Economy
Trump calls on Fed board to assume control if Powell won’t cut rates
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday the Federal Reserve (Fed) board should “assume control” if Fed Chair Jerome Powell continues to refuse to lower interest rates.
Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Powell “stubborn.” The Fed chair has been subjected to vicious verbal attacks by the Republican president over several months.
“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, a stubborn MORON, must substantially lower interest rates, NOW,” Trump said. “IF HE CONTINUES TO REFUSE, THE BOARD SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL, AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!” he added.
The U.S. central bank held interest rates steady on Wednesday and Powell’s comments after the decision undercut confidence that borrowing costs would begin to fall in September, stoking the ire of Trump, who has demanded immediate and steep rate relief.
The Fed has the responsibility of stabilizing prices and maximizing employment. Powell has held its benchmark rate for overnight loans constant this year, saying that Fed officials needed to see what impact Trump’s massive tariffs had on inflation.
The latest policy decision was made by a 9-2 vote, which passes for a split outcome at the consensus-driven central bank, with two Fed governors dissenting for the first time in more than 30 years.
The seven members of the Fed Board of Governors are nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Trump has repeatedly demanded the Fed cut interest rates, citing moves by the European central banks and warned that delays could stall the U.S. economy.
He sees the rate cuts as leading to stronger growth and lower debt servicing costs for the federal government and homebuyers. The president argues there is virtually no inflation, even though the Fed’s preferred measure is running at an annual rate of 2.6%, slightly higher than the Fed’s 2% target.
Trump has called for slashing the Fed’s benchmark rate by 3 percentage points, bringing it down dramatically from its current average of 4.33%. The risk is that a rate cut that large could cause more money to come into the economy than can be absorbed, possibly causing inflation to accelerate.
Trump has previously denied reports that he is looking to fire Powell before the Fed chair’s term ends next year, calling such a move “highly unlikely,” but left the door open to taking action over what he called “possible” fraud.
The Supreme Court suggested in a May ruling that Trump could not remove Powell for policy disagreements. This led the White House to investigate whether the Fed chair could be fired for cause because of the cost overruns in its $2.5 billion renovation projects.
Powell’s term as chair ends in May 2026, at which point Trump can put his Senate-confirmed pick in the seat.
The European Union launched a probe into online travel agent Booking.com on Wednesday to determine whether it breached the bloc’s digital rules in areas including fake listings and phishing scams.
The EU fears Booking.com has underestimated the impact of fraud and unlicensed accommodation, and is not sufficiently protecting users’ data from being misused for scams.
The probe is the first into Booking.com under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a mammoth online content law that covers a wide array of platforms including social media and digital marketplaces.
“Europeans should be able to book their holidays without fear of being scammed,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement.
The EU said it was also looking into whether the Netherlands-based firm breached rules “because it did not clearly label as ads those listings whose providers paid for a higher ranking in search results shown to users.”
The DSA “sets clear responsibilities” and “we must ensure that the leading booking platform in Europe takes those responsibilities seriously,” Virkkunen added.
Booking.com said that it was “cooperating fully” and that “security, trust and the protection of personal information are top priorities.”
“We remain committed to working with relevant governments, regulators, law enforcement and industry partners to combat cybercrime and online fraud and protect travellers and partners,” it added.
Booking.com is among over 20 very large online platforms that must comply with the DSA’s stricter rules or risk fines that could go as high as 6% of their global turnover, or even a ban for serious and repeated breaches.
There is no legal deadline for the completion of the probe, but the targeted company can offer commitments to address the European Commission’s concerns.
Suspicions over data
A senior EU official was critical of Booking.com and its risk assessment efforts since 2023.
“We feel that what they have done is absolutely substandard,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
The commission – the EU’s digital watchdog ª said it would assess whether the online platform “properly identified” risks linked to the spread of illegal content such as non-existent properties and fraudsters portraying themselves as the owner of a property and putting it up for rent.
In some cases, customers discover on arrival that the property they thought they had booked does not exist, or more often, photographs or property descriptions do not accurately reflect reality.
The EU will also investigate whether Booking.com is doing enough to address the risks that phishing scams pose to European consumers.
Phishing is broadly defined as the practice of tricking people into sharing sensitive information through deceptive messages.
The EU said it would look at how reservation and guest data is shared with accommodation providers, and whether Booking.com has put in place “sufficient safeguards to prevent data from being misused”.
“We suspect that Booking is not sufficiently protecting the data of … private users and business users, and (this) makes the system vulnerable for this kind of phishing,” the senior official said.
Meta is also under investigation over potentially fraudulent advertising on its platforms in a probe that began in 2024.
Türkiye, Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia signed a quadrilateral defense cooperation agreement in Doha on Wednesday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
The “Badr Memorandum of Understanding” is aimed at boosting defense cooperation and strengthening the four countries’ defensive capabilities. It will also support military exercises and training and cooperation on research and development (R&D) and contribute to joint efforts to improve their defense industries, the ministry said.
“The agreement holds substantial economic importance,” it said. “By leveraging the unique military production capabilities of each country, the initiative will facilitate cooperation and integration, enhance defense industrial capacities, and enable the fulfillment of the needs of allied and friendly nations.”
Türkiye, which has NATO’s second-largest army and a robust defense industry, has been helping Gulf nations, including Qatar, where it has a military base, bolster their defenses amid the Iran war.
In August, it signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement with nuclear-armed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, under which an attack on one party constitutes an attack on all. Ankara also has close ties with Indonesia, notably in the defense industry.
Türkiye says that the Mecca partnership is meant to strengthen collective deterrence, enhance joint capabilities in the defense sector and safeguard security and stability in the region.
The Badr accord will strengthen ties between the countries’ defense industries and bolster collaboration to promote security and achieve shared objectives, the Defense Ministry said.
Wednesday’s agreement builds on existing bilateral relationships and could create new areas of cooperation. It could also help bring together the countries’ industrial capabilities in projects already underway.
Areas of concrete cooperation include joint R&D projects, joint production of certain components of defense products, training of technical personnel, sharing of engineering experience, adapting jointly developed products to each side’s needs and marketing them internationally.
Existing ties
Cooperation between Türkiye and Qatar has recently turned toward joint investment and production models. Bayraktar TB2 armed drones, armored vehicles and assault boats have entered Qatar’s armed forces inventory.
Barzan Holding, owned by Qatar’s Defense Ministry, has signed several agreements with Turkish firms including Aselsan, STM and MKE. Through BARQ, a company set up in Qatar by Aselsan and Barzan, assembly, production and calibration of remote-controlled weapon systems (SARP) and electro-optical devices have begun in Qatar.
In Pakistan, a major example is the PN Milgem (Babur-class) corvette project, led by the Turkish contractor ASFAT. Of the four corvettes, the first two were built in Istanbul and the other two at Karachi Shipyard in Pakistan.
The project modernized the yard’s production infrastructure and passed shipbuilding and outfitting skills to the local workforce.
With Indonesia, recent concrete steps include the sale of the Kaan fighter jet, the joint development of the Kaplan MT medium tank and an armored personnel carrier, and the supply and co-production of the Atmaca anti-ship missile.
Under an intergovernmental agreement between the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) and Indonesia’s Defense Ministry, the Kaplan MT was co-designed by Türkiye’s FNSS and Indonesia’s PT Pindad.
Prototypes and the first production tanks were delivered to Indonesian users, and production continues in Indonesia at PT Pindad under a technology transfer arrangement.
Türkiye’s defense exports
The agreement comes as Türkiye’s defense exports reach record levels.
According to figures from the Defense and Aerospace Industry Exporters’ Association (SSI), Türkiye’s defense and aerospace sector exported about $54 billion between 2012 and 2026, including the first nine months of this year.
More than $30 billion of that was in 2023-2026, meaning the last four years account for over 55% of the total for the past 14 years.
Exports rose 48% in 2025 to a record of more than $10 billion, and exports over the last 12 months topped $11 billion for the first time.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says Türkiye raised its arms exports by 122% over the past five years, making it the world’s 11th-largest arms supplier. About 56% of Türkiye’s defense and aerospace exports go to NATO allies, the report said.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms drew notable investor interest on Wednesday, being able to fully subscribe to its initial public offering (IPO) within two hours of opening, setting the stage for what is likely to be India’s largest-ever listing.
Jio Platforms, which houses the country’s biggest wireless operator and is the digital services arm of Ambani’s Reliance Industries, is looking to raise up to $3.2 billion in India’s most anticipated IPO this year.
Bids placed by investors exceeded the 197.5 million shares on offer within 100 minutes of opening, according to BSE stock exchange data, with local media calling it the “fastest-ever subscribed IPO” in India.
Most analysts expect gains when the stock debuts in Mumbai next week – likely Oct. 28 – despite the weak performance of Indian equities this year.
Launched a decade ago, Jio’s wireless service disrupted the market with steep discounts that helped it rapidly win customers from rival telecom firms Bharti Airtel and Vodafone.
The company’s 533 million subscribers provide a “strong foundation for future growth,” analysts at financial services firm Motilal Oswal said in a note.
But they also cautioned that “monetisation of newer digital services” still needs to be “demonstrated at scale.”
While the massive IPO is seven years in the making, it comes at a challenging time for Reliance – India’s most valuable listed company, which still depends heavily on its traditional oil business to make money.
U.S. ties
Reliance’s refining empire drew the anger of the U.S. last year after White House adviser Peter Navarro accused Indian tycoons of profiting off the Ukraine war by buying discounted Russian crude.
While Navarro did not identify a specific businessperson, it was widely seen as a swipe at Ambani, who appeared this year to offer an olive branch by supporting the construction of America’s first major new oil refinery in half a century.
Ambani was set to meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday in the western city of Jamnagar – where Reliance’s massive refinery complex is located – as Washington seeks to boost energy cooperation with India.
Experts say Jio is key to Reliance’s strategy to evolve beyond its oil business and the touchstone of its future tech ambitions.
While Jio makes most of its money from telecoms, it has expanded into areas including artificial intelligence.
Reports also said it was considering a low-orbit satellite constellation to provide internet services from space, a venture that would put it in competition with Musk’s Starlink, which has been trying for years to launch in India.
Musk accused unnamed Indian “oligarchs” this month of preventing Starlink’s rollout in the country, and referred to the Reliance boss as “Prime Minister Ambani” and the “real boss of India.”
Reliance responded by noting that it had never “feared competition” and welcomed offerings from rivals in satellite communications, including Starlink.
Netflix is aiming to increase the amount of time users spend watching its films and series as the streaming giant reported on Tuesday its slowest quarterly revenue growth in years.
“We want to be the must-have entertainment service,” co-chief executive Ted Sarandos told analysts during a video conference.
His counterpart Greg Peters agreed, saying: “We know that we can do better.”
Revenue rose 12% year-over-year to $12.9 billion, the slowest growth in three years but in line with analysts’ expectations. Net profit increased by around 44% to $3.66 billion.
Netflix remains the clear leader in video streaming, but Sarandos recently acknowledged that the business was not growing as quickly as hoped. Market research firms have repeatedly reported declining engagement among Netflix viewers in recent months.
Netflix productions also struggled to make an impact at recent awards ceremonies, while new releases have yet to establish the same cultural presence as hits such as “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.”
Netflix shares fell more than 5% in after-hours trading following the earnings release.
Last week, Netflix announced plans to cut around 6% of its workforce, affecting about 1,000 employees. The shake-up extended to senior management, with long-serving chief content officer Bela Bajaria leaving the company.
Film chief Dan Lin was also subsequently ousted. Peter Rice, who built his career at traditional studios including Disney, will take over Bajaria’s role.
The appointment has fuelled speculation that Netflix could give films a wider theatrical release under Rice. Sarandos has consistently rejected the idea of cinema releases as a distraction from the company’s core business.
Sarandos reiterated that Netflix remained primarily focused on streaming. “That is our core,” he said. However, some films, including “Narnia” by “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig, will receive an exclusive 45-day cinema run, following the traditional studio model.
Peters also suggested Netflix could expand its partnership with French broadcaster TF1, whose programming is available on the streaming platform, to other markets.
Türkiye is part of a region that has an $872 billion pipeline of infrastructure projects, highlighting its investment potential and offering international and corporate investors greater exposure to the region ahead of 2030, according to a report from HSBC.
Investment in alternative logistics routes could mitigate the impact of the Iran war and make the Strait of Hormuz “redundant” in the next five years, HSBC Group CEO Georges Elhedery told an event in Dubai on Tuesday.
The report, published Monday and based on data from MEED, a Dubai-based construction industry market intelligence platform, covers the Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye (MENAT) region.
The $872 billion is part of a wider infrastructure pipeline worth $1.4 trillion.
The Iran war has shown how heavily the world relies on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf between Iran and Oman. A fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade previously passed through it.
The conflict is pushing Gulf nations to channel resources into energy pipelines to ports, Elhedery said. He said this investment will help the region weather the fallout.
“Of course, we do wish and hope to see a resolution to the conflict,” he said, but “Hormuz, probably in five years’ time, may become redundant.”
“We do see this region being able to recover and then continue growing,” he said. “It will mean a lot of investment.”
A recent HSBC survey of over 1,600 business leaders and around 820 global institutional investors, meanwhile, found that they still considered the Gulf an attractive investment hub.
However, after growth of 3.3% in 2025, the World Bank last week forecast a deep economic contraction of 1.3% in the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan region this year due to the war. That should be followed by a strong but uneven rebound in 2027.
HSBC’s report doesn’t say which Turkish projects are included in the $872 billion or how much of it is in Türkiye.
The country’s place in the grouping reflects its role as a route between the Gulf and Europe.
The most direct example is the Development Road, a planned corridor linking the Persian Gulf to Europe through Iraq and Türkiye. It complements the Middle Corridor, the route across Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Cargo leaving Iraq’s Faw Port, on the Gulf coast in Iraq’s far south, would travel about 1,200 kilometers by rail to Ovaköy, a crossing on the Türkiye-Iraq border in southeastern Türkiye.
Turkish officials have linked that project to Hormuz and said that, had the Development Road been completed, the world’s energy supply would have been far less affected.
Earlier this month, Türkiye opened the Çerkezköy-Kapıkule section, the longest part of the Halkalı-Kapıkule high-speed rail line, extending the network to the EU border.
The line is 229 kilometers long. It begins on Istanbul’s western edge and ends at Türkiye’s main rail and road border crossing with Bulgaria, at Kapıkule near the northwestern city of Edirne.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the line is a key component of the 2,094-kilometer Turkish section of the Development Road.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to arrive in Türkiye on a trip expected to give a new push to relations between the two countries that are working toward a free trade agreement (FTA).
Carney will travel to Ankara and Istanbul from Wednesday to Friday and is scheduled to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during what will mark the first dedicated bilateral visit to NATO ally Türkiye by a Canadian leader.
The trip marks Carney’s latest diplomatic effort as he seeks to reduce the country’s reliance on the United States, by far its biggest trading partner, after a collapse in trade talks in August.
The talks with Erdoğan are meant to cover political and diplomatic issues as well as trade, defense industry, energy and mutual investment.
Carney and his delegation are also expected to meet Turkish business representatives to discuss opportunities in areas such as aviation, advanced technologies and critical minerals.
The premier has vowed to double Canada’s non-U.S. trade over the next decade and has rushed to establish ties with a host of countries, including China and India, with which it had past strains.
Relations received a boost from the NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara in July, when Carney and Erdoğan formally launched negotiations for a free trade agreement.
Türkiye has also agreed to join Canada’s Defense Security and Resilience Bank as one of 10 founding member nations of Carney’s multilateral “middle powers” bank.
The bank’s purpose is to bolster the defense of like-minded allied nations by raising up to 100 billion pounds ($134 billion) in cheap financing.
The two countries’ technical teams have worked intensively since July to define the scope and goals of the trade agreement.
Trade Minister Ömer Bolat and Canadian International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu also met in June to discuss advancing the economic partnership. They described energy as a “promising area” for deeper cooperation, and discussed possible cooperation in nuclear energy.
Trade, tourism, investment
Türkiye’s exports to Canada last year totaled about $1.58 billion, and its imports from Canada about $1.16 billion. That put two-way trade at about $2.74 billion.
The leading Turkish exports in 2025 were boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, at $158.8 million, followed by iron and steel at $104.4 million and articles of iron or steel at $97.0 million.
In the first eight months of this year, exports to Canada reached about $1.02 billion and imports about $955 million, bringing trade close to $2 billion.
Boilers and machinery again led exports at $96.1 million, followed by aluminum and aluminum articles at $73.8 million and edible fruits and nuts at $49.5 million.
If an FTA is signed, the two countries aim to lift trade to $7-$8 billion in the short term, and to $10 billion later.
Visitors from Canada to Türkiye rose 6.1% to 321,271 in 2025, from 302,728 in 2024. In the first eight months of 2026, arrivals rose 2.9% year-over-year to 209,176.
According to Statistics Canada, Canada’s stock of direct investment in Türkiye stood at CA$3.3 billion ($2.35 billion) as of 2025. Türkiye’s direct investment stock in Canada was CA$233 million.
-
Politics3 days agoTurkish Embassy rejects reports of FM Fidan’s ‘secret talks’ in Baku
-
Economy3 days agoTürkiye foresees spending over $20B on transportation next year
-
Sports2 days agoFenerbahçe seek Champions League reset against Slavia Prague
-
Politics2 days agoBusy week awaits Erdoğan with key speech, Carney visit
-
Politics3 days agoTürkiye, Cambodia sign military coop. deal as Erdoğan hails growing ties
-
Politics3 days agoTurkish FM heads to Baghdad for OIC talks on Gaza, regional tensions
-
Economy3 days agoVietnam, EFTA nations sign free trade deal
-
Sports1 day agoOsimhen, Leao return to Lille as Galatasaray seek European lifeline