The US health secretaryRobert F Kennedy Jron Tuesday called sugar “poison” and recommended that Americans eat “zero” addedsugarin their food, while acknowledging that the federal government was unlikely to be able to eliminate it from products.
Kennedy, however, said that better labeling was needed for foods and that new government guidelines on nutrition would recommend people avoid sugar completely.
The health and human services secretary also announced plans to eliminate the last eight government-approved synthetic food dyes from the US food supply within two years.
Kennedy said at a press conference on Tuesday:
The US health secretaryRobert F Kennedy Jron Tuesday called sugar “poison” and recommended that Americans eat “zero” addedsugarin their food, while acknowledging that the federal government was unlikely to be able to eliminate it from products.
Kennedy, however, said that better labeling was needed for foods and that new government guidelines on nutrition would recommend people avoid sugar completely.
The health and human services secretary also announced plans to eliminate the last eight government-approved synthetic food dyes from the US food supply within two years.
Kennedy said at a press conference on Tuesday: “Sugar is poison and Americans need to know that it is poisoning us.”
He added moments later:
The secretary said the public is under-informed about food.
“Americans don’t know what they’re eating. We’re going to start informing Americans about what they’re eating,” he said.
Meanwhile, he did not talk about vaccines or vaccinations at the press conference, but itwas reportedby Politico, citing sources familiar with departmental discussions, that Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, was considering removing the Covid-19 shot from the official federal list of recommended inoculations for children.
David Cameron’s former top adviserSteve Hiltonhas joined the 2026 race forCaliforniagovernor, running as a Republican to replace the Democrats’Gavin Newsom, who is prevented by law from seeking a third term.
Hilton, who hosted a show on Fox News for six years, launched his campaign with the theme “Golden Again: Great Jobs, Great Homes, Great Kids”. His campaign said Hilton would be “reinforcing his commitment to positive, practical solutions instead of today’s ideology and dogma”, and that his brand of “positive populism” would focus on helping working families.
Hilton was one of the thenUKprime minister’s closest advisers before the pair fell out over immigration and Brexit in 2016. Hilton, a former advertising executive, is thought to have been largely responsible for a host of early Cameron measures and photo opportunities includingthe husky expedition toAlaskato popularise his “Vote Blue, Go Green” message.
At his campaign launch inLos Angeles, Hilton took aim at state Democrats over notoriously high state taxes, soaring home prices and “the destruction of theCaliforniadream.”
He said he would welcome running against the former vice-presidentKamala Harris, a one-time California senator and attorney generalwho has not ruled out a run for the governorship.
Analysts attributeTesla’s overall difficulties to a number of factors, but ultimately concludeMusk’s role in theWhite Househas caused a branding crisis for Tesla. The company is at a major crossroads, analysts say, that will only be remedied if Musk leaves his role inDogeand returns to Tesla as CEO full-time.
In addition to a drop in sales, a 50% dip in share prices, existingTeslaowners are looking to sell their vehicles in droves, Teslas have been vandalized across the country and in response to ongoing protests of the automaker, theVancouver International Auto showremoved the electronic carmaker from its March lineup. The company also recalled 46,000 Cybertrucks – nearly all that had been sold.
Musk said that the drop in demand is due to the macro economic trends – not branding. “Tesla is not immune to the macro demand for cars,” Musk said. “When there is economic uncertainty, people generally want to pause on doing a major capital purchase like a car. Absent macro issues we don’t see any reduction in demand.”
Analysts are not convinced.
“If Musk leaves the White House there will be permanent brand damage … but Tesla will have its most important asset and strategic thinker back as full-time CEO to drive the vision and the long term story will not be altered,” read aWedbush Securitiesanalyst note. Wedbush remained bullish on the company’s chances of turning its financials around. “IF Musk chooses to stay with the Trump White House it could change the future of Tesla/brand damage will grow.”
The company declined to provide forward-looking guidance for the next quarter citing “shifting global trade policy on the automotive and energy supply chains”.
“While we are making prudent investments that will set up both our vehicle and energy businesses for growth, the rate of growth this year will depend on a variety of factors, including the rate of acceleration of our autonomy efforts, production ramp at our factories and the broader macroeconomic environment,” the earnings report reads. “We will revisit our 2025 guidance in our Q2 update.”
The company did warn, however, that “changing political sentiment” could meaningfully impact short-term demand for Tesla products.
ThoughElon Muskhas acknowledged there have been “rocky moments” of late, he remained optimistic aboutTesla’s future.
“The future forTeslais better than ever,” he said. “The value of the company is delivering sustainable abundance with our affordable AI-powered robots. If you say, what’s the ideal future that you can imagine, that’s what you’d want. You’d want abundance for all in a way that’s sustainable, that’s good for the environment. Basically this is a happy future, this is the happiest future you can imagine.”
That “happy future” includes the company’s plans for fully self-driving cars, said the billionaire CEO as he laid out an ambitious timeline for when he expects the vehicles to hit US roads in some cities – “by the end of the year”. Tesla hashistorically struggled to meettimelines Musk has publicly set for the launch of new products, especially when it comes to self-driving.
“The acid test is, can you go to sleep in your car and wake up in your destination and I’m confident that will be available in many cities in the US by the end of this year,” he said.
This would be on top of the Robotaxi service the company plans to roll out in June. “I predict that there will be millions of Teslas operating fully autonomously in the second half of next year,” Musk said.
Despite missingWall Streetexpectations on the top and bottom line, initial analyst reactions are optimistic given many had significantly lowered their expectations after the company reported a massive dip in vehicle deliveries.
“Against the backdrop of catastrophic expectations, with everything from sales to margins projected to continue the slump, the less-than-bad numbers have been received as welcome news by Tesla investors,” saidThomas Monteiro, senior analyst atInvesting.com.
Monteiro continued:
TheTeslachief executive,Elon Musk, said he willstart pulling back from his role at the so-called“department of government efficiency” (Doge)starting in May. Musk’s remarks came as the company reported a massive dip in both profits and revenues in the first quarter of 2025 amid backlash against his role in theWhite House.
Investors were relieved after Musk said he would scale back his government work and spend more time atTesla, reported Reuters.
While the move is welcome one investor told the news agency, they added that it did not go far enough.Shawn Campbell, an adviser and investor atCamelthorn Investmentswho holds Tesla shares, told Reuters:
Tesla saw a 9% drop in revenue year over year in the first quarter of 2025. The company brought in $19.3bn in revenue, well belowWall Streetexpectations of $21.45bn. The company reported an earnings per share of 27 cents, also well under investor expectations of 43 cents in earnings per share.
Tesla profits also slid 71% to $409m compared with $1.39bn in net income the previous year.
The companysuffered a 13% drop in vehicle deliveries, making it the company’s worst quarter since 2022.Teslaclosed the quarter with 336,681 vehicles delivered.
“Starting probably next month, May, my time allocation to Doge will drop significantly,” Musk said on an investor call.
That said, he expects to spend one to two days a week continuing to do what he referred to as “critical work” at Doge “for as long as the president would like me to do so and as long as it is useful”.
More on this story in a moment, but first, here are some other developments:
Donald Trump has said tariffs on goods from China will be reduced “substantially” but “won’t be zero”, after US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Trump placed import taxes of 145% onChina, which countered with 125% tariffs on US goods, causing volatility in the stock market and concern about slowing global economic growth.
Bessent has said that he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the US and China and that the high tariffs are unsustainable.“I do say China is going to be a slog in terms of the negotiations,” Bessent said, according to a transcript obtained by the Associated Press. “Neither side thinks the status quo is sustainable.”
Trump’s tariffs have unleashed a “major negative shock” into the world economy, the International Monetary Fund has said, as it cut its forecasts for US, UK and global growth.
Trump has said he has no plans to fire theFederal Reservechair, Jerome Powell. The president’s comment comes days after he called the central bank boss a “major loser” whose “termination cannot come fast enough”.
The secretary of state,Marco Rubio, has announced a proposed reorganisation of the US state department as part of what he called an effort to reform itamid criticism from the Trump White House over the execution of US diplomacy.
The embattled US defense secretary,Pete Hegseth, has defended his most recent use of the encrypted messaging appSignalto discuss sensitive military operations, blaming fired Pentagon officials for orchestrating leaks against theTrump administration.
The US health secretary,Robert F Kennedy Jr, on has called sugar “poison” and recommended that Americans eat “zero” addedsugarin their food.He acknowledged that the federal government was unlikely to be able to eliminate it from products, but said better labeling was needed for foods and that new government guidelines on nutrition would recommend people avoid sugar completely.
Congressional lawmakers denounced the treatment of Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk, the students being detained byUS immigrationauthorities for their pro-Palestinian activism, as a “national disgrace”during a visit to the two facilities in Louisiana where each are being held.
More than 150 presidents of US colleges and universities have signed a statement denouncing the Trump administration’s “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” with higher education– the strongest sign yet that US educational institutions are forming a unified front against the government’s extraordinary attack on their independence.