WSJ What’s News - All Eyes on Today’s U.S. Jobs Data

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

A.M. Edition for Sept. 5. Analysts expect further weakening in the labor market. As WSJ economics reporter Justin Lahart explains, that’s raising concerns about the U.S. economy stalling out. Plus, tech titans including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Tim Cook praise President Trump’s focus on innovation and AI at a White House dinner. And goodbye Department of Defense, as Trump moves to rename the Pentagon. Azhar Sukri hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This message comes from Viking, committed to exploring the world in comfort. Journey through the heart of Europe on an elegant Viking longship with thoughtful service, destination-focused dining, and cultural enrichment on board and on shore. And every Viking voyage is all-inclusive with no children and no casinos. Discover more at viking.com. All eyes on today's jobs data and whether the numbers will show a six. slowing economy. Plus, the journal exclusively reports the U.S. is ready to start renegotiating its largest free trade deal. And tech CEOs praise Trump, even as the president threatens

substantial tariffs on chip imports. Your administration is investing a lot. Already the AI action plan under your leadership, I think is a great start. And we look forward to working together. And thanks for your leadership. Great job you're doing. Incredible, really. It's Friday, September the 5th. I'm Azha Suq. for the Wall Street Journal. Here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. It's Jobs Day USA and this month there's more riding on the number than ever before,

with the last release prompting the unprecedented dismissal of the head of labour statistics following several downward revisions to US non-farm payrolls. Economics reporter Justin Layhart says today's data is, expected to show a further weakening of the labor market. Economist, the Wall Street Journal poll, expect 75,000 new jobs were added in August, just marginally above the 73,000 that were created in July. And they also expect the unemployment rate to nudge up to 4.3%. So it's really this picture of gradual weakness.

There are some concerns that the report could come in weaker. We saw that the report from ADP, which is a big payroll processor, they showed 54,000 private sector payroll jobs created in August, which is a lot weaker than people expected. And that weakening job market is adding to concerns that the U.S. economy could stall out. In a situation where consumers are looking around, they're seeing a weakening job market, they're maybe seeing no job creation, where businesses are seeing the same thing, that we see a pullback in. terms of what consumers are doing, in terms of what businesses are doing, and things can deteriorate more quickly than you would like, and more quickly than policymakers might be able to fix. One of those fixes could be cutting interest rates to ease pressure on companies and Americans looking to borrow money. And as Justin explains, while the Fed is expected to cut rates later

this month, the central bank is walking a difficult tightrope. Most people think that it is going to cut rates by a quarter point, just given sort of the deterioration that we're seeing in the labor market across a lot of measures. The concern is always that it could be too late, that things could be worse than the data are actually showing. We have seen a lot of downward revisions to this data. There is a general concern that the labor market data might be overstating job growth. So, you know, it's a very sort of touchy situation that the Fed is, you know, especially given that inflation is still above 2% that they're looking for. And we'll get a clearer picture of the U.S. economy and just what that means for the Fed

when non-farm payrolls are released at 8.30 a.m. Eastern. We'll have live coverage and all the analysis on WS.J.com. We are exclusively reporting that the U.S. is getting ready to start renegotiating its largest free trade deal, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The U.S. Trade Representatives Office could begin public consultations on renegotiating the deal as soon as this week. The Trade Representative's Office declined to comment and the White House didn't respond to a request. Trump has undermined the U.S. MCA in his second term by imposing and then pairing back stiff tariffs on Canada and Mexico, arguing that the duties are

justified because of drug trafficking through each of the countries. Elsewhere in Washington. How much are you spending, would you say, over the next few years? Oh, gosh. I mean, I think it's probably going to be something like, I don't know, at least $600 billion through $28 in the U.S. Yeah. It's a lot.

No, it's significant. President Trump hosted the country's top tech leaders for dinner at the White House last night. including meta-platform CEO Mark Zuckerberg. And the tech titans spent time praising the president for his efforts to promote investments in chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence. Trump also quizzed the executives on how much they were committing to spend in the U.S.,

including Apple chief executive Tim Cook. And Tim, how much money will Apple be investing in the United States? Because I know it's a very lot, and it's, you know, you were elsewhere, and now you're really coming home in a big way. How much money will you be investing? 600 billion. 600 billion.

It's a lot of jobs. We're very proud to do it. Trump also reiterated a warning that he will soon impose, quote, fairly substantial tariffs on semiconductor imports from companies that do not shift production to the U.S., but added that he will spare firms like Apple that expand investments domestically. Notably absent from the dinner, Tesla and Sunnius, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, as well as NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang.

People familiar with Huang's thinking said he prefers to interface with the White House in one-on-one settings, where the president has enough time to focus on substantive issues. And the Department of Defense is set for a rebrand. President Trump is expected to sign an executive order today to change its name to the Department of War, a name last used in 1947. Under the Executive Order, the Department of War, is set to be the agency's secondary title until Congress approves the new name. Trump has frequently floated the idea, and according to a White House document, the Department of War, conveys a stronger message of readiness and resolve compared with the Department of Defense.

The White House added that Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth would be able to use the secondary title of Secretary of War. Coming up, how do European voters feel about putting their troops in harm's way in defense of Ukraine? That story and more after the break. Isn't home where we all want to be? Reba here for Realtor.com, the pro's number one most trusted app. Finding a home is like dating. You're searching for the one. With over 500,000 new listings every month, you can find the one today.

Download the Realtor.com app because you're nearly home. Make it real with Realtor.com. Pro's number one most trusted app based on August 2024 proprietary survey. Over 500,000 new listings every month based on average new for sale and rental listings. February 24 through January 2025. Despite President Trump hosting multiple meetings focused on ending Russia's invasion on Ukraine, there's no timeline on when the war could end. Trump's 50-day deadline for a Russian ceasefire has already passed

and so has his promised two-week timeline for a summit with himself, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump had also hoped European troops could help secure peace in Ukraine. But as the journal's Paris bureau chief, Stacey Mike Tree explains, boots on the ground may still be a long way away. There's still broad public support for supporting Ukraine, both in terms of economic aid and military equipment, arms, etc. The reservations arise simply when discussions start

about putting troops into the country. That's where you see the Italians, the Poles, even some French, start to get a little bit anxious. Obviously, in places like Germany, which is still haunted by the legacy of World War II. You have a culture of pacifism, if you will, that doesn't have any interest in engaging in military conflict, and especially not with Russia, which is just on the other side of the continent. And so when Germans are asked, how do you feel about putting boots on the ground?

The first response is, well, we really need to be keeping our military here at home to protect us. A similar response you hear from Eastern Europe, which really forms the eastern flank of NATO. Countries like Poland also see boots on the ground as a real red line. They feel like if we put soldiers into Ukraine, that could be perceived as a provocation of Russia and that could, you know, make the conflict bleed over the Polish border. Stacey, so what military capabilities does Europe lack which the U.S. would need to fill? So the obvious ones are air support, which means, of course, fighter jets. We're also talking about air defense systems, the Patriot System. Basically, you want to. to as much as possible protect the Ukrainian skies. The Europeans also really rely on the United States for intelligence and reconnaissance. And then there are the sort of nuts and bolts, the logistics, which, you know, aren't very sexy, but are absolutely essential. You need troop carriers,

you need planes who can take European troops into Ukraine. Unfortunately, European militaries do not have these capabilities and have long relied on the U.S. for this kind of stuff. Yeah, the role of the U.S. is going to be crucial in all of this. But there's Assuming there is a peace deal, which right now seems like a remote possibility, what might a European military presence look like in Ukraine? So the discussions for the time being are fairly limited. So the only countries that have really talked numbers are France and the UK, Europe's two biggest militaries. Each country has said they're willing to provide between 3,000 and 5,000 troops. So, you know, combined that would be up to 10,000 troops. That's far short of what most analysts think would be necessary to really act as a deterrent against Russia attacks.

And let's remember that's the whole point of this force. The idea is that the Europeans want to put skin in the game. They want to have a force based in Ukraine to essentially act as a deterrent against Putin in case he decides to violate a peace accord and reinvade Ukraine. So for the time being, we're looking at 10,000 troops. The hope would be that other European countries will pitch in forces of their own. And that's, you know, why we go back to the question of what role will the U.S. have? Because if the U.S. has a significant role, then we might see other European countries come around.

Journal Paris Bureau Chief Stacey, Mike Tre, thank you so much. You're welcome. And as the fashion world mourns the loss of Giorgio Armani, who died yesterday at 91, attention's now turning to the future of the brand he built and ran. Armani was not only a designer, but one of the last great owner operators in the luxury industry. Unlike rivals, who ceded control to conglomerates such as LVMH or Kering, Armani kept his company private. And as journal Luxury Reporter Nick Kostov says,

the big question now is whether Armani's foundation will be able to succeed the founder and preserve his legacy. Georgia Armani always wanted to stay independent. He felt that was very important to him. He had quite a tight in a circle. And so much of the control will now go to these people who have worked with Armani for a long time. He's created some bylaws for this foundation, which set rules around things like an IPO or a sale. But it's very rare that a business like this becomes available to the big conglomerates like LVMH and Caring. And so I think what people will look at is will this business get sold? It's a business that can do with some rejuvenation. Will it have on

its own the kind of scale and the funds to invest or were one of the big conglomerates try and snap it up. That's what the market is looking at right now. And that's it for what's news for this Friday morning. Today's show was produced by Kate Bullivant and Daniel Bark. Our supervising producer is Sandra Kilhoff. I'm Azhar Sukhri for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back tonight with a new show. Until then, have a great weekend and thanks for listening. Viking committed to exploring the world in comfort. Journey through the heart of Europe on an elegant Viking longship with thoughtful service, cultural enrichment, and all-inclusive fares.

Discover more at Viking.com.