WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior has taken a new step to support American energy independence and unleash the vast resource potential of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve. A draft analysis released for public comment today supports the selection of a new alternative from the 2020 plan that would reopen up to 82% of the 23-million-acre reserve to oil and gas leasing and development, consistent with the Trump administration’s commitment to Energy Dominance and regulatory reform.

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Washington, D.C. – American agricultural producers will have greater market access to Thailand and Vietnam and maintained access to Brazil, according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. The Trump Administration continues to break down non-tariff barriers and defend current market access, and these latest actions are some of many wins ahead for American producers. U.S. dairy producers will have maintained access to Brazil markets, citrus and apple growers will be able to sell more products to Thailand, and stone fruit growers will face lower non-tariff trade barriers in Vietnam as a result of the action taken by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

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Major milestone in addressing the unprecedented Biden-Buttigieg backlog of more than 3,200 announced but unsigned projects.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Transportation Department has cleared another 529 infrastructure grants to get America building again. The latest grants, which total more than $2.9 billion, bring the total number approved to more than a third of the unprecedented 3,200 project backlog from the previous administration. Secretary Duffy has now cleared 1,065 projects worth roughly $10 billion since the start of this historic administration., according to Secretary Sean P. Duffy.

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he American marine economy continues to fuel economic vitality, according to the statistics from the annual Marine Economy Satellite Account (MESA) released today by two Department of Commerce agencies – NOAA and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

The marine economy contributed a total of $511 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023 (5.9% growth since 2022). It generated $827 billion in sales (4.5% growth since 2022) and supported 2.6 million jobs. The MESA statistics include all economic activities related to the ocean and U.S. coastal regions.

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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for April 2025:

New Home Sales Sales of new single-family houses in April 2025 were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 743,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 10.9 percent (±13.5 percent)* above the March 2025 rate of 670,000, and is 3.3 percent (±14.7 percent)* above the April 2024 rate of 719,000.

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WASHINGTON, DC – Total single-family home sales are expected to close 2025 at 4.92 million units, with existing home sales accounting for 4.24 million of those units, according to the May 2025 Economic and Housing Outlook from the Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTCQB) Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group. Revisions to the home sales forecast were driven in part by the ESR Group's lower expectations for mortgage rates, which it now forecasts to end 2025 and 2026 at 6.1% and 5.8%, respectively. The latest outlook also projects real gross domestic product growing at 0.7% in 2025 and 2.0% in 2026 on a Q4/Q4 basis.

Visit the Economic and Strategic Research site at https://fanniemae.com to read the full May 2025 Economic and Housing Outlook, including the Economic Developments Commentary, Economic Forecast, and Housing Forecast.   more...