Trump to Repeal Landmark Climate Finding

0:00This podcast is brought to you by ReliaQuest. Cybercriminals are constantly attacking. They want your data. They want your identity. They want your innovation. ReliaQuest's AI detects, contains, and eliminates cyber threats faster. It helps your security teams move faster at the work that matters most to protect the business now and delivers insights to help them predict what's next. ReliaQuest, AI-powered cybersecurity. Learn more at ReliaQuest.com. That's R-E-L-I-A-Q-U-E-S-T dot com. The White House prepares to reverse a key finding linking greenhouse gases to public health risks. Plus, President Trump threatens to block the opening of a bridge connecting the U.S.

0:43and Canada, baffling officials north of the border. This is just another, you know, another speed bump that Donald Trump has put in the way of doing good things, not just for our country, but for his as well. And we'll unpack what a stronger Chinese currency could mean for the dollar. It's Tuesday, February 10th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. The Trump administration is planning to reverse a 2009 legal finding linking greenhouse gas emissions with threats to public health and welfare.

1:18We understand that the rollback would gut the legal underpinning used to regulate power plant emissions as well as fuel efficiency standards for cars. Officials claim the regulatory rollback would equate to a trillion dollars in savings. However, Journal's sustainability reporter Yusuf Khan said it could also create headaches for businesses navigating the growing delta between American and global environmental regulations. This is going to be a really big deal for companies operating globally, but even just within the U.S. We're seeing climate regulations within places like California coming through and New York.

1:50But say for a company operating in Europe where you've got climate regulations that are already in force. On one side, in Europe, you've got an obligation to bring down your emissions and report your emissions. On the other side, we might see the rollback of those sorts of regulations and the idea that you can continue to pollute. Environmental groups have said they would challenge the rollback in the courts, though it could be years before litigation is resolved. Meanwhile, President Trump is throwing a wrench in plans to open a new bridge connecting Canada and the U.S. near Detroit. After almost eight years of construction funded by Canada, He's threatening to block the bridge's opening, saying the U.S.

2:24should own up to half of it and criticizing Canada for not treating the U.S. with the, quote, respect that we deserve. Trump pledged support for the bridge in 2017, with Canada agreeing to collect tolls that would pay a private sector builder. Speaking on Canada's CBC News, the mayor of Windsor, Ontario, where the bridge is located, called Trump's comments insane. Canada paid for the construction of the bridge. The U.S. didn't want to pay. Canada said, we think it's important. We're going to pay for it. We're going to fund it to help facilitate international trade. And so the president, on one hand, is criticizing a decision made by the government of Ontario to remove U.S.

3:02alcohol off the shelves. But at the same hand, on the other hand, he's saying, I don't want to open a facility that's actually going to facilitate more trade between the two nations. The White House didn't respond to a request for comment, nor did a representative for Prime Minister Mark Carney. Israel is assuming broad new powers in the West Bank to make it easier for Israeli settlers to buy territory there. Among the steps taken by Israel's security cabinet, it's repealing a law preventing the sale of West Bank land to outsiders, publishing sealed land registries to help prospective buyers identify land owners, and seizing a range of regulatory powers from the Palestinian Authority that were granted to it under the Oslo Accords.

3:43Those actions come ahead of a meeting tomorrow between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Trump in Washington. Several Arab governments and the EU have criticized the latest Israeli moves.

3:57There has been a lot of chatter in markets today about whether China is moving to use the dollar less and strengthen the role of its own currency, the yuan. Our Asia finance editor, Peter Landers, says that so-called de-dollarization isn't new, but has been gaining momentum as some countries bristle over the power the U.S. holds thanks to the dollar's dominance. For most international transactions today, the dollar is used, and there is some discussion for years now that China might want to use its own currency. If China seems to be using the dollar less or treasuries are being sold, it could cause the dollar to weaken and the yuan to strengthen.

4:36And in fact, we are seeing some modest strengthening in the yuan. But this is within the normal bounds of what we've seen over the decade. But it's the speculation that a more radical shift could be in the offing is behind some of the market trades. Given that the yuan isn't freely traded, Peter added that it would take a long time for it to replace the dollar as a global currency, if that's even something Beijing wants. The Chinese government directly and Chinese government affiliated institutions, they own a huge number of U.S. treasuries and other U.S. dollar denominated securities. So it's certainly not in China's interest to see the dollar disappear and they wouldn't want the dollar to get sharply weaker either.

5:16But there may be some room at the edges to bring the renminbi, the Chinese currency, more directly into global commerce. And we are a day away from what's become a hotly anticipated U.S. jobs report. Its delayed release comes as employment has been growing at a glacial pace, and as surveys point to widespread pessimism when people consider their odds of finding work if they lost their job. So what do you think? Whether you're making hiring or firing decisions, looking for work, or just trying to make sense of how AI could affect your industry, we'd love to hear from you. To share your view on the job market or ask a question of one of our reporters, email a voice note to WNPOD at WSJ.com or leave us a voicemail on 212-416-4328.

6:03Either way, just make sure to include your full name and location so we can use your comments on the show. Well, coming up, speaking of government economic data, Argentina's inflation figures are back under scrutiny in what correspondent Samantha Pearson says could become a key test of President Javier Millet. Stick around after the break.

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6:58Argentina is set to provide its January inflation update today. It's a data point we don't normally pay attention to here on the podcast. But as journal correspondent Samantha Pearson reports, government data from the country is very much in the spotlight now after a major resignation atop the country's statistics agency resurfaced long-running concerns about the trustworthiness of economic indicators in a country all too familiar with price meddling. Samantha, listeners will remember Argentine President Javier Mille took office. He had a lot of big ideas for slashing spending, tackling what had been triple-digit inflation in the country, but that was several years ago.

7:33So why is this back in the spotlight now? So since Millet took office in the end of 2023, he's really made a lot of progress on inflation, which has traditionally been one of Argentina's biggest problems. So he's brought that down from about 200 % annually to around 31%. That's low for Argentina. So in general, he's impressed investors, he's impressed President Trump. But there are some concerns now about the reliability of this inflation data. So a week ago, the head of Argentina's index statistics agency, which measures national statistics in the country, Michael Laveña, he quit. And his reexamination was tied to the introduction of a new inflation index.

8:18So ever since Malay took office, the IMF economists in the country have been urging him to update the index in Argentina that measures inflation. It's out of date. The prices it uses are current, but it's based on a consumer survey that was done 20 years ago. And Malay has repeatedly refused to update it. And the head of the stats organization basically had enough and said, I can't do this anymore. I'm quitting. And we should just point out that there's a history of this agency and its data being called into question. So this is tapping into some existing concerns about the reliability of government data.

8:55Argentines are very nervous about inflation data, about any sign of government meddling in official figures. Currently, the index that Argentina is using does not make a huge difference. Economists that we spoke to said maybe the difference is about one percentage point higher. For Argentina, that's not that much. The problem is, is that later this year, we expect energy prices to go up. That's partly because Malay is going to be withdrawing subsidies for energy prices as part of his austerity measures. So the problem is, and the concern really is, that that gap could widen. So Argentina could be portraying inflation data or reporting inflation data that's essentially higher than it really seems to be.

9:38Is Millet facing political pressure around this? I mean, Millet has good reasons, in theory, good reasons why he doesn't want to do this now. He says that it's hard to compare data when you start halfway through the process of trying to bring inflation down. He also says that the index that they're proposing to use is more up to date than the current index, but it's still a few years old and that they need to introduce another index. But yes, politics is a concern here. We've got elections next year and in Argentina, inflation data is a very sensitive subject. So if you remember what happened with Macri, a market-friendly president in Argentina in 2017, everything was going relatively well.

10:16And then suddenly he decided to tweak the central bank inflation targets. And everyone freaked out. There was a very negative market reaction. And many economists here in Argentina say that was basically the beginning of the end for his government. There was a run on the peso, a bailout from the IMF, and essentially it led the way for the return of the Peronists. I'm glad you mentioned, Samantha, the international perspective here because Argentina is still very dependent on overseas support financially. We saw a very negative reaction in markets in Argentina after Lavagna's resignation. We saw a close to 10 % drop in the stock market.

10:50Obviously, what happens in Argentina has huge ramifications for President Trump as well. He's bet heavily on Malay and his ability to turn around one of South America's biggest economies. So a lot is riding on this. That was Journal Correspondent Samantha Pearson. Samantha, thank you so much for the update. Thanks very much. And that's it for What's News for this Tuesday morning. Today's show was produced by Hattie Moyer and Daniel Bach. Our supervising producer is Sandra Killhoff, and I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. And until then, thanks for listening.

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