Overnight Finance: Trump touts trade agenda in State of the Union address | Consumer Bureau ruled constitutional | Fed leaves rates unchanged

Trump says global trade will be fair and reciprocal: President Trump in his first State of the Union address said that the days of unfair trade are over and the United States will improve global agreements and make way for new deals.

Trump has promised to overhaul U.S. trade policy but so far through his first year has yet to form any new trading partnerships or remake established trade pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

“America has also finally turned the page on decades of unfair trade deals that sacrificed our prosperity and shipped away our companies, our jobs and our nation’s wealth,” he said during his address on Capitol Hill. 

“The era of economic surrender is over,” he said.

Trump has touted his pledge that “trading relationships be fair and, very importantly, reciprocal” and that “we will work to fix bad trade deals and negotiate new ones.”

“They’ll be good ones but they’ll be fair,” he said during his remarks to Congress: http://bit.ly/2Gzml1L.

Trump calls for infrastructure plan of ‘at least’ $1.5T: President Trump called on Congress to pass an infrastructure bill costing at least $1.5 trillion during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, hoping to breathe some life into one of his long-stalled campaign promises.

Trump’s rebuilding plan, which is expected to be a core part of his 2018 agenda, will be divided into two major goals: rebuilding U.S. infrastructure and speeding up the permit approval process.

“I am asking both parties to come together to give us the safe, fast, reliable and modern infrastructure our economy needs and our people deserve,” Trump said.

“Tonight, I am calling on the Congress to produce a bill that generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment we need.”

Trump’s pitch, however, lacked critical policy details, like how the White House plans to pay for the package or how exactly the money will be spent: http://bit.ly/2GAFmAU.

Appeals court rules consumer bureau’s structure is constitutional: Language in the Dodd-Frank Act that gives the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) independence from Congress is constitutional, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Wednesday, overturning a 2016 ruling by three of the court’s judges.

In a review of the court’s previous decision, PHH v. CFPB, the full court held that the bureau can exist as an independent agency with a sole director who can only be fired by the president for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance.”

Judge Nina Pillard, who wrote the court’s opinion, cited the precedent set by Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, a 1935 case reaffirming the legality of the Federal Trade Commission’s independent, sole-director structure.

“The Court approved the very means of independence Congress used here: protection of agency leadership from at-will removal by the President. The Court has since reaffirmed and built on that precedent, and Congress has embraced and relied on it in designing independent agencies,” Pillard wrote.

“We follow that precedent here to hold that the parallel provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act shielding the Director of the CFPB from removal without cause is consistent with Article II,” she wrote. I’ve got more on the ruling, including perspective from Richard Cordray, right here: http://bit.ly/2GAUYVg.

Fed keeps rates unchanged in final days under Yellen: The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday it is leaving interest rates unchanged, days before Chairwoman Janet Yellen is set to leave the central bank.

The bank kept the interest rate range between 1.25 and 1 percent, an attempt to coax low inflation toward the Fed’s 2-percent target before increasing the pace of rate hikes.

“Inflation on a 12‑month basis is expected to move up this year and to stabilize around the Committee’s 2 percent objective over the medium term. Near-term risks to the economic outlook appear roughly balanced, but the Committee is monitoring inflation developments closely,” the Fed said.

It’s the last decision on interest rates the bank will make before Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell takes over as chairman on Feb. 3. Yellen will depart the Fed after presiding over four years of falling unemployment. Her policy to maintain low interest rates despite the misgivings of conservatives has earned her widespread praise among economists of all stripes: http://bit.ly/2GC0l6G.

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to Overnight Finance. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-staging.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.

CBO: Debt-limit deadline likely in first half of March: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday said the Treasury Department will most likely run out of cash in the first half of March if Congress doesn’t raise or suspend the debt limit before then.

The nonpartisan budget scorekeeper had estimated in November that the debt-limit deadline would be in late March or early April. But the CBO moved up its projected deadline as a result of the tax-cut law President Trump signed in December.

“Because the tax legislation reduced individual income taxes for most taxpayers, the Internal Revenue Service released new income tax withholding tables for employers to use beginning no later than the middle of February 2018,” CBO said in a report.

“As a result of those changes, CBO now estimates that, starting in February, withheld amounts of individual income taxes will be roughly $10 billion to $15 billion per month less than anticipated before the new law was enacted.” http://bit.ly/2GyDcC9.

US businesses added 234,000 jobs in January: U.S. businesses kept up a solid pace of hiring in January, a good sign as the economy heads into uncharted territory following the passage of sweeping tax legislation.

Employers added 234,000 jobs, slightly below December’s 242,000, capping off a four-month streak of monthly jobs growth eclipsing 200,000, payroll processor ADP reported on Wednesday.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics who compiles the ADP data, said the January figure continues a “string of very strong job numbers” and the latest number is consistent with a “rip-roaring job market.”

Growth is widespread across the country and hiring is robust throughout most sectors. The Hill’s Vicki Needham breaks it down: http://bit.ly/2GyEUmT.

Lawmakers worry digital currency helping human traffickers avoid detection: Lawmakers at a Tuesday hearing discussed ways to crack down on human traffickers who are using new financial tools to avoid detection.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations heard from witnesses on the increasing use of cryptocurrencies and encrypted communications, including on smartphones, that make it harder for authorities to catch traffickers.

“The lifeblood of human trafficking is the ability to transfer money,” said Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.). “While money has historically been transmitted using remittance services and funnel accounts, the use of prepaid cards and cryptocurrency create an unforeseen challenge for financial regulators.” http://bit.ly/2GyLqdj.

White House to ask for 72 percent cut in renewable energy programs: President Trump’s administration is reportedly seeking a 72 percent cut to the budget of Department of Energy programs related to energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Draft budget documents obtained by The Washington Post show the Trump administration will ask for $575.5 million in spending for the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The office’s current spending level is set at $2.04 billion for the fiscal year.

Last year, Trump sought $636.1 million in spending for the office, which Congress later rejected in support of higher numbers.

The Post reports the draft budget documents also seek staffing cuts to the office, reducing the number of workers from 680 in the 2017 budget to 450 in 2019.

In a statement to the Post, the White House said it would not comment “on any leaked or pre-decisional documents prior to the release of the official budget.” http://bit.ly/2GC2oYq.

Rubio: ‘We have to do more’ to help Puerto Rico: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says lawmakers need to do more to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria, with nearly a third of the island’s people still lacking power and other resources.

“We need to pass a disaster relief package,” Rubio told “CBS This Morning” co-host John Dickerson on Wednesday. “What the House passed was not enough. We have to do more; we’re working on doing more.”

Rubio’s comments came the morning after President Trump’s first State of the Union address where he mentioned Americans still recovering from a devastating series of hurricanes last year.

Rubio said he is working with fellow Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D) on new legislation to bring more aid to Puerto Rico.

“My biggest concern is that we didn’t do enough early in the process at the federal level, because we tried to treat it like a conventional storm and it was not,” he added: http://bit.ly/2GAYGxV.