October 15, 2025: Judge Halts Layoffs by White House, Trump China Trade War, More

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
News when you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm
Doug Prisner. It is day fifteen of the US government shutdown,
and the Trump administration has been using this as an
opportunity to terminate federal workers. Last Friday, more than forty
one hundred employees of the federal government at nearly a
half dozen agencies were fired, and earlier today, the White
House Budget Director Russell Vote said more than ten thousand

(00:23):
federal workers would be let go during the shutdown. However,
today in San Francisco, a federal judge ordered the Trump
administration to pause those plans. Here is Bloomberg's Laura Davison.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
So it means that federal agencies right now have to
stop and hold all the plans for the firings that
took place last week. So that means that those people
will be able to keep their jobs for now, and
that any future rounds of firings, as the White House
suggested yesterday is coming, will also be halted. This is
just a temporary block. As you mentioned, they are just
paused and there will be a decision to come later

(00:55):
on the merits of the case about whether these can proceed.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
That is Bloomberg's Laura Davison. Time House Minority Leader Hakim
Jeffries said Democrats are ready to negotiate to find a
bipartisan solution to reopening the government.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
It's time to extend the Affordable Care AC tax credits.
It's time to prevent tens of millions of Americans from
experiencing dramatically increased healthcare premiums.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
That is, House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries. US Treasury Secretary
Scott Besson proposed extending the pause on higher US tariffs
for Chinese goods. Besson said it would be done in
exchange for Beijing putting off its recently announced plan to
tighten limits on rare earth elements. These minerals are critical
to many industries. Here's Bessen.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
Right now, we are currently in a ninety day role
on the tariffs. So is it possible that we could
go to a longer role in return for a delay. Perhaps,
But all that's going to be negotiated in the coming week.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
And at the same time today, US Trade Rep. Jamison
Greer cast doubt that Beijing would go ahead with its plan.
Greer said it would choke off trade in a wide
variety of consumer products that even contain a trace of
rare earths.

Speaker 5 (02:14):
Since many important semiconductors, for example, have these critical minerals
and semi conductors are in nearly everything, this rule gives
China control over basically the entire global economy and the
technology supply chain.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Now, the escalation in this tit for tat war between
the US and China has renewed fear of a full
blown trade war. President Trump says his administration would look
to San Francisco as the next target for his federal
crime crackdown. We have more from Bloomberg's Amy Morris and Washington.

Speaker 6 (02:44):
Critics have accused President Trump of exaggerating the criminal threat
as he sends military personnel and federal law enforcement to
major cities across the country, targeting crime and countering demonstrations
against deportations. Now the President is focusing on San Francisco.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Be strongly recommending, at the request of government officials, which
is always nice, that you start looking at San Francisco.

Speaker 6 (03:08):
I think we can make San Francisco. There's one of
our great cities. Ten years ago, fifteen years ago.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Now it's a mess.

Speaker 6 (03:15):
No word on windows deployments might happen in Washington anymore.
As Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
After the bell. United Airlines reported better than expected earnings
for the third quarter, and the carrier is expecting brand
loyal flyers as well as demand for its premium seats
to drive profit through the end of the year. United
predicted full year results at the upper end of its guidance.
Here is Bloomberg Sidarth Philip.

Speaker 7 (03:38):
They've been upgrading the passenger in flight experience, so they've
been sort of spending on lounges. They've also been spending
on cabins and like, essentially upgrading seats, adding more business
class onto planes and making better business class seats as
well as improving I mean, we had the United CEO
a couple of weeks ago talking about how they investing
in food and beverage, some sort of investing a lot

(04:01):
of money in flight catering and making that a better experience.
So there is a lot of money that's going in.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
That is Bloomberg Sedarth Phillip. New York City Mayor Eric
Adams says he's received an amazing job offer after he
leaves City Hall this year. We are told Adams made
the comment in a meeting with more than two hundred
participants from across New York City government. Adams also said
there could be more than one offer and that the
job would amount to an opportunity of a lifetime, second

(04:30):
only to running New York City. Adams quit his reelection
bid last month after polling indicated he was in last
place among the main candidates. We go to Sports Next
and the MLB Championship Series. In Game three of the
American League Pennant Race, the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the
Seattle Mariners thirteen to four. Seattle holds the lead in

(04:52):
this series two games to one. And that is news
when you want it with Bloomberg News. Now, I'm Doug
Prisoner and this is bloomberg S