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President Trump moves markets in part by calling America's central banker names.

I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. A published report is moving financial markets that President Trump could announce a successor to, but not yet replace, the powerful chair of the Federal Reserve. Jerome Powell's term isn't over until next year. Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzer has more. President Trump has made no secret of his displeasure with Fed Chair Jerome Powell. He wants the Fed to lower interest rates right away. Yesterday at a NATO press conference, he had this to say about Powell.

I think he's a very stupid person, actually. The president added that he's narrowed his pick to replace Powell down to three or four people. Powell's term as chair ends next spring. Brian Reeling, head of global fixed income strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, says that makes it easier for Powell to resist Trump's pressure campaign. Obviously, he is extremely unlikely to be re-nominated. So, you know, I'm not sure he feels a lot of pressure from the political rhetoric.

In congressional testimony this week, Powell said the Fed is in good shape to wait on an interest rate cut. He wants to see how Trump's tariffs affect the economy and says they could start driving up prices this summer. I'm Nancy Marshall Gensler for Marketplace.

The U.S. dollar index versus other currencies is down a full percentage point since the latest Trump attack on Powell. That's in part to bet the U.S. economy could get weaker. The dollar is down 10 percent this year. The flip side is a weaker dollar makes U.S. exports cheaper, easier to sell in foreign countries.

The cost of health care is ever-growing. New government estimates show it'll go from 17 to 20 percent of total U.S. economic output within eight years. This says Republican lawmakers debate how deeply they want to cut health care programs like Medicaid as part of the big tax-cutting and spending plan. The House version of the bill means 11 million people could lose health insurance. Marketplace's Elizabeth Troval looks at why the tab for health care keeps getting bigger.

Healthcare spending is expected to outpace GDP growth in the coming years, at least through 2033, according to new estimates by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. One reason why? We do see the baby boomers retiring. Benjamin Uchert with Texas A&M University says as the silver tsunami ages, people will utilize more health care.

Treatment is also getting pricier, and you have to factor in the cost of health innovation, says MIT's Jonathan Gruber. We're just inventing cool new stuff that costs more money. Gruber says growth in health care spending isn't necessarily a bad thing. It drives employment and can lead to new, life-saving cures for disease. The problem is that society is unwilling to pony up to pay those costs. Consumers are also

Consider the current debate over cuts to Medicaid spending proposed by Republican lawmakers. To kick people off health insurance, we'll spend less on health care and people will die. And that's a tradeoff that I think the U.S. voter needs to recognize that these politicians are making. One way or the other, he says, when it comes to their health, Americans will have to pay. I'm Elizabeth Troval for Marketplace.

Thank you.

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Grainger, for the ones who get it done. A group of tanker ships used largely by Iran and Russia to sell oil on the global market to get around international sanctions is growing in size. The Shadow Fleet is now 17% of all international tankers, according to a report from Allianz. Reporter Daniel Ackerman has more.

In the early 2010s, the West slapped big sanctions on Iran's energy exports. So to keep its oil revenue flowing, Iran turned to the so-called shadow fleet, says Elizabeth Braugh, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

I spoke with her and other experts at a conference on the topic this week. It really began as a way for Iran to export and import because it was under so many sanctions. She says Russia now also uses shadow vessels to sell its oil. The country was sanctioned for invading Ukraine in 2022.

Ambra says the size of the international shadow fleet has more than doubled since then. They are essentially like a tumor on the global shipping system. These shadow vessels use all kinds of shadowy tactics. They spoof GPS, for example, to claim their loading oil at an Iraqi port when they're actually in Iran.

They carry fake insurance documents, and they transfer their cargo from one ship to another to another just to confuse anyone watching by satellite. Ambrose says these vessels aren't exactly in ship shape.

They are often old. They should really be scrapped. An old vessel that is poorly maintained poses significant risks of accidents and incidents, just like an old car. There have already been some minor collisions and oil spills caused by Shadow Fleet ships. Tomer Renan, a maritime risk analyst at Lloyd's List Intelligence, fears that a major environmental disaster could be next.

It's a massive accident that's waiting to happen. And because these ships are underinsured at best, cleanup costs aren't borne by the operators of the shadow vessels, says Joshua Tallis with the Center for Naval Analyses.

All of those costs are going to fall on the international community and most likely quite heavily off the coast of whatever country that accident actually happens on. And the continued growth of these risks shows that Western sanctions just haven't had their desired effect, says Ian Ralby, CEO of the maritime consultancy IR Concilium.

No amount of sanctions have put Russia, Iran, North Korea, or anyone out of business. Iran in particular has been very successful in finding ways of using the maritime space to continue to move oil and fuel illegally. He says intercepting these shadow ships isn't a great option because that would go against the principle of freedom of navigation on the high seas.

Most Navy's Coast Guards and Marine Police forces around the world are not going to have an impetus to try to take on this kind of situation, particularly given the extreme political blowback that would accompany any kind of interdiction. So for now, the Shadow Fleet keeps on sailing. I'm Daniel Ackerman for Marketplace.

And we've been following President Trump's family company taking orders for a mobile phone service offering a U.S.-made smartphone. We reported on experts doubting a made-in-the-USA phone was possible anytime soon. Now the publication The Verge noticed the promised T1-8002 phone is no longer being touted as U.S.-manufactured. The made-in-the-USA banner is gone from the Trump mobile website.

Now the promise is, quote, designed with American values in mind. The phone screen is now a bit shorter, and the amount of onboard RAM first listed as 12 gigs is now a mystery. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio, Marketplace Morning Report. From APM, American Public Media.

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