May 23, 2019 - Economy & Business

Trump administration to give $16 billion in aid to farmers

A farmer in Scribner, Neb., on May 5. Photo: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

The Trump administration announced a $16 billion aid package for U.S. farmers on Thursday in an attempt to offset retaliatory Chinese tariffs.

Details: The USDA said on Thursday the $16 billion package will come in three separate installments. The first payment is scheduled to come out in July or August, and the second payment will be made in late fall. A third payment will be made in early 2020.

  • "We hope to have a trade agreement before the second and third payments are made... that will depend on whether there is still damage to our producers," a USDA spokesperson said on Thursday.

Context: The administration has already made $8.52 billion in direct payments to farmers to offset effects of the U.S.-China trade war. The planned amount of aid has been criticized by some farm-state politicians, like Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), as too low for their current economic stress as a result of the trade conflict.

Go deeper: For Trump, a China trade war election

Go deeper

Axios
1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Louisville officer: "Breonna Taylor would be alive" if we had served no-knock warrant

Breonna Taylor memorial in Louisville. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, the Louisville officer who led the botched police raid that caused the death of Breonna Taylor, said the No. 1 thing he wishes he had done differently is either served a "no-knock" warrant or given five to 10 seconds before entering the apartment: "Breonna Taylor would be alive, 100 percent."

Driving the news: Mattingly, who spoke to ABC News and Louisville's Courier Journal for his public interview, was shot in the leg in the initial moments of the March 13 raid. Mattingly did not face any charges after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said he and another officer were "justified" in returning fire to protect themselves against Taylor's boyfriend.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow
Scott Rosenberg, Ashley Gold, Kyle Daly
2 hours ago - Technology

U.S. vs. Google — the siege begins

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The Justice Department fired the starter pistol on what's likely to be a years-long legal siege of Big Tech by the U.S. government when it filed a major antitrust suit Tuesday against Google.

The big picture: Once a generation, it seems, federal regulators decide to take on a dominant tech company. Two decades ago, Microsoft was the target; two decades before that, IBM.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Dion Rabouin, author of Markets
2 hours ago - Economy & Business

Why the stimulus delay isn't a crisis (yet)

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

If the impasse between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the White House on a new stimulus deal is supposed to be a crisis, you wouldn't know it from the stock market, where prices continue to rise.

  • That's been in no small part because U.S. economic data has held up remarkably well in recent months thanks to the $2 trillion CARES Act and Americans' unusual ability to save during the crisis.
Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow