By Lane Gillespie, Bankrate.com

Try as we might to avoid it, sudden, expensive emergencies can happen to anyone. A pet might need an unexpected vet visit, your car might need a replacement part or you may experience a layoff. That’s where emergency savings come in: By keeping a savings fund that you only use for emergencies, you can have peace of mind knowing you can tackle any big expense that comes your way.

While keeping an emergency savings fund is important, if you’re working with a tight budget, it may not be easy for you to put aside a few thousand dollars. In fact, nearly a quarter (24%) of Americans say they have no emergency savings, according to Bankrate’s Emergency Savings Report.

Americans have struggled to save for years — since 2011, the percentage of people without emergency savings has bounced between 21% and 29%, according to Bankrate’s Emergency Savings Report, which has tracked people’s emergency savings habits for 14 years. But rising prices since 2022 have made it even harder to save money. While the inflation rate has fallen since its 2022 high, Americans are still struggling with the price of their everyday purchases. Several years of rising prices have led to Americans paying 24.3% more for consumer goods since February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S., according to a Bankrate analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data.

Inflation wouldn’t sting as much if Americans received yearly pay raises to match, but wages over the last year haven’t grown fast enough to beat inflation, according to Bankrate’s Wage to Inflation Index. If your income has been stagnant and your everyday expenses are growing more expensive, you’ll have limited funds left over to stash away for savings.

Without emergency savings, you may need to turn to credit cards or borrow money in a pinch, and that’s what many Americans are doing when in financial need. A quarter (25%) of Americans would use a credit card to pay for an unexpected $1,000 emergency expense and pay it off over time, according to December 2024 data from Bankrate’s Emergency Savings Report. With credit card interest rates being over 20%, paying off an emergency expense with a credit card over time will cost you significantly more due to interest charges.

Snowballing economic factors are making it harder to save, especially for younger generations

In a perfect world, you would save at least 20% of your income across retirement accounts, emergency savings and other savings accounts. That’s part of the “50/30/20” rule, which advises you to spend 50% of your income on necessities, 30% on wants and 20% on savings. However, many people are likely to be spending a lot more than 50% of their income on necessities — squeezing the amount they can save.

Consumer prices rose 2.7% year-over-year in June, according to the BLS — the highest annual inflation rate since February. Americans are also squeezed on housing: Nearly half of renters spend more than 30% of their income alone on housing costs, according to the BLS. Similarly, 27% of homeowners pay more than 30% of their income on housing costs, according to product research company Chamber of Commerce.

Add in transportation costs and the rising cost of groceries, and you may easily find yourself cutting into your savings to afford necessities.

While many Americans, regardless of age, are struggling to save money, younger generations today are facing additional stressors that are making saving even more difficult. The labor market is showing signs of weakening, and recent college graduates are particularly struggling to find work as companies slow down on hiring and as AI swallows up entry-level white-collar jobs, according to the Wall Street Journal. What’s more, their spending on non-essentials hasn’t slowed down. Gen Zers (ages 18-28) are the most likely generation to spend more on travel, dining out and live entertainment year-over-year, according to Bankrate’s Discretionary Spending Survey.

Now, Gen Zers and millennials (ages 29-44) are more likely than older generations to have no emergency savings, according to Bankrate’s Emergency Savings Report:

Americans who have no emergency savings in 2025

• Gen Zers (ages 18-28): 34%
• Millennials (ages 29-44): 28%
• Gen Xers (ages 45-60): 24%
• Baby boomers (ages 61-79): 16%

The youngest American adults will likely always have less savings than older generations, since they’re relatively newer to saving. But younger Americans are starting their savings journeys today with added financial barriers that previous generations didn’t face to the same extent. Today’s young adults are kicking off their careers with fewer job prospects and high prices. This can take a toll — 46% of Gen Zers say money negatively impacts their mental health, at least occasionally, according to Bankrate’s Money and Mental Health Survey. This stress has also led to many Gen Zers feeling that planning for their future is pointless, according to CNBC. Without the motivation — or the funds — to save money, more Gen Zers year-over-year have no emergency savings, according to Bankrate:

Americans with no emergency savings, 2024

• Gen Zers: 29%
• Millennials: 34%
• Gen Xers: 31%
• Baby boomers: 16%

How to start — and maintain — an emergency fund when high prices make it harder to save

No matter your age, if you haven’t already started saving, it’s vital to start now, even if it’s only $10 or $20 a month. Building savings is a muscle you need to train — it may be difficult at first, but you’ll be glad to see your progress later.

1. Identify your ‘survival number’

An emergency savings fund should have at least three to six months of expenses stashed away, which is enough to cover most emergencies, like a job loss, car repair or emergency room bill. Saving this amount can be intimidating, but it’s more attainable than it seems.

If you spend $4,000 a month on recurring expenses, such as your rent, utilities, phone bill, groceries and transportation, that doesn’t actually mean you need to save $12,000 to $24,000 in your emergency savings fund. Your emergency fund can be based on your “survival number,” or the minimum amount of expenses you need to survive.

“Every few months or so, I like to go through my budget and identify my six-month survival number,” says Bankrate U.S. Economy Reporter Sarah Foster, who has tracked U.S. wages and inflation for the past several years. “That means including things like rent, utilities and groceries — not nice-to-have extras like streaming subscriptions or monthly facials and manicures. This number usually looks different from my regular budget, and that’s the point. It makes the goal feel more realistic.”

To know your survival number, check your budget and split your expenses into two categories: necessities and non-necessities. Necessities will include your:

• Rent or mortgage
• Utilities, phone and internet
• Insurance and health care co-pays
• Loan payments, such as a car loan, minimum credit card payments and student loans
• Basic groceries, household supplies and pet food
• Transportation costs

Non-necessities will include everything else, including subscriptions, eating and drinking out, personal grooming expenses, hobbies and more — everything you’re able to cut if you lose your job or otherwise need to fall back on your savings.

If you spend $4,000 a month on recurring expenses, you might realize you only spend $3,000 a month on necessities. That means you only need to save $9,000 to $18,000 in your emergency savings fund, which is much more attainable.

2. Start with a savings sprint

If you want to start saving for emergencies, you may need to cut down on spending to make room in your budget. But it can be challenging to suddenly cut down on everyday luxuries like ordering coffee out or getting your nails done.

The good news is, you don’t need to cut out luxuries permanently. To give yourself a head start on your savings, consider a savings sprint. Try cutting out non-essential expenses for a set period of time, such as four or six weeks. Set a savings goal, such as $500, that you can reasonably meet in that time by cutting out non-essentials. Set that money aside in a separate savings account — and don’t touch it.

When the savings sprint timeframe is up, you can go back to spending money on non-essentials — but use that time to figure out what is important for you to spend money on. For example, if after the sprint is up, you realize you actually don’t miss spending money on coffee shops, you can continue funneling that money toward your savings.

It can be hard to find the motivation to keep saving if you are only putting aside a small amount each month. However, a savings sprint gives you a jump start on your emergency savings, providing a motivational boost to watch your savings grow.

3. Make your bank account work for you

You can open a basic savings account at most banks where you keep your main checking account. But keeping your checking and savings accounts close together can make it all too easy to dip into your savings for non-emergencies.

Instead, try opening a savings account with a separate bank from the one where you keep your checking account. It takes several days to transfer funds between most banks, which will discourage you from dipping into your emergency savings too easily.

Any savings account will work to stash your savings, but you might want to consider a high-yield savings account (HYSA), which will offer a higher interest rate than a traditional savings account, which will help your savings grow even faster.

Also, try auto-depositing your savings directly into the account (also known as paying yourself first). By remaining hands-off, it’ll be easier to maintain your new savings habit.

You can keep your savings in one lump sum in a savings account, but some banks today allow you to go one step further. You can split up your funds into savings buckets, meaning you can assign roles to your funds:

Savings buckets let you know where your savings are going by separating them according to your goals, such as an emergency fund, travel fund or house down payment. Not only does this allow you to avoid touching your emergency funds when withdrawing money for a vacation, it serves as a constant reminder of the reasons why you’re saving in the first place.

The bottom line

Saving money isn’t always easy, but it’s vital for your financial health. If you don’t feel like you have enough room in your budget to save, consider cutting expenses where you can by examining your subscriptions, setting spending limits and cutting down on unnecessary spending. Or, you can try selling unwanted possessions or even picking up a side hustle.

Key takeaways:

• Nearly a quarter of Americans don’t have an emergency savings fund. If you’re one of them, that puts you at risk of taking on significant debt.
• It can be challenging to start and maintain an emergency savings fund. Determining the minimum you need to save and starting with a savings sprint can help.
• Opening a high-yield savings account will help you grow your savings without the temptation to use the funds for day-to-day spending.

©2025 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By Summer Ballentine, The Detroit News

Michael MacGillivray had planned for months to replace his gas-powered Ford Bronco with an electric vehicle.

As a certified public accountant, he followed congressional debate over President Donald Trump’s sprawling spending and tax legislation, which would end $7,500 tax credits for some first-time EV buyers. When Trump signed the legislation into law July 4, MacGillivray knew he needed to act.

“I was leaning toward the EV regardless, but the tax credit pushed me over the edge,” MacGillivray told The Detroit News while driving his new Tesla Model Y back from a road trip to Toronto.

The 25-year-old Ann Arbor resident is among a surge of what analysts call “fence sitters” buying EVs in the final weeks before the tax credit expires Sept. 30. And automakers are taking advantage of the short-term boost to clear inventory in anticipation of at least a temporary drop in interest once the credits end.

Hyundai’s electrified sales jumped 50% compared to July 2024. Combined sales of electrified Toyota and Lexus models rose 6.7% to 90,426. July was General Motors Co.’s best-ever month for its electrified fleet, according to the company, which said it sold more than 19,000 EVs, a 115% increase from July 2024.

“Everybody wants them right now before the tax credits go away,” said Walter Tutak, dealer trade inventory manager at Champion-Hargreaves Chevrolet dealership in Royal Oak.

Honda Motor Co. reaped a record July in electrified sales, in part because “the impending expiration of EV tax credits led some buyers to pull ahead across the industry,” Jessika Laudermilk, assistant vice president of U.S. sales at Honda, said in an email. The automaker’s Prologue EV recorded 6,318 sales in July, up 82.7% year over year.

“We expect to see this continuing in August and September,” Laudermilk said.

Automakers are not required to report monthly sales, and Tesla Inc. did not disclose data in response to a Detroit News inquiry.

Stellantis NV, which also did not report July sales data, is one of many automakers offering aggressive incentives on both EVs and plug-in hybrids, along with prominent language on its brand sites trying to spur customers into action: “Get your EV incentive while you can!” Jeep says on its website in a promotion for the all-electric Wagoneer S.

“Brands are going crazy with incentives, and it’s good for consumers,” said Lauren Fix, CEO of the consulting firm Automotive Aspects.

Auto reviewer Anton Wahlman, a former technology analyst, said the next few weeks will be “an inventory cleaning event.”

Sam Fiorani, industry analyst at AutoForecast Solutions, said manufacturers will compensate for the loss of the EV tax credit with their own incentives to keep prices stable: “It’s unlikely that you’ll see the prices drop, but you will see leasing deals or customer rebates.”

Analysts expect manufacturers to further scale back production of EVs to match limited interest among buyers, especially as Trump works to remove federal emissions requirements that pressured companies to make those models regardless of market demand.

Stellantis has already started dialing back production of its electrified offerings, with dealers prevented from ordering several models.

“In line with our retail priorities and the plans shared with our dealer network, we are working to ensure our production plan is in line with consumer demand,” according to a statement from the company.

After the industry more broadly scales down production over the course of several years, “they’re only going to sell some of them if they can make money on them,” Wahlman said.

“So there will be far fewer models and they will be priced much higher,” he said.

“In the midterm, you’re going to see EVs disappearing from the marketplace,” Fiorani added. “Currently, they’re encouraged by emissions (regulations) and by the federal incentives, but once those two things go away, then there’s no real incentive for a manufacturer to add a new model to the lineup in a market that’s already crowded with EVs.”

Automakers say they remain committed to EVs in the long run, although many are shifting investments toward hybrids and gas-powered, money-making trucks and SUVs.

“Toyota’s commitment to vehicle electrification is just one important element of its effort to help the world build a zero-carbon future,” Toyota Motor North America spokesperson Derrick Justin Brown said in an email. “Through the current industry shifts, including those around EV tax credits, that commitment remains strong, and there are no current plans to alter our approach.”

Laudermilk said Honda views electrification as “a marathon, not a sprint.”

“We remain focused on expanding our electrified lineup, utilizing our flexible manufacturing to produce ICE, hybrid-electric and battery electric models on the same production lines to meet the needs of our customers,” Laudermilk said.

GM executives have said the company will continue to pursue EV innovations, even as it beefs up its gas-powered fleet with investments at Orion Assembly in Michigan, Tonawanda Propulsion in New York and Toledo Propulsion Systems in Ohio.

Ford Motor Co. last year canceled plans to produce a three-row, battery-powered SUV at its Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario, planning instead to build gas-powered Super Duty pickups there starting next year. And the Dearborn automaker this month delayed the launch of its next-generation electric van and electric full-size pickup, though it also said it would invest $2 billion to build a midsize electric pickup at Louisville Assembly.

Stellantis this summer announced plans to bring back 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 engines in Jeep SUVs and Ram light-duty pickups as Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress slashed emission and fuel economy standards that had forced the engine’s slow demise in the first place.

Despite the more favorable regulatory environment for gas engines, Fiorani said automakers neglect electrification at their peril.

“A good manufacturer will see that this is the wave of the future and will invest in it,” he said. “A short-term manufacturer will go back to building just ICE vehicles and ignore the future of EV.”

©2025 www.detroitnews.com. Visit at detroitnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By ELAINE KURTENBACH, Associated Press Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Friday that the company is discussing a potential new computer chip designed for China with the Trump administration.

Huang was asked about a possible “B30A” semiconductor for artificial intelligence data centers for China while on a visit to Taiwan, where he was meeting Nvidia’s key manufacturing partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., the world’s largest chip maker.

“I’m offering a new product to China for … AI data centers, the follow-on to H20,” Huang said. But he added that “That’s not our decision to make. It’s up to, of course, the United States government. And we’re in dialogue with them, but it’s too soon to know.”

Such chips are graphics processing units, or GPUs, a type of device used to build and update a range of AI systems. But they are less powerful than Nvidia’s top semiconductors today, which cannot be sold to China due to U.S. national security restrictions.

The B30A, based on California-based Nvidia’s specialized Blackwell technology, is reported to operate at about half the speed of Nvidia’s main B300 chips.

Huang praised the the Trump administration for recently approving sales of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China after such business was suspended in April, with the proviso that the company must pay a 15% tax to the U.S. government on those sales. Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, was told to pay the same tax on its sales of its MI380 chips to China.

As part of broader trade talks, Beijing and Washington recently agreed to pull back some non-tariff restrictions. China approved more permits for rare earth magnets to be exported to the U.S., while Washington lifted curbs on chip design software and jet engines. After lobbying by Huang, it also allowed sales of the H20 chips to go through.

Huang did not comment directly on the tax when asked but said Nvidia appreciated being able to sell H20s to China.

He said such sales pose no security risk for the United States. Nvidia is also speaking with Beijing to reassure Chinese authorities that those chips do not pose a “backdoor” security risk, Huang said.

“We have made very clear and put to rest that H20 has no security backdoors. There are no such things. There never has. And so hopefully the response that we’ve given to the Chinese government will be sufficient,” he said.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet watchdog, recently posted a notice on its website referring to alleged “serious security issues” with Nvidia’s computer chips.

It said U.S. experts on AI had said such chips have “mature tracking and location and remote shutdown technologies” and Nvidia had been asked to explain any such risks and provide documentation about the issue.

Huang said Nvidia was surprised by the accusation and was discussing the issue with Beijing.

“As you know, they requested and urged us to secure licenses for the H20s for some time. And I’ve worked quite hard to help them secure the licenses. And so hopefully this will be resolved,” Huang said.

Unconfirmed reports said Chinese authorities were also unhappy over comments by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggesting the U.S. was only selling outdated chips to China.

Speaking on CNBC, Lutnick said the U.S. strategy was to keep China reliant on American chip technology.

“We don’t sell them our best stuff,” he said. “Not our second best stuff. Not even our third best, but I think fourth best is where we’ve come out that we’re cool,” he said.

China’s ruling Communist Party has made self-reliance in advanced technology a strategic priority, though it still relies on foreign semiconductor knowhow for much of what it produces.

AP Videojournalist Taijing Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.

By James Royal, Ph.D., Bankrate.com

The cryptocurrency industry has lately begun to heavily promote tokenized stocks, but what exactly are they? More importantly, what advantages do tokenized stocks offer — especially when investors already have safe, no-cost fractional share trading at many brokers?

A tokenized stock is a fancy way of saying that ownership of a stock can be transferred via blockchain, the technology behind cryptocurrency. Tokenizing, or digitizing, assets such as stocks, ETFs and other securities allows them to be traded on a specialized digital exchange and potentially directly between investors without the need for an exchange. These tokens are held in a digital wallet, much as crypto coins are, similar to a traditional brokerage account.

“The news cycle for crypto is all about representing traditional financial assets on a blockchain,” says Hilary Allen, professor, American University Washington College of Law. But Allen points out that investors and financial markets will endure major costs for doing so: “There are a lot of protections that are given up by this move.”

In order to establish a tokenized stock, these steps are needed:

— Taking custody of the asset: The asset that will be tokenized needs to be held in custody by a custodian, whose job is to safeguard it on behalf of the token creator.

— Creating the token: A financial institution such as an investment bank or fintech company then creates the digitized token, which corresponds to the asset in custody.

— Setting up smart contracts: Each token is programmed with self-executing smart contracts that give the token’s owner the same rights as stock ownership, including dividend distributions and voting rights, among others.

Once the stock is tokenized, traders can exchange it among themselves on crypto platforms, other decentralized finance platforms or even potentially a traditional stock brokerage. For example, crypto exchange Kraken has created tokenized stocks that it calls xStocks, and now allows trading in 60 major stocks. Meanwhile, brokerage Robinhood launched token trading in the European Union in June, offering access to more than 200 U.S. stock and ETF tokens.

Asset managers BlackRock and Franklin Templeton already offer tokenized money market funds. Goldman Sachs and BNY are teaming up to launch their own tokenized money market funds, too. More firms are exploring the idea of tokenized stocks.

In short, you could think of a tokenized stock as one that trades via blockchain. So what’s the big deal for individual investors? The cryptocurrency industry is breathlessly hyping this as a huge leap forward – as it has done for crypto coins – but the benefits are modest for individual investors, especially buy-and-hold types, and the risks of tokenized stocks are high. In fact, the best stock brokers already offer many of these same benefits to investors at no cost.

The crypto industry touts the following benefits of tokenized stock trading, many of which are already features at top brokers or may soon be features.

Benefits of tokenized stocks

— Increased accessibility through fractional shares: Tokenized stocks let investors trade portions of a share, meaning that high-priced stocks are accessible to even those with a little money.

— Lower cost: The crypto industry touts the potentially lower cost of transactions by eliminating intermediaries via blockchain.

— Transparency: The industry says thatby recording ownership on the blockchain, tokenization ensures that ownership is established.

— Security: Proponents say that blockchain-enabled trading also increases security because ownership is irrevocably established on the blockchain.

— 24/7 trading: Because tokenized stocks are held on a blockchain, they can be traded at any hour.

— Immediate settling of trades: Proponents also point to the immediate settling of trades via tokenized stocks, in contrast to next-day settlement in the U.S.

— More direct access between investors and firms: Tokenization may bypass existing financial intermediaries, letting companies raise money more directly from investors.

Others note the serious risks in tokenizing stocks, particularly in the area of investor protection.

Risks of tokenized stocks

— Potentially irrevocable transactions: Like cryptocurrency transactions, a tokenized stock transaction may be irrevocable. Once it’s done, it’s done, and it may be all but impossible to undo.

— Uncertain legal protections: The legal treatment of tokenized stocks is way behind where the crypto industry is trying to go, exposing investors to plenty of risks. For example, who is considered the issuer of a tokenized stock: the firm that tokenized it or the stock’s original issuer? What happens if an asset is hacked?

— Inflexible smart contracts: Smart contracts programmed into tokenized stocks will not cover all circumstances, says Allen. “It’s not clear how they’ll operate in unexpected environments.”

— Circumventing investor protections: Private investments are private partially to protect investors, not merely to limit investments to the well-heeled, but tokenizing stocks can allow financial players to get around the rules. “It’s absolutely built as an end run around securities laws,” says Allen. “Crypto is built as an end run around securities laws.”

— Loss of trust in American financial markets: One of the potential long-term effects of not enforcing existing securities laws is the erosion of trust in American capital markets. If securities laws aren’t enforced or are enforced inconsistently, then markets simply become a place to rip off investors.

Bankrate reached out to Kraken and Robinhood for further comment but has not heard back.

What’s behind the push for tokenized stocks?

The crypto industry and some traditional financial institutions have talked a big game about tokenization of stocks and some players have moved toward tokenization. But what’s in it for individual investors? Many of tokenization’s supposed benefits touted by the crypto industry are already available for individual investors in the current system.

— Fractional shares already exist: Individual investors can already access fractional shares — on thousands of stocks and ETFs — at the best brokers for fractional shares.

— Stock trading is already commission-free: For individual investors, trading stocks is already free at every major online broker, so there’s no added benefit to using tokenized stocks.

— Transparency and security: Existing brokers already have high levels of security with a proven security process. In fact, it’s the crypto exchanges and other DeFi platforms that have been beset by lax security, fraud and theft.

— After-hours trading: Many brokers already offer after-hours, overnight and pre-market trading on existing stocks. While this is not 24/7 trading, brokers have been expanding access in recent years. Moreover, all-hours access to trading does not benefit long-term investors, who build wealth through the long-term success of the underlying business. Study after study shows that active trading underperforms passive investing.

— “Democratization” of investing: Proponents of tokenization say that it gives access to private investments that are being hoarded by the wealthy. But giving a means to trade a stock — tokenizing it — does not mean that anyone will want to sell it to you. In fact, you should be skeptical when someone wants to sell you what they say is a great investment. (If it’s such a great investment, why are they letting you in on it? It’s not out of the kindness of their heart.)

So, while tokenization may offer a few incremental benefits to individual investors, albeit with significant risks, what’s the real driver of tokenization? Who is actually going to benefit here? It’s the crypto industry trying to make inroads into traditional finance, say experts.

“The crypto industry is waging a multi-pronged battle to get integrated into the financial system,” says Allen. The industry is working to “attract deep pockets” and bring more money into the fold, and tokenized stocks are part of that push, she explains.

So much of the crypto world is about hyping digital currency as “the next big thing.” Part of that process is projecting bombastic price targets for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, ones that are always rising over time. Such hype can make cryptocurrency seem inevitable.

As with cryptocurrency, one of the biggest use-cases for stock tokenization is (illegally) getting around existing laws (in this case, securities laws). So the full-bore adoption of stock tokenization has many potentially destructive effects, including the erosion of investor protections and robust securities laws that protect financial markets. Without these laws, it’s “scammer take all.”

“Investors lose the benefit of the securities laws,” says Allen. She points out that what the crypto industry wants to run roughshod over are the very laws that they claim are roadblocks to their profits. ”We saw what happened in the 1920s and the lack of securities laws.”

Bottom line

Tokenization presents significant risks to individual investors and the financial markets as a whole, while offering few benefits to investors that don’t already exist. Those who try out tokenized stocks should remain wary of their many risks amid an uncertain legal framework.

©2025 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By MATTHEW DALY

WASHINGTON (AP) — With electricity prices rising at more than twice the rate of inflation, President Donald Trump has lashed out at renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, blaming them for skyrocketing energy costs.

Trump called wind and solar power “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!” in a social media post and vowed not to approve wind or “farmer destroying Solar” projects. “The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!” he wrote on his Truth Social site.

Energy analysts say renewable sources have little to do with recent price hikes, which are based on increased demand, aging infrastructure and increasingly extreme weather events such as wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change.

The rapid growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence has fueled demand for energy-hungry data centers that need power to run servers, storage systems, networking equipment and cooling systems. Increased use of electric vehicles also has boosted demand, even as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans move to restrict tax credits and other incentives for EV purchases approved under the Biden administration.

Natural gas prices, meanwhile, are rising sharply amid increased exports to Europe and other international customers. More than 40% of U.S. electricity is generated by natural gas.

Trump promised during the 2024 campaign to lower Americans’ electric bills by 50%. Democrats have been quick to blame him for the price hikes, citing actions to hamstring clean energy in the sprawling tax-and-spending cut bill approved last month, as well as regulations since then to further restrict wind and solar power.

Advocates say renewables provide the extra energy needed

“Now more than ever, we need more energy, not less, to meet our increased energy demand and power our grid. Instead of increasing our energy supply Donald Trump is taking a sledgehammer to the clean energy sector, killing jobs and projects,” said New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The GOP bill will cost thousands of jobs and impose higher energy costs nationwide, Heinrich and other critics said.

A report from Energy Innovation, a non-partisan think tank, found the GOP tax law will increase the average family’s energy bill by $130 annually by 2030. “By quickly phasing out technology-neutral clean energy tax credits and adding complex material sourcing requirements,” the tax law will “significantly hamper the development of domestic electricity generation capacity,” the report said.

Renewable advocates were more blunt.

“The real scam is blaming solar for fossil fuel price spikes,” the Solar Energy Industries Association said in response to Trump’s post.

“Farmers, families, and businesses choose solar to save money, preserve land, and escape high costs of the old, dirty fuels being forced on them by this administration,” the group added.

Wind and solar offer some of the cheapest and fastest ways to provide electric power, said Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, another industry group. More than 90% of new energy capacity that came online in the U.S. in 2024 was clean energy, he said.

“Blocking cheap, clean energy while doubling down on outdated fossil fuels makes no economic or environmental sense,” added Ted Kelly, director of U.S. clean energy for the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Partisanship anchors debate on rising energy prices

Energy Secretary Chris Wright blamed rising prices on “momentum” from Biden-era policies that backed renewable power over fossil fuel sources such as oil, coal and natural gas.

“That momentum is pushing prices up right now. And who’s going to get blamed for it? We’re going to get blamed because we’re in office,” Wright told POLITICO during a visit to Iowa last week. About 60 percent of the state’s electricity comes from wind.

Not all the pushback comes from Democrats.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican who backs wind power, has placed a hold on three Treasury nominees to ensure wind and solar have “an appropriate glidepath for the orderly phase-out of the tax credits” approved in the 2022 climate law under former President Joe Biden.

Grassley said he was encouraged by new Treasury guidance that limits tax credits for wind and solar projects but does not eliminate them. The guidance “seems to offer a viable path forward for the wind and solar industries to continue to meet increased energy demand,” Grassley said in a statement.

John Quigley, senior fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, said the Republican tax law will increase U.S. power bills by slowing construction of solar, wind, and battery projects and could eliminate as many as 45,000 jobs by 2030.

Trump administration polices that emphasize fossil fuels are “an extremely backward force in this conversation,” Quigley said. “Besides ceding the clean energy future to other nations, we are paying for fossil foolishness with more than money — with our health and with our safety. And our children will pay an even higher price.”

Taskrabbit is a popular side hustle option for handy go-getters, but it may feel daunting if you’re just starting out.

Kevin Johnson has been there, done that, and found success. He’s a college student based in Maryland and offers handyman and moving services on the side. His dream is to open an automotive repair shop one day, and he views this hustle as valuable, if nontraditional, career experience.

Finding a traditional job isn’t exactly easy these days. According to the most recent jobs report, the economy added just 73,000 jobs in July. Compare that with 275,000 new entrants — people seeking their first job — who joined the ranks of those already looking.

If you need or want work, take note of what established Taskers like Johnson do to succeed in the gig economy.

What the work is like

Taskrabbit connects customers with capable workers who can put together furniture, lift heavy objects, mount a TV, declutter a room, clean house, run errands and more. The workers — called Taskers on the app — work independently and flexibly.

“Being a Tasker helps with making your own schedule and setting your own rates,” said Johnson in an email interview.

Las Vegas-based Tasker Nola Rodgers likes the people side of the work, and the money. She started tasking in 2021, after graduating high school in 2020, and has turned it into a full-time living.

“I love being able to help families and businesses have what they need to operate daily,” she said in an email interview. “If you offer enough tasks in different categories, you could end up making livable money.”

Rodgers would know. She’s got ‘elite tasker’ status on her profile — which signifies experience and consistently high ratings.

How to stand out and succeed as a Tasker

Johnson and Rodgers have each completed well over 1,000 tasks. You can learn from their insight as you get started with Taskrabbit.

Specialize (in multiple high-demand skills)

Lean on your skills and into services that pay.

Rodgers does TV mounting, packing, organizing and unpacking and even minor home repairs, for example. She also builds a lot of Ikea stuff.

“Furniture assembly is what I get booked most often,” she said. She charges $41.29 per hour for furniture assembly and brings her own tools to the job.

Johnson gets a lot of moving and hauling jobs, which make use of the little red truck he bought in cash with his earnings.

He said “handyman work, such as furniture assembly and mounting [decor],” is good for pay and consistent bookings as well.

Optimize (your Taskrabbit profile)

Your profile is the front door of your Tasker business. Just starting out, you need a compelling pitch.

Rodgers’ profile is fun to read and conveys her passion for building things. Her service descriptions are clear and concise — only a couple lines of text — and include photos of past work (e.g., a big TV hanging level in a living room with all cables hidden).

Johnson, who does a lot of moving, mentions he has a truck, and provides a transparent breakdown of pricing on his profile.

Serve (customers with care)

When customers come knocking, treat them well. Responsiveness, timeliness and perfectionism are key qualities for successful Taskers.

Johnson said he responds to customer inquiries as quickly as he can and stays in contact throughout.

“I always arrive on time and keep them updated on my estimated arrival,” he said.

Customers and Taskers can chat and send photos about the job on the app and website, or connect on a call.

Rodgers also stressed the importance of doing right by the customer. “[It] builds word of mouth and helps with reviews and recommendations.”

Grind and grow (your Tasker earnings)

It may be wise to prioritize reviews over pay rates at first.

Rodgers was on the grind from day one, and said bookings came quickly. “I got on the app and I started doing same-day tasks — I started getting clients that day.” The same-day jobs gave way to advanced bookings, and the ability to earn more.

“I took pictures of my work as I finished tasks to start my portfolio and set my rates at what was recommended, and raised them as it was suggested by Taskrabbit,” she said.

The app offers pricing guidance based on location, task category and level of experience, so you can set competitive rates.

How much you can make depends on a range of factors, especially the time you have for hustling. Both Rodgers and Johnson estimated that new Taskers have the potential to earn around $1,000 – $1,500 a month, but that may not be realistic for all.

And don’t forget — you do gig work like Taskrabbit as a self-employed independent contractor, which means it’s on you to plan for tax time. The good news is Taskrabbit takes its service fee from clients — charged on top of the rate you set.

What to know before you gig

“It is still work,” said Rodgers. “You need to be committed and hardworking.”

Being bossless sounds cool, but without one you’ll have to get out of bed and get going on your own.

Passion helps, Johnson said. “Whatever skill resonates with you, give it your absolute best.”

Reddit reviews are mixed

We sifted through Reddit forums to get a pulse check on how users feel about Taskrabbit as a viable side hustle. Taskrabbit isn’t all roses for everyone who’s tried it. A quick review may dash your spirits. We used an AI tool to help analyze the feedback. People post anonymously, so we cannot confirm their individual experiences or circumstances.

These potential negatives stood out.

• Market saturation: Big cities may have many Taskers competing for work, which makes it tough to get regular gigs.
• Inconsistent income: Since gigs can be sporadic, working as a Tasker won’t guarantee the consistent income of a salaried or hourly job.
• Need for multiple skills: Taskers tend to need skills in various types of task areas to maximize earning potential (e.g., handyman and hauling).

A bridge to what’s next

While your level of success will vary, what you learn as a Tasker could lead to something more.

Around 1 in 13 Americans (7%) set a goal to start a business in 2025, according to a recent NerdWallet study.

As a Tasker, Johnson emphasizes treating customers well, showing up on time, looking the part and doing the job well, qualities that will serve him if his auto shop comes to fruition.

Rodgers aspires to more too. “Over the next five years, I plan to expand my business by making custom furniture,” she said.

She credits the hustle of gig work for helping her launch a business, earn a meaningful wage and build a base of clients.

More From NerdWallet

• Big Paychecks, Big Regrets: How to Avoid Splurge Pitfalls
• What Does It Mean to Be Rich? We Asked 3 People.
• Four Frequent Money Worries – And What To Do About Them

Tommy Tindall writes for NerdWallet. Email: ttindall@nerdwallet.com.

The article Taskrabbit Work: What It’s Like and How to Succeed originally appeared on NerdWallet.

Detroit and Windsor’s economies are intimately connected. On a typical day, thousands of trucks cross the Detroit River with parts that may cross back again several times before a single car rolls off the line. 

But that rhythm is off. 

New tariffs and shifting border rules have fueled uncertainty, and you can see it in fewer trucks and feel it in prices. The port handled about 1.4 million inbound trucks last year, down from over one and half million the year before. The flow has been wobbling through 2025. 

Canadian travel to the U.S. has also slumped this summer, draining foot traffic from border businesses. A new crossing, the Gordie Howe International Bridge, could add capacity later this year, but the rules at the booth still set the tempo. 

Marta Leardi-Anderso, executive director of the Cross-Border Institute at the University of Windsor, joined The Metro to unpack the mechanics and the human impact of President Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

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The post The Metro: Cracks showing in the Detroit-Windsor economy appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

By Zachary Hansen, Tribune News Service

Electric vehicle startup Rivian plans to hold two ceremonial events to christen the forthcoming construction of its long-delayed $5 billion factory an hour east of Atlanta.

The company will play host to a community event Sept. 14 and a formal groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 16 with stakeholders, media and government officials, including Gov. Brian Kemp. The events at the roughly 2,000-acre project site along I-20 bolster promises by Rivian leaders to begin vertical construction of the factory next year, following multiple delays and setbacks.

“The governor remains excited about the generational opportunity Rivian’s commitment will bring to hardworking Georgians,” a Kemp spokesperson said in a statement. “He, along with the first lady, look forward to joining Rivian and state and local leaders to break ground on this next chapter in Georgia’s ongoing economic success story.”

A Rivian spokesperson added the company is “excited to welcome our future neighbors” at the Sept. 14 community event, which will feature vendors, food, live music and off-road course rides in its vehicles.

“We look forward to continuing our work with our partners and surrounding communities as we strive to provide thousands of new, good paying jobs in this fast-moving industry,” the spokesperson said.

Since its announcement in late 2021, Rivian’s factory plans in Georgia have resembled a roller coaster ride.

Rivian first announced plans to open the factory in southern Walton and Morgan counties in 2024. But the project was pushed back and ultimately paused indefinitely as the company sought to cut costs. But Rivian said it would fulfill its promises to open the plant and meet its commitment to employ 7,500 workers. Rivian has said a $6.6 billion federal loan approved days before President Joe Biden left office would help accelerate the Georgia plant’s launch.

At the time of its announcement, the factory was the state’s largest-ever economic development project. Since Rivian’s announcement, Hyundai has announced and opened an even larger EV factory near Savannah, Georgia.

To recruit the Rivian factory, state and local officials offered the company a $1.5 billion incentive package, which requires the automaker to build its promised plant and meet hiring requirements to see the bulk of those financial benefits and tax savings.

Similarly, Rivian has to break ground on its factory to tap into the federal loan.

The loan’s approval by the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office has been criticized by some Georgia Republicans and allies of President Donald Trump, including members of his campaign’s transition team. Georgia’s senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, lobbied for many of those clean energy incentives, including Rivian’s loan.

“The loan is set up as more of a project finance instrument,” Claire McDonough, Rivian’s chief financial officer, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month. “So it does require Rivian to have broken ground and continue to invest in the site before we’ll have a timeline for an initial (loan) draw out of the facility, which is really by design.”

The site has been graded and is undergoing utility installation. Vertical construction is planned to begin at an unspecified date in 2026, with vehicle production starting by 2028.

Rivian has said the Georgia factory will be the site of expanded production of its upcoming R2 crossover.

“The work that we’ve been doing over the course of the last handful of years is to ensure that we can reduce the timeline between start of construction (of the Georgia factory) and start of production for future vehicles out of the site,” McDonough said.

Jerry Silvio, chairman of the local development authority that helped manage the Rivian project, congratulated the company.

“There is no question about the project’s future — it is secure,” Silvio said in a statement. “And we are charging ahead to deliver jobs, growth and opportunity for our communities.”

By Luke Ramseth, MediaNews Group

Under President Donald Trump, Dodge is turning back the clock on its muscle car lineup.

Instead of phasing out the final gas-guzzling Hemi V-8 engines still available on Durango SUVs this year, it’ll make them standard for 2026 — even on the entry-level GT trim. It’s soon launching potent six-cylinder Charger coupes and sedans amid rumors of a V-8 also under development for that model, which currently is available only with an electric powertrain.

The Stellantis NV brand, as it pivots hard back toward its big-engine, muscle-car roots, can thank the Trump administration and a GOP Congress: they have rushed to end automaker fuel economy fines and gut emissions rules that were meant to combat climate change and improve air quality.

Everything changed fairly suddenly for Dodge after the Republican president took office, CEO Matt McAlear said in an interview last week, and “that allowed us to go back to the drawing board and figure out, what is the next step? How do we give performance back to our customers?”

Yet Dodge, like other brands, has simultaneously been stung by Trump and his aggressive trade policies. Due to higher tariffs, the company has indefinitely postponed production of the Italian-made Hornet — a small crossover that the brand had hoped would finally start gaining sales traction with a reduced starting price after its debut in 2023.

“If the tariffs don’t change,” McAlear said, “then there won’t be a ‘26 model year.”

End of Hornet?

The brand pushed to import remaining 2025 Hornets before 27.5% auto tariffs on European imports kicked in this spring, he said, and 2026 production at the plant in Naples is on hold. There are fewer than 3,000 Hornets remaining on U.S. dealer lots, and he expects they will be sold down before the end of the year.

The CEO said Dodge had been plotting to grow sales of the Hornet just before tariffs kicked in, including by repositioning its starting price to roughly $30,000.

Now, dealers and analysts say they expect it’s probably the end of the line for the sporty crossover, which comes in both gas and plug-in hybrid iterations and is a cousin of the Alfa Romeo Tonale. Hornet had initially been pitched as a performance-oriented alternative that would find its niche in the popular compact SUV market.

Dodge spokesperson Kristin Starnes said a recent U.S. deal with the European Union to lower tariffs to 15%, including on cars, hasn’t changed Dodge’s calculation on postponing Hornet production.

“It’s a beautiful vehicle, but I don’t know how the constraints with tariffs will ever make it viable for the American market,” said Mike Bettenhausen, a Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram retailer in suburban Chicago who heads the automaker’s national dealer council.

Losing the Hornet would take away one-third of Dodge’s current model lineup. Last year, Dodge sold more than 20,500 of them, but sales fell sharply in the first half of this year.

Dealers said they won’t be overly disappointed if the crossover does come to an end, despite its place in the highly popular compact SUV segment. It’s faced frequent quality issues that have led to customer frustrations, recalls for issues with brake pedals and the rearview camera display, and a price point that retailers said was far too high. Some were forced to deeply discount their Hornets to drum up customer interest, ultimately losing money on a number of transactions.

“The Italians trying to sell Italian vehicles in the United States has just been a big miss, man,” said Jim Walen, who sells Dodge, Jeep and other Stellantis brands in Seattle. “The market doesn’t want those.”

Dodge also faces elevated tariffs on its Charger Daytona EV and the forthcoming gas-powered Sixpack, produced at the Windsor Assembly Plant in Canada, but McAlear indicated no coming production changes there. The brand did earlier this year discontinue the entry-level Charger Daytona R/T, which is made at the plant, amid tariffs and slow sales that had led to significant discounting.

“They’ve been terrific in bringing the battery-electric technology (for Charger) and now they’re shifting over to the Sixpack technology, and we’re ramping that up quick,” McAlear said of the plant, adding that all the variants of the Charger will be in production in Windsor by the second quarter of 2026.

Hemis galore

Dodge is pushing more Hemi V-8s into its Detroit-made Durango lineup, which is less impacted by tariffs than its other offerings, except on imported parts.

A 5.7-liter V-8 will even be available on the base GT trim, starting at under $45,000, including destination charge. The R/T trim will now come with a more powerful 392 Hemi V-8, meanwhile, which delivers 475 horsepower.

And after its expected demise in recent years due to tightening federal emissions regulations, the top-end SRT Hellcat will live on, offering a 6.2-liter Hemi V-8 with 710 horsepower, a 0-60 time of 3.5 seconds — and an estimated combined fuel economy of just 13 miles per gallon.

The last time the Durango got a full overhaul was 15 years ago; McAlear wouldn’t say when the next generation is coming. But the three-row SUV remains a fairly popular and profitable offering for the company in recent years. Sales of more than 34,000 in the first half of 2025 were up 4% from last year.

Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research at auto communications firm Telemetry, said it’s “only a matter of time” before Dodge announces a Hemi V-8 is also coming for the redesigned Charger. (When asked about the possibility, McAlear said there is “nothing that we’ve announced yet.”)

Dodge released the battery-powered version of the Charger at the start of the year, but it hasn’t resonated with the Dodge muscle car faithful, the analyst said, even with a system that pumps out sounds similar to a real V-8 engine. The company sold just 4,299 of them in the first half.

“A lot of that core audience doesn’t even care if the EV is any good, what kind of sounds it makes,” Abuelsamid said. “They’re just not even interested in looking at it.”

Dodge’s plan now to push out more high-powered gas engines should help win back some of its core customers turned off by the Charger EV, he said.

Kevin Farrish, a Stellantis dealer from Virginia, said it’s exciting for him and other retailers that the “muscle is coming back” after the last generation of the popular Charger and Challenger gas-powered models ended production in 2023. He’s confident four-door versions of the new gas-powered Charger will sell especially well. And Durango’s new Hemi offerings are a key selling point for Dodge customers who often come into the showroom looking for high performance.

“Putting a Hemi in it raises the price,” Farrish said. “But the enthusiast who wants that is willing to pay for it.”

Gene Caballero learned a hard lesson when he bought himself a Tesla, thinking it would be “the perfect upgrade” — and then discovered that it was hard to find an apartment in Nashville, Tennessee with sufficient electric vehicle chargers.

“It’s become a headache constantly worrying about access,” says Caballero, who is a co-founder of lawn care platform GreenPal. “I wish I would have stuck with something more traditional.”

Ashley Carroll, CEO of business consulting firm Operations House in Philadelphia, spent $12,000 to join an upscale country club in the area. She hoped she and her husband would be able to make friends and do some networking. “This was a treat for us,” Carroll says.

In reality, they went to the club twice and both times it was mostly empty. They ended up canceling, losing their deposit and joining smaller, more meaningful local groups.

“That $12,000 could have funded a year of business retreats or simply padded our emergency fund,” Carroll says. “Instead, it evaporated with zero return.”

One of the nice things about making a good salary is that you can afford the occasional splurge — but not every purchase is a winner. Here’s how to be smart about your indulgences.

Why you might have buyer’s remorse

Regrettable purchases share some common themes: You didn’t plan for it, you bought it during an emotional high, it’s hard to resell, or it doesn’t fit your lifestyle or goals.

Alexandra Rooney, a certified financial planner in Greenwich, Connecticut, sees these patterns all the time. One of her clients, for instance, recently considered buying a million-dollar rental property that was five hours away.

“She’s got considerable wealth, but she’s not equipped to be a handyman,” Rooney says. “It’s not a good fit for her in the lifestyle phase that she’s in right now.”

Not every purchase you make will be a slam dunk. But if you’re going to treat yourself to something fancy, here are some tips on how to still like yourself in the morning.

Budget with splurges in mind

“High earner” and “budget” may not go hand-in-hand in your mind, but budgeting is still important, especially if you’re planning to indulge yourself. As always, it’s crucial to cover your needs before your wants.

“Once you’ve allocated [income] to all the necessities — the food, clothing, rent and the savings — then if there’s a surplus, we can talk about that surplus,” says Glenn Downing, a CFP in Miami.

What he advises clients, Downing says, is to make a rule for windfalls. For example, steering a third to savings, a third to retirement and a third for fun.

Rooney suggests that clients buy luxury items with money in the bank — not expected income. While we might plan for spending on an annual basis, “we don’t want to spend money we haven’t received yet,” Rooney says.

Otherwise it’s easy to feel like that purchase is already covered, she says, which means new money that comes in could get used for something else. Some of her clients even set up a separate account to use for big purchases.

“It’s having that long term annual plan and almost saving up for it,” Rooney says.

Reflect before you spend

Consider all the angles of the thing before you buy it. Downing often has conversations with his clients who want to buy a second home for vacations or other real estate.

“At what point does it make sense for you to own something rather than just renting something when you get there?” says Downing, who walks clients through all the logistics: Who will maintain the property? What if there’s an emergency? If you want to rent it to vacationers, does local law allow it?

Rooney reminds her clients that they should be comfortable using the luxury purchase they’re making. “If you buy a mink coat and you don’t feel comfortable wearing it, what was the purpose in buying it?” she says.

One client of Rooney’s committed herself to hundreds of thousands of dollars in cruises without ever having been on a cruise. In the end, the client lost about $10,000 in deposits when she realized she wasn’t a cruise person.

“The marketing we’re fed these days is extremely effective,” Rooney says. “It’s crucial to coach clients through how they feel after spending money, and helping them understand themselves before they sink too much into a luxury item.”

Assign meaning to your money

Jack Heintzelman, a CFP in Boston, has clients think about the deeper meaning in their splurges. “Take a moment to say, ‘What is important to me?’” he says. “And then put the dollars toward that.”

That focus can prevent what he calls the “spiral,” when one luxury purchase leads to another and another. “The key is not about doing everything that is nice,” Heintzelman says. “It’s about what is important to them and going deep on that level first.”

Rooney remembers a client whose job involved frequent plane travel, and his company offered free first class transport — but the client turned it down to fly private.

“It was such an enormous cost to the overall plan,” Rooney says. “Why spend meaninglessly for something that’s really not adding to the bottom line for you?”

When you’re a high earner, “you can do anything you want but you can’t do everything, and you can’t do it all at once,” Rooney says. “Where are those dollars more impactful and where will you find the most joy?”

Kate Ashford, CSA® writes for NerdWallet. Email: kashford@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kateashford.

The article Big Paychecks, Big Regrets: How to Avoid Splurge Pitfalls originally appeared on NerdWallet.

The post Small business owners ask Trump for tariff relief appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

Emily Renaud of Shelby Township will never forget the homecoming dress she wore during her sophomore year at Eisenhower High School. Nor will she forget the nonprofit Sparkle Network, who not only provided the dress for that big day but several others including her senior prom.

“It was a long black dress with gold embroidery. It was so stunning,” Renaud said, of the dress she got from the Sparkle Network. “It’s a great organization. I couldn’t believe it when I first found out about it. Moe and her people are great.”

Moe Lietz of Rochester Hills is the founder of the charity that helps a variety of causes through fundraisers and programs, one of them being the Prom Closet Project.

The program began as a kind gesture, when a good friend of Lietz confided in her that being a single mother on a tight budget she was unable to buy her daughter a dress for the prom. Since Lietz knew a little about fashion design and sewing she went to work on a beautiful gown for the woman’s daughter. The impact that one dress had on one girl is what prompted Lietz to create the Prom Closet Project, a successful program that’s supported by local retailers like Macy’s and JC Penny but known throughout the school districts it serves in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.

Every year, the Sparkle Network puts on a trunk tour where teens can make an appointment online to visit the shop where the tour happens to stop, to pick out a dress of their dreams and even accessories like shoes and jewelry. Students can choose from hundreds of dresses in a variety of colors and sizes ranging from 0 to 24.

Renaud remembers her and her friends booked their appointments around the same time so they could shop together, making the opportunity even more memorable.

All of the prom dresses are free, but during the homecoming season, all of the dresses are sold for $10, with proceeds going to cover the dresses for the next prom season.

“It’s an amazing system,” Renaud said, noting that it saved her and her parents hundreds of dollars on the dresses she wore to the dances that mean so much to teenagers.

“This is our ninth year,” said Lietz, whose charitable organization has grown immensely over the years and not only provides dresses for high school students but scholarship awards, which Renaud will use this fall as a freshman at Oakland University.

The nonprofit also hosts several events that support families who have a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia, one of them being a comedy show led by Lietz, who is a comedian as well as a philanthropist.

Lietz has said repeatedly that the work she and her volunteers do at the Sparkle Network is not only important but rewarding.

“Every year I hear from a student talking about how excited they were to wear their dress or from a parent who was grateful to see their daughter’s dream come true.” she said.

FYI

The Sparkle Network’s homecoming dress sales will be held at several locations throughout Macomb and Oakland counties.

They will include:

• Aug 22 and 23 from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at American House East 1 in Roseville.

• Aug 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Front Door Housekeeping in Utica

• Aug. 29 from 3 to 7 p.m. at Meadowbrook Center for Learning Differences in Rochester Hills

• Aug. 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Aug. 31 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m .at T-Tech Solutions in Troy

• Sept. 3 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Romeo High School. NOTE: Students do not have to be enrolled at the high school to attend this showing.

All of the dresses will be priced at $10.

“We have dresses of all sizes and lengths,” Lietz said. “New this year is we have separate pieces (pants, tops and skirts in limited sizes) as well. The separate pieces will be $5 each.” All proceeds will go to replenish items for Prom Closet Project Tour 2026.

To book an appointment visit https://sparklenetwork.org/2024-dress-into-a-dream-program-homecoming-special-occasion-dress-sale/.

The application includes information such as dress sizes in order to ensure supply is available for the student’s appointment.

For more information email sparkle.network3@gmail.com or visit sparklenetwork.org/

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO

NEW YORK (AP) — Feeling nostalgic for the days when going back to school meant picking out fresh notebooks, pencils and colored markers at a local drugstore or stationary shop? The annual retail ritual is both easier and more complicated for today’s students.

Chains like Walmart generate online lists of school supplies for customers who type in their zip codes, then choose a school and a grade level. One click and they are ready to check out. Some schools also offer busy parents a one-stop shop by partnering with vendors that sell premade kits with binders, index cards, pens and other needed items.

Yet for all the time-saving options, many families begin their back-to-school shopping months before Labor Day, searching around for the best deals and making purchases tied to summer sales. This year, the possibility of price increases from new U.S. tariffs on imports motivated more shoppers to get a jump start on replacing and refilling school backpacks, according to retail analysts.

Retail and technology consulting company Coresight Research estimates that back-to-school spending from June through August will reach $33.3 billion in the U.S., a 3.3% increase from the same three-month period a year ago. The company predicted families would complete about 60% of their shopping before August to avoid extra costs from tariffs.

“Consumers are of the mindset where they’re being very strategic and conscientious around price fluctuations, so for back to school, it prompts them to shop even earlier,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, the research division of software company Adobe Inc.

Getting a head start

Miami resident Jacqueline Agudelo, 39, was one of the early birds who started shopping for school supplies in June because she wanted to get ahead of possible price increases from new U.S. tariffs on imported products.

The teacher’s supply list for her 5-year-old son, who started kindergarten earlier this month, mandated specific classroom items in big quantities. Agudelo said her shopping list included 15 boxes of Crayola crayons, Lysol wipes and five boxes of Ticonderoga brand pencils, all sharpened.

Agudelo said she spent $160 after finding plenty of bargains online and in stores, including the crayons at half off, but found the experience stressful.

“I am overwhelmed by the need to stay on top of where the deals are as shopping has become more expensive over the years,” she said.

A lot of the backpacks, lined paper, glue sticks — and Ticonderoga pencils — sold in the U.S. are made in China, whose products were subjected to a 145% tariff in the spring. Under the latest agreement between the countries, Chinese goods are taxed at a 30% rate when they enter the U.S.

Many companies accelerated shipments from China early in the year, stockpiling inventory at pre-tariff prices. Some predicted consumers would encounter higher prices just in time for the back-to-school shopping season. Although government data showed consumer prices rose 2.7% last month from a year earlier, strategic discounting by major retailers may have muted any sticker shock for customers seeking school supplies.

Backpacks and lunchboxes, for example, had discounts as deep as 12.1% during Amazon’s Prime Day sales and competing online sales at Target and Walmart in early July, Adobe Insights said.

Throughout the summer, some of the biggest chains have are advertising selective price freezes to hold onto customers.

Walmart is advertising a 14-item school supplies deal that costs $16, the lowest price in six years, company spokesperson Leigh Stidham said. Target said in June that it would maintain its 2024 prices on 20 key back-to-school items that together cost less than $20.

An analysis consumer data provider Numerator prepared for The Associated Press showed the retail cost of 48 products a family with two school age children might need — two lunchboxes, two scientific calculators, a pair of boy’s shoes — averaged $272 in July, or $3 less than the same month last year.

Digital natives in the classroom

Numerator, which tracks U.S. retail prices through sales receipts, online account activity and other information from 200,000 shoppers, reported last year that households were buying fewer notebooks, book covers, writing instruments and other familiar staples as students did more of their work on computers.

The transition does not mean students no longer have to stock up on plastic folders, highlighters and erasers, or that parents are spending less to equip their children for class. Accounting and consulting firm Deloitte estimates that traditional school supplies will account for more than $7 billion of the $31 billion it expects U.S. parents to put toward back-to-school shopping.

Shopping habits also are evolving. TeacherLists, an online platform where individual schools and teachers can upload their recommended supply lists and parents can search for them, was launched in 2012 to reduce the need for paper lists. It now has more than 2 million lists from 70,000 schools.

Users have the option of clicking on an icon that populates an online shopping cart at participating retail chains. Some retailers also license the data for use on their websites and in their stores, said Dyanne Griffin, the architect and vice president of TeacherLists.

The typical number of items teacher request has remained fairly steady at around 17 since the end of the coronavirus pandemic, Griffin said. “The new items that had come on the list, you know, in the last four or five years are more the tech side. Everybody needs headphones or earbuds, that type of thing, maybe a mouse,” she said.

She’s also noticed a lot of schools requiring clear backpacks and pencil pouches so the gear can’t be used to stow guns.

Enter artificial intelligence

For consumers who like to research their options before they buy, technology and retail companies have introduced generative AI tools to help them find and compare products. Rufus, the AI-powered shopping assistant that Amazon launched last year, is now joined by Sparky, an app-only feature that Walmart shoppers can use to get age-specific product recommendations and other information in response to their questions.

Just over a quarter of U.S. adults say they use AI for shopping, which is considerably lower than the number who say they use AI for tasks such as searching for information or brainstorming, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll in July.

Some traditions remain

Before the pandemic turned a lot more people into online shoppers, schools and local Parent Teacher Associations embraced the idea of making back-to-school shopping easier by ordering ready-made bundles of teacher-recommended supplies. An extra fee on the price helped raise money for the school.

Market data from Edukit, a supplier of school supply kits owned by TeachersList parent company School Family Media, shows that about 40% of parents end up buying the boxes, meaning the other 60% need to shop on their own, Griffin said. She noted that parents typically must commit no later than June to secure a bundle, which focus on essentials like notebooks and crayons.

Agudelo said her son’s school offered a box for $190 that focused on basics like crayons and notebooks but didn’t include a backpack. She decided to pass and shop around for the best prices. She also liked bringing her son along for the shopping trips.

“There’s that sense of getting him mentally prepared for the school year,” Agudelo said. “The box takes away from that.”

What happens when building a new space or renovating one means more than profits? What does it look like when design and functionality come together to better a community and its residents? 

The New School is a collective of 8 women-led architecture firms, working to reimagine Detroit from the ground up, no pun intended.

The group hopes to connect with like minded people and transform the landscape of architecture into a more inclusive space. 

Laura Marie Peterson, director of 1+1+ and Laura Walker, owner and co-founder of Other Work, joined The Metro to describe how architecture can serve a community.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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More tariffs on imported goods took effect last week. 

The federal government is making big money from tariff revenues, which reached $29 billion last month. It is important to note that the money is coming from American wallets. 

Tariffs aren’t just numbers in a trade deal. They are hidden costs baked into the price of almost everything we buy and sell, and they have become a point of contention and anxiety with President Trump’s erratic maneuvers — announcing them, delaying them, increasing them, walking them back. 

He says his new tariffs aim to protect American industries, but they are hitting small businesses and big supply chains in Michigan and beyond. 

Economists warn that the state’s manufacturing base and retailers are especially vulnerable. That means higher costs for business owners, tougher choices on pricing, and potential sticker shock for many of us.

So we’re connecting the dots, from the global supply chain to the boutique sales floor with Rachel Lutz, owner of The Peacock Room, a women’s clothing and accessories boutique in Detroit, and Professor Jason Miller, interim chair of Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University. 

They joined The Metro’s Robyn Vincent to explain tariffs’ local and less understood impacts.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

 

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The post The Metro: Michigan businesses brace for impact from tariff hikes appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

By Anna Claire Vollers, Stateline.org

As more hospitals have gobbled up private physician practices, costs for childbirth and other services have gone up, according to a new study.

Since the early aughts, the share of physicians in the United States working for hospitals has nearly doubled, according to the study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonprofit research organization.

And as fewer doctors work in physician-owned practices, patients or their insurers end up paying more, the study’s authors found.

For example: Two years after a hospital buys an OB-GYN practice, prices for labor and delivery jump an average of $475 and physician prices rise by $502, according to the study. Researchers focused on births, which are the most common reason for hospital admission among people with private insurance.

This rapid acquisition by hospitals is reshaping a U.S. industry once dominated by tens of thousands of small, physician-owned practices.

Only about 42% of U.S. physicians work in a physician-owned private practice, according to the most recent survey data from the American Medical Association. Nearly 47% work for hospitals, a sharp rise over the past several years. Most emergency room physicians are now employed by hospital systems or by private equity-owned staffing groups.

The new research offers further evidence for how hospital acquisitions of private practices “can result in anticompetitive price increases,” said Matthew Grennan, one of the study’s authors and an associate professor of economics at Emory University, in a news release.

“As a result, I think economists and others in the antitrust community are likely to give more careful consideration to these potential sources of harm,” he said.

Medical debt is a leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, with about 14 million Americans owing more than $1,000 in medical debt, according to research nonprofit KFF.

These post-merger price increases are driven by reduced competition, Grennan and his fellow researchers found. Yet there’s been little effort by federal or state regulators to halt hospital mergers that could lead to higher prices for consumers.

But states have taken some steps toward lowering medical costs in recent years.

Bipartisan groups of lawmakers in more than a dozen states have addressed so-called “facility fees,” which are charges that some hospitals tack on for patient visits to hospital-owned physician offices.

This year in Oklahoma, Republican lawmakers passed a bill requiring hospitals to make the cost of many of their services more transparent to patients so they’re aware of the costs. Providers can face penalties for noncompliance. A similar Oklahoma law authored by Democrats and passed last year requires debt collectors to submit evidence of a hospital’s compliance with price transparency rules before filing to collect on medical debts from patients.

Some states have capped the rates hospitals or physicians can charge. Colorado sets provider and hospitals rates based on a specific formula if insurance plans aren’t able to lower peoples’ premiums to a certain level, while Montana and Oregon limited the amount hospitals and other providers can charge for their state employee health plan.

Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@stateline.org.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By CALEIGH WELLS

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio (AP) — A significant share of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions comes from heating, cooling and powering homes — about 15%, according to one estimate by the Environmental Protection Agency. So if you want to reduce your carbon footprint, the home is an effective place to start.

There are so many factors involved in a household’s energy consumption, including whether you have gas or electric heat and how you use your kitchen appliances, washer and dryer. It’s often overwhelming to figure out where to begin.

That’s why experts recommend a home energy assessment conducted by a professional. The room-by-room examinations help homeowners determine energy use, discover inefficiencies and create a plan to reduce both. In addition to helping the environment, improving efficiency saves money over the long term.

The assessments typically last several hours and cost anywhere from $100 to more than $1,000. Until the end of the year, the Inflation Reduction Act, a major U.S. climate law passed in 2022, helps cover the cost. Congress recently rescinded many of those benefits, which will be phased out.

I’m a climate reporter, so I’ve written about responsible energy use more than a few times. But in May, after years of apartment-dwelling, I moved into the first home I’ve ever owned.

So, I signed up for a home energy assessment.

My home, outside of Cleveland, is more than 100 years old. When I blast the air conditioning, it’s still hot and humid upstairs. I can hear birds chirping outside no matter how hard I shut the windows. And there’s a giant pipe in my basement held together by duct tape and prayers.

My assessment delivered pretty bad news. But with it came with lots of room for improvement. Here’s how the day unfolded:

The HVAC tests

Tim Portman, owner of the HVAC company Portman Mechanical in northeast Ohio, started with an hourlong interview about my goals of having a more comfortable and climate-friendly house. Then he headed into the basement to test my furnace, air conditioner and water heater.

The water heater pressure was normal, so Portman said there was no major risk of a water burst. However, the pressure in both the furnace and air conditioner was too high.

Which reveals my first problem: They are too big for the duct work. That’s inefficient, and it wears on the equipment. Making matters worse, Portman noticed a bunch of unnecessary turns in the ducts.

He equated it to having great water pressure in a kinked garden hose.

“If you don’t get the kink out of that garden hose, you’re never going to have a good experience,” he said.

The highlight of my basement woes was a giant pipe that feeds heating and cooling to the rest of the house. It just … wasn’t connected. It was jammed together like two straws without a junction. It bugged him enough that he paused to fix it.

And who am I to stop him?

The blower door

After the basement, Portman assembled a contraption called a blower door. He jammed a bunch of airtight plastic in my front doorway, shoved a big fan through the middle and turned it on so that it was blowing air out of my house.

“It literally sets up a vacuum in the house. So anywhere where there are leaks, you can see where those leaks are,” he said.

Seconds later, my home got hot and musty as the fan pulled outdoor air through all the leaky seams. Portman guessed the primary culprit immediately. I followed him upstairs into what felt like a sauna near the opening to the attic.

“You literally have hot, humid air — and your attic’s warmer than outside — just pouring into the second floor,” Portman said.

The blower door measures how many cubic feet of air flow through per minute. In a well-sealed house, the number should be less than or equal to the square footage. In my 1,500 square-foot (139-square-meter) house, the blower door number was 4,500. Three times as leaky as it should be.

Portman called it a worst-case scenario.

“It’s like driving your car around with the AC on and the windows rolled down,” he said.

The thermal camera

Next, Portman grabbed a thermal camera. The goal, since it was 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) outside, was to see if leaks would show up as hot spots on the camera.

There were a lot. On the screen, yellow revealed a hot spot. The coolest spaces were dark blue. The leaky door frame around the attic lit up bright yellow.

“Do you think that’s a problem?” Portman joked.

“Oops,” I said.

“Yeah,” he said. “Oops is the right answer.”

There were a few unsurprising finds, including a leaky bathroom fan and gaps around the hundred-year-old windows. Downstairs we also found major gaps in the living room’s exposed beams.

Thermal images proved Portman’s theory that my walls were not insulated. That’s because my house still has some knob and tube wiring, a system of ceramic supports and porcelain-wrapped wires that’s a relic of the early 20th century. Because of how it heats up, only certain insulation can be used with it. It can also be very expensive to remove.

In the basement, the camera revealed major gaps next to pipes and some other just … random holes. They were maybe where wiring used to be, or just hollow spots in the old wooden framing. But the air seepage was strong enough to make the cobwebs flutter frantically, as if reflecting my dread discovering them.

The verdict

After his review, Portman’s first recommendation was to call an electrician about the old wiring.

“Getting knob and tube out of your house opens the door to have insulation in your walls,” he said.

Once that’s addressed, Portman said I need to upgrade my electrical panel to support an eventual switch to a heat pump and an electric water heater, though those appliances don’t fit my budget this year.

One electrician I spoke to by phone guessed it would cost $30,000 to remove the old wiring. But another said as long as he inspects the wiring and doesn’t find any dangerous modifications, I could leave it and replace the panel for roughly $3,000.

I went with the second guy.

Through the end of 2025, federal tax credits will help subsidize weatherization upgrades, including insulation, windows, doors and electrical panels.

In the meantime, my husband and I have a different homework assignment: use a caulk gun and spray foam to plug the holes that we found on the thermal camera.

Between July heat waves and January cold snaps, sealing a house in the Cleveland area isn’t just good for the planet. It’s a good investment.

“You could potentially cut your bills in half. Potentially even more,” he said.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By Grant Schwab, Summer Ballentine, Breana Noble, The Detroit News

President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs and tariff threats could intensify challenges for Michigan’s trade-reliant economy, though analysts noted the potential for both benefits and risks from the GOP leader’s newest proposal.

Trump floated the idea last week of a 100% import tax on semiconductors — crucial components of electronic devices, cars and trucks, and other machines omnipresent in modern life — unless foreign producers make commitments to invest and build manufacturing facilities in the United States.

“If that indeed is put in place, I think that opens the door to Michigan again for the simple fact that we design, engineer and make things here,” said Glenn Stevens, executive director of MichAuto, the automotive arm of the Detroit Regional Chamber. “The state, including the governor and bipartisan politicians and economic development, have all focused on that growth industry. We’re as poised as anybody to capitalize on that.”

Others, however, noted that there would be significant downsides to the president slapping taxes on semiconductors. They said manufacturers across Michigan are already being squeezed by Trump’s oft-changing import taxes, including new levies that took effect Thursday on dozens of countries, and warned that a semiconductor levy could add another layer of cost and complexity at a time of rising economic concerns.

Michigan’s unemployment rate of 5.3% in June ranked second-to-last among all U.S. states, and a massive economic development project that might have brought thousands of jobs to Genesee County fell through last month. The project, notably, was centered on a semiconductor fabrication facility on 1,400 acres for computer chip maker Sandisk Inc.

Several Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet of Bay City, suggested that the project was scrapped due to chaotic economic conditions caused by Trump’s trade policies.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer met privately with Trump on Tuesday to discuss, among other things, the impact of tariffs on the state and the future of the vacant “megasite” in Mundy Township. Her office, asked to respond Thursday to Trump’s 100% semiconductor tariff threat, declined to comment. Instead, the governor’s team emphasized that Whitmer has been “incredibly vocal” about bringing investment to Genesee County.

While Trump’s stated goal of issuing a semiconductor tariff is boosting domestic production of the essential components, experts warned that there could be negative spillover effects for other areas of domestic manufacturing — like Michigan’s signature auto industry.

“Semiconductors are such an increasingly large percentage of the value of a vehicle. So (a 100% tariff) is going to raise prices for consumers, and there’s just no way around that,” said Sam Abuelsamid, an auto industry veteran and vice president at communications firm Telemetry.

There are between 1,000 and 3,000 semiconductors in modern vehicles, according to several industry estimates. The COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted supply chains around the world, demonstrated how damaging shocks in the availability of semiconductors are for the industry.

Because of a global shortage of microchips coming mostly from China and other Asian countries, automakers shut down plants, limited features on some vehicles or built them and held them until a semiconductor could be added. Abuelsamid noted that the effect of a tariff would be different than the COVID-era shocks, but still impactful.

“The availability is not going to be the issue. The cost is going to be the issue,” the analyst said. “And even if, manufacturers say, ‘OK, we’re going to move all of our chip manufacturing into the U.S.,’ it still takes a long time to build chip fabs. These are not something you can build in three or six months, or even a year. It takes several years to get a chip fab up and running from scratch.”

Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions LLC, also noted the long lag time for building semiconductor factories in the United States. He pointed to the CHIPS and Science Act, a key legislative accomplishment of former Democratic President Joe Biden.

“The old CHIPS Act was developed to encourage local production of chips,” Fiorani said. “And if it’s difficult and expensive to build an automotive plant, it’s even more difficult and more expensive to build a chip plant.”

The package directed about $280 billion in new funds to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors. It yielded several major projects, though all but one remain under construction or otherwise in development.

“A chip plant needs a lot of water and typically $10 billion to open, so it’s much more difficult to make that move,” Fiorani said. “But they were encouraged years ago to build locally, and it just takes a while for that to move to the next level.”

Stevens of MichAuto, who on one hand was optimistic about potential semiconductor manufacturing in Michigan, also acknowledged the potential for a COVID-like disruption for the auto sector.

“That definitely would be a concern,” he said.

New tariffs, new data

Beyond the semiconductor threat, Thursday marked the effective date of new import tax rates on dozens of countries, including several major U.S. trade partners.

Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10% or higher. Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15%, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh are taxed at 20%.

“President Trump is seeking to strengthen our supply chains, create economic growth and power our future,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, in a statement. “We’ve already witnessed companies begin to make significant investments in the United States, and we must continue to protect the future of American industry.”

The new rates apply to vehicles and auto parts imported from Japan, South Korea and the EU, which were previously subject to 27.5% tariffs. The change has prompted backlash from Ford Motor Co. and some Michigan lawmakers.

“Just because you get a deal, doesn’t mean it is a good deal for America. Right now, a Japanese car is subject to a lower tariff than a car made in Canada, with American parts and some American labor,” U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, said in a social media post.

She echoed Ford’s argument that the company, which has a highly integrated supply chain between the United States, Canada and Mexico, now has a competitive disadvantage against rivals that import more of their vehicles from overseas.

Current tariff rates on vehicles from Canada and Mexico max out at 27.5%, but the actual duties paid are complicated because of partial exemptions granted to vehicles and parts that comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.

Auto imports from Mexico and Canada have so far been subject to a lower duty rate than products other major automotive countries, according to a Detroit News analysis of federal data released on Tuesday. The analysis calculated rates by comparing assessed duties on auto imports to the total value of imports for June, which is the latest month with available data.

But Mexico, thanks to a high volume of auto exports to the United States, still ranked as a close second behind Japan in total duties paid in June.

Importers brought in $4.2 billion worth of automotive goods from Japan and paid about $1.15 billion in duties, good for a rate of 27.5%. By contrast, $14.2 billion in goods came from Mexico and were subject to $1.14 billion in duties, which came out to an 8% duty rate.

Industry experts said Ford and other automakers with heavily North American manufacturing bases — including foreign companies like Toyota Motor Corp. — have a legitimate argument that the new lower rates on Japan, South Korea and the EU could undermine any advantages that previous tariff structures conferred on American operations.

“The reason why the supply chain (in North America) is set up the way it is, it’s because of NAFTA and USMCA. We’ve developed a trade policy with our neighbors based on low or no tariffs,” Abuelsamid said. “And now, Trump is turning that up and expecting people to pivot on a dime. And it just doesn’t work that way.”

Patrick Anderson, CEO of the Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group, also noted the auto industry upheaval.

“It’s a completely different world than we have been operating in for most of the past quarter-century,” Anderson said in a phone interview. “This is a very fraught time for the American auto industry, as well as the Canadian and Mexican auto industries that are deeply connected to the American auto industry.”

Anderson also suggested that Trump — who often changes his tariff policies even after they take effect — could make adjustments in light of backlash from a domestic auto industry he has sought to boost.

“This is a shift from which there is no easy turning back,” the economist said. “I expect that some of the tariff rates that are imposed as of August 7 will have changed by September 7.”

More lawmakers weigh in

Members of the Michigan congressional delegation were split along party lines over Trump’s latest tariffs.

“I’m constantly hearing from Michiganders and our business leaders about how Donald Trump’s reckless tariffs are hurting our state — from causing costs to skyrocket for our families, to cutting manufacturing jobs, to threatening pensions for our auto workers, and costing our auto industry billions of dollars,” U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, said in a statement.

She continued: “Michigan doesn’t need Donald Trump’s chaotic, shoot-from-the-hip tariffs, and I’m going to keep working to lower costs for Michiganders, protect our jobs, and make sure we are protecting investments in our manufacturing economy.”

U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, who Stevens is running to replace when he retires from the chamber at the end of his term, had a similar message.

“If President Trump was serious about strengthening our domestic semiconductor supply chain we would have seen an actual plan by now. Instead, he has been attacking the CHIPS and Science Act that took historic steps to bring home semiconductor manufacturing and American jobs,” he said in a statement. “He is also continuing his chaotic tariff strategy that, instead of targeting trade cheaters, has only caused instability and uncertainty for Michigan businesses.”

U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain of Bruce Township, a fierce Trump supporter and the No. 4 Republican in the U.S. House, defended the president’s tariff agenda.

“American manufacturers are ready to Make in America again thanks to President Trump leveling the playing field and his One Big Beautiful Bill,” she said, referencing the massive tax cut and spending bill Trump signed into law in July.

McClain continued: “This transformational legislation delivered historic tax relief for manufacturers and small businesses, which empowers manufacturers to invest in workers and produce here in America. Hundreds of billions of dollars are pouring into U.S. manufacturing — from semiconductors to AI — just look at Apple’s recent announcement to increase their initial $500 billion investment by $100 billion to design and (manufacture) in America.

“These historic investments are creating real jobs. And it’s just getting started,” she added.

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT

Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the United States has withdrawn from international negotiations and commitments, particularly around climate. But the U.S. is very much involved in treaty talks for a global accord to end plastic pollution.

Nations kicked off a meeting Tuesday in Geneva to try to complete a landmark treaty over 10 days to end the spiraling plastic pollution crisis. The biggest issue is whether the treaty should impose caps on producing new plastic, or focus instead on things like better design, recycling and reuse. About 3,700 people are taking part in the talks, representing 184 countries and more than 600 organizations.

Here is a look the U.S. position:

Why is the US participating in the negotiations?

Hours after he was sworn in to a second term, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the landmark Paris agreement to combat global warming. The United States didn’t participate in a vote in April at the International Maritime Organization that created a fee for greenhouse gases emitted by ships, or send anyone to the U.N. Ocean Conference in June.

Some wondered whether the United States would even go to Geneva.

The State Department told The Associated Press that engaging in the negotiations is critical to protect U.S. interests and businesses, and an agreement could advance U.S. security by protecting natural resources from plastic pollution, promote prosperity and enhance safety.

The industry contributes more than $500 billion to the economy annually and employs about 1 million people in the U.S., according to the Plastics Industry Association.

“This is an historic opportunity to set a global approach for reducing plastic pollution through cost-effective and common-sense solutions and fostering innovation from the private sector, not unilaterally stopping the use of plastic,” the department said in an email.

What does the US want in the treaty?

The State Department supports provisions to improve waste collection and management, improve product design and drive recycling, reuse and other efforts to cut the plastic dumped into the environment.

The international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that 22 million tons of plastic waste will leak into the environment this year. That could increase to 30 million tons annually by 2040 if nothing changes.

The OECD said if the treaty focuses only on improving waste management and does nothing on production and demand, an estimated 13.5 million tons of plastic waste would still leak into the environment each year.

What does the US not want in the treaty?

The United States and other powerful oil and gas nations oppose cutting plastic production.

Most plastic is made from fossil fuels. Even if production grows only slightly, greenhouse gas emissions emitted from the process would more than double by 2050, according to research from the federal Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The U.S. does not support global production caps since plastics play a critical role throughout every sector of every economy, nor does it support bans on certain plastic products or chemical additives to them because there is not a universal approach to reducing plastic pollution, the State Department said.

That’s similar to the views of the plastics industry, which says that a production cap could have unintended consequences, such as raising the cost of plastics, and that chemicals are best regulated elsewhere.

What has the US done in Geneva so far?

On the first day of the negotiations, the United States proposed striking language in the objective of the agreement about addressing the full life cycle of plastics. That idea was part of the original mandate for a treaty. Getting rid of it could effectively end any effort to control plastic supply or production.

Under former President Joe Biden’s administration, the U.S. supported the treaty addressing supply and production.

What are people saying about the US position?

Industry leaders praised it and environmentalists panned it.

Chris Jahn, president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council, said the Trump administration is trying to get an agreement that protects each nation’s rights while advancing effective and practical solutions to end plastic waste in the environment. He said his group supports that approach.

Graham Forbes, head of the Greenpeace delegation in Geneva, said the United States wants a weak agreement and is undermining the idea that the world needs strong international regulations to address a global problem.

Does the US think the world can agree on a treaty that will end plastic pollution?

The United States aims to finalize text for a global agreement on plastic pollution that all countries, including major producers of plastics and plastic products, and consumers, will support, the State Department said in its statement.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.