyst, wrote to clients on Sunday that Musk pulling back from DOGE is the only way that Tesla can recover, according to

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