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Businesses starting to receive their IEEPA tariff refunds

May 12, 2026 5:05 PM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo

Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

Businesses across the U.S. began receiving federal refunds on Tuesday for tariffs imposed by President Trump in 2025 and struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

Sarah Wells, whose small business makes accessories and apparel for breastfeeding mothers, told CBS News that about half of the money she is owed by the U.S. government had been deposited into her bank account.

In April, Wells filed claims for refunds of two different tariffs her business imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) — one for a shipment from China and the other for goods she imported from Cambodia.

The Supreme Court ruled in February that Mr. Trump lacks the legal authority to impose tariffs under IEEPA.

“My refund claim had been accepted, and I’d been checking the status feverishly to see if anything was in my bank account,” she told CBS News. “Earlier this morning at around 7, I got the money from the first container that came from China.”

Sarah Wells said she received a partial tariff refund from the federal government on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. Courtesy of Sarah Wells

Wells said the refund was for $10,000, which covers the 20% tariff she paid on the goods, plus interest. She expects another $10,000 federal payment for other IEEPA tariffs her business absorbed.

As of 7 a.m. ET on Monday, the federal government said it had approved nearly 87,000 refund requests covering more than 15 million IEEPA duty payments. More than half of those entries have been finalized, amounting to refunds of $35.5 billion, including interest, CBP official Brandon Lord said in a filing with the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York.

Ryan Peterson, CEO of supply chain management company Flexport, told CBS News that as of Monday, the company’s clients had received a total of $137 million in IEEPA tariff refunds from the U.S. government.

“I’m kind of impressed the government built and launched this technology pretty quickly,” he said. “A lot of government timelines can be way longer than that.”

The Trump administration owes importers roughly $166 billion in refunds.

Imports remain subject to a 10% tariff that Mr. Trump imposed in February under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. In March, the White House also announced investigations into foreign nations’ trade practices under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows U.S. trade officials to unilaterally retaliate against countries engaging in unfair trade practices.

“We have an order in production in Cambodia arriving in July or August that we’ll have to pay 10% on, and possible Section 301 tariffs could be put in place,” Wells said, adding that “we are in a cycle of having to plan for the unplanned.”

Edited by Alain Sherter

As Trump visits China, will he seek investment to build American “dark factories” of the future?

May 12, 2026 / 7:50 PM EDT / CBS News

Zhuhai, southern China — When President Trump arrives in China this week for a high-stakes summit with Xi Jinping, securing investment from Chinese companies — including to help modern American factories — is expected to be on his list of priorities.

But if Mr. Trump is hoping to secure investment to help bring blue-collar jobs back to America, a CBS News visit to a massive Chinese factory suggests that ship may have sailed.

Inside a cavernous industrial building on the outskirts of Zhuhai, in southern China, there’s a factory of the future. Hundreds of yellow robotic arms move in sync along a 1,500-foot assembly line, putting together some 4,000 components every 10 seconds for air conditioning units.

Owned by Gree, China’s largest air conditioning maker, the facility is what’s known as a “dark factory.” It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, controlled by artificial intelligence.

Gree general manager Chen Huadong says it’s the future of manufacturing.

“This is how future intelligent factories will look like, with AI-supported robots everywhere,” he told CBS News, “working in real time.”

In the nerve center of the operation, giant screens show real-time data on production, global sales and delivery.

About 60% of Gree’s production is exported overseas, including significant sales in North America.

The company has even been advertising in Times Square.

China already accounts for roughly 30% of global manufacturing output overall, and that’s expected to rise to almost 50% over the next four years.

According to Chen, Chinese manufacturing has more to offer Western markets than products, however.

“Gree is not only capable of manufacturing high-quality air conditioners, but also high-quality factories,” he told CBS News.

A factory the size of Gree’s would typically employ around 10,000 workers. But the dark factory only needs 1,000, a third of whom are engineers. It is real-world evidence of the dramatic rate at which machines are replacing humans in the workforce.

“I think in the future, physical work will get less and less,” Chen told CBS News. “But the skills and workers to maintain AI equipment will grow. … artificial intelligence has transformed the way businesses operate.”

Chen’s assessment is that factories around the world will move “toward high levels of automation,” with robots doing more and more of the work, but “as a result, future production lines will require a large number of engineers to design, plan, install, inspect and maintain them. This will create a significant number of job opportunities.”

“Our workers are transitioning and upgrading in this direction,” he added.

The question is, will America’s?

What’s Trump’s game plan in China?

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-game-plan-china-amid-iran-war/

Democratic lawmakers grill FBI’s Kash Patel over report alleging excessive drinking

2026-05-12T22:21:47.976Z / Reuters

By Andrew Goudsward

May 12, 2026 10:21 PM UTC Updated 45 mins ago

Summary

• FBI Director Patel denies the Atlantic report
• Democrats accuse Patel of undermining national security
• Patel appeared before Senate panel on proposed budget

WASHINGTON, May 12 (Reuters) – Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday pressed ​FBI Director Kash Patel over a media report that episodes of excessive drinking ‌interfered with his ability to lead the premier U.S. law enforcement agency, drawing an angry response from Patel.

At a hearing before a Senate budget panel, Patel defended his leadership of the FBI against ​Democratic accusations that his conduct, including the reported drinking, had undermined national security ​and demonstrated poor judgment.

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It was Patel’s first appearance before Congress since his beer-drinking ⁠celebration at the Milan Winter Olympics and the publication of an article in the ​Atlantic magazine drew renewed scrutiny to his tenure. Both matters were raised in the hearing.

Patel ​testified in support of the Trump administration’s proposed $12.5 billion 2027 budget for the FBI and defended his performance, saying violent crime had fallen over the past year while FBI arrests had increased.

[1/5]FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before a Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on U.S. President Donald Trump’s FY2027 budget request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the United States… Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tabRead more

Senator Chris Van ​Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, questioned Patel about the Atlantic report, which detailed instances ​of “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences” during his tenure that had alarmed officials at the FBI and the ‌Justice ⁠Department. Patel has sued the Atlantic and its reporter over the article, accusing them of defamation. The magazine has said it stands behind its reporting.

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“If true, they demonstrate a gross dereliction of your duty and a betrayal of public trust,” Van Hollen said at the start ​of the hearing.

Patel, who ​was nominated to ⁠the post by President Donald Trump, denied what was reported in the article, calling it a “total farce.”

He then accused Van Hollen of “slinging ​margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar,” a reference to ​the senator’s ⁠trip last year to visit Kilmar Abrego, a Salvadoran migrant from Maryland who was imprisoned in El Salvador following wrongful deportation by the Trump administration.

Van Hollen responded that Patel’s statement was “provably ⁠false.” ​Photos of the trip showed Van Hollen and Abrego ​with cocktail glasses on a table, but Van Hollen later said the glasses were placed there by Salvadoran government ​officials to undermine the credibility of the meeting.

Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Edmund Klamann

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Jason Collins, the NBA’s first openly gay player, dies at 47 from brain cancer

May 12, 2026 / 7:57 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Jason Collins, the NBA’s first openly gay player, who went on to become a pioneer for inclusion and an ambassador for the league, has died, the NBA announced. He was 47.

Collins spent 13 years as a player in the league for six different franchises. He revealed in 2013 that he was gay, an announcement that came toward the end of his playing career.

Collins announced he was diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma in December, which has an extremely low survival rate. In a statement through the NBA, the Collins’ family said the former NBA player died “after a valiant fight with glioblastoma.”

Brooklyn Nets center Jason Collins dribbles the ball during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Feb. 23, 2014, in Los Angeles. Mark J. Terrill / AP

“Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar,” Collins’ family said. “We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”

Just last week, Collins received the inaugural Bill Walton Global Champion Award at the Green Sports Alliance Summit. He was too ill to attend and his twin brother, former NBA player Jarron Collins, accepted for him.

“I told my brother this before I came here: He’s the bravest, strongest man I’ve ever known,” Jarron Collins said while accepting that award.

Jason Collins averaged 3.6 points and 3.7 rebounds in his career. He helped the New Jersey Nets reach two NBA Finals and in his best season averaged 6.4 points and 6.1 rebounds for them in 2004-05. He retired in 2014 after playing with the Brooklyn Nets from February to November 2014.

“Jason Collins’ impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “He exemplified outstanding leadership and professionalism throughout his 13-year NBA career and in his dedicated work as an NBA Cares Ambassador. Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others.

Jason Collins revealed his sexuality in a first-person account for Sports Illustrated in April 2013.

“I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m Black and I’m gay,” he wrote in the opening of his first-person piece.

He was a free agent at the time, said he wanted to keep playing, and went on to play in 22 games with Brooklyn the following season.

“If I had my way, someone else would have already done this,” he wrote at that time. “Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.”

His decision was widely lauded, with star players such as Kobe Bryant quickly speaking out in support of Collins. There was even support from the White House and former President Bill Clinton — whose daughter, Chelsea, went to Stanford with Collins. At Stanford, Collins was roommates with someone who was part of another American political dynasty, that being Joe Kennedy III, who spent eight years in Congress representing Massachusetts.

Collins, in the piece for Sports Illustrated, wrote that he realized he needed to go public about his sexuality when Kennedy walked in Boston’s gay pride parade in 2012 — but Collins couldn’t do the same.

Until then, Collins kept his feelings about gay rights close to the vest. He wore jersey No. 98 for the majority of his final three playing stints with Boston, Washington and Brooklyn — a nod to the year that Matthew Shepard, a gay college student in Wyoming, was killed. He also wore 46 in one game for the Nets, since it was the only jersey the team had available when he signed.

“In 2013, Jason changed sports forever by becoming the first active male athlete in a major North American team sport to publicly come out,” the National Basketball Players Association said in a statement. “His courage shattered barriers, making him a global beacon of hope for the LGBTQ+ community. He worked relentlessly to foster inclusion in locker rooms, schools, and communities, challenging us all to be more empathetic.”

Collins made nearly 61% of his shots in his career at Stanford, which remains a school record. He was an honorable mention selection for The Associated Press’ All-America team in 2001, a few months before the Houston Rockets took him with the 18th pick in that year’s NBA draft.

“It’s a sad day for all of us associated with Stanford basketball when we lose one of the program’s greats,” former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. “We all have great memories of Jason and the kind of person he was. It’s hard to separate Jarron and Jason because they thought so alike, but even though he was an identical twin, Jason was unique in his own way. The impact he had on Stanford was immense, as he could match up against anyone in the country because he was big, smart, strong and skilled, all while being a very bright and nice person.”

Republicans in South Carolina Senate reject redistricting bid that Trump backed

2026-05-12T21:48:59.483Z / Reuters

By Joseph Ax

May 12, 2026 9:48 PM UTC Updated 26 mins ago

U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn (D-SC) speaks on stage at the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S., January 19, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo

May 12 (Reuters) – A bid to redraw South Carolina’s congressional map and eliminate the state’s sole ​Democratic U.S. House district failed in the state Senate on Tuesday, when a handful of ‌Republicans broke with President Donald Trump and voted against the effort.

The outcome likely means that U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn, a Black Democrat with broad influence within the party, will retain his seat in November’s midterm elections. Republican Governor Henry McMaster could call ​a special legislative session to consider redistricting but has thus far resisted the idea.

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Separately on Tuesday, the ​Missouri Supreme Court upheld a Republican-backed map that eliminated one of the state’s two ⁠Democratic seats.

The mixed developments underscored how the national redistricting fight shows no sign of flagging, particularly after the ​U.S. Supreme Court decision last month gave states more leeway to target majority-Black and majority-Latino districts. Republicans are vying ​to protect their razor-thin U.S. House of Representatives majority in November.

Several Republican-controlled southern states have rushed to take advantage of the court’s decision. Tennessee passed a new map splitting up a majority-Black district, while Louisiana and Alabama postponed their primary elections for the U.S. House of Representatives so Republican ​lawmakers have time to draw new maps. Black voters typically support Democrats.

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Republicans in the South Carolina House of Representatives ​had advanced a proposal that would have allowed lawmakers to postpone the June 9 primary elections for the U.S. House ‌of Representatives ⁠and dismantle the district that Clyburn has represented since 1993.

But the Senate fell two votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to extend the legislative session in a 29-17 vote. Republicans already control the state’s six other U.S. House districts.

Trump had urged state senators to back the gambit in a social media post on Monday, saying he was “watching closely.”

His ​words were reminiscent of ​his threats against some ⁠Indiana Republican lawmakers after they declined to draw a new map last year. Trump vowed to back primary challengers to run against them – and six of those ​seven lawmakers lost to Trump-endorsed candidates last week, underscoring the power of his ​threats.

In Missouri, the ⁠state’s high court rejected Democratic arguments that the map could not take effect until voters had a chance to weigh in, after opponents gathered enough signatures to place the measure on the ballot in November.

The court also ⁠found that ​the map, which splintered the Kansas City area into multiple ​districts, did not violate the state constitution’s requirement that districts must be compact.

The map is likely to result in Republicans winning all eight ​of the state’s U.S. House seats in November.

(This story has been corrected to say that the map eliminated one of Missouri’s two Democratic seats, not the lone Democratic seat, in paragraph 3)

Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and David Gregorio

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

South Carolina lawmakers reject for now Trump’s push to eliminate James Clyburn’s seat

2026-05-12 05:43 PM ET / CNN

By Associated Press

Updated May 12, 2026, 5:45 PM ET

PUBLISHED May 12, 2026, 5:43 PM ET

Rep. James Clyburn speaks during a budget hearing on the Department of Housing and Urban Development, on Tuesday, June 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Kevin Wolf/AP/File

AP—

The Republican push for South Carolina to join the national redistricting battle by redrawing its US House map fizzled Tuesday as an initial vote in the state Senate fell short.

President Donald Trump had urged South Carolina to redraw its congressional districts ahead of the November elections in an attempt to help Republicans win another seat in the closely divided chamber. The state House had voted in favor of letting lawmakers return after the regular session ends this week to consider redistricting, and had proposed a new map that could eliminate the state’s only Democratic-held seat.

But the Senate had to give permission to take up redistricting, too.

The 29-17 vote failed, with just two votes short of the two-thirds needed. Five Republicans joined all the Democrats in the chamber to reject the proposal.

Trump said on social media Monday that he was closely watching the redistricting vote, urging South Carolina senators to “be bold and courageous” and to delay the House primaries so new districts can be drawn.

Although Republicans have a supermajority in the chamber, some GOP senators weren’t sure the proposed map would guarantee the party could unseat longtime Democratic US Rep. James Clyburn. They also said it could push enough Democrats into other districts to backfire, resulting in a 5-2 or even a 4-3 Republican split.

South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey acknowledged the pressure from Trump, but said he doesn’t like being asked to bend to someone’s will instead of doing what’s best for his state.

“I got too much Southern in my blood,” Massey said. “I’ve got too much resistance in my heritage.”

Democrat lawmaker calls Clarence Thomas an ‘Uncle Tom’ and ‘lynchman’ after Supreme Court redistricting ruling

May 12, 2026 7:13pm EDT / Fox News

Decision could clear the way for maps eliminating two Democratic-held seats ahead of Alabama’s May 19 primary

By Bonny Chu, Fox News

Fox News Flash top headlines for May 12

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State Rep. Juandalynn Givan launched a blistering attack on U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in a fiery video Monday, calling him an “Uncle Tom” and a “lynchman,” as well as accusing him of betraying the Black community.

Her remarks came in response to a Monday Supreme Court ruling on redistricting, in which the justices struck down a 2023 court-ordered congressional map that had helped create an additional Democratic-leaning seat in the 2024 elections.

The decision could clear the way for contested maps that would eliminate two Democratic-held congressional seats, potentially impacting Reps. Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures.

In the scathing rebuke, Givan argued that Thomas has undermined minority representation in Congress and went further, likening him to a slave trader and a sell-out within his own community.

WHY THE SUPREME COURT GUTTED THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT AFTER SIX DECADES IN A BLOW TO BLACK POLITICIANS

Alabama Rep. Juandalynn Givan is seen during a hearing on April 10, 2017, in Montgomery, Ala.(Albert Cesare/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP, Pool, File)

“He must’ve been the one that sold us out in Africa. He must have been. His ancestors had to be the ones that sold us out in Africa that caused us to be chained,” Givan said on Facebook. “He is the man who has turned us back into the hands of the master.”

“I don’t know what kind of Black he is. I don’t know what d— plantation this man came from. I don’t know what slave ship he was on. I don’t know what part of the slave ship he was on,” she added.

“You have sided with the Republican Party. You are a freaking straw boss… or d— Uncle Tom for these people. I just don’t get it,” she said.

ALABAMA’S CONGRESSIONAL MAP HINGES ON US SUPREME COURT

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at the University of Texas on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.(Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)

Thomas, who acts in a supervisory role over district cases covering Alabama, has consistently opposed “racial apportionment” of congressional seats, arguing that such practice is discriminatory and would violate the Constitution.

His Monday decision effectively overruled the 11th Circuit Court judges’ court-drawn map, which could have further allowed Black voters to elect their preferred candidates in the upcoming May 19 primary.

The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

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Givan noted that the new ruling could render two seats null and void, potentially forcing a new vote under the newly permitted maps.

Bonny Chu is a Digital Production Assistant at Fox News Digital.

Exclusive: The FAA is evaluating risks to flights from Trump’s ‘triumphal arch’

2026-05-12 5:13 PM ET / CNN

By Sunlen Serfaty

Updated 2 hr ago

Updated May 12, 2026, 5:39 PM ET

PUBLISHED May 12, 2026, 5:13 PM ET

This rendering shows the design for President Donald Trump’s proposed “Triumphal Arch” in Washington, DC.

US Commission of Fine Arts

The Trump administration has asked the FAA to evaluate the risks of building the president’s “triumphal arch” less than two miles from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, one of the busiest in the nation.

According to documents obtained by CNN, the Department of Interior has requested a formal aeronautical study from the Federal Aviation Administration for the proposed 250-foot arch, which would be built in a patch of grass at the end of Memorial Bridge, across from the Lincoln Memorial.

The request, submitted by the National Parks Service, a division of the Interior Department, notes that the total height of the structure will be 279 feet when the site elevation beneath the arch itself is considered.

FAA regulations require structures that exceed 200 feet and positioned at a site that potentially interferes with airspace be subject to a review. The FAA has said it aims to complete these types of reviews within 45 to 90 days – but they typically take far longer, up to nine months.

The FAA acknowledged that it had received the request and told CNN it had begun the study, but the agency declined to give a timeline for the review of the arch.

Pilots must already navigate various hazards as they descend or ascent through the “north approach” flight path that requires them to swing to avoid close encounters with the Pentagon, the Washington Monument and other DC landmarks.

The addition of President Donald Trump’s arch will further complicate flying through the corridor, which has been the site of high-profile and much scrutinized accidents, including last year’s midair collision between an American Airlines plane and a Black Hawk helicopter and a 1982 crash into the 14 th Street Bridge upon takeoff.

The airspace is extremely crowded, with more than 900 commercial flights departing and landing through to Reagan National Airport on Monday alone.

Plans for the structure are supposed to be approved by the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission, two government agencies that oversee federal building in Washington.

As with many projects Trump has proposed, such as the construction of a new ballroom at the White House and the renaming of the Kennedy Center, insiders fear that the panels, which the president has stacked with loyalists, will approve the arch with little regard of risks.

“I fear that regardless of any defects in the arch’s design, it will be rammed through by the government bodies that need to approve it,” a source close to the committees said.

The NCPC said it “regularly works with other agencies that have review roles to ensure that reviews are synchronized.”

“We would expect to follow the same approach here,” the committee told CNN, but said it does not yet have a specific timeline for the review.

CFA, which has already approved a preliminary set of designs for the arch, said it had received a revised concept for review at its meeting on May 21, but could not say whether “whether the Commission members will consider the issue raised by the FAA to affect the timing of their actions.”

Construction obstruction

Since Trump announced his vision for an arch in Washington that would help commemorate America’s 250th birthday, there have been concerns about its size, the impact on its surroundings and the speed with which he promised to build it.

He has previously told reporters that it should be “the biggest one of all” since the US is “the biggest, most powerful nation,” and in December he had said that he wanted construction to start within two months.

Typically, a request to the FAA to conduct an obstruction analysis is made 45 days prior to any construction starting. The president can move ahead with the project without final determination from the FAA.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a rendering of President Donald Trump’s proposed arch during a press briefing in April.

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

The FAA’s Obstruction Evaluation Group will look at runway length, the airport elevation, the structure’s exact coordinates, ground elevation and whether temporary cranes to build the structure will exceed the permanent height, among other items.

They’ll consult with numerous other agencies and branches of the armed forces including the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Army, Air Force and Navy.

The FAA will then issue a “Determination of No Hazard” or a “Determination of Hazard.”

If a hazard is determined, the administration will have 60 days to adjust the project – potentially make height reductions or hazard lightings to make it more visible to aircraft, among other tweaks to make it safer for aviation.

Asked about the evaluation, a White House official claimed that the arch will “have no effect on flights to and from Reagan National.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

Why the Iran war is hurting the economy

May 12, 2026 at 4:44 p.m. EDT / The Washington Post

There isn’t much Congress or Trump can do about it, experts warn.

Fuel, food and other essential items are getting more expensive as the Iran war drags on — and could be hard to bring back down, economists say. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

By Amber Phillips

The war in Iran isn’t just raising gas prices. It’s also helped push inflation to its highest level in three years, according to new government data out Tuesday.

The White House says these price increases are temporary. “The gas will go down as soon as the war is over,” President Donald Trump said a few weeks ago. “It will drop like a rock.”

But some economists worry higher prices are here to stay for the foreseeable future, even comparing the situation to the pandemic or the oil-driven economic crisis of the 1970s.

Here’s what’s going on and what can be done about it.

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It’s not just gas prices weighing on the economy

High fuel prices make it more expensive to ship food, which is raising the cost of groceries. Heating and cooling is also more expensive. All of this feeds inflation; higher energy prices are a main driver of the recent increases in prices, report The Washington Post’s Andrew Ackerman and Federica Cocco.

The conflict in Iran is also preventing goods from getting where they need to go, which could soon leave stores shelves emptier, said Diane Swonk, chief economist with the tax and accounting firm KPMG.

“The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is more than an energy shock,” she said. “It’s a supply chain shock, and it’s got a tail that will last long after the strait reopens. It’s disrupting and roiling supply chains that echo the pandemic.”

Inflation hasn’t fully come down since the pandemic, said Michael Strain, an economist with the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, who says the Iran war and Trump’s tariffs are only aggravating it — and making the cycle harder to break.

When gas prices suddenly spike, businesses raise prices and consumers start pulling back, which manifests inflation.

“Inflation is a largely psychological phenomenon,” he said, “and so if consumers and workers and businesses expect inflation, it will be higher than the Federal Reserve’s target.”

Swonk said this inflation and supply chain shock could reverberate beyond grocery stores and the pump. Soon petroleum-based products, which are in everyday household items, could be more expensive. And she pointed to the abrupt shutdown of Spirit Airlines earlier this month over skyrocketing jet fuel prices as a warning of what more could come.

“It accelerated one airline in the United States going belly up, where people literally had to disembark planes on the tarmac,” Swonk said. “That’s extraordinary.”

Congress could marginally lower gasoline costs

There’s bipartisan talk of suspending the federal gas tax to try to help. The government taxes gasoline to help pay for highway maintenance and repairs. Many states also levy their own gas tax.

It could help on the margins. The federal gas tax is just about 18 cents per gallon, and the cost of gasoline has risen almost $3 since the war started in February.

But suspending the federal tax could come at a high cost, economists say. The tax helps pay for much-needed highway maintenance and repairs, and it hasn’t kept up with inflation. So the Highway Trust Fund it feeds is struggling and could run out money by 2028.

Congress could vote to stop the fighting in Iran

The Constitution says only Congress can declare war, so Democrats in Congress have pushed several times for a resolution that would stop Trump from fighting in Iran.

Republicans have mostly opposed this, but with the war increasingly weighing on Americans’ pocketbooks, it’s possible some Republicans join with Democrats to vote to limit what Trump can do in Iran, my Post colleagues report.

A new CNN-SSRS poll finds 77 percent of Americans say Trump’s policies have increased the cost of living in their community, including a majority of Republicans.

And even some economists in Trump’s orbit are acknowledging that gas prices could remain high long after the war ends.

“Getting back to $3 gas is going to be quite a challenge,” Stephen Moore, an economist and longtime Trump adviser, told my Post colleagues.

It’s also not clear how the war ends, said Rosa Brooks, a national security expert at the Georgetown University Law Center. The CIA secretly assessed that Iran has the ability to keep fighting for months, The Post reported last week.

“I’d say we are firmly in quagmire territory,” Brooks said.

Trump says “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation” in Iran talks, calls nuclear threat “only thing that matters”

May 12, 2026 / 7:29 PM EDT / CBS News

By Kathryn Watson

Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.

Read Full Bio

Washington — As inflation rose to its highest rate in years and CBS News polling shows high prices at the pump are causing financial strain for many Americans, President Trump told reporters Tuesday, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation” as a motivation for negotiations with Iran, and said he is only concerned with preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

When asked by a reporter how much Americans’ finances are “motivating you to make a deal,” Mr. Trump responded: “Not even a little bit.”

“The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Trump said before leaving on a trip to Beijing for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation, I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing — we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, that’s all.”

“The most important thing by far, including whether our stock market, which by the way is at an all-time high, but including whether our stock market goes up or down a little bit, the most important thing by far is Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” the president responded when another reporter followed up to clarify his remarks.

“Every American understands,” he added.

As the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed and with no clear resolution in the Middle East in sight, the president’s support on the economy has slumped. Last month, 51% of Americans in a CBS News/YouGov poll said higher gas prices pose a financial hardship or difficulty. Inflation for the month of April rose to an annual rate of 3.8%, the highest inflation 2023.

The president has said since the beginning of the war that the outcomes for Americans would be worse if Iran had a nuclear weapon. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also argued that if Iran attained nuclear weapons, it could manipulate markets and drive oil prices up.

“Everybody needs to think about it this way,” Rubio said in a briefing at the White House earlier this month. “If Iran had a nuclear weapon and they decided to close the straits and make our gas prices like $9 a gallon or $8 a gallon, we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, because they have a nuclear weapon. A nuclear-armed Iran could do whatever the hell they want with the straits and there’s nothing anyone would be able to do about it.”

The national average price for gas on Tuesday was $4.50, according to AAA.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for Gas Buddy, wrote on X Tuesday, “If the Strait doesn’t re-open soon, I believe we could see the national average price of gasoline reaching $5/gal as early as sometime in June.”