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“Trump’s declaration that big oil is ‘making too much money’ belies his accommodation and giveaways to the industry that have enabled its price-gouging – not to mention his disaster of a war of choice against Iran,” said Tyson Slocum, energy program director at consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen. “But like a broken clock that’s correct twice a day, the president is right that oil companies are ‘making too much money’, which means Trump should endorse a windfall profits tax.”

ExxonMobil and Chevron on Friday both reported windfall profits for the second quarter of the year. Chevron said its earnings soared nearly 400% to $12bn, while Exxon’s profits more than doubled to $14.5bn. On Monday evening, Trump took aim at those gains, saying the companies “ought to give some of that back to the public”.

“They’re making too much money based on a shortage,” he told reporters at the White House. “I don’t like it.”

Not long ago, however, Trump was celebrating the fact that the war on Iran, which he launched with Israel in February, has pushed up gas prices. “When oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he said on social media in March.

Earlier that month, Trump claimed that Iran’s shutdown of the major shipping route the Strait of Hormuz “doesn’t really affect” the US the way it does “other countries” because it is the top global crude producer, and because just a small portion of the country’s oil imports comes from the Persian Gulf. But oil prices are influenced by global markets and supply chains, experts have noted.

Trump has also relentlessly boosted oil and gas interests while in office. In 2024, he reportedly met with more than 20 oil bosses, seeking $1bn in campaign donations from their industry and promising if elected to remove dozens of environmental regulations.

While he did not manage to get to that $1bn figure, he did obtain record contributions from the sector. Since re-entering the White House last year he has eased dozens of restrictions and regulations on fossil fuel expansion, exempted fossil fuel producers from environmental rules, and signed an executive order last year directing the attorney general to prioritize blocking climate lawsuits targeting oil majors.

“We shouldn’t be surprised that the same companies that struck a $1bn quid pro quo to help elect Trump in exchange for delivering on their policy wish list are now cashing in on his anti-consumer agenda,” said Lena Moffitt, executive director of climate advocacy group Evergreen Action.

Trump has also personally invested in major oil companies. According to his 2025 financial disclosure, he increased his personal energy portfolio last year, placing between $3m and $12m in ExxonMobil stock and between $1.25m and $6m in Chevron stock, Politico first reported, indicating he may be benefitting from the two companies’ windfall profits.

As oil companies have reaped billions from the Iran war’s impact on fossil fuel prices, the Rhode Island senator Sheldon Whitehouse and California congressman Ro Khanna have proposed taxing big oil’s windfall profits from the Iran war-fueled crisis, saying proceeds from that tax should go to American families who are paying more for fuel.

Reached for comment, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said: “President Trump’s energy dominance agenda is successfully unleashing reliable, affordable, and secure energy sources.

“The President’s main priority has been and always will be lowering gas prices for Americans,” Rogers added. “Allowing the oil and gas industry to ‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ is imperative to driving down prices.”

American families have paid more than $78bn more at the pump since the start of the Iran war, according to a Brown University tracker. And a recent analysis from environmental advocact group Climate Power and liberal think tank Center for American Progress Action Fund found that Trump’s policies have cost the average American family $285 more at the pump.

In addition to supporting a windfall profits tax, Trump should work to limit fossil fuel exports “as they contribute to higher prices for Americans and fatter profits for industry,” said Slocum. Khanna in April introduced legislation aimed at banning the export of gasoline during price spikes.

But Trump officials say they have no intention of considering restrictions on fossil fuel exports.

“While the President and his entire energy team have taken several actions to mitigate temporary disruptions to the energy market, the Administration has been quite clear: there is no plan to implement restrictions on oil and gas exports,” said Rogers.

Earlier this week, dozens of US advocacy groups led by environmental organization Food and Water Watch called on congressional leaders to ban on fossil fuel exports and impose a windfall profits tax on oil majors.

“There are concrete ways to fight back against the fossil fuel industry and their insatiable profiteering,” the letter says. %!s()

The 34-year-old artist and life coach, born in California and raised in Taiwan, is based in Brooklyn and recently finalized his first art exhibition, "The Art of Surrender." The collection, displayed in T.O.L.K. — a Bushwick café and art gallery in mid and late July — served as his final homage to the city, as he returned to Taiwan on August 5 to complete the military service required to retain his citizenship.

Since the opening, he has sold his first four pieces at his first art show, two for $500, with the help of the coffee shop's owners, who did not take a commission. He was able to hold the show under his planned budget.

Yet, it was just a year ago that he started calling himself a part-time artist. During his time in New York City, he has worked in B2B sales, held multiple tech jobs at startups, become a career and life coach, and found his passion for art. All the while, he has had to learn how to afford to practice art in one of the most expensive cities in the country after his income fell from six figures to under $25,000 when he left the corporate world.

Tsao is among the many New Yorkers who have adapted how they live to keep up with the city’s high cost of living. Business Insider has documented similar trade-offs throughout our Cost of the City series.

From a one-way ticket to a six-figure career

After graduating from the University of Southern California, Tsao moved to New York with a one-way ticket and no job lined up. He worked in B2B sales before transitioning into the tech industry, where he became a product manager, earning over $100,000 a year at a healthcare startup doing opioid addiction treatment.

Then came the pandemic. Although Tsao's company had gone fully remote a few months prior, he was laid off on May 15, 2020. Frustration with the layoff led to Tsao taking steps toward entrepreneurship. He began coaching early-stage founders and taught them how to build websites without coding.

The career change came at a financial cost: Tsao watched his annual income fall from six figures to less than $25,000. He had some money in his 401(k) and savings from his tech career, which he invested in opening his own business. Although he could move back in with his parents in Taiwan if things got worse, the loss of financial stability weighed on him and made him reassess his priorities.

"It is true that there are things that could feel more heavy," like paying bills, he said. "I was able to really be clear with myself of what I need to really feel joyful and safe."

Tsao found that while the city takes a lot, it offers a lot too

Tsao realized his priorities were to have a roof over his head and access to affordable food. The trade-offs he made included going out less often, cooking rather than ordering delivery or eating out, and choosing longer subway commutes over Uber rides.

"It actually did allow me to realize that there's a lot of things that are really beautiful in New York, even if you're not having as much disposable income," he said.

Tsao concluded that New York City can be unaffordable and affordable at the same time.

He exchanged pricey concerts for walks through Prospect Park, came up with creative date ideas, and took advantage of the Culture Pass, which gives New Yorkers free access to museums and libraries. He shifted from buying books from Amazon to discovering the Brooklyn Public Library, which became his favorite place to read and find books.

"I found creative ways to really enjoy living in New York City, especially Brooklyn, on a budget," he said.

During the pandemic, he moved into a two-bedroom apartment with in-unit laundry, which he split with his ex-girlfriend. By the time he moved out in June 2026, the rent was around $1,300 each. He temporarily stayed in a sublet until he moved to Taiwan.

Besides rent, he budgeted around $150 a month for groceries and kept his art-supply costs down. Most of his materials were donated by friends or found on Brooklyn patios. Yet, he did pay $12 per bottle of ink and about $38 for Posca markers.

Healthcare was one of the biggest shifts he experienced

As Tsao's income bracket fell, he was caught by something else — Medicaid. After qualifying for the federal program, he began to receive both emotional and physical treatment, which he would not have looked for when working in tech and paying for his own private health insurance.

Through Medicaid, he began seeing a social worker at Le Santé Health Center in Flatbush for weekly therapy sessions.

"I was trying to separate my identity and value from productivity, output, and how people perceived me," he said. "I would not have gotten therapy if I had not been on Medicaid."

He also began to receive Medicaid-subsidized physical therapy for chronic pain in his upper-right shoulder, which had developed in 2020 from a combination of leaning forward at his desk and recreational bouldering.

"From a health level, it was the most abundant I had ever felt," he said. "That was really one area that the change in affordability didn't make me feel more constrained. Actually, it made me feel like I had more options."

A new beginning in art, and a farewell to New York City

Tsao found that what he enjoyed about coaching was the emotional guidance he brought to it. In 2022, he replaced his technical, no-code coaching with coaching for executives and people in leadership roles — $200-$250, hour-long sessions — which were his main source of income.

"I realized I liked talking about those feelings more than I liked the technical coaching," he said.

Tsao realized he "also wanted to live" what he was coaching.

This realization, tied to his period of personal healing and one psychedelic session, led Tsao back to art. During that session, he began picking up art materials and rediscovered his love of painting. Afterward, he began using art materials he had received from friends and carving out time to create while supporting himself through coaching. His mixed-media abstract work featured in the exhibition explores ancestry, Eastern and Western identities, and connection to the self through ink, collage, crayons, and colored markers.

This shift is what led him to his first art exhibition and now to the send-off for the city he lived in for 13 years. He will miss the city's pizza and diversity, but most importantly the vibrance of its people — from buskers on the subway to dancers in Washington Square Park.

"I think about the New York that doesn't really relate to things with price," he said. "I definitely do think about the concerts I've been to, the food I've had, the encounters at that. But most importantly, the love letter is everything in between. It's for the little pockets of magic."

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Martina Nacach Cowan Ros

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Martina is an economy fellow at Business Insider, where she covers the Cost of the City series and broader economic news. She studied journalism and international relations at Boston University.

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China's exports rose more than expected in July, though growth eased from June's blistering pace, with global demand for high-tech components helping absorb the country's goods.

Exports grew 23.9% in U.S. dollar terms in July from a year earlier, official customs data showed Friday, topping Reuters-polled analysts' forecast for a 22.2% growth. That slowed from June's 27% surge, which was the fastest pace since October 2021.

Imports rose 27.5% last month, just shy of Reuters estimates of 27.9% in a Reuters poll, slowing from June's 36% jump — the quickest in five years.

A worldwide build-out of AI infrastructure has helped support the world's second-largest economy through a year of geopolitical shocks, keeping growth on track even as domestic consumption has been subdued.

China's integrated circuit exports by value nearly doubled this year as of the end of July, from the same period last year, according to official data compiled by Wind Information. In July alone, chip exports surged 117% from a year earlier.

Exports of mechanical and electrical products accounted for more than 60% of China's total shipments in the first seven months this year, according to China's customs authority, driven by demand for electric vehicles, lithium battery and wind power generating equipment. Among the other fast-growing export categories were 3D printers and industrial robotics.

Chinese exporters had also been racing goods onto U.S.-bound ships ahead of an anticipated increase in tariffs. Washington applied a new 12.5% levy on Chinese products in late July, replacing a temporary 10% rate that had lapsed.

Shipments to the U.S. grew around 17% from a year ago, quickening from about 14% in June, according to Wind, while imports increased 15%. China's exports to the European Union continued to grow, expanding 16% year on year in July, while imports from the bloc shrank 1%.

The trade surplus came in at $112.5 billion, exceeding analysts' estimates of about $107 billion, while narrowing from $125.6 billion in June, customs data showed.

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China's export engine is likely to remain strong in the third quarter, said Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

Beijing's massive trade surplus, which exceeded $1 trillion last year, has become a standing grievance for its trading partners, including the U.S. and the European Union, where officials have pressed China to rebalance its economy toward boosting consumption.

"I expect intense negotiations between China and the major trading partners in the coming months on what can be done to make trade more balanced," said Zhang, ahead of the expected U.S.-China summit in September and the EU-China meeting on economic relations in October.

Chinese authorities reaffirmed support for the slowing economy during a policy-setting meeting in late July, including accelerated fiscal rollout and timely monetary adjustment, while stopping short of announcing concrete steps to boost household spending.

China's economy in the second quarter expanded at its weakest pace since the fourth quarter of 2022, with gross domestic product growth coming in at 4.3% in the April to June period.

Retail sales eked out 1% growth in June, a thin rebound from May's 0.6% contraction. Consumer inflation cooled to 1% in June from 1.2% in May, while factory-gate prices rose 4.1%, the strongest growth since July 2022. %!s()

Community payback is not suitable for everyone but covers a wide range of adult offending and can be included as part of suspended sentences. The Sentencing Act, which received royal assent in January, introduces a presumption for courts to suspend short custodial sentences of 12 months, which will mean more offenders carrying out community-based punishments.

On the day the Guardian visited the Smethwick project last month, the temperature was already in the high 20s by 9.30am when the participants arrived at the canal for a day of strimming and cutting back overgrown vegetation, and clearing beer cans, plastic bags, bottles and condoms from the towpath and the canal itself.

Among them was Steve Warmer, a 54-year-old with a painful hip, dressed in a grey tracksuit, who was recently convicted of an offence that can attract a fine, a driving ban and up to six months in prison. As two of his fellow participants were given nets to trawl the canal for rubbish and thick, green duckweed, Warmer was handed a picker and the first of many black rubbish bags.

Warmer, a factory worker from Dudley, said he was “the last one standing [alive]” out of his group of friends. “I actually enjoy this work,” he said. “It gives me knowledge of life and other people.”

The aim of community payback is to combine punishment with rehabilitation, and Warmer added: “Me and my wife now litter pick in our own street.”

Not everyone working at the canal was as positive as Warmer, who had completed 126 of 250 hours of a community payback sentence. In the hot weather, the work was particularly demanding, with plenty of water breaks needed as the temperature rose further in the afternoon.

Courts can order between 40 and 300 hours of community payback, to be completed within a specific timeframe. Offenders must work up to 28 hours each week over three or four days if they are unemployed. If they are employed, it will be organised around their working hours. Failure to comply without reasonable excuse can result in enforcement action and a return to court.

The supervisor at the Smethwick project on the day Warmer was there was Mo Ghafoor, who spent 10 years as a corporate banker and whose responsibilities now included driving the van that transported the offenders and equipment to the site.

“This is 100% more fulfilling’ he said. “I used to help businesses with profit but I was just a voice on the phone. Here I make a difference in the heart of my own community. I help my own mental health and that of others, the community and individuals.”

Other forms of community payback, formerly known as community sentences, include removing graffiti, decorating public places and buildings such as community centres, and planting trees. Anyone can nominate a project for the scheme, provided it benefits the local community, does not take paid work away from others, and doesn’t make a profit for anyone.

Among the offenders who will spend less time in prison and more time in the community as a result of the Sentencing Act are burglars, shoplifters and criminals convicted of assault.

The latest statistics, from July to September 2024, show that adults released from custody with sentences of less than 12 months had a reoffending rate of 68.2%, compared with 22.9% for sentences of 12 months or more.

While critics might see community payback as a soft sentencing option, it is not a view shared by Ghafoor. “We look at the individual to whom it gives a structure to their life,” he said. “It often breaks a negative cycle and changes their mindset, and therefore brings reoffending down.” %!s()

Key Facts

A total solar eclipse is coming to Europe, but only to a narrow path across parts of eastern Greenland, western Iceland and northern Spain on Aug. 12. The edge also crosses three tiny bits of Portugal.

The path of totality is about 180 miles wide. If you’re not in the path of totality, you cannot experience a total solar eclipse.

The precise geometry of the path of totality — the moon’s shadow cone as it tracks across a rotating Earth — traditionally depends on calculations made using a set of values called Besselian elements. The distance of the moon from the Earth and the exact shape of the moon —but also of the sun — are critical.

However, the value for the sun’s diameter appears to be wrong, leaving eclipse maps — projections of the moon’s shadow — slightly askew. Neither do most eclipse maps take into account how shadows fall on terrain. The new map is computed using the IQP eclipse computational method that accounts for an improved value for the eclipse solar radius as well as the exact shape of the moon and topography.

Anyone viewing any stage of the partial solar eclipse must use ISO 12312-2-certified eclipse glasses to view the event safely. Only those within the path of totality will be able to remove their eclipse glasses, and then only during totality itself. That will last up to 2 minutes 18 seconds.

Why The Edge Of Totality Matters

At the centerline of a path of totality, the observer witnesses the longest totality possible. Right at the edge, it’s just a few seconds. Just beyond the edge, there is no totality. For most eclipse chasers traveling well inside the path of totality, precisely where the edge of the path is makes no difference. However, for those living near the edge, it could determine whether they experience totality or miss it altogether. That is particularly true in Spain, where some of the most populated areas are close to the eclipse limits. “One of the main places in Spain where the limit lines cross well populated areas are the northern suburbs of Madrid and Bilbao, coincidentally both near their respective airports,” said Luca Quaglia, an eclipse chaser and researcher based in Australia, in an email. “For people living in those suburbs and not traveling, being on the wrong side of the limit lines will make a difference.” It’s also down to an inaccurate figure for the solar radius, which can make eclipse maps out by as much as about 2,000ft. (600 meters) at their edges.

Putting Portugal On The Map

The new edge map also underscores that Portugal deserves to be mentioned much more when discussing this eclipse. The southern edge of the path crosses two tiny villages of Portugal (Rio de Onor and Guadramil) on most maps, but on the new map, it crosses three — albeit it is a mountainous sliver with no settlements.

Why Mountains Can Matter As Much As Clouds

In northern Spain and Portugal, the eclipse will occur near sunset, with the sun just a few degrees above the horizon. That creates the possibility of a spectacular “sunset eclipse,” in which the corona glows above distant hills, but also risks. A mountain and/or a single cloud bank, making location choice critical. Eclipse chasers are using resources like The Eclipse App, SunsetAtlas, Eclipse Horizon, Instituto Geográfico Nacional and TPE, all of which can help make sure they’ll be able to see the eclipse from specific places. The Besselian Elements team has added terrain shadows at totality time, but also a way of recognizing that the clouds blocking an eclipse may not actually be above the observer. “A weather forecast for the vertical of the observing site might be misleading as the weather to look for will actually be at a noticeable distance away,” said Quaglia. “On our website and on the map we have provided weather data at 18h UTC, as the days go by, for a range of meteorological variables to have everything on one page.” Crucially, it includes a “line of sight” cloud cover forecast to capture the probability of a real-life view of the eclipsed sun.

Beginning this week, the website will publish successive forecasts for 18:00 UTC without removing previous runs, allowing eclipse chasers to see whether weather patterns are becoming more reliable or remain uncertain. Areas where forecasts consistently predict clear skies — or persistent cloud — will become increasingly obvious as eclipse day approaches.

Further reading

ForbesWhere To Get Safe Eclipse Glasses For The Aug. 12 Solar EclipseBy Jamie Carter

ForbesTotal Solar Eclipse ‘Map Of Nope’ Meme Is A Must-See Before AugustBy Jamie CarterForbesNASA Drops Map Of Next Total Solar Eclipse — And It Visits The U.S.By Jamie CarterForbesWhy Sunday May Now Be The Shortest Day Of The Year As Earth Slows DownBy Jamie CarterForbesIt’s Exactly A Year Until The ‘Eclipse Of The Century’By Jamie Carter %!s()