Month: March 2025

President Donald Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, with their conversation coming one day after Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin said after the call he rejected the 30-day total ceasefire proposed by the U.S. (and backed by Ukraine) though he agreed to a 30-day ceasefire against Ukraine’s energy and infrastructure.  However, just hours after that call, Russia launched a series of drone strikes.

Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social: “Just completed a very good telephone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. It lasted approximately one hour. Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs. We are very much on track, and I will ask Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and national security adviser Michael Waltz, to give an accurate description of the points discussed. That statement will be put out shortly.”

Wednesday’s call was the first discussion between Trump and Zelenskyy since their Oval Office meeting last month, in which Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of not being ready for peace and not holding any cards in negotiations.

At a news conference earlier Wednesday, Zelenskyy said, “Putin’s words are very, very different from reality,” adding that around 120 strike drones and six missiles struck Ukraine, including its energy facilities, overnight.   Zelenskyy said: “It is precisely such night attacks by Russia that destroy our energy, our infrastructure, the normal life of Ukrainians. And the fact that this night was no exception shows that we must continue to put pressure on Russia for the sake of peace.”

Later in a statement, Zelenskyy described the conversation with Trump as a “positive, very substantive, and frank conversation. We believe that together with America, with President Trump, and under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieved this year,” adding that Ukraine is ready to engage in the next round of talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia.

Editorial credit: Joshua Sukoff / Shutterstock.com

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it was leaving interest rates unchanged at its March meeting, citing rising uncertainties over whether President Donald Trump’s policies could push up both inflation and unemployment.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which guides the central bank’s monetary policy moves, noted in its announcement that, “uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased” and added it’s focused on risks to both sides of its dual mandate to promote maximum employment and keep inflation at 2% over the long-run.  It’s decision means that its key borrowing benchmark rate will stay in a target range of 4.25-4.5 percent, an elevated level that consumers hadn’t experienced for over a decade.

In addition to announcing its decision on interest rates, the FOMC released a summary of economic projections that showed central bank policymakers are forecasting two 25-basis-point interest rate cuts this year, followed by two cuts of that size in 2026 and one in 2027.

The Federal Reserve’s statement said that “uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased,” with Fed Chair Jerome Powell saying at a press conference that the exact relationship between Trump’s tariffs strategy and stronger near-term price growth was not totally clear given other trends in the economy, but the tariffs are certainly a factor in rising expectations that price growth will accelerate: “we do not need to be in a hurry to adjust our policy stance, and we are well-positioned to wait for greater clarity … Inflation has started to move up now, we think, partly in response to tariffs and there may be a delay in further progress in the course of this year … We think the right thing to do is to wait here. To wait for greater clarity about what the economy’s doing.”

Editorial credit: El editorial / Shutterstock.com