Chapter 1: What recent actions has the Trump administration taken regarding Venezuela?
President Trump's 270-degree turn on Greenland was well-received by players in financial markets. I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell more than 2% amid the president's threats of new tariffs on European countries that object to the U.S. taking Greenland. But then, a new day, Wednesday, when all the main stock market indicators, including the S&P, went up 1.2%.
Investors were watching Trump closely as he spoke yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Stocks popped after the president wrote in a social media post that he and the secretary general of NATO had hammered out a framework for a future deal on Greenland. and he would not impose the tariffs he had threatened on eight NATO members starting February 1st.
Trump had announced those new import taxes over the weekend, leading to a sharp market sell-off earlier this week. Traders also dumped U.S. bonds, causing Treasury yields to increase. When yields rise, they push up borrowing costs for U.S. consumers and the federal government. I'm Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace.
After US forces seized the leader of Venezuela and his government moved to fall in line with US interests, the administration is now upping pressure on Communist Party-ruled Cuba. The Cuban economy is a persistent mess and Venezuela had been a key source of its oil. The BBC's Will Grant is just back to his base in Mexico from Cuba. Will, welcome.
It's a pleasure, David.
You were just in Cuba on a reporting assignment. I mean, broad brush, not enough energy to meet needs. Can you see it play out?
Yeah, you can. You can see it play out in real time. I mean, the rolling blackouts in Havana alone, and then add on top of that, in the wake of the removal of Nicolas Maduro from power, the forced removal... Their outlook looks even bleaker for Cubans because they are contemplating the very real possibility of the tap of Venezuelan crude being switched off.
And that Venezuelan crude has, to all intents and purposes, propped up the Cuban revolution for the past two and a half decades.
Did you see actual effects of the cutoff of Venezuela's oil?
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Chapter 2: How is Cuba's economy affected by the potential loss of Venezuelan oil?
We're really talking about the share of income that a household would have to spend on rent. And according to our data, that measure is the lowest since roughly August of 2021.
He says the people seeing big affordability improvements are those young renters in smaller apartment units. I'm Carla Javier for Marketplace.
In his speech in Switzerland yesterday, President Trump, who is also a real estate magnate, talked of the need to be careful when working to lower the cost of housing because of the danger of hurting the property values of existing owners. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio, Marketplace Morning Report from APM American Public Media.