August 26, 2025: SpaceX Starship Launch, Cook-Trump Legal Battle Heats Up, More
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Three, two, one. SpaceX has successfully completed the 10th test flight of the Starship rocket. This follows two consecutive scrapped launches, one yesterday, the other on Sunday. Now, this mission came with heightened stakes after a string of setbacks earlier this year. Starship launched today from the Starbase complex in South Texas. And roughly an hour later, the Starship rocket completed its mission by splashing down in the Indian Ocean. Starship is billed as the most powerful rocket ever built, and it's central to Elon Musk's goal of reaching Mars. It's been roughly 24 hours since President Trump said he is firing Fed Chair Lisa Cook. Earlier today, during a cabinet meeting, Trump said he is already looking for Cook's replacement.
Well, we have some very good people for that position. And I think we have some very good people. We're down to, I mean, I think I maybe in my own mind have somebody that I like, but I deal with Scott and I deal with Howard and we're dealing with a lot of people actually that are going to be involved in that decision. Ultimately, it's a very important decision.
Now, in a statement released Tuesday by the Fed, it said it will abide by any court ruling regarding Cook. If Trump were to succeed, he could secure a dovish majority on the Fed's board as he pushes for lower interest rates. Now, Cook was appointed by former President Biden back in 2022. She is the first black woman to serve on the Fed's board. And we got reaction from former Fed vice chair Lael Brainard.
I think the Federal Reserve is in an incredibly difficult position here. But you have to remember, this is not about an individual governor. This is really an unprecedented attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve as an institution.
You can catch the full conversation with former Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard on the Bloomberg Podcast YouTube channel. President Trump is threatening what he called an economic war if Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky do not move toward peace. On Tuesday, Trump said he has various serious measures in mind, including potential sanctions. However, he declined to set a firm timeline. Now, this warning follows Trump's summit with Putin in Anchorage. At that time, it raised hope for negotiations. However, so far, no talks with Zelensky have been arranged. Now, Trump is doubling tariffs on Indian goods imported to the U.S. This is after India purchased Russian oil. By the way, those higher levies will take effect tonight.
at 12.01 a.m. Wall Street time. Meantime, Trump is threatening tariffs and export restrictions on countries that impose digital services taxes on American technology. Here is Bloomberg's Roz Matheson.
What this tells us is two things. One is that Donald Trump keeps moving the goalposts on trade.
What recent milestone did SpaceX achieve with the Starship rocket?
You think you've got one thing sorted and another thing immediately crops up, be it tech, be it furniture or something else. And the second thing is he really does zero in on these digital services tax. He's been doing that for many years.
That's Bloomberg's Roz Matheson. Now, this move could affect the European Union.
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