内容摘要：According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple chief executive Tim Cook called Governor Abbott earlier this month in a bid to stop the passage of the state's bill.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple chief executive Tim Cook called Governor Abbott earlier this month in a bid to stop the passage of the state's bill.

He has slapped import duties against allies and adversaries alike, and raised their rates to staggeringly high levels, only to change his mind and abruptly pause or reduce the charges.Markets and global leaders have scrambled trying to guess his next moves, while major retailers have warned of rising prices for American consumers and potentially empty shelves in shops.

The president has claimed this power to impose tariffs unilaterally. He says that as president he is responding to a national economic emergency - and he cannot wait for Congress to pass legislation.In effect, this meant his finger was constantly poised on one of the most effective triggers of US economic policy. Firing off a threatening missive to a country playing hardball was as easy as posting on Truth Social (just ask the European Union, which he called "very difficult to deal with" in negotiations last week).However, late on Wednesday, the US Court of International Trade ruled that he had exceeded the authority of the emergency powers he was using. The court gave the White House 10 days to remove almost all tariffs, which it says have been imposed illegally.

The White House appealed, and a federal appeals court has stayed the trade court's ruling, which means that those tariffs will stay in place - for now.The administration argued in its appeal that a ruling against Trump "would kneecap the president on the world stage, cripple his ability to negotiate trade deals, imperil the government's ability to respond to these and future national emergencies".

On Thursday night, Trump was back on Truth Social, rebuking the lower court judges who had ruled against him, calling their decision "wrong" and "horrible".

Until now, the power to make or break the economy has rested on his shoulders, as the tariff rates levelled against other countries keep going up and down – seemingly according to Trump's mood.He believes he never stood a chance because the officials had already made up their minds. He recalled one of them asking: "Did Xi Jinping buy your suitcase for you?"

What was surprising, or even shocking then, slowly turned normal as more and more Chinese students struggled to secure visas or admissions to study science and technology in US universities.Mr Cao, a psychology major whose research involves neuroscience, has spent the past school year applying for PhD programs in the US.

He had graduated from top-tier universities - credentials that could send him to an Ivy League school. But of the more than 10 universities he applied to, only one extended an offer.Trump's cuts to biomedical research didn't help, but the mistrust surrounding Chinese researchers was also a factor. Allegations and rumours of espionage, especially in sensitive subjects, have loomed over Chinese nationals at US universities in recent years, even derailing some careers.