P.M. Edition for April 16. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned today that the central bank could face difficult trade-offs in trying to cushion the U.S. economy from the fallout of President Trump’s trade war. His comments deepened a rout on tech stocks, fueled by trade restrictions on chipmaker Nvidia. We speak to WSJ Heard on the Street columnist Asa Fitch about what the rules mean for the company’s relationship with Wall Street. And research projects go on pause at Harvard after the Trump administration said it would stop more than $2 billion in federal grant money. WSJ science reporter Nidhi Subbaraman discusses the implications for researchers and the university writ large. Alex Ossola hosts. How Harvard Ended Up Leading the College Fight Against Trump Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What difficult choices does the Fed Chair face?
They're certainly concerned that uncertainty about funding will mean that people aren't going to see Harvard as much of a star place to land. I did hear that new recruits are considering not coming.
And together with the other turbulence that research has been facing as far as broader uncertainty about whether federal agencies will have money, when they will come, and the other disruptions, certainly staffing is a key concern at faculty and labs across not just Harvard, but universities everywhere.
So what are Harvard's options in terms of funding? I mean, could it find another way to back its research?
The truth is federal research support is the bulk of support that Harvard gets for research. 68% of its incoming funding funding for science last year. This is not something that they could make up easily. I know people talk about the Harvard endowment of over $50 billion, but a lot of that funding is committed and has restrictions on it. It's not something you can liquidate easily.
And certainly if you're talking about nearly $700 million per year, it's not something that you can look at recouping overnight.
That was WSJ reporter Neeti Superraman. Thank you so much, Neeti.
Thank you.
To read more about how Harvard ended up leading the college fight against Trump, check out the link we've left for you in the show notes. And be sure to check out our upcoming What's New Sunday episode as we explore what a loss of grant funding means for universities' bottom line.
In other news, a federal judge has found that the Trump administration willfully disregarded a court order when it failed to return planes full of migrants on their way to a prison in El Salvador. The judge ordered the government to act quickly to avoid possible prosecution for criminal contempt.
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