The value of core capital goods orders—a proxy for investment in equipment excluding aircraft and military hardware—dropped 0.7% last month, and bookings for all durable goods fell 9.3 percent.

“Any deal that charges a lower tariff for Japanese imports with virtually no U.S. content than it does North American–built vehicles with high U.S. content is a bad deal for the U.S. industry and U.S. auto workers.”

The country hopes to achieve the same 15% blanket tariff rate from Trump as Japan got this week, but offering as much in investments as Japan did would be difficult for an economy that’s less than half Japan’s size.

In the first nine months of the 2025 fiscal year, interest costs totaled $921 billion, up 6% from the year before. However, firing Powell and pursuing more aggressive cuts to the federal funds rate would save just $12 billion to $15 billion through 2027, according to a recent Deutsche Bank analysis.