NEW YORK (AP) — Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, Grammy-winning musician Wyclef Jean of the Fugees and James Beard Award-winning chef Marcus Samuelsson will headline Global Citizen's summer conference on urban revitalization in Detroit, the international anti-poverty nonprofit announced Thursday.
Global Citizen is bringing its conference series to a U.S. location outside New York for the first time — and, with Detroit as its host, to a place not-so-long-ago considered the poster child for urban blight as the auto industry's decline pushed the midwestern city toward bankruptcy. The July 10 summit promises to drive commitments to sustainable development amid population shifts and technological advancements that are disrupting cities worldwide.
“That's such an important priority for me and for the organization because that's a place that's analyzing the future of cities. And what do cities mean and how do we invest in cities?” Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans told the Associated Press last month. "So, Global Citizen NOW: Detroit is going to be a huge part of our strategy.”
The nonprofit aims to spotlight Detroit as an example of how investments in young adults spur economic prosperity, accessible infrastructure and food security. Presenting the conference is Bedrock, a real estate firm at the forefront of Detroit's redevelopment that's been buying up properties downtown and renovating many of them for years.
With its blend of media personalities, athletes and artists, this edition resembles previous lineups that sought to rally audiences against poverty through recognizable cultural figures. It's also key to Evans' goal of growing the movement to 50 million “global citizens” taking the platform's recommended actions by 2029. Global Citizen is expanding its footprint this year with additional sessions scheduled in Brazil, Spain and South Africa.
Before the conference, Global Citizen plans a July 8 community service event around food access and youth empowerment as well as a free block party promoting Detroit nonprofits.
The week's programming will end with live music at Jack White's Third Man Records, intended to celebrate what Global Citizen called “Detroit's rich musical legacy and the power of culture to drive social change.” The city's contributions include the mainstream success of Motown Records, techno music, rap artists such as Eminem and a garage rock scene that birthed the White Stripes.
Jean noted the city's pulse is "unmatched when it comes to music.”
“This ain't just about shining a light, it's about walking hand in hand with each other to get out the dark times,” Jean said in a statement. “Real issues, real voices, real change.”
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FILE - Chef Marcus Samuelsson, who is Ethiopian, but was raised in Sweden, founder of Red Rooster Harlem and more than a dozen other restaurants, holds a tasting plate of Dorowat "lasagna," with injera (Ethiopian flatbread), ayib (Ethiopian cheese), rosemary, and crispy skin, during the C-CAP (Careers through Culinary Arts Program) annual benefit, Feb. 27, 2018, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
FILE - Singer and activist Wyclef Jean performs after a WNBA basketball game between the Phoenix Mercury and the Chicago Sky, May 21, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, file)
FILE - Mark Cuban, center left, greets former Dallas Mavericks player Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers following an NBA basketball game in Dallas, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, file)
NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.
Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.
Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.
“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.
About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.
Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.
The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.
Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.
In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.
“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.
Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.
The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.
Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.
"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.
There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.
The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."
Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.
Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.
Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
