“The whole reason the president imposed these tariffs was to try to reshore, affect our massive imbalance in trade that we’ve experienced over many years because of China, Vietnam, the EU, and others,” Greer said.

“If the companies are going to get this windfall, they should pass it along to their workers as a bonus or a raise, because that’s the purpose of the program. It’s always been the purpose of the program. And the American people should get it, and the company should give it to their workers.”

The Supreme Court, in its ruling last month, said Trump did not have the authority he invoked under the authority to levy such duties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose tariffs on imports from most countries in the world.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he expected tariffs to return by August to the levels seen before the Supreme Court decision, as the Trump administration uses a range of other authorities to impose duties on imports.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Greer’s office opened trade investigations in a total of nearly 80 countries and economies under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Among those under investigation are China, Japan, India, Mexico, and the European Union.

Section 301 allows the United States to tariff imports from nations found to have engaged in unfair trade practices.

Trump invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act to impose global tariffs of 10% on imports. Those tariffs last for only 150 days unless Congress approves an extension.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday questioned why the U.S. Transportation Command and the State Department were not doing more to get stranded American citizens out of the Middle East amid the war with Iran.

There may still be tens of thousands of U.S. citizens stuck in the region, and the Trump administration has been too slow to act as violence spilled out of Iran into surrounding countries, the Massachusetts Democrat said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“Let’s be clear, the Trump administration chose this war. They planned this war for months, and they made no plans to safeguard hundreds of thousands of Americans in the region. There is no excuse for this,” Warren said.

Americans reported feeling stranded in the region in the days immediately after war broke out. A State Department warning for U.S. citizens to “DEPART NOW” to Americans in 14 countries set off a scramble, with some saying they were left to fend for themselves. Amid the criticism, the State Department said last week they were ramping up flights for American to get out of the region.

While President Donald Trump suggested earlier this week the war would end “very soon,” there is no immediate end in sight, and Americans in the region are trying to contend with an ever-evolving regional conflict.

The State Department has published regular updates on the amount of Americans relocated out of the region since Trump announced the war with Iran on Feb. 28, and on Thursday a spokesperson said nearly 47,000 citizens had returned to the U.S.

The State Department had completed more than two dozen charter flights, and at this point the number of seats offered on those flights outstrips demand, the spokesperson said. 

“While commercial flight availability across the region continues to improve, Department of State charter flight and ground transport operations continue to operate,” the spokesperson said without providing a name, responding to an email sent to the agency’s media inquiries account.

Gen. Randall Reed, commander of TRANSCOM, testified at the Thursday hearing that his command had assisted in the airlift of hundreds of Americans out of the region.

But Warren said the effort has fallen short.

“What I’m trying to understand is why you’re not doing more,” Warren asked Reed. “Because I’m hearing from my constituents who are stranded there, who’ve been stranded there for two weeks and they’re asking for help, and they’re not…

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., introduced a bill Thursday to create a new tax rebate for individuals and families hit by the cost of President Donald Trump‘s now-defunct reciprocal tariffs.

The bill, dubbed the “Tariff Refunds for Working Families Act” and shared exclusively with CNBC, is part of the escalating effort by Democrats to capitalize on Trump’s tariff agenda ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Polls indicate the levies have become increasingly unpopular, with economically anxious voters expressing concern about affordability as Democrats vie to rip control of Congress away from Republicans.

“The President may call the affordability crisis a ‘hoax,’ but working people feel it every time they pay for groceries or everyday essentials,” Heinrich said in a statement. “This bill will return the money lost to Trump’s tariffs back to the people who paid the price.”

Fifty-five percent of voters in a recent NBC News poll said Trump’s tariffs have hurt the economy. Only 33% said the tariffs helped the economy. Democrats led the congressional ballot by six points in that poll, which also found 62% of voters disapproving of Trump’s handling of inflation and the cost of living.

Tariffs have had an inflationary impact on the economy, according to economists.

The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling Feb. 20, overturned a wide swath of Trump’s tariffs, finding he improperly invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose the most prominent piece of his economic agenda.

Courts are weighing how to pay back importers the billions of dollars in tariff revenues they paid to the federal government.

The retail warehouse giant Costco, one of hundreds of companies suing for refunds, on Wednesday was itself sued in a would-be class action complaint seeking refunds for customers who bought products subject to tariffs.

Trump on Wednesday shifted tactics on keeping higher tariffs in place, launching investigations into key trading partners including China, Mexico and the EU under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Heinrich’s bill would tap the $166 billion collected by the tariffs to fund the new rebate. The rebate would pay joint filers making under $180,000 annually $1,200. Head of household filers making less than $120,000 would receive $600. Single filers making less than $90,000 would also receive a $600 rebate. An additional $600 would be paid for each dependent child.

That means a family of four filing jointly that makes less than $180,000 would receive a rebate worth $2,400.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., in July introduced legislation similar to Heinrich’s to compel refunds for higher tariffs costs to individuals and families.

Heinrich’s legislation would link the refund to the tariff revenue conceptually rather than in a…

It’s a good day for the artificial intelligence sector. New partnerships and earnings reports from AI-related companies lifted sentiment which had been battered by fears over AI hitting companies from software to real estate and logistics.

The biggest news was Nvidia’s earnings. The world’s most valuable company reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results after the bell Wednesday stateside, clocking 75% revenue growth in its core data center business. The stock rose 1.4% in extended trading. 

CEO Jensen Huang in an interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick said that demand for computing was “off the charts” as AI tech rapidly advances.

When asked about the threat of AI to software, Huang said that “the markets got it wrong.”

“Nobody’s going to service better than ServiceNow, and they’re going to come up with agents that are really fine-tuned and optimized for the work that uses the tools that they have,” he said, adding that AI was “going to help us.”

The anticipated Nvidia report and fellow AI player Oracle’s rating upgrade by Oppenheimer seemed to assuage investors concerns over AI-led disruption, giving U.S. markets a boost Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 300 points, the S&P 500 added 0.81% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.26%.

Dan Niles, founder of Niles Investment Management, struck a cautious note though: “People need to remember that all everything, whether it’s the railroads, canals, the internet, etc, all of these things tend to get overbuilt, and then we figure out who the winners and losers are going to be. And I think that’s what the market is struggling with,” he said on “Squawk Box Asia” this morning.

He warned that “there are some real companies that are going to go to zero in the software space.”

Signaling concerns had not fully dissipated, Salesforce on Wednesday gave mixed guidance for its fiscal first quarter, sending its stock tumbling nearly 5% in after-hours trading. The software maker’s revenue, however, grew 12% year over year in its fiscal fourth quarter, its fastest growth rate in two years. 

— CNBC’s Anniek Bao, Becky Quick, Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this story.

Thrive Capital pumped about $1 billion into OpenAI at a $285 billion valuation in December, a source confirmed Wednesday. The venture capital firm has been one of the AI startup’s major financial backers. The Wall Street Journal was first to report on Thrive’s investment.

Nvidia and Oracle lifts U.S. markets. Wall Street closed in the green on Nvidia’s anticipated after-the-bell report…

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump‘s State of the Union address next Tuesday, a primetime slot for the newly elected state executive to lay out the Democratic Party’s vision ahead of the pivotal 2026 midterm elections.

Spanberger defeated Republican Winsome Earl-Sears by 15 points in last year’s elections, flipping the state from Republican to Democratic control. She was previously a member of the House of Representatives from Virginia.

The rebuttal to the State of the Union is a high-stakes opportunity for the party outside of the White House to lay out its vision for the country after the president gives his speech. The stakes are even higher for Democrats this year, who are looking to rip away Trump’s complete control of Washington in the midterm elections.

“Virginians and Americans across the country are contending with rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring,” Spanberger said in a statement announcing her speech. “Next week, I look forward to laying out what these Americans expect and deserve — leaders who are working hard to deliver for them.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement that Spanberger “stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump, who will lie, deflect and blame everyone but himself for his failed presidency on Tuesday evening.”

And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said she will “lay out a clear path forward: lower everyday costs, protect healthcare, and defend the freedoms that define who we are as a nation.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., gave the rebuttal to Trump’s joint session of Congress last year. The last time a governor gave the rebuttal was in 2022 when Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spoke following President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

The U.S. consumer price index on Friday stateside provided some balm to investors, who have been singed by drops in the market because of artificial intelligence-related fears. Consumer inflation for January rose 2.4% on a year-on-year basis, lower than the 2.7% in December, and returning to where it was after President Donald Trump fired off tariffs globally in April 2025. Core CPI came in at 2.5%, the lowest since April 2021. Economists were expecting 2.5% for both figures.

“This should be welcome news for markets, and the presumptive incoming Fed Chair Kevin Warsh,” said Phil Blancato, Osaic chief market strategist. “This is only one month’s worth of data, but if the trend continues it should pave a path for lower interest rates and reined in inflation.”

U.S. markets, however, on Friday made only tentative steps in either direction, perhaps still unsure of where to move amid uncertainty about the effects of AI on companies. All major indexes ended the week in the red.

Another source of comfort for investors — and everyone else, really — are signs of cooling tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Both countries will be having their second round of talks on Tuesday in Geneva, Tehran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the BBC, adding that the Iran is ready to discuss restricting its nuclear program for lighter sanctions and economic benefits for both sides.

Meanwhile, Japan’s economy expanded 0.1% in the last three months of 2025 on a quarter-on-quarter basis, reversing a 0.6% contraction in the third quarter. However, gross domestic product growth still missed the 0.4% expansion expected by a Reuters poll of economists.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Pia Singh, Lim Hui Jie and Jeff Cox contributed to this report.

Data center might have to ‘internalize’ costs, said Peter Navarro, the Trump administration’s trade and manufacturing adviser. Navarro did not detail what the White House’s plan to force data center builders to absorb costs would look like. 

Epstein files fallout: The recent release by the U.S. Department of Justice of emails and other documents related to sex predator Jeffrey Epstein has led to a wave of resignations of high-profile people around the world whose dealings with him have been exposed.

Warner Bros. may reopen sale talks with Paramount, reported Bloomberg News on Sunday, citing unnamed sources. Last week, Paramount improved its offer, saying it would add a ticking fee of 25 cents a share for any delay in regulatory approval of the deal.

The S&P 500 was mostly flat, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.22% on Friday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.13%, with L’Oreal and Delivery Hero falling roughly 4%.

[PRO] Consumer staples are rallying in 2026 as investors rotate out of tech names. The sector…

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.

When Peter Buffett learned that he and his siblings would be in charge of giving away the fortunes of their father, Warren Buffett, his response was clear.

“I did not want it,” Peter Buffett told CNBC. “I called him up and said, ‘I want to opt out.’ He said, ‘I don’t blame you.’ It obviously puts an enormous about of pressure on us.”

In 2024, Warren Buffett announced that after his death, his fortune would be directed to a new charitable foundation overseen by his three children, Susan A. (Susie) Buffett, Howard G. (Howie) Buffett and Peter Buffett. The 95-year-old’s wealth is now estimated at more than $150 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Adding to the challenge, the legendary investor requested that all the money be given away within 10 years of his death. Another catch: All three must unanimously agree on how to disburse the funds.

The magnitude of Buffett’s wealth means his children will need to give away at least $15 billion a year, which would equal about 4% of annual charitable giving in America, according to data from Giving USA through 2024. The amounts are likely to increase even further with time, as Buffett’s fortune continues to grow.

“It’s something nobody has done, certainly not as a family,” Howie Buffett said.

Adds Susie Buffett: “It’s just so much money.”

The bequest has suddenly thrown the low-profile Buffett children into the spotlight. After  Warren Buffett’s death, Susie, Howie and Peter will become three of the most important philanthropists in the world, scrutinized by the media, widely followed by other wealthy donors and barraged with requests for funds.

In a rare interview with CNBC’s Becky Quick, the three Buffett heirs said their world view, priorities and approach to philanthropy began in the Buffett household. While their father’s wealth was starting to grow, the children lived a middle-class or upper-middle-class life. They took the bus to public school every day. They did chores for an allowance and had jobs.

Warren Buffett drove a blue Volkswagen bug when they were growing up, they said. Their mom, Susan T. Buffett, volunteered for various groups and hosted exchange students from around the world. When Susie Buffett was in elementary school, she recalls she had to fill out a census form listing her father’s occupation and her mother told her to write “security analyst.”

“I thought he checked burglar alarms,” Susie Buffett said.

As they went on to form their own families and find their own causes, the Buffett children grew as philanthropists. Since 2006, the longtime Berkshire Hathaway CEO has given shares of the firm to each of the three children’s foundations every year, giving them each more than 20 years of philanthropic experience.

Susie Buffett lives in Omaha, Nebraska, and focuses on early childhood…

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday evening that the interim authorities in Venezuela will be turning over to the United States between 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil.

Trump said the oil will be sold at its market price, “and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!”

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