China’s exports rose at the fastest pace in six months in September, beating market expectations and underscoring the sector’s continued role as a key growth driver for the world’s second-largest economy.
Outbound shipments rose 8.3% from a year earlier, accelerating from August’s 4.4% increase and exceeding the 6.0% growth forecast by economists in a Wall Street Journal poll, according to data released Monday by the General Administration of Customs.
The U.S. dollar recovered from a selloff in early trade on Monday as investors hoped Washington may temper its latest escalation of the trade war with Beijing, while political developments in France and Japan undermined the euro and the yen.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, edged higher to 99.002, retracing some losses sustained after U.S. President Trump announced 100 percent tariffs on China.
That revived fears of Trump’s Liberation Day rollout of sweeping tariffs in April, sparking a selloff in stocks and cryptocurrencies on Friday. “Certainly it’s pretty nervous out there,” said Tim Kelleher, head of institutional FX Sales at Commonwealth Bank in Auckland.
“If you look at the U.S. and China stuff, it looks like Trump has done a bit of a TACO again and softened his tone,” he added, referring to a trading rule of thumb that “Trump always chickens out.”
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Earlier in the day, Trump said: “Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine! Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment,” he posted on the Truth Social network. “He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!”
Market liquidity may be affected by holidays as the U.S. observes Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day today, while Japan is also closed to mark Health and Sports Day.
Against the yen, the dollar fetched 151.985 yen, up 0.5 percent as markets assessed the path ahead for new Liberal Democratic Party leader Sanae Takaichi after Komeito quit the ruling coalition on Friday, dealing a blow to her hopes to become the first female prime minister of the world’s fourth largest economy.
The euro stood at $1.1609, down 0.1 percent, after the French presidency announced Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s new cabinet line-up on Sunday, reappointing Roland Lescure, a close ally of Emmanuel Macron, as finance minister.
Cryptocurrency markets fluctuated between gains and losses after a sharp selloff on Friday, with bitcoin last trading up 0.4 percent at $115,486.04. Gold hit a fresh record of $4,059.30 and was last up 0.8 percent.
The offshore yuan traded at 7.137 yuan per dollar, tacking on 0.1 percent in early Asian trade. The Australian dollar fetched $0.6513, rising 0.6 percent in early trade, while the kiwi traded at $0.57345, up 0.3 percent. Sterling changed hands at $1.33415, up 0.1 percent so far on the day.
Reporting by Gregor Stuart HunterEditing by Shri Navaratnam
“Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!” he wrote. “Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!!”
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures that the U.S. is willing to be reasonable if China is too, though he insisted Trump has the upper hand with “far more cards” than Beijing holds.
The shift in tone contrasts with Trump’s fiery rhetoric on Friday as he lashed out at China for its new export controls on rare earths, which are critical inputs across a range of industries.
“Market participants appear to be leaning into the TACO trade once more, fueled not only by what we’ve seen in the recent past, but also by conciliatory remarks over the weekend from both President Trump and Vice President Vance, suggesting that Friday’s announcement of additional 100% tariffs on Chinese imports are likely to be little more than a negotiating tactic,” Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone, said in a note on Sunday.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 382 points, or 0.84%. S&P 500 futures were up 1.27%, and Nasdaq futures jumped 1.79%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury tumbled 8.9 basis points to 4.059%. The U.S. dollar was up 0.04% against the euro and up 0.48% against the yen. Gold climbed 1.43% to a new high of $4,057.50 per ounce. U.S. oil futures rose 1.29% to $59.66 a barrel, and Brent crude gained 1.32% to $63.56.
Trump had previously imposed 145% tariffs on China, then put them on hold to allow negotiations to play out. A similar pattern played out with other trade partners like the European Union, causing Wall Street to dismiss maximalist threats with the TACO (Trump always chickens out) trade.
Brown said Trump’s new China tariff, which would go into effect Nov. 1 and bring the overall level to 130%, appears to be another example of his “escalate to de-escalate” strategy.
“Assuming that this is another ‘TACO’ situation, and some clarity on that front is obtained before too long, then this is likely to prove another dip in equities that should be viewed as a buying opportunity, with the path of least resistance continuing to lead higher, if in somewhat choppy fashion,” he added.
At the same time, the Federal Reserve’s shift back to rate cuts amid still-solid economic growth should continue to boost to the dollar, which will likely shrug off tariff threats, Brown predicted.
Similarly, market veteran Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, also sees the U.S. and China pulling back from the precipice.
“If neither side were to blink, the US and Chinese economies would lead the global economy into a deep recession, if not a depression,” he wrote in a note on Sunday. “But we expect that both sides will blink very soon given the extremely adverse consequences of a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.”
For its part, Beijing remained defiant, with the commerce ministry saying Sunday that China doesn’t want a tariff war but is also not afraid of one. It also said the export controls are not a ban on rare earth shipments but are a sovereign right.
But China’s new rare earth export policy ups the ante well beyond another tit-for-tat exchange in the trade war against the U.S.
Dean Ball, who served as a senior advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy earlier this year, wrote on X on Saturday that the policy gives Beijing the power to “forbid any country on Earth from participating in the modern economy.”
Dali Yang, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, sounded a similar alarm in a post on Sunday, saying the move marks a decisive moment that reveals what a China-led order might look like.
Looking beyond rare earths, it’s one that leverages control over strategic materials and technologies to prop up global influence.
“China is effectively saying: ‘We control the arteries of high-tech civilization.’ The rest of the world now sees that message clearly—and is scrambling to build new circulatory systems,” Yang wrote.
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Chinese entities have been acquiring land in key locations near U.S. military bases, sparking national security concerns about possible spying — or even a potential attack.
Former national security official David Feith laid out the potential risk in an interview with 60 Minutes. Feith worked on U.S.-China policy for the State Department in the first Trump administration, and until April, worked in Trump’s second administration on the National Security Council. While there, he grew increasingly alarmed by where China owns America’s farmland.
“The ability to own large tracts of land, especially close to sensitive U.S. military and government facilities, can pose an enormous problem given the nature of technology today, which is that hostile actor from all across the world can very easily exploit access to land, access to buildings and warehouses, access just to a shipping container or two and do enormous damage, either in intelligence terms or in military terms,” Feith told 60 Minutes Overtime.
Feith cited Ukraine’s recent drone attack in Russia as an example. In June, the Ukrainian military attacked Russian nuclear-capable bombers with remotely operated drones it had smuggled into the country.
For China, Feith explained, owning farmland in the United States gives America’s geopolitical rival more operating room for potential strikes.
“It’s an entirely new way of war,” he cautioned.
This fear is why, in 2023, North Dakota politicians blocked a Chinese company from building a corn mill near an Air Force base in Grand Forks. At the time, the company denied it would use the mill to spy on or harm the U.S.
China isn’t the only nation buying American farmland. According to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, non-Americans own about 45 million acres — or about 3 and a half percent — of agricultural land in the U.S. That’s up about 70 percent from a decade earlier. Canadians own about a third of that, while Chinese nationals own just under 1 percent, at 277,336 acres.
It may be a small percentage, but it is enough to grab the attention of politicians. There’s no federal law stopping foreigners from buying American farmland, but 29 states now limit it or ban it altogether, according to the most recent data from the National Agricultural Law Center.
As part of a seven-point national security plan, the Trump Agriculture Department this summer announced it will increase transparency around foreign ownership of farmland, impose harsher penalties for false reporting, and collaborate with Congress and state governments to stop adversarial countries like China from buying more land in the future.
Beyond the farm, Feith says there is growing concern from Chinese-backed cryptocurrency mining operations in the United States. Crypto mines, as they are known, are giant data centers where powerful computers solve complex mathematical problems to validate transactions with cryptocurrency. Feith believes they could be used for espionage or to sabotage the electric grid.
“They’re effectively enormous and enormously powerful data centers,” Feith said. “The first threat they pose is for intelligence collection. And the second threat is that they can sabotage the power grid because they draw so much power.”
Feith said the location of crypto mines also makes them a risk.
In one example, President Biden in May 2024 ordered a Chinese-backed firm to sell a property in Cheyenne, Wyoming and dismantle its cryptocurrency mining operation there. The decision was based on national security concerns; the site is located near Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, which houses intercontinental ballistic missiles.
“The fact that these mines, these large, powerful data centers, are so often located near sensitive U.S. military facilities underscores why this would be a potential catastrophe in crisis or conflict with China,” Feith said.
Because Chinese law requires corporations to cooperate with the government, Feith said it is not enough for a Chinese company in the U.S. to claim independence as a private enterprise. If the Xi administration requests, Chinese companies are obligated to share data and assist in intelligence work, even if the company is based abroad.
The potential risk of Chinese companies buying farmland and building crypto mines near military facilities in the United States is clear, according to Feith.
“In the view of U.S. intelligence officials and government leaders now for years, China is preparing to be able to fight and defeat the United States military in a war,” he said.
The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer and edited by Scott Rosann.
Tim Haugh, the retired general and ousted former head of both the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, warns that China has hacked into U.S. computer networks to an astonishing degree, targeting not just the U.S. military and industries, but also every American.
In the months since Mr. Trump’s return to the White House, there have been resignations and firings of other people focused on America’s cyber defense.
“Our overall capacity is getting smaller while we know China’s continues to grow,” Haugh told 60 Minutes. “There is still immense capability in the U.S. government, and now it will be up to the administration to be able to use that and build partnerships with industry to be able to ensure that we’re countering these threats.”
What China is accessing in the U.S.
Haugh rose to lead the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command in 2024, just as the scope of China’s hacking of utilities became clear in a place no one would have imagined: Littleton, Massachusetts.
It’s a small town with around 10,000 residents, 30 miles northwest of Boston. It’s not a major supplier to the federal government or to a military base, yet China targeted the town. The FBI visited in November 2023 to tell Nick Lawler, general manager of the town’s electric and water utility, that China had breached his utility’s computer network. Lawler said the feds told him he was one of 200.
Scott Pelley and Nick Lawler in Littleton, Massachusetts.
60 Minutes
China had been on some American networks for at least five years around the time of the FBI’s visit to Lawler.
At the water treatment plant, Lawler showed how dangerous a hack could have been. If China had managed to get control over the utilities water system, they could have poisoned the water.
But China was caught before it had operational control. Secure from danger, and with Lawler’s permission, the federal investigators watched what China was doing and what they learned was part of an awakening for American security.
“If you are willing to go after a small water provider in Littleton, Massachusetts, what other target is off the list? So, from that perspective, this is a national threat. It’s one that needs to be addressed,” Haugh said. “But it’s also one that every American should understand, because if they’re willing to go after that small provider that doesn’t have a national security connection, that means every target is on the list.”
China denies hacking America’s critical infrastructure. The White House recently told 60 Minutes it is working to “assess exposure and mitigate the damage.”
No utility would talk to 60 Minutes about getting hacked by China except Littleton’s Nick Lawler. He decided to speak out so Americans could understand the danger.
“I think initially we were surprised that China would target every American with these capabilities,” Haugh said. “That goes against every norm of international law. That certainly goes against how the United States military would approach targeting in a crisis or a conflict. That the fact that they would go after basic services as part of their effort that they have identified as unrestricted warfare is unconscionable.”
Other critical places believed to have been targeted by China over the years include New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 13 gas pipeline operators, the port of Houston and major phone companies.
China is causing those problems by exploiting vulnerabilities in network equipment. In Littleton, Massachusetts, China found a weakness in a network firewall. That’s not unusual when software vulnerabilities go unpatched, or when out-of-date equipment is no longer supported with security updates. Once inside, China did not install malware, which could be a red flag. Instead, it stole login credentials and masqueraded as a legitimate employee.
“They are just gaining access to that system and then attempting to lay dormant. They’re not spending more time collecting intelligence or taking other activities,” Haugh said.
That access is there if they need it later, Haugh said.
Haugh said it’s unclear how deep China’s reach is into American systems, but believes that China is likely scanning millions of devices across the U.S. every day.
Why China is hacking U.S. systems
China is hacking critical infrastructure to try to ensure that it has an advantage in a crisis or a conflict, Haugh said.
“There’s no advantage to be gained economically. There was no foreign intelligence-collection value. The only value would be for use in a crisis or a conflict,” he said.
A hack in Littleton could distract the U.S., Haugh said.
Retired four-star Gen. Tim Haugh
60 Minutes
“If we’re involved in something in the Indo-Pacific that is becoming a challenge between the United States and China, the more that China could get us to focus at home means now our resources are focused in the homeland,” he said. “That would distract us, distract resources, make it more difficult for us to mobilize in a crisis.”
Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota and chair of the Armed Services Cybersecurity Subcommittee, said he believes China intends to try to deter the U.S. from engaging in a potential fight by using its cyber program to disrupt key American industries.
“All it takes is a blip on the financial markets to delay certain trades by just milliseconds, to put the market into an entirely different attitude about the security and the soundness of being able to make those transactions happen,” he said.
China, he said, could threaten chaos on Wall Street to deter the United States.
“Those are areas that they would love to [access] just so that when the time comes, in my opinion, they can look at it and simply say, ‘We know where you’re at. Don’t mess with us. We’re capable of causing real problems for you long term,’” Rounds said.
Stopping China
While China continues accessing American systems, Haugh noted that the U.S. is “definitely good” at keeping adversaries out of networks, but that the scale is a challenge.
“It is much more consuming to try to get somebody out of a network than to deny them access, which is why it’s so critically important that we get the basics right in our critical infrastructure and in these substantive networks so that we aren’t expending more resources to try to root them out,” Haugh said.
Haugh was fired in April after far-right activist Laura Loomer met with President Trump. Online she accused Haugh of disloyalty — pointing to his appointment by President Biden as evidence — and said he had been “…referred for firing.” Haugh, in his first television interview since retirement, said he was “absolutely not” disloyal.
Rounds called Haugh’s termination “a loss for our nation.”
Sen. Mike Rounds
60 Minutes
“We do not have enough of these types of leaders, and a loss of any one of them without strong justification is disappointing,” Rounds said.
“The National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command are consequential organizations. The second I was no longer the leader, focus shifts to them,” Haugh said. “They have consequential missions to do and for my family, it shifts to, ‘How do we serve in different ways, through education, through partnering with innovators and working with industry to continue to advance many of these issues.’”
Today, Haugh is advancing these issues, teaching at Yale and consulting — sidelined in government as China expands its aggressive hacking, spying and theft of intellectual property.
He shared what he believes is at stake if the U.S. does not dominate in this space.
“First, I’m always confident in our nation. But if we don’t dominate in this space, China gains advantage with the ability to continue to steal intellectual property, which impacts our economy,” Haugh said. “They could gain increased intelligence collection, which would help them every day and also in a crisis in conflict, and they could preposition in critical networks, both in the United States and with allies and partners, that could give them advantage in a crisis. We can’t let that happen.”
Until recently, Tim Haugh was among America’s top spymasters. The four-star general spent 33 years in Air Force Intelligence and rose to lead America’s largest and most advanced intelligence agency. Haugh was also in charge of defending America from computer threats. In his first television interview since retirement, General Haugh is here to warn that China has hacked into U.S. computer networks to an astonishing degree. And he believes he knows why. The surprise, Tim Haugh told us, is that China is targeting not just the U.S. military and industry but also Americans in their homes.
Gen. Tim Haugh: I think initially we were surprised that China would target every American with these capabilities. That goes against every norm of international law. That certainly goes against how the United States military would approach targeting in a crisis or a conflict. That the fact that they would go after basic services as part of their effort that they have identified as unrestricted warfare is unconscionable.
Scott Pelley: And what did they target?
Gen. Tim Haugh: They targeted water. They targeted electrical power infrastructure; transportation are examples of the types of things that were targeted. And in many cases they’re vulnerable.
Multiple intrusions at utilities were discovered in 2023. And China had been on some of their computer networks at least five years.
Scott Pelley: You’re saying that the Chinese today are in American power plants, water treatment plants, other parts of the electrical grid, maybe even hospitals, telecommunications, all of that?
Gen. Tim Haugh: So there is a daily contest that is going on to be able to deny China those accesses. But they are certainly attempting every single day to be able to target telecommunications, to be able to target critical infrastructure, both in the United States and in other countries. And they are doing that to try to ensure that they have an advantage in a crisis or a conflict.
Scott Pelley: Is China preparing for war?
Gen. Tim Haugh: There was no other reason to target those systems. There’s no advantage to be gained economically. There was no foreign intelligence-collection value. The only value would be for use in a crisis or a conflict.
Retired four-star Gen. Tim Haugh
60 Minutes
In 2024, Tim Haugh rose to lead both the National Security Agency, America’s largest spy agency, plus U.S. Cyber Command, the military defense in cyberspace. Haugh took over just as the scope of China’s hacking of utilities was becoming clear in a place no one would have imagined.
Scott Pelley: Is Littleton a major supplier of some kind to the federal government?
Nick Lawler: We are not.
Scott Pelley: Major supplier to a military base?
Nick Lawler: Nope.
Nick Lawler is general manager of the Littleton, Massachusetts electric and water utility. His town has 10,000 residents.
Scott Pelley: Can you think of any reason that China would target your little community?
Nick Lawler: That’s the exact question I had for the FBI when they visited me on that first day, and I still can’t answer that question. No, I can’t think of one reason.
The FBI visited in November 2023 to tell Lawler that China had access to his utility’s computer network. He says the feds told him he was one of 200.
Scott Pelley: How much of all of this is controlled, remotely by computer?
Nick Lawler: All of it.
In his water treatment plant, Lawler showed us tanks of dangerous chemicals that are precisely controlled to deliver clean water.
Scott Pelley: If you had control of these tanks, you’ve got control of Littleton, Massachusetts. You can poison the water.
Nick Lawler: You can poison the water.
But China was caught before it had operational control. With Lawler’s permission, the feds watched what China was doing and what they learned was part of an awakening for American security.
Gen. Tim Haugh: If you are willing to go after a small water provider in Littleton, Massachusetts, what other target is off the list? So, from that perspective, this is a national threat. It’s one that needs to be addressed. But it’s also one that every American should understand, because if they’re willing to go after that small provider that doesn’t have a national security connection, that means every target is on the list.
Scott Pelley: So help me understand, why Littleton?
Gen. Tim Haugh: If we’re involved in something in the Indo-Pacific that is– becoming a challenge between the United States and China, the more that China could get us to focus at home means now our resources are focused in the homeland. That would distract us, distract resources, make it more difficult for us to mobilize in a crisis.
Scott Pelley: Littleton may not be a very large place, but if the Chinese took its water offline, the entire country would be focused on it.
Gen. Tim Haugh: And if there were three to four other examples simultaneously plus an information campaign it could seem much larger than it is, or it could be done in critical places that would have a greater effect.
Other critical places believed to have been targeted by China over years include New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 13 gas pipeline operators, the port of Houston and major phone companies.
Sen. Mike Rounds: But here’s the bottom line on this. They have gotten to be very, very good at cyber operations.
Mike Rounds thinks he knows why China is doing this.
Sen. Mike Rounds
60 Minutes
The Republican senator of South Dakota is chair of the Armed Services Cybersecurity Subcommittee. He believes China intends to deter the U.S. from standing up in a fight by hacking our most sensitive industries
Sen. Mike Rounds: But all it takes is a blip on the financial markets to delay certain trades by just milliseconds, to put the market into an entirely different attitude about the security and the soundness of being able to make those transactions happen.
Scott Pelley: You’re talking about causing chaos on Wall Street.
Sen. Mike Rounds: Threatening to be able to cause chaos on Wall Street would be something that they would love to do.
Scott Pelley: And turning the lights on and off.
Sen. Mike Rounds: Most certainly. Or to start out with, whether or not you can get an airline reservation. And so those are areas that they would love to– just so that when the time comes, in my opinion, they can look at it and simply say, “We know where you’re at. Don’t mess with us. We’re capable of causing real problems for you long term.”
China is causing those problems by exploiting vulnerabilities in network equipment. In Littleton, Massachusetts, China found a weakness in a network firewall. That’s not unusual when software vulnerabilities go unpatched or when out-of-date equipment is no longer supported with security updates. Once inside, China did not install malware which could be a red flag. Instead, it stole log-in credentials and masqueraded as a legitimate employee.
Gen. Tim Haugh: They are just gaining access to that system and then attempting to lay dormant. They’re not spending more time collecting intelligence or taking other activities.
Scott Pelley: It’s there if they need it later.
Gen. Tim Haugh: Exactly.
Scott Pelley: Do we even know how extensively the Chinese are into our systems?
Gen. Tim Haugh: I don’t think we have a perfect knowledge of that.
Scott Pelley: How many Chinese attacks are there on U.S. systems in a day?
Gen. Tim Haugh: I would exp– expect that automated activity are happening at scans, at the– the m– millions of devices throughout every single day.
China denies the hacking. The White House told us it is working to “assess exposure and mitigate the damage.” In Littleton, the damage forced Nick Lawler to completely rebuild his network, at a cost of more than $50,000.
Scott Pelley and Nick Lawler in Littleton, Massachusetts.
60 Minutes
Gen. Tim Haugh: It is much more consuming to try to get somebody out of a network than to deny them access, which is why it’s so critically important that we get the basics right in our critical infrastructure and in these substantive networks so that we aren’t expending more resource to try to root them out.
Scott Pelley: Tell me we’re good at this.
Gen. Tim Haugh: We are definitely good at this.
Scott Pelley: Really?
Gen. Tim Haugh: But the scale is a challenge.
Very few understood the scale or the challenge as well as Gen. Haugh. In the first Trump administration he was promoted to two star general, then three star. But later, with a fourth star, he led the National Security Agency for only a little over a year.
Gen. Tim Haugh: I got a phone call from a senior official in the Department of Defense that told me that the President had made a decision to remove me.
He was fired, in April, after a far-right activist named Laura Loomer met with the president. Online she explained that Haugh was “disloyal” and had been “referred for firing.” The evidence she pointed to, publicly, was Haugh’s appointment by President Biden. She called Haugh’s firing “a blessing for the American people.”
Scott Pelley: That has got to be galling–after your career.
Gen. Tim Haugh: I– I know in my heart that every day I wanted to achieve the things for our nation that would make us more secure and make every American safe, and that continued to my last day of service. So– from that perspective– it– it certainly was impactful to me and my family. But at the end of the day, it’s about our nation and it’s about our nation’s security.
Scott Pelley: You’re sitting there with four stars on your shoulder, you have spent your entire life in the Air Force, and you’ve been accused of being disloyal. Your reaction is what?
Gen. Tim Haugh: That every day I woke up committed to our national security and to meeting the expectations of the President.
Scott Pelley: Not disloyal?
Gen. Tim Haugh: Absolutely not.
The White House did not answer our questions about Haugh’s firing from the National Security Agency. Later, Haugh retired from the Air Force.
Sen. Mike Rounds: We do not have enough of these types of leaders, and a loss of any one of them without strong justification is disappointing.
A new acting head of the National Security Agency was appointed but the week after the firing, Republican Mike Rounds, chair of the Senate’s Cybersecurity Subcommittee, saw Haugh’s sudden termination this way.
Sen. Mike Rounds: The departure of General Haugh is a loss for our nation but will be a tremendous gain for any private or public entity where he decides to lend his expertise and leadership. I wish him Godspeed. That said, as our adversaries watch this hearing, it will be clear that no matter the scenario, our cyber mission forces are ready.
Gen. Tim Haugh: The National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command are consequential organizations. The second I was no longer the leader, focus shifts to them. They have consequential missions to do and for my family, it shifts to, how do we serve in different ways.
Today, Tim Haugh serves by teaching at Yale, and consulting private industry, but sidelined in government, as China expands its aggressive hacking, spying and theft of intellectual property.
Scott Pelley: There have been resignations and firings of other people focused on America’s cyber defense. What does that mean for our national security?
Gen. Tim Haugh: Our overall capacity is getting smaller while we know China’s continues to grow. There is still immense capability in the U.S. government, and now it will be up to the administration to be able, to be able to use that and build partnerships with industry to be able to ensure that we’re countering these threats.
Scott Pelley: If the United States does not dominate in this space, what is at stake?
Gen. Tim Haugh: First, I’m always confident in our nation. But if we don’t dominate in this space, China gains advantage with the ability to continue to steal intellectual property, which impacts our economy. They could gain increased intelligence collection, which would help them every day and also in a crisis in conflict, and they could preposition in critical networks, both in the United States and with allies and partners that could give them advantage in a crisis. We can’t let that happen.
Produced by Aaron Weisz. Associate producer, Ian Flickinger. Broadcast associate, Michelle Karim. Edited by April Wilson.
China signaled Sunday that it would not back down in the face of a 100 percent tariff threat from President Donald Trump, urging the U.S. to resolve differences through negotiations instead of threats. U.S. Vice President JD Vance defended Trump’s position and seemed to warn China not to be aggressive in its response.
“China’s stance is consistent,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement posted online. “We do not want a tariff war but we are not afraid of one.”
It was China’s first official comment on Trump’s threat to jack up the tax on imports from China by Nov. 1 in response to new Chinese restrictions on the export of rare earths, which are vital to a wide range of consumer and military products.
The back and forth threatens to derail a possible meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping and end a truce in a trade war in which new tariffs from both sides briefly topped 100 percent in April.
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In response, Vance said Sunday that Trump is committed to protecting America’s economic livelihoods while making the United States more self-sufficient. He said the fact that China has “so much control over critical supply in the United States of America” is the definition of a national emergency and therefore justifies Trump’s move to impose tough tariffs.
“It’s going to be delicate dance and a lot of it is going to depend on how the Chinese respond. If they respond in a highly aggressive manner, I guarantee you the president of the United States has far more cards than the People’s Republic of China,” Vance said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“If, however, they’re willing to be reasonable, then Donald Trump is always willing to be a reasonable negotiator. We’re going to find out a lot in the weeks to come about whether China wants to start a trade war with us or whether they actually want to be reasonable,” Vance continued. “I hope they choose the path of reason. The president of the United States is going to defend America regardless.”
Trump has raised taxes on imports from many U.S. trading partners since taking office in January, seeking to win concessions. China has been one of the few countries that hasn’t backed down, relying on its economic clout.
“Frequently resorting to the threat of high tariffs is not the correct way to get along with China,” the Commerce Ministry said in its post, which was presented as a series of answers from an unnamed spokesperson to four questions from unspecified media outlets.
The statement called for addressing any concerns through dialogue.
“If the U.S. side obstinately insists on its practice, China will be sure to resolutely take corresponding measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” the post said.
In addition to the 100 percent tariff, Trump threatened to impose export controls on what he called “critical software,” without specifying what that means.
Both sides accuse the other of violating the spirit of the truce by imposing new restrictions on trade.
Trump said in a social media post that China is “becoming very hostile” and that it is holding the world captive by restricting access to rare earth metals and magnets.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry post said the U.S. has introduced several new restrictions in recent weeks, including expanding the number of Chinese companies subject to U.S. export controls.
On rare earths, the ministry said that export licenses would be granted for legitimate civilian uses, noting that the minerals also have military applications.
The new regulations include a requirement that foreign companies get Chinese government approval to export items that contain rare earths sourced from China, no matter where the products are manufactured.
China accounts for nearly 70 percent of the world’s rare earths mining and controls roughly 90 percent of their global processing. Access to the material is a key point of contention in trade talks between Washington and Beijing.
The critical minerals go into many products, from jet engines, radar systems and electric vehicles to consumer electronics including laptops and phones. China’s export controls have hit European and other manufacturers, as well as American ones.
The Commerce Ministry statement said that the U.S. is also ignoring Chinese concerns by going forward with new port fees on Chinese ships that take effect Tuesday. China announced Friday that it would impose port fees on American ships in response.
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Beijing was already seeing growth slow before Trump announced the latest 100% tariff increase, part of a trade-war flare-up that China has blamed on the U.S.
BEIJING—Under intense pressure from authorities in China, Ezra Jin persisted for years in building one of the nation’s largest underground Christian churches, with branches in 40 cities across the country. Online prayer groups he helped lead at times reached 10,000 people.
Even after his wife relocated to the safety of the U.S. to be with their three children—all American citizens—Jin stayed behind in China to lead Zion Church, aware of the risks he faced.
Historically, China made up as much as 25 per cent of Boeing’s order book, but today it is less than 5 per cent.
Chinese airlines have orders for at least 222 Boeing jets, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. The country has 1,855 Boeing airplanes in service.
The vast majority of planes on order and in service are Boeing’s popular 737 single-aisle jet.
A ban on spare parts or exports would also hit CFM International, the joint venture between GE Aerospace and France’s Safran, which makes the LEAP engine used on the Boeing 737 MAX.
GE also makes engines for the 777 and 787, two larger jets that China has ordered.
Boeing’s European rival Airbus has only 185 orders from Chinese customers, according to Cirium. Airbus has a production facility in Tianjin, which produces about four of its single-aisle A320 jets a month.
China is trying to jumpstart its own commercial jetliner industry, largely with the COMAC C919, a competitor to the A320 and 737. Chinese customers have ordered 365 of the domestically-built jet, according to Cirium.
US export controls on Western-supplied parts for the C919 have significantly slowed production of that aircraft. As of September, COMAC had delivered only five of the 32 jets Chinese customers expect this year.
(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s threat to impose an additional 100% tariff on imports from China sparked a massive cryptocurrency sell-off late Friday that exposed risky leverage in the space.
Digital currencies bitcoin, ether and solana were among the most affected cryptocurrencies, bringing total liquidations to $18.28 billion as of 3:47 p.m. ET, according to data analysis platform CoinGlass. The losses for cryptocurrencies come amid a broad sell-off, as the Nasdaq and S&P 500 on Friday saw their steepest declines in six months.
In the past 24 hours, roughly $5 billion of bitcoin has been liquidated, along with about $4 billion of ether and about $2 billion of solana, according to CoinGlass.
It’s the “largest liquidation event in crypto history,” CoinGlass said in a post on X.
Bitcoin is down almost 10% in the last five days and was trading at $111.616.20 as of 3:45 p.m. ET, a jump from when it dropped to $103,000 at 5:15 p.m. ET on Friday.
On Friday, ether was priced at $4,365.63 and then sunk to $3,742.88 — a 14.2% decline.
Solana was priced at $223.10 on Friday and has fallen to $178.72, as of 3:45 p.m. ET — a nearly 20% plunge.
Crypto has made major gains since Trump took office this year, in large part because of the president’s turnaround from dismissing bitcoin as “based on thin air” to addressing crypto fans at conventions, launching his own meme coin and promising a strategic crypto reserve.
And Trump recently issued an executive order allowing digital assets like crypto to be included in 401(k) plans, causing bitcoin to soar to a record high of $124,000 last week.
Despite ongoing trade talks between Washington and Beijing, trade tensions re-escalated Thursday after China ramped up export restrictions on critical rare earth minerals.
President Donald Trump declared Friday that he will impose a 100% tariff on all imports from China, while also imposing export controls on “any and all critical software” from the United States.
This is the latest move in what looks like an escalating trade conflict between the United States and China. In a Truth Social post announcing the tariffs, Trump also said this new tariff would be “over and above” any tariffs already imposed on Chinese imports. (CNBC reports that while U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports vary depending on the goods, the base tariff rate is already 40%.)
Earlier this week, China announced that it is tightening its export controls on rare earth minerals, requiring that foreign companies apply for a license if they want to export products with even a small amount of those minerals. China is the world’s largest producer of rare earth minerals, which are used in products critical to the tech industry, including semiconductors and solar panels.
In his post, Trump described China’s announcement as “absolutely unheard of in International Trade, and a moral disgrace in dealing with other Nations.”
“It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is History,” he wrote.
According to Trump, these new tariffs are set to take effect on November 1. After posting, Trump reportedly told journalists that the tariffs could still be walked back, and that he would not necessarily cancel a scheduled meeting with President Xi Jinping.
Stocks tumbled following Trump’s announcement, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.9% at market close on Friday, the S&P 500 down 2.71% and Nasdaq down 3.56%. Some tech companies were hit particularly hard, with Nvidia and Tesla both down around 5% at market close.
The S&P 500 sank 2.7% in its worst day since April 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 878 points, or 1.9%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 3.6%.
Stocks had been heading for a slight gain in the morning, until Trump took to his social media platform and said he’s considering “a massive increase of tariffs” on Chinese imports. He’s upset at restrictions China has placed on exports of its rare earths, which are materials that are critical for the manufacturing of everything from consumer electronics to jet engines.
“We have been contacted by other Countries who are extremely angry at this great Trade hostility, which came out of nowhere,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He also said “now there seems to be no reason” to meet with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, after earlier agreeing to do so as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea.
Trump’s sudden announcement of new tariffs recalled April’s big swoon in stock markets, when the president announced “Liberation Day” with a list of “reciprocal tariffs” for a large number of countries worldwide, sending global markets plunging. Within just four days, the S&P 500 fell about 12% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 4,600 points, but the U.S. indexes regained all the lost ground within a month or so as the tariffs played out very differently from Trump’s announcement.
Still, as of October, Federal Reserve Governor Chris Waller, who confirmed to CNBC that he had a “great interview” as a potential replacement for Chairman Jerome Powell, revealed how the tariffs had played out so far: price increases for higher-income consumers as tariffs were passed through, and companies swallowing the cost for any lower-income and price-sensitive shopper. Moody’s Analytics found that nearly 50% of consumer spending in the economy came from the top 10% of wealthiest Americans, meanwhile, and the tariff revenue is “very significant,” according to Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Slok.
The ratchet higher in tensions between the world’s largest economies led to widespread drops across Wall Street, with roughly six out of every seven stocks within the S&P 500 falling. Nearly everything weakened, from Big Tech companies like Nvidia and Apple to stocks of smaller companies looking to get past uncertainty about tariffs and trade.
The market may have been primed for a slide. U.S. stocks were already facing criticism that their prices had shot too high following the S&P 500’s nearly relentless 35% run from a low in April. The index, which dictates the movements for many 401(k) accounts, is still near its all-time high set earlier in the week.
Levi Strauss dropped 12.6% for one of the market’s larger losses, even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
Its forecast for profit over the full year was also within range of Wall Street’s estimates, but the jeans and clothing company could simply be facing the challenge of heightened expectations after a big run. Its stock price came into the day with a surge of nearly 42% for the year so far.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 182.60 points to 6,552.51. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 878.82 to 45,479.60, and the Nasdaq composite sank 820.20 to 22,204.43.
Some of Friday’s strongest action was in the oil market, where the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude sank 4.2% to $58.90.
It fell as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in Gaza. An end to the war could remove worries about disruptions to oil supplies, which had kept crude’s price higher than it otherwise would have been.
Losses accelerated following Trump’s tariff threat, which could gum up global trade and lead the economy to burn less fuel. Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 3.8% to $62.73 per barrel.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.05% from 4.14% late Thursday.
It had already been lower before Trump made his threats, as a report from the University of Michigan suggested that sentiment among U.S. consumers remains in the doldrums.
“Pocketbook issues like high prices and weakening job prospects remain at the forefront of consumers’ minds,” according to Joanne Hsu, director of the Surveys of Consumers. “At this time, consumers do not expect meaningful improvement in these factors.”
The job market has slowed so much that the Federal Reserve cut its main interest rate last month for the first time this year. Fed officials have penciled in more cuts through next year to give the economy additional breathing room. But Chair Jerome Powell has also said they may change course if inflation stays high. That’s because lower interest rates can push inflation even higher.
One potentially encouraging signal from the University of Michigan’s preliminary survey said consumers’ expectations for inflation in the coming year edged down to 4.6% from 4.7% the month before. While that’s still high, the direction of change could help the Fed and limit upward pressure on inflation.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.7%, and France’s CAC 40 dropped 1.5% for two of the bigger moves. But South Korea’s Kospi leaped 1.7% after trading reopened following a holiday.
___
AP Writer Teresa Cerojano contributed.
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new video loaded: The N.B.A. Returns to China After Six Years
transcript
transcript
The N.B.A. Returns to China After Six Years
The N.B.A, returns to China this week, after a hiatus sparked by a controversial 2019 tweet. In Macau, New York Times business reporter Tania Ganguli reveals the behind-the-scenes stakeholders who orchestrated the league’s return.
I’m in Macau, the gambling capital of the world. I’m here for the NBA’s return to China for the last six years, there haven’t been any NBA games here. looking at these big banners that are draped over buildings. Reminds me of being back here in 2019. the players were sitting in their hotel and they could see workers tearing those same types of banners down, peeling their faces off the building. A few days before, the Houston Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey, had sent a tweet in support of protesters in Hong Kong. Well, this made the Chinese government very upset. The NBA backed him. We are not apologizing for Daryl exercising his freedom of expression. And then chaos enveloped. That whole week. Sponsors pulled out. And a lot of the players were worried about if they would even be allowed to go home if things got worse. It was it was that surreal. they lost about $400 million. Just from that one situation The Chinese market is huge for the NBA. There are a lot of basketball fans here…. and the league has been working on cultivating them for decades. And so coming here to Macao and playing a game in China again is a very big deal for the league. when you ask anybody with the league how did these games come together? The name that they mentioned is Patrick Dumont. He’s a top executive with the Sands Casino. And owner of the Dallas Mavericks. in 2021, the Chinese government was renegotiating what’s called concessions with the casinos here in Macau. In those concession agreements, the government required that the casinos spend a certain amount on non-gaming activities like entertainment, like sports. And Sands had this arena at the Venetian, so Dumont saw bringing the NBA here as an opportunity to satisfy that requirement. One of the other main players here was Joe Sy, the owner of the Brooklyn Nets. Joe tsai is the chairman of Alibaba Group, which is a Chinese tech giant. he has a lot of deep ties to the Chinese government, the nets, and spent a lot of time over the last few years meeting with Chinese officials, having events that celebrate Chinese culture. they have spoken to Chinese media outlets and said, this market is so important to us. We care about this market more than any other NBA team. They even launched a reality show. That’s a dance team competition to choose dancers for their games here in Macao Sound up: “The brooklyn nets will find the best dancers in china” There’s a tremendous amount at stake for these teams because. The league saw what happened when something went wrong and they lost this market even briefly. there is a feeling that this has to go right, and that this is a big opportunity to get back something that they lost.
The N.B.A, returns to China this week, after a hiatus sparked by a controversial 2019 tweet. In Macau, New York Times business reporter Tania Ganguli reveals the behind-the-scenes stakeholders who orchestrated the league’s return.
By Tania Ganguli, Christina Shaman, Kassie Bracken and Christina Thornell
October 11, 2025
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Tania Ganguli, Christina Shaman, Kassie Bracken and Christina Thornell
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un displayed a new long-range intercontinental ballistic missile at a military parade in Pyongyang that included foreign leaders on Friday.
The yet-to-be-tested Hwasong-20 was described by the state-owned Korean Central News Agency as having the “most powerful nuclear strategic weapons system.”
The government also displayed shorter-range ballistic, cruise and supersonic missiles at the military parade, which marked 80 years since the founding of the Worker’s Party.
Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, left, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and United Russia party head Dmitry Medvedev, attend a reception marking the 80th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday.(Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik, Pool Photo via AP)
Kim said at the parade that the military “must continue to evolve into an invincible force that eliminates all threats.”
The foreign dignitaries at the parade included Chinese Premier Li Qiang, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and Vietnam’s Communist Party chief To Lam.
Kim also met with Medvedev on Friday, who praised the sacrifice of North Korean soldiers fighting with Russia in Ukraine.
A North Korean government photo shows what it says is a new intercontinental ballistic missile called the Hwasong-20, during a military parade, Friday, in Pyongyang, North Korea.(Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
Kim said he hoped to strengthen ties with Russia and work together toward common goals.
Last summer, Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong warned the U.S. to not attempt to restart talks centered around denuclearization, adding that Pyongyang would view any attempt to pressure North Korea to denuclearize as “nothing but a mockery.”
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, fourth right, and Vietnamese General Secretary of Communist Party To Lam, fourth left, hold a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea.(Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
“If the U.S. fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK- U.S. meeting will remain as a ‘hope’ of the U.S. side,” Kim Yo Jong said, referring to the nation by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
SEOUL—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, armed with nuclear weapons and powerful friends, signaled his determination to stand up to Washington with an elaborate military parade Friday night that featured advancements in an arsenal capable of striking the U.S.
Fresh from staking his place on the global stage at Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s parade of military firepower in Beijing last month, Kim oversaw a display starring his new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile Friday at Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the ruling Workers’ Party. The ICBM was called the “Hwasong-20.”
Ahead of a potential meeting between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Beijing dropped a bombshell: China was further restricting access to the supplies that American companies need for computer chips, cars and other technology. The move gives China leverage ahead of expected trade talks with Washington.
In his first television interview since retiring, Gen. Tim Haugh warns that China has hacked into U.S. computer networks to an astonishing degree. And he believes he knows why. Scott Pelley reports, Sunday on 60 Minutes.
On “60 Minutes,” Scott Pelley will be reporting on a threat to America’s infrastructure. It comes from China and its cyber program. Pelley spoke with retired General Tim Haugh, former head of the U.S. Cyber Command.
President Donald Trump said Friday that he will impose an additional 100% tariff on China and limit U.S. exports of software, escalating the trade war after months of it appearing to ease toward a resolution.
The latest salvo came after China restricted its exports of rare earths, which are critical minerals used across industries, from the tech sector to automakers and defense contractors.
Late in the afternoon, Trump took to Truth Social to decry Beijing’s “large scale Export Controls on virtually every product they make.”
“Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position, and speaking only for the U.S.A., and not other Nations who were similarly threatened, starting November 1st, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100% on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,” he added. “Also on November 1st, we will impose Export Controls on any and all critical software.”
That would bring U.S. tariffs on China to 130%, nearing the 145% rate Trump imposed in April on “Liberation Day” and the immediate aftermath—before the U.S. agreed to put its highest levies on hold while China paused its retaliatory duties as negotiations unfolded.
Stocks and bond yields tumbled as Wall Street braced a potential new round of tit-for-tat retaliation. The S&P 500 plunged 2.7%, suffering its worst selloff since the height of the trade war chaos in April.
China has a stranglehold on rare earths, producing more than 90% of the world’s processed rare earths and rare earth magnets. That has served as a key source of leverage over the U.S.
Meanwhile, grain prices fell after Trump suggested earlier on Friday that he would not meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month at an economic summit in South Korea.
That dashed hopes that the two leaders could reach a trade deal that includes Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans, which historically have been a top export but have failed to draw any orders from China this harvest season.
“Don’t think China’s soybean purchases are going to restart anytime soon … and they now certainly aren’t the biggest item on the bilateral economic agenda,” Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a deputy assistant secretary at the Treasury Department during the Obama administration, posted on X.
Before the flare-up, U.S.-China trade talks had been progressing after Trump reached deals with the European Union, Japan, South Korea and other top trading partners.
But tensions remained, including on the issue of rare earths while the U.S. had moved to restrict other countries’ exports of semiconductor-related products to China.
Also this week, the U.S. announced port fees on Chinese ships, prompting Beijing to impose a similar fee on U.S. ships docking at Chinese ports. China also launched an antitrust investigation into U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm.
Then on Thursday, China’s commerce ministry said that starting on Dec. 1 a license will be required for foreign companies to export products with more than 0.1% of rare earths from China or that are made with Chinese production technology.
“Our relationship with China over the past six months has been a very good one, thereby making this move on Trade an even more surprising one,” Trump said in an earlier Truth Social post. “I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right!”
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