General Motors says it expects $500 million tariff refund after SCOTUS ruling
A General Motors Co. Chevrolet dealership in Colma, California, US, on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — General Motors said on Monday it expects to receive $500 million in refunds from tariffs that were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.
The automaker is now boosting its full-year profit forecast by $500 million, GM CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to shareholders as the company announced its Q1 results. Barra also cited strong sales of its full-size pickup trucks, despite rising gas prices.
The federal government opened last week its refund portal to allow companies to apply to get tariff money back. The Supreme Court ruled in February that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not give President Donald Trump the power to unilaterally impose tariffs.
GM is one of more than 330,000 importers who paid the IEEPA tariffs that were invalidated, totaling $166 billion.
The IEEPA tariffs alone cost the typical American household $700 last year, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.
An aerial view of the New York Stock Exchange’s trading floor. Since the installation of the Hybrid Market system in 2007, there has been less traders on the floor due to an increase of electronically done trades and transactions. (xPACIFICA/Gety)
(NEW YORK) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday crossed above 50,000, shrugging off a renewed bout of inflation and an apparent impasse in negotiations over the Iran war.
The rise in shares came as President Donald Trump visited Chinese President Xi Jinping in a high-stakes summit between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.
The Dow climbed 370 points, or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 jumped 0.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 0.1%. The Dow first topped 50,000 in February.
A group of corporate executives joined Trump on the trip, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
After a dramatic welcoming ceremony, Trump sat down with Xi on the first day of a multi-day summit, during which Trump said he’d seek to deepen diplomatic and economic ties.
The trip came at a crucial time for Trump as the war with Iran drove up prices for Americans at home due in large part due to Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. China is Iran’s principal oil consumer.
Inflation rose for a second consecutive month as the war continued to send gasoline prices surging in April, government data this week showed.
Annual inflation jumped to its highest level in three years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Sunny investor attitudes stem from robust corporate earnings, as well as milder economic fallout from the war than some forecasters feared, some analysts previously told ABC News.
Trump, they added, has displayed a willingness to back off of actions if they threaten a severe market reaction, reassuring investors wary of a prolonged conflict.
Despite the disruption, some measures of economic health have proven resilient.
Hiring slowed in April but remained solid, exceeding economists’ expectations, government data last week showed. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3% in April, a low level by historic standards.
Additionally, the economy grew at an annualized rate of 2% in the first quarter of 2026, marking an acceleration from 0.5% growth recorded in the previous quarter.
ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey and Jon Haworth contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A view of the vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz following the two-week temporary ceasefire reached between the United States and Iran on the condition that the strait be reopened, seen in Oman, April 8, 2026. (Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Inflation surged in March after an oil shock triggered by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, government data showed on Friday. The inflation report matched economists’ expectations.
Prices rose 3.3% in March compared to a year earlier, marking a steep rise from a year-over-year inflation rate of 2.4% in the prior month. Annual inflation jumped to its highest level in two years, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data showed.
The jump in prices owed in large part to a sharp rise in costs for products impacted by the oil shortage. Gasoline prices were 25% higher in March than February, the BLS report said. Overall, energy prices jumped almost 12% from a month earlier.
Airline fares increased 3.4% in March from February, the data showed.
The rapid acceleration of price increases could complicate interest rate policy at the Federal Reserve, which may be reluctant to lower borrowing costs as inflation climbs.
The Middle East conflict prompted Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the global supply of oil and natural gas.
That energy shortage sent oil and gasoline prices surging worldwide. Gasoline prices in the U.S. stood at $4.15 on average per gallon on Friday, marking a leap of $1.17 since the start of the war, AAA data showed.
The BLS collected price data over the entire month of March. The inflation report, in turn, reflected prices for 31 of the first 32 days of war, excluding the outbreak of hostilities on Feb. 28. The ceasefire announced on Tuesday came after 40 days of fighting.
As part of a two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire announced on Tuesday, Iran says it will allow tankers passage through the Strait of Hormuz as long as they coordinate with the nation’s military.
The resumption of tanker traffic remains uncertain, however. Tanker traffic was suspended on Wednesday after Israeli attacks on Lebanon, Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported.
Crude prices fell after the ceasefire announcement but remained highly elevated. U.S. oil prices topped $98 a barrel as of Thursday, standing nearly 50% higher than their pre-war level.
A surge in consumer prices could pose difficulty for the Fed as it weathers a slowdown of economic performance over recent months.
If the Fed opts to lower borrowing costs, it could spur growth but risk higher inflation. On the other hand, the choice to raise interest rates may slow price increases but raises the likelihood of a cooldown in economic performance.
Last month, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that despite rising energy prices and the potential impact on inflation, he doesn’t think the central bank needs to raise interest rates.
Powell noted that central bankers often look past shocks — such as sudden oil-price increases — since the upward pressure on consumer prices usually proves temporary.
“We feel like our policy is in a good place for us to wait and see how that turns out,” Powell said.
The benchmark interest rate stands at a level between 3.5% and 3.75%. That figure marks a significant drop from a recent peak attained in 2023, but borrowing costs remain well above a 0% rate established at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Fed will announce its next rate decision on April 29. Investors overwhelmingly expect the Fed to leave rates unchanged, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
The tool pegs a roughly 70% chance that the Fed will maintain interest rates at current levels for the remainder of the year.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, speaks during a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. economy lost jobs in February, marking a major reversal of fortunes for the labor market and nearly erasing all of the job gains delivered a month earlier, government data on Friday showed. The reading came in well below economists’ expectations.
The U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in February, according to the report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which marked a significant dropoff from 130,000 jobs added in the previous month.
The unemployment rate ticked up from 4.3% in January to 4.4% in February, the BLS said. Unemployment remains low by historical standards.
The new jobs report arrived as markets roil and gasoline prices surge in response to the war with Iran. The Middle East conflict cast fresh uncertainty over the economic outlook.
A hiring cooldown last year prompted interest rate cuts at the Federal Reserve and concern among some observers about the nation’s economic prospects. The U.S. added an average of about 15,000 jobs per month in 2025, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed.
Sluggish hiring has coincided with elevated inflation, threatening a period of “stagflation.”
Those economic headwinds helped set the conditions before the outbreak of war with Iran, which spiked oil prices and risked price increases for a host of diesel-fuel transported goods.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 785 points on Thursday as U.S. crude prices rose to their highest level since June.
Still, the overall economic picture remains mixed.
A government report in February on gross domestic product (GDP) showed the economy grew at a tepid annualized pace of 1.4% over the final three months of 2025. That reading indicated a dramatic cooldown from the strong annualized growth of 4.4% recorded in the previous quarter, U.S. Commerce Department data showed.
Price increases, meanwhile, have softened. In January, inflation fell to 2.4%, its lowest level in nine months. It remains slightly higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
The Iran war threatens to slow U.S. economic growth since oil-driven price increases could weigh on consumers and businesses, analysts previously told ABC News.
The potential combination of higher inflation and slower growth could also pose a challenge for the Fed, putting pressure on both sides of its dual mandate to manage prices and maintain maximum employment.
If the Fed opts to lower borrowing costs, it could spur growth but risk higher inflation. On the other hand, the choice to raise interest rates may slow price increases but risks a cooldown of economic performance.
The central bank held interest rates steady at its most recent meeting in January, ending a string of three consecutive quarter-point rate cuts. Policymakers will make their next interest-rate decision on March 18.
