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Tag: Government policy

  • Alaska’s New Mining Rush Chases Something More Coveted Than Gold

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    ESTER, Alaska—At a mining site here, Rod Blakestad cracked open a shiny rock with his pick. He found quartz, a sign that the rock may contain gold.

    But Blakestad, a veteran gold hunter, tossed the rock aside. He and his team of geologists were searching for something even more sought-after: antimony, an obscure element widely used in the defense industry that is now at the center of the bitter U.S.-China trade fight.

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    Jon Emont

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  • New Mormon apostle led a global temple building boom and has deep knowledge of church finances

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    SALT LAKE CITY — Gérald Caussé, a high-ranking official in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who oversaw its finances and a global temple building boom, became the faith’s newest apostle on Thursday.

    Caussé, 62, joins an all-male governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which sits just under the church’s president and his two top counselors. Apostles help set church policy while overseeing the faith’s many business interests.

    With his appointment, he joins the order of succession to the church presidency, which is decided by seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve.

    A native of France, Caussé spent the past decade as a presiding bishop who managed the church’s money and welfare programs. Under his leadership, the church increased its humanitarian spending and dotted the globe with lavish temples where the faith’s most sacred ceremonies take place.

    The faith known widely as the Mormon church does not disclose or discuss its finances, but the latest filings from its investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc., valued its portfolio at $58 billion. The church’s businesses include real estate, farms, publishing, life insurance, nonprofits, universities, a Polynesian cultural center in Hawaii and an upscale open-air shopping mall in Salt Lake City.

    Caussé has at times been the official tasked with defending the church’s secrecy surrounding its finances, saying in 2020, “We really consider those funds as belonging to the Lord.”

    He fills a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve left by the recent death of President Russell M. Nelson and the appointment last month of a new president, 93-year-old Dallin H. Oaks. In the first significant difference from Nelson’s presidency, Oaks announced during the faith’s recent general conference that the church will slow the announcement of new temples.

    Born in Bordeaux, in southwestern France, Caussé becomes the third European in the Quorum of the Twelve.

    During Nelson’s presidency, the church injected some diversity into the previously all-white leadership panel by selecting the first Latin American apostle and the first apostle of Asian ancestry. The faith, headquartered in Utah, has more than half its 17.5 million members living outside the United States.

    The apostles, who are called to serve for life, tend to be older men who have achieved success in occupations outside the church. Caussé was the general manager of Pomona, a food distribution company in France. The last three chosen for the Quorum of the Twelve before him were a U.S. State Department official, an accountant for multinational corporations, and a board member of charities and schools.

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  • National Retail Federation predicts first $1 trillion holiday shopping season

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    NEW YORK — American shoppers are expected to spend more during this holiday shopping season than last year despite economic uncertainty and rising prices.

    The 2025 forecast from the National Retail Federation on Thursday estimates that shoppers will collectively spend between $1.01 trillion and $1.02 trillion in November and December, an increase of 3.7% to 4.2% compared with last year.

    Retailers rung up $976 billion in holiday sales last year, the group said.

    “We’re seeing really positive behavior and engagement from consumers, ” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay told reporters on a call Thursday. “In fairness, that’s been somewhat of a surprise.”

    But Shay said more Americans are growing selective and they’re focused on discounts. And while spending is expected to be up again, the growth of that spending may be in decline.

    That is still greater than the average increase of 3.6% between 2010 to 2019. Americans ramped up spending after that during the coronavirus pandemic. Holiday season sales rose 8.9% in 2020 and soared 12.5% in 2021, according to the NRF.

    The group’s holiday forecast is based on economic modeling using various key economic indicators including consumer spending, disposable personal income, employment, wages, inflation and previous monthly retail sales releases. NRF’s calculation excludes automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants to focus on core retail.

    Holiday spending accounts for 19% of annual sales for the retail industry, though for some retailers the number is a lot higher, according to the NRF. And consumer spending in the U.S. is monitored closely because it drives about 70% of the nation’s gross domestic product.

    The forecast this year, however, arrives during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. There has been no government data released on the jobs market or retail sales since the shutdown began 37 days ago.

    “Forecasting is increasingly challenging in this environment,” Shay acknowledged.

    The NRF forecast is in line with other estimates, however, which point to slowing growth.

    Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks spending across all payment methods including cash, predicts that holiday sales will be up 3.6% from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24. That compares with a 4.1% increase last year.

    Deloitte Services LP forecasts holiday retail sales to be up between 2.9% to 3.4% from Nov. 1 through Jan. 31, compared with last year’s 4.2%.

    Adobe expects U.S. online sales to hit $253.4 billion this holiday season, representing 5.3% growth. That’s smaller than last year’s 8.7% growth.

    Consumer spending in the U.S. has remained resilient even as consumer confidence has eroded.

    Mark Matthews, NRF’s chief economist and executive director of research, said consumer behavior is changing with a sharper focus on finding deals. And the frequency of family nights out at a restaurant is on the decline, NRF executives said.

    The timing of the government shutdown is “absolutely problematic,” Matthews said, noting that it’s led to a loss in private sector income, which erodes consumer demand.

    Spending should recover once the shutdown ends, Matthews said, yet there are broader issues of concern that will not be solved when the government shutdown ends.

    The gap between wealthy and lower-income households is widening, according to analysts.

    Based on spending from its credit card and bank customers, Bank of America found that spending growth among lower income households rose 0.6% in September compared with the same period last year. Among higher income brackets, spending rose at more than four times that speed, or 2.6%, in September. And wages are growing faster for higher income households.

    That is making it more difficult for lower income households to keep up when tariffs and other economic factors are pushing prices higher.

    In a separate report this week, Bank of America estimated that U.S. consumers are bearing 50% to 70% of the U.S. tariff costs, and it expects that load to grow.

    “We think there is overwhelming evidence that tariffs have pushed inflation higher for consumers,’’ Bank of America economists Stephen Juneau and Aditya Bhave wrote.

    At the same time, U.S. companies have announced tens of thousands of job cuts. Some companies have cited rising operational costs from new tariffs under the Trump administration, as well as shifting consumer spending, corporate restructuring, or increased spending on artificial intelligence.

    That has led retailers to pull back on the hiring of seasonal workers.

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  • Supreme Court weighs Trump tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power

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    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s power to unilaterally impose far-reaching tariffs is coming before the Supreme Court on Wednesday in a pivotal test of executive power with trillion-dollar implications for the global economy.

    The Republican administration is trying to defend the tariffs central to Trump’s economic agenda after lower courts ruled the emergency law he invoked doesn’t give him near-limitless power to set and change duties on imports.

    The Constitution says Congress has the power to levy tariffs. But the Trump administration argues that in emergency situations the president can regulate importation taxes like tariffs. Trump has called the case one of the most important in the country’s history and said a ruling against him would be catastrophic for the economy.

    The challengers argue the 1977 emergency powers law Trump used doesn’t even mention tariffs, and no president before has used it to impose them. A collection of small businesses say the uncertainty is driving them to the brink of bankruptcy.

    The case centers on two sets of tariffs. The first came in February on imports from Canada, China and Mexico after Trump declared a national emergency over drug trafficking. The second involves the sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on most countries that Trump announced in April.

    Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the tariffs, and the court will hear suits filed by Democratic-leaning states and small businesses focused on everything from plumbing supplies to women’s cycling apparel.

    Lower courts have struck down the bulk of his tariffs as an illegal use of emergency power, but the nation’s highest court may see it differently.

    Trump helped shape the conservative majority court, naming three of the justices in his first term. The justices have so far been reluctant to check his extraordinary flex of executive power, handing him a series of wins on its emergency docket.

    Still, those have been short-term orders — little of Trump’s wide-ranging conservative agenda has been fully argued before the nation’s highest court. That means the outcome could set the tone for wider legal pushback against his policies.

    The justices have been skeptical of executive power claims before, such as when then-President Joe Biden tried to forgive $400 billion in student loans under a different law dealing with national emergencies. The Supreme Court found the law didn’t clearly give him the power to enact a program with such a big economic impact, a legal principle known as the major questions doctrine.

    The challengers say Trump’s tariffs should get the same treatment, since they’ll have a much greater economic effect, raising some $3 trillion over the next decade. The government, on the other hand, says the tariffs are different because they’re a major part of his approach to foreign affairs, an area where the courts should not be second-guessing the president.

    The challengers are also trying to channel the conservative justices’ skepticism about whether the Constitution allows other parts of the government to use powers reserved for Congress, a concept known as the nondelegation doctrine. Trump’s interpretation of the law could mean anyone who can “regulate” can also impose taxes, they say.

    The Justice Department counters that legal principle is for governmental agencies, not for the president.

    If he eventually loses at the high court, Trump could impose tariffs under other laws, but those have more limitations on the speed and severity with which he could act. The aftermath of a ruling against him also could be complicated, if the government must issue refunds for the tariffs that had collected $195 billion in revenue as of September.

    The Trump administration did win over four appeals court judges who found the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, gives the president authority to regulate importation during emergencies without explicit limitations. In recent decades, Congress has ceded some tariff authority to the president, and Trump has made the most of the power vacuum.

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  • Japan’s Toyota, hurt by President Trump’s tariffs, reports a drop in profit

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    TOKYO — Toyota reported a 7% year-on-year drop in its profit for April-September on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump’s tariffs slammed Japanese automakers, but it raised its forecast for the full fiscal year.

    Net profit for the April-September period at Toyota Motor Corp. totaled 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion), down from 1.9 trillion yen a year earlier.

    But the maker of the Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models lifted its profit forecast for the full fiscal year ending in March 2026 to 2.93 trillion yen ($19 billion), citing better vehicle sales and cost-cutting efforts.

    The forecast would represent a 38.5% drop from the 4.77 trillion yen profit Toyota reported for the last fiscal year. It had earlier forecast 2.66 trillion yen ($17 billion) in profit for this year.

    Although tariffs are hurting its business, Toyota said its sales grew in the U.S. and its home market of Japan.

    U.S. tariffs on Japanese automobiles and auto parts fell to 15% in September from the 27.5% rate Trump initially orderd after returning to the White House. That’s much higher than the original 2.5%.

    Japan’s exports to the U.S., including vehicles, have plunged recently.

    But Toyota said its efforts, such as bigger sales, better model mix, cost cuts and smoother value chains, will add more than 900 billion yen ($5.8 billion) to the company’s bottom line in this fiscal year.

    “Despite the impact of U.S. tariffs, we have continued to build upon our improvement efforts such as increasing sales volume, improving costs and expanding value chain profits,” it said in a statement.

    During the six months through September, it sold more than 1.5 million vehicles in North America and 970,000 vehicles in Japan.

    First half sales grew 5.8% to 24.6 trillion yen ($160 billion). For the latest quarter through September, Toyota reported a 62% rise in profit to 932 billion yen ($6 billion) on 12.38 trillion yen ($80 billion ) in sales, up 8% on year.

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  • A major question for the Supreme Court: Will it treat Trump as it did Biden?

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    WASHINGTON — A major question hangs over the Supreme Court’s closely watched case on President Donald Trump’s far-reaching tariffs: Will the conservative majority hold the Republican president to the same exacting standards it used to limit his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden?

    Key legal principles at the heart of conservative challenges to major initiatives in the Biden years are driving the arguments in the fight against Trump’s tariffs, which is set for arguments at the high court on Wednesday.

    The businesses and states that sued over the tariffs are even name-checking the three Trump-appointed conservative justices whose votes they hope to attract to stop a centerpiece of Trump’s economic agenda in a key test of presidential power.

    Trump imposed two sets of tariffs, determining that sustained trade deficits had brought the United States to “the precipice of an economic and national-security crisis” and that hundreds of thousands of deaths from imported fentanyl had created a crisis of its own, the administration told the justices.

    Until this year, no president had used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs since its enactment in 1977.

    The law makes no mention of tariffs, taxes, duties or other similar words, although it does allow the president, after he declares an emergency, to regulate the importation of “any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest.”

    That authorization, the administration argued, is enough to support the tariffs, and the absence of any “magic words” is irrelevant.

    During Biden’s presidency, conservative majorities made it harder to fight climate change under existing law and blocked several actions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

    The court ended a pause on evictions, prohibited a vaccine mandate for large businesses and rejected Biden’s $500 billion student loan forgiveness program.

    In each case, the court held that Congress had not clearly authorized an action of economic and political significance, a legal principle known as the major questions doctrine.

    The Washington-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had little trouble applying those precedents to the tariffs case.

    Referring to the eviction pause and the student debt cases, a seven-judge majority wrote, “Indeed, the economic impact of the tariffs is predicted to be many magnitudes greater than the two programs that the Supreme Court has previously held to implicate major questions.”

    The tariff challengers are defending the appellate decision at the Supreme Court by leaning into the opinions from the earlier cases.

    “Absent vigilance under the major questions doctrine, ‘legislation would risk becoming nothing more than the will of the current President,’” lawyers for a Chicago-area toy company, Learning Resources Inc., wrote, quoting an opinion by Justice Neil Gorsuch in the climate change case.

    A separate group of small businesses cited Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s opinion in the student loan case to make the point that in relying on IEEPA for the tariffs, Trump “asserts ‘highly consequential power … beyond what Congress could reasonably be understood to have granted.’”

    The businesses also invoked a dissenting opinion by Justice Brett Kavanaugh in another pandemic case about the dangers of easily accepting emergency declarations. “This Court’s history is littered with unfortunate examples of overly broad judicial deference to’ assertions of ‘emergency powers,’” lawyers for the businesses wrote.

    The Trump administration argues that the doctrine does not apply to the tariffs case, and it cites a lengthy dissenting appellate opinion, as well as Kavanaugh.

    Presidents have wide latitude when it comes to foreign affairs and national security, and it would be odd for the emergency powers law to be as limited as the challengers say it is, Judge Richard Taranto wrote in his dissent, which was joined by three other judges.

    “Such a limitation would be especially out of place in an emergency statute like IEEPA,” Taranto wrote, explaining that it was intended to give presidents flexibility to cope with crises.

    Congress, he concluded, made “an eyes-open” choice to give the president broad authority. The major questions doctrine does not apply, Taranto wrote.

    Kavanaugh expressed a similarly expansive view of presidential power in an opinion in June about congressional authority.

    The major questions doctrine has never been invoked in a case about foreign policy or national security, Kavanaugh wrote. “On the contrary, the usual understanding is that Congress intends to give the President substantial authority and flexibility to protect America and the American people,” he wrote.

    Taranto’s opinion drew from a 1981 Supreme Court decision in a case relating to the Iranian hostage crisis that upheld President Jimmy Carter’s invocation of the emergency powers law to unfreeze Iranian assets.

    Justice William Rehnquist, five years before becoming chief justice, wrote the court’s opinion. One of his clerks that term was the current chief justice, John Roberts.

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  • Deal between the US and China is undoing damage from a self-inflicted trade war

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    BUSAN, South Korea (AP) — Three-digit tariffs are off the table, but import duties on each other are higher than in January.

    Rare earth materials will flow more smoothly, but China has put in place an export permitting regime that it can tighten or loosen as needed.

    Port fees will go away, but only for one year.

    And Beijing is again buying U.S. soybeans after it had abruptly cut off American farmers.

    After months of posturing, arguing and threatening, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have essentially turned back the clock. While the meeting between the two leaders was hailed by Trump as a “roaring success,” the agreement that came out of it may only serve to undo some of the damages Trump inflicted with his trade war upon his return to the White House.

    “It is hard to see what major gains the U.S. has made in the bilateral relationship relative to where things stood before Trump took office,” said Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University.

    On the Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday denounced the deal out of South Korea as leaving the U.S. as “no better off.”

    “If anything, things are worse: Prices have gone up and China has agreed to nothing of substance that will improve trade between our nations,” the Democrat senator said, adding that Trump “started a trade war, created a giant mess for businesses, consumers, and soybean farmers, and then he celebrates for trying to clean up the very mess he created in the first place.”

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    Nevertheless, the deal has injected a degree of stability, giving the world’s two largest economies — as well as the rest of the world — time and room to readjust.

    Washington and Beijing still need to finalize their agreements, a process that always has the potential for fresh disputes. But for now, Xi appears interested in moving past the latest tensions.

    In an official statement, Xi referred to “recent twists and turns” that “offered some lessons for both sides.” He said they should be “focusing on the benefits of cooperation rather than falling into a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation.”

    Both sides reduce tariffs, resume soybean sales to China

    Trump fired the first shot in the trade war in February when he imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods over the allegation that Beijing failed to stem the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl. That soared to as much as 145% after China retaliated, but Trump walked it back following market meltdowns.

    The two sides in May slashed their massive tariffs to 10% on each other, while Washington retained the 20% fentanyl-related tariff, and China its retaliatory tariffs of 10% or 15% on U.S. farm goods.

    Now, Trump said he has removed one 10% fentanyl tariff in exchange for Beijing’s cooperation in fighting the illicit drug.

    U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said China would also withdraw the retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Beijing would “adjust accordingly” its countermeasures without giving details.

    In addition, China has agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of U.S. beans through January, and will buy at least 25 million metric tons annually for next three years, Rollins said on Thursday.

    That compares to China buying 17 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in the first eight months of this year but importing zero in September. In 2024, China bought 22 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, according to state media.

    Although China did not confirm the details of the latest soybean deal, the spokesperson for the Chinese commerce ministry said the two sides have reached “consensus” to expand agricultural trade.

    One-year truce on export controls and port fees

    In April, China used its monopoly power in the processing of critical minerals to institute a permitting requirement for the export of several rare earth elements. On October 9, Beijing expanded the export rules, apparently in response to the U.S. decision to extend export controls to businesses affiliated with already-blacklisted foreign companies.

    Furious, Trump threatened to impose a new 100% tariff on China, but the two sides managed to cool down in time for Trump to meet Xi in South Korea.

    Beijing on Thursday said it would pause for a year the rare earth export rules from October to “conduct research to refine specific plans,” while the U.S. will suspend its affiliate rule for one year.

    The delay by Beijing “provides just enough time for the United States to accelerate investment in capabilities and innovation for rare earths and permanent magnets,” said Wade Senti, president of the U.S. permanent magnet company AML. “This needs to be on warp speed and at a scale never seen before since the COVID-19 response,” he said.

    Another fresh thorn was the U.S. introduction of port fees in October targeting China-linked vessels, as part of a plan to restore America’s shipbuilding capabilitie s. Beijing answered with countermeasures against the U.S.

    The port fees on each other are not removed but will be suspended for one year, the Chinese commerce ministry said.

    The future is still uncertain

    Whether Trump accepts a return to the status quo or pushes to address fundamental issues that have persisted for years between the U.S. and China remains unclear. Nothing about Thursday’s meeting — the first between Trump and Xi in six years — affects Chinese manufacturing dominance that Trump has blamed for the loss of American blue collar jobs.

    Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, called the latest developments “very encouraging” and added: “We hope that future negotiations will address long-standing market access barriers, help level the playing field for U.S. companies, and bring long-term predictability to the bilateral trade relationship.”

    There are more opportunities on the horizon to keep working on these challenges. Trump said he will go to China in April and Xi will visit the U.S. after that.

    If Trump isn’t successful, this period could be remembered for a lot of sound and fury but no change in the basic trajectory of China’s ascendant economy.

    “Generally, Trump grows impatient with anything beyond the immediate, and it is the Chinese that play for longer term advantage,” said Kurt Campbell, a former deputy secretary of state in the Biden administration and now chairman of The Asia Group.

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    Tang and Wiseman reported from Washington. AP writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., contributed to the report

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  • China Is Filling Up Its Oil Reserves Fast

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    China has spent months building up its oil reserves. That might come in handy in the wake of the new sanctions the U.S. recently imposed on Russian crude.

    During the first nine months of the year, the world’s second-largest economy imported on average more than 11 million barrels of oil a day, an amount above the daily production of Saudi Arabia, according to official customs data. Analysts estimate 1 million to 1.2 million of those barrels were stashed in reserves each day.

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    Rebecca Feng

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  • China’s economy slows to 4.8% annual growth in July-September, hit by tariffs and slack demand

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    HONG KONG (AP) — China’s economy expanded at the slowest annual pace in a year in July-September, growing 4.8%, weighed down by trade tensions with the United States and slack domestic demand.

    The July-September data was the weakest pace of growth since the third quarter of 2024, and compares with a 5.2% pace of growth in the previous quarter, the government said in a report Monday.

    In January-September, the world’s second largest economy grew at a 5.2% annual pace. Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on imports from China, its exports have remained relatively strong as companies expanded sales to other world markets.

    China’s exports to the United States fell 27% in September from the year before, even though growth in its global exports hit a six-month high, climbing 8.3%.

    Exports of electric vehicles doubled in September from a year earlier, while domestic passenger car sales climbed 11.2% year-on-year in last month, down from a 15% rise in August, according to data released last week.

    Tensions between Beijing and Washington remain elevated, and it’s unclear if Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will go ahead with a proposed meeting during a regional summit at the end of this month.

    Xi and other ruling Communist Party members are convening one of China’s most important political meetings for the year on Monday, where they will map out economic and social policy goals for the country for the next five years.

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    The economy slowed in the last quarter as the authorities moved to curb fierce price wars in sectors such as the auto industry due to excess capacity.

    China is also facing challenges including a prolonged property sector downturn which has been affecting consumption and demand.

    Data released Monday showed China’s residential property sales fell 7.6% by value in the January-September period from a year earlier. Industrial output rose 6.5% year-on-year last month, the fastest pace since June, but retail sales growth slowed to 3% from the year before.

    Ratings agency S&P estimates nationwide new home sales will fall by 8% in 2025 from the year before and by 6% to 7% in 2026.

    The World Bank expects China’s economy to grow at a 4.8% annual rate this year. The government’s official growth target is around 5%.

    Chinese shares rose Monday, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbing 2.3% and the Shanghai Composite index up 0.5%.

    A National Bureau of Statistics spokesman said China has a “solid foundation” to achieve its full-year growth target, but cited external complications — including trade friction with the U.S. and other trading partners and protectionist policies in many countries — as reasons for the slowdown.

    China’s stronger economic growth in the first half of this year gives it “some buffer” to achieve the growth target, said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING Bank.

    However, spending during China’s eight-day Golden Week national holiday in October was “mildly disappointing,” reflecting sluggish consumer confidence and demand, Morningstar analysts said in a note this month.

    Investments in factories, equipment and other “fixed assets” fell 0.5% in the last quarter, underscoring weakness in domestic demand. It also was reflected in prices, which have continued to fall both at the consumer and the wholesale level.

    There’s room for the government to do more, Song said.

    “(We) are looking to see if there will be further measures to support consumption and the property market, as the impact from previous policies begins to weaken,” Song said.

    Economists are also expecting a rate cut by China’s central bank by the end of the year, which could encourage more spending and investment.

    China’s economy is also likely to further slow in 2026, said Jacqueline Rong, chief China economist at BNP Paribas, as property investment in the country “looks (to) continue falling” and the AI boom, which helped lift China’s economy and fueled a stock market rally, is expected to moderate.

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  • A Vermont cycling apparel company is trying to survive Trump’s tariffs. Will the Supreme Court help?

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    BURLINGTON, Vt. — From the moment President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on nearly every country, Nik Holm feared the company he leads might not survive.

    Terry Precision Cycling has made it 40 years with a product line specifically for women, navigating a tough early market, thin profit margins and a pandemic-era boom and bust. But Holm, the company president, wasn’t sure how his operation could pay the tariffs first announced in April and stay in business.

    “We felt like our backs were up against the wall,” he said, explaining why he joined a lawsuit challenging the tariffs that the Supreme Court will hear next week.

    Terry Precision Cycling’s offices are tucked behind a Burlington, Vermont, coffee shop on a leafy street that bursts into color in the fall. Local accolades share wall space with bike saddles and a color wheel’s worth of fabric samples. Orders are shipped out from a warehouse a few miles away.

    It seems an unlikely epicenter for the furor over Trump’s tariffs playing out on the trading floors of global market exchanges and in the boardrooms of international corporations.

    But Terry Precision Cycling is one of a handful of small businesses that are challenging many of Trump’s tariffs Wednesday before the Supreme Court in a case with extraordinary implications for the boundaries of presidential power and for the global economy.

    The company is small, but it works with suppliers around the world. It sells cycling shorts manufactured in the U.S. using materials imported from France, Guatemala and Italy. Its distinctive, colorfully printed bike jerseys are made with high-tech material that can’t be found outside of China.

    Tariffs mean the company has to pay more for all those imports, and without the cash reserves of a big company, it has few choices to make up the shortfall besides raising prices for customers. The bewildering pace of changes in tariffs, especially on goods from China, has made setting prices more like rolling the dice. “If we don’t know the rules of the game, how are we supposed to play?” Holm asked.

    The company had to add $50 to one pair of shorts in the pipeline when China tariffs hit 145%, bringing the price to $199. “Name the cost and we can name the price, and then we can backtrack to see who can actually afford it,” Holm said.

    The other companies in the lawsuit he joined are also small businesses, including a plumbing supply company in Utah, a wine importer from New York and a fishing-tackle maker in Pennsylvania.

    Holm started working for the company more than a decade ago, taking up cycling in earnest alongside the job. He often rides his bike to work and props it outside his office, alongside the company’s designers and salespeople. A thin man with deep-set eyes and side-parted hair, Holm was named president about two years ago as the company started by women’s cycling pioneer Georgena Terry was wrestling with a downturn in the outdoor market after the coronavirus pandemic. His normally level demeanor gets animated when he talks about the design of their padded shorts or the level of SPF protection in the jerseys.

    “It’s all about fit and function, and feeling safe and comfortable,” he said. “That’s our foundation, getting people, getting women, riding. More butts on bikes and getting out there.”

    The businesses challenging Trump’s tariffs are represented by Liberty Justice Center, a libertarian-leaning legal group usually more aligned with conservative causes. But they say Trump is wrong on sweeping tariffs, which are projected to collect a total of some $3 trillion from businesses over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

    They argue the president is using an emergency powers law that doesn’t even mention tariffs to claim nearly unlimited powers to impose and change import duties at will, something no other president has done on such a scale.

    “It is practically what the American Revolution was fought over, the principle that taxation is not legitimate unless it is adopted by the representatives of the people,” said Jeffrey Schwab, an attorney with the Liberty Justice Center.

    The Trump administration said the law lets the president regulate importation, and that includes tariffs. The president has been vocal about the case, suggesting at one point he might go to the arguments himself — something no other sitting president is recorded to have done. “That’s one of the most important cases in the history of our country because if we don’t win that case, we will be a weakened, troubled financial mess for many, many years to come,” he said.

    The law Trump used for many of his tariffs, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, has been invoked dozens of times over the decades, often to impose sanctions on other countries.

    But no president had used it for tariffs until February, when Trump placed duties on China, Mexico and Canada. He said the countries had not been doing enough to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

    In April, he unveiled “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners with a baseline of 10% and higher increases for specific countries, though many of those have since been put on hold. Tariffs on China hit 145% at one point but have since come down and are headed to 20% overall under Trump’s latest deal with China.

    Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the emergency-powers tariffs. The Supreme Court also will hear two other cases on Wednesday, one from a group of Democratic-leaning states and another from an Illinois educational toy company.

    The plaintiffs have won two rounds in lower courts, though the government did convince four appellate judges that the law does allow the president broad power over tariffs.

    The high court will now be asked to rule on the scope of a president’s authority. The justices, three of whom were appointed by Trump, have so far been reluctant to check his extraordinary flex of executive power.

    But they have been skeptical of presidential claims of power before, as when Joe Biden tried to forgive $400 billion in student loans under a different law dealing with national emergencies. The court found that the law didn’t clearly give Biden the power to enact such a costly program.

    Trump’s tariffs, by contrast, are expected to total in the trillions. They’re also projected to increase people’s bills by about $2,000 per household this year, an analysis from the Yale Budget Lab found.

    Revenue from tariffs totaled $195 billion by September, more than double what it was the year before — though the government could have to pay back that money if the justices strike down the tariffs.

    Trump has acknowledged that Americans could feel some short-term pain from tariffs but maintained that they’ll bring about more favorable trade deals and help American manufacturing. His administration says the tariffs are different from the Biden student-loan case because they’re about foreign affairs, an area where it says the courts should not be second-guessing the president.

    For the people at Terry Precision Cycling, though, those big-picture political questions were far from their decision to join the lawsuit. Holm thought more about the company’s 20 or so employees, its legacy and the women who buy its products out of a love for cycling.

    “If it becomes so unaffordable for them to do it, less can enter into that joy, that freedom of being on a bike,” he said. “It was about surviving this uncertainty.”

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  • Essay | The Trade War Couldn’t Change China’s Economy

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    President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have walked back from the ledge—again. But even as the world’s two superpowers deescalate a trade fight that had threatened to destabilize the global economy, a new reality is setting in—that Washington may finally have to give up on its long-standing aim of pushing Beijing to restructure its economy.

    For years and through successive U.S. administrations, senior officials in Washington had hoped that bringing China into the global trading system would open up the country’s political system. In the decades since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, those hopes of political liberalization have largely been dashed. The sense of disappointment has only grown as Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who took power in late 2012, has tightened his control over the domestic political system and civil society more broadly.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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    Jonathan Cheng

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  • Deal between the US and China is undoing damage from a self-inflicted trade war

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    BUSAN, South Korea — Three-digit tariffs are off the table, but import duties on each other are higher than in January.

    Rare earth materials will flow more smoothly, but China has put in place an export permitting regime that it can tighten or loosen as needed.

    Port fees will go away, but only for one year.

    And Beijing is again buying U.S. soybeans after it had abruptly cut off American farmers.

    After months of posturing, arguing and threatening, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have essentially turned back the clock. While the meeting between the two leaders was hailed by Trump as a “roaring success,” the agreement that came out of it may only serve to undo some of the damages Trump inflicted with his trade war upon his return to the White House.

    “It is hard to see what major gains the U.S. has made in the bilateral relationship relative to where things stood before Trump took office,” said Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University.

    On the Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday denounced the deal out of South Korea as leaving the U.S. as “no better off.”

    “If anything, things are worse: Prices have gone up and China has agreed to nothing of substance that will improve trade between our nations,” the Democrat senator said, adding that Trump “started a trade war, created a giant mess for businesses, consumers, and soybean farmers, and then he celebrates for trying to clean up the very mess he created in the first place.”

    Nevertheless, the deal has injected a degree of stability, giving the world’s two largest economies — as well as the rest of the world — time and room to readjust.

    Washington and Beijing still need to finalize their agreements, a process that always has the potential for fresh disputes. But for now, Xi appears interested in moving past the latest tensions.

    In an official statement, Xi referred to “recent twists and turns” that “offered some lessons for both sides.” He said they should be “focusing on the benefits of cooperation rather than falling into a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation.”

    Trump fired the first shot in the trade war in February when he imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods over the allegation that Beijing failed to stem the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl. That soared to as much as 145% after China retaliated, but Trump walked it back following market meltdowns.

    The two sides in May slashed their massive tariffs to 10% on each other, while Washington retained the 20% fentanyl-related tariff, and China its retaliatory tariffs of 10% or 15% on U.S. farm goods.

    Now, Trump said he has removed one 10% fentanyl tariff in exchange for Beijing’s cooperation in fighting the illicit drug.

    U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said China would also withdraw the retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said Beijing would “adjust accordingly” its countermeasures without giving details.

    In addition, China has agreed to buy 12 million metric tons of U.S. beans through January, and will buy at least 25 million metric tons annually for next three years, Rollins said on Thursday.

    That compares to China buying 17 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in the first eight months of this year but importing zero in September. In 2024, China bought 22 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, according to state media.

    Although China did not confirm the details of the latest soybean deal, the spokesperson for the Chinese commerce ministry said the two sides have reached “consensus” to expand agricultural trade.

    In April, China used its monopoly power in the processing of critical minerals to institute a permitting requirement for the export of several rare earth elements. On October 9, Beijing expanded the export rules, apparently in response to the U.S. decision to extend export controls to businesses affiliated with already-blacklisted foreign companies.

    Furious, Trump threatened to impose a new 100% tariff on China, but the two sides managed to cool down in time for Trump to meet Xi in South Korea.

    Beijing on Thursday said it would pause for a year the rare earth export rules from October to “conduct research to refine specific plans,” while the U.S. will suspend its affiliate rule for one year.

    The delay by Beijing “provides just enough time for the United States to accelerate investment in capabilities and innovation for rare earths and permanent magnets,” said Wade Senti, president of the U.S. permanent magnet company AML. “This needs to be on warp speed and at a scale never seen before since the COVID-19 response,” he said.

    Another fresh thorn was the U.S. introduction of port fees in October targeting China-linked vessels, as part of a plan to restore America’s shipbuilding capabilitie s. Beijing answered with countermeasures against the U.S.

    The port fees on each other are not removed but will be suspended for one year, the Chinese commerce ministry said.

    Whether Trump accepts a return to the status quo or pushes to address fundamental issues that have persisted for years between the U.S. and China remains unclear. Nothing about Thursday’s meeting — the first between Trump and Xi in six years — affects Chinese manufacturing dominance that Trump has blamed for the loss of American blue collar jobs.

    Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, called the latest developments “very encouraging” and added: “We hope that future negotiations will address long-standing market access barriers, help level the playing field for U.S. companies, and bring long-term predictability to the bilateral trade relationship.”

    There are more opportunities on the horizon to keep working on these challenges. Trump said he will go to China in April and Xi will visit the U.S. after that.

    If Trump isn’t successful, this period could be remembered for a lot of sound and fury but no change in the basic trajectory of China’s ascendant economy.

    “Generally, Trump grows impatient with anything beyond the immediate, and it is the Chinese that play for longer term advantage,” said Kurt Campbell, a former deputy secretary of state in the Biden administration and now chairman of The Asia Group.

    ___

    Tang and Wiseman reported from Washington. AP writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., contributed to the report

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  • Amazon reports higher sales and earnings for 3Q, helped by strong customer spending

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    NEW YORK — Amazon posted higher fiscal third quarter profit and sales compared with a year ago, as the online giant kept attracting shoppers looking for good prices while inflation resurges.

    The results announced Thursday beat Wall Street expectations. The company’s prominent cloud computing arm also surpassed analysts’ expectations. But Amazon issued a cautious sales outlook for the fiscal fourth quarter, citing overall economic uncertainty and President Donald Trump’s tariffs. But shares soared close to 9% in after-hours trading.

    Amazon posted net income of $21.12 billion, or $1.95 per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30. That’s up from $15.33 billion, or $1.43 per share, a year ago.

    Analysts had expected $1.57 per share for the quarter, according to FactSet.

    Amazon’s sales rose to $180.2 billion, up from $158.88 billion in the year ago period.

    Analysts had expected $177.91 billion, according to FactSet.

    Amazon has announced it’s cutting about 14,000 corporate jobs as it ramps up spending on artificial intelligence and cuts costs elsewhere. Teams and individuals impacted by the job cuts were notified Tuesday. Amazon has about 350,000 corporate employees and a total workforce of about 1.56 million. The cuts announced Tuesday amount to about a 4% reduction in its corporate workforce.

    Analysts are dissecting Amazon’s results to get insight into consumer behavior for the holiday shopping season and how Trump’s tariffs are impacting prices.

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  • 4 Republicans back Senate resolution to undo Trump’s tariffs around the globe

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    WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a resolution Thursday that would undo many of President Donald Trump’s tariffs around the globe, the latest note of displeasure at his trade tactics in Washington that came just as the president celebrated his negotiations with China as a success.

    After a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, Trump said he would cut tariffs on the Asian economic giant and China would in turn purchase 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually for the next three years. The Republican president claimed his trade negotiation would secure “prosperity and security to millions of Americans.”

    But back in Washington, senators — several from Trump’s Republican Party — have demonstrated their dissent with Trump’s tariff tactics by passing a series of resolutions this week that would nullify the national emergencies that Trump has declared to justify the import taxes. Already this week, the Senate approved resolutions to end tariffs imposed on Brazil and Canada. While the legislative efforts are ultimately doomed, they exposed fault lines in the GOP.

    The latest resolution, which would effectively end most of Trump’s tariff policies, passed on a 51-47 vote, with four Republicans joining with all Democrats.

    Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who backed Democrats on the resolutions, credited Trump for decreasing the tariffs on China, but said the result is “still much higher than we’ve had.”

    “It still will lead to increased prices,” he said.

    The votes were orchestrated by Democrats using a decades-old law that allows Congress to nullify a presidential emergency. But House Republicans have instituted a new law that allows the leadership to prevent such resolutions from coming up for a vote. Plus, Trump would surely veto legislation that inhibits his power over trade policy, meaning the legislation won’t ultimately take effect.

    But Democrats have still been able to force the Senate to take up an uncomfortable topic for their Republican colleagues.

    “American families are being squeezed by prices going up and up and up,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, in a floor speech. He added that “in many ways, red states in rural areas are being hit the hardest,” and pointed to economic strain being put on farmers and manufacturers.

    Overall there has been little movement among Republicans to oppose Trump’s import taxes publicly. A nearly identical resolution failed in April on a tied vote after Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was absent. On Thursday, McConnell and Paul, as well as Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, voted along with all Democrats to pass the resolution.

    Those four Republicans helped advance similar resolutions this week to end the tariffs on Brazil and Canada. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, also voted in favor of the resolution applying to Brazil, but otherwise, GOP senators have held the line this week behind the president.

    “I agree with my colleagues that tariffs should be more targeted to avoid harm to Americans,” said Sen. Mike Crapo, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, in a floor speech. Yet he added that Trump’s negotiations “are bearing fruit” and praised his announcement that Beijing would allow the export of rare earth elements and start buying American soybeans again.

    Republicans representing farm states were especially enthused by the announcement that China would be purchasing 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually, starting with 10 million metric tons for the rest of this year.

    Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, said the deal with China “absolutely” justifies Trump’s use of tariff threats to negotiate trade policy with other nations. He called the announcement “huge news” for Kansas farmers, but also acknowledged that they would still probably need financial help as they deal with the strain of losing their biggest customer for soybeans and sorghum.

    “It’s not like you can snap your finger and send over $15 billion worth of sorghum and soybeans together overnight,” he said.

    China had been the largest purchaser of U.S. soybeans until this year. It purchased almost 27 million metric tons in 2024, so Trump’s negotiated deal only guarantees to return soybean exports to China to less than their previous level.

    Democrats said that Americans shouldn’t be fooled by Trump’s announcement.

    “Donald Trump has folded, leaving American families and farmers and small businesses to deal with the wreckage from his blunders, from his erratic on again off again tariff policies,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

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  • Tokyo auto show highlights technology but Trump’s tariffs loom large

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    TOKYO — The Tokyo Mobility Show is highlighting more than just cars or the types of fuel they use from electric to hydrogen, but also various kinds of futuristic transport.

    Think scuttling robotic chairs, like the Uni-One from Honda Motor Co. The Tokyo-based maker of the Accord sedan says it is all about personal mobility as a mode for quick transport by 2035. Just sit on the boxlike machine as it zips around quietly.

    Toyota Motor Corp. showed a helicopter-like aircraft with six propellers, which was still in development in cooperation with U.S. aviation company Joby.

    Such gadgetry, as well as more regular vehicles, are on display at the show, which runs through Nov. 9 at Tokyo Big Sight exhibition space. It was previewed to media Wednesday, ahead of its opening to the public Thursday.

    Looming in the backdrop of the fanfare is the threat of auto tariffs under U.S. President Donald Trump, raised to 15% from 2.5%, although an improvement from the 25% he slapped on initially.

    Trump’s tariffs are expected to erase more than 2 trillion yen ($13 billion) off automakers’ annual operating profits, according to calculations from recent earnings.

    Masahiro Moro, chief executive of Mazda Motor Corp., among the worst hit of the Japanese automakers, said his engineers were developing cars that understood drivers’ emotions, as well as those that contribute to sustainability by reducing carbon emissions the more you drove.

    “We believe the joy of driving has the power to shape the future,” he told reporters.

    Nissan Motor Corp. showed a prototype, or experimental model, of its Sakura electric car, fitted with a solar-system roof that slides out at the top, called “Ao-Solar Extender,” to generate power while the car is parked. The word “ao” means “blue” in Japanese.

    Nissan said the model’s message is about adding value to one’s life, as the generated power can be used for other gadgets around the house as well as work as power stations during disasters. The concept car targets environmentally conscious moms, according to Nissan.

    “Japan is at the center of what we do because we are a Japanese company,” Nissan Chief Ivan Espinosa said on the sidelines of the show.

    While in town earlier this week for talks with new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Trump also met with the heads of Japan’s businesses, including Espinosa. The exchange of ideas was constructive, according to Espinosa.

    Nissan, as well as Toyota, said they were considering importing their own models made in the U.S. back into Japan as a way to mitigate the trade imbalance.

    The Japanese government has promised to buy Fords and invest $550 billion in the U.S.

    Japanese automakers export more than a million autos to the U.S., while selling 4.4 million vehicles a year in Japan. Only about 16,000 American cars were sold in Japan, a tiny fraction of the Japanese auto market. Japanese cars make up about 40% of the American market, according to Cox Automotive, although much of the vehicles sold there are made at U.S. plants.

    Toyota Chief Executive Koji Sato said customers’ tastes differed by markets, and offerings must be tailored to meet various needs.

    “We want to be an important part of the American auto industry with a long-term perspective,” he told a small group of reporters.

    Toyota showed a still-developing tiny collapsible electric bicycle called Land Hopper that Japan’s top automaker suggests should get packed in the upcoming Land Cruiser FJ, the latest version of the hit recreational vehicle that had its beginnings in 1951 as the Toyota BJ.

    A flagship model, Land Cruiser sales have topped 12 million in 190 countries and regions. Targeting Japanese off-roaders, the new Land Cruiser FJ goes on sale in Japan next year — with a 2.7-liter (1-gallon) gasoline engine.

    Japanese exports to the U.S. have risen in recent months as automakers tried to beat the tariffs. The crunch is expected to hit next year.

    “Automakers will look to increase U.S. production where possible and diversify export destinations to other key markets, such as Australia and Canada,” said Darcey Bowling, auto analyst at BMI.

    “We expect that Japan’s vehicle market will face challenges due to the elevated U.S. tariffs.”

    ___

    Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

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  • Nigeria’s Nobel-winning author Wole Soyinka says his US visa was revoked

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    DAKAR, Senegal — Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka said on Tuesday that his non-resident visa to enter the United States had been rejected, adding that he believes it may be because he recently criticized U.S. President Donald Trump.

    The Nigerian author, 91, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, becoming the first African to do so.

    Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Soyinka said he believed it had little to do with him and was instead a product of the United States’ immigration policies. He said he was told to reapply if he wished to enter again.

    “It’s not about me, I’m not really interested in going back to the United States,” he said. “But a principle is involved. Human beings deserve to be treated decently wherever they are.”

    Soyinka, who has taught in the U.S. and previously held a green card, joked on Tuesday that his green card “had an accident” eight years ago and “fell between a pair of scissors.” In 2017, he destroyed his green card in protest of President Trump’s first inauguration.

    The letter he received informing him of his visa revocation cites “additional information became available after the visa was issued,” as the reason for its revocation, but does not describe what that information was.

    Soyinka believes it may be because he recently referred to Trump as a “white version of Idi Amin,” a reference to the dictator who ruled Uganda from 1971 until 1979.

    The U.S. Consulate in Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos, directed all questions to the State Department press office in Washington, D.C., which did not respond to immediate requests for comment.

    Soyinka jokingly referred to it as a “love letter” and said that while he did not blame the officials, he would not be applying for another visa.

    “I have no visa. I am banned, obviously, from the United States, and if you want to see me, you know where to find me.”

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  • China pitches itself as alternative to US protectionism after signing expanded ASEAN free trade pact

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    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — China signed an expanded version of a free trade agreement Tuesday with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, with Chinese Premier Li Qiang pitching expanded economic ties with his country as an alternative to the protectionist policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

    Li Qiang told an ASEAN-China summit meeting after the signing that closer cooperation could help overcome global economic uncertainties. He said “pursuing confrontation instead of solidarity brings no benefit” in the face of economic coercion and bullying, in a swipe at the U.S.

    “Unity is strength,” he said, citing remarks by President Xi Jinping made during a Southeast Asia visit earlier this year.

    His remarks were met with skepticism by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose country has clashed with China over competing claims in the South China Sea, as have other ASEAN nations.

    Marcos welcomed the expanded trade pact, but stressed that “this cooperation cannot exist alongside coercion.”

    The signing of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area 3.0 came on the final day of the annual ASEAN summit and related meetings and was witnessed by Li Qiang and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving as ASEAN chair this year.

    It’s the third revision of the long-standing agreement, which was first signed in 2002 and came into force in 2010. The free trade area covers a combined market of more than 2 billion people and lowers tariffs on goods and boosting flows of services and investment.

    Two-way trade has surged from $235.5 billion in 2010 to nearly $1 trillion last year. ASEAN and China are each other’s top trading partners.

    Li stressed “mutual reliance” between China and ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, calling them “good neighbors and good brothers that are close in geography, culture and sentiment.”

    “Unilateralism and protectionism have seriously impacted the global economic and trade order, while external forces are increasing their interference in the region — many countries have been unreasonably subjected to high tariffs,” he said.

    “By relying on each other and coordinating our actions, we can safeguard our legitimate rights and interests.”

    Southeast Asian political analyst Bridget Welsh said the upgraded pact would benefit both sides, especially in the areas of supply chains and sustainability.

    “It also speaks to a global reality that non-U.S. countries are coming together to strengthen trade relationships for their prosperity as a recoupling with the U.S. is ongoing,” she said,

    The prospect of a deepening trade conflict between China and the U.S. has risked weakening economic growth worldwide.

    Trump at the ASEAN summit on Sunday announced new economic details with Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, though all countries are still subject to new tariffs he has brought in.

    Anwar stressed at the ASEAN meeting with China that the bloc seeks friendly relations with all countries.

    “The day before we were with President Donald Trump of the United States of America, and today we are back with China,” he said. “And that reflects ASEAN centrality … This is what we consider steady engagement that fosters trust that enables us to work through challenges together.”

    There were signs that tensions between the U.S. and China were cooling ahead of a planned meeting between Trump and Xi, which is expected to take place in South Korea on Thursday. Top negotiators from each country said a trade deal was coming together, which could prevent a potentially damaging confrontation between the world’s two largest economies.

    Officials said the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area 3.0 is expected to broaden integration across the region by covering new areas such as digital trade, the green economy, sustainability and support for small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up the majority of ASEAN businesses. The agreement is designed to make trade benefits more accessible, improve market entry for smaller players, streamline non-tariff procedures and lower regulatory barriers.

    Marcos said the pact could help modernize trade practices and enable both sides to better respond to emerging economic challenges, but urged China to “commit to cooperation and meaningful engagement, especially in the South China Sea.”

    Marcos said it was “regrettable” that Philippine vessels and aircraft continue to face “dangerous actions and harassment” in the South China Sea. He reiterated Manila’s objections to Beijing’s plan to establish a “nature reserve” over a hotly disputed shoal in the area.

    “Actions like these cannot hide under the veneer of marine environmental protection because they have no legal basis or effect, blatantly disregard international law, and infringe on the Philippines’ sovereignty,” he said. Still, Marcos added that Manila would continue to engage constructively with China to manage differences.

    ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei — along with Taiwan — have overlapping claims with China, which asserts sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea. Chinese and Philippine vessels have repeatedly clashed in the vital sea trade route.

    Marcos has vowed to accelerate the conclusion of a Code of Conduct to govern behavior in the disputed waters when the Philippines assumes the ASEAN chairmanship next year.

    In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiaku on Monday accused the Philippines of “deliberate infringements and provocations at sea,” blaming Manila for escalating tensions.

    Welsh, the analyst, said regional officials treat the South China Sea dispute as a separate track from security ties and don’t expect it to impact economic ties with China.

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  • America’s Hottest New Investment: Rare-Earth Companies

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    A cascade of billion-dollar deals is reshaping the once-dormant Western critical-minerals industry, which the U.S. and its allies hope will act as a bulwark against aggressive trade practices by China.

    Since China began restricting exports of rare earths in April—causing auto factories to halt production and rare-earth prices to shoot up—a wave of private and government funding has flowed into rare-earth companies. They now have money to hire technical experts, expand plants and make strategic acquisitions as they race to build out a non-Chinese supply of materials required in high-tech manufacturing.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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    Jon Emont

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  • Trump says a Canadian ad misstated Ronald Reagan’s views on tariffs. Here are the facts and context

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump pulled out of trade talks with Canada Thursday night, furious over what he called a “fake’’ television ad from Ontario’s provincial government that quoted former U.S. President Ronald Reagan from 38 years ago criticizing tariffs — Trump’s favorite economic tool.

    The ad features audio excerpts from an April 25, 1987 radio address in which Reagan said: “Over the long run such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.’’

    Trump attacked the ad on Truth Social Friday posting: “CANADA CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT!!! They fraudulently took a big buy ad saying that Ronald Reagan did not like Tariffs, when actually he LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY, AND ITS NATIONAL SECURITY.″

    The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute criticized the ad on X Thursday night posting that it “misrepresents the ‘Presidential Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade’ dated April 25, 1987.”

    While Trump called the ad fake, Reagan’s words were real. But context is missing.

    Here’s a look at the facts:

    Reagan, who held office during a period of growing fear over Japan’s rising economic might, made the address a week after he himself had imposed tariffs on Japanese semiconductors; he was attempting to explain the decision, which seemed at odds with his reputation as a free trader.

    Reagan did not, in fact, love tariffs. He often criticized government policies – including protectionist measures such as tariffs – that interfered with free commerce and he spent much of 1987 radio address spelling out the case against tariffs.

    “High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars,’’ he said. “The result is more and more tariffs, higher and higher trade barriers, and less and less competition. So, soon, because of the prices made artificially high by tariffs that subsidize inefficiency and poor management, people stop buying. Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs.’’

    But Reagan’s policies were more complicated than his rhetoric.

    In addition to taxing Japanese semiconductors, Reagan slapped levies on heavy motorcycles from Japan to protect Harley-Davidson. He also strong-armed Japanese automakers into accepting “voluntary’’ limitations on their exports to the United States, ultimately encouraging them to set up factories in the American Midwest and South.

    And he pressured other countries to push down the value of the currencies to help make American exports more competitive in world markets.

    Robert Lighthizer, a Reagan trade official who served as Trump’s top trade negotiator from 2017 through 2021, wrote in his 2023 memoir that “President Reagan distinguished between free trade in theory and free trade in practice.’’

    In 1988, an analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute even declared Reagan “ the most protectionist president since Herbert Hoover, the heavyweight champion of protectionists.’’

    Reagan, though, was no trade warrior. Discussing his semiconductor tariffs in the April 1987 radio address, he said that he was forced to impose them because the Japanese were not living up to a trade agreement and that “such tariffs or trade barriers and restrictions of any kind are steps that I am loath to take.’’

    Trump, on the other hand, has no such reticence. He argues that tariffs can protect American industry, draw manufacturing back to the United States and raise money for the Treasury. Since returning to the White House in January, he has slapped double-digit tariffs on almost every country on earth and targeted specific products including autos, steel and pharmaceuticals.

    The average effective U.S. tariff rate has risen from around 2.5% at the start of the 2025 to 18%, highest since 1934, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.

    Trump’s enthusiastic use of import taxes — he has proudly called himself “Tariff Man’’ — has drawn a challenge from businesses and states charging that he overstepped his authority. The Constitution gives Congress the power to levy taxes, including tariffs, though lawmakers have gradually ceded considerable authority over trade policy to the White House. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the case early next month.

    Trump claimed Thursday that the Canadian ad was intended “to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts.’’

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  • Trump Reaches Trade Pacts With Southeast Asian Nations

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    The Trump administration said it reached trade agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia, and frameworks for deals with Thailand and Vietnam during President Trump’s trip across Asia. The announcements, while not legally binding, represent significant progress in Trump’s quest to lower trade barriers for U.S. goods abroad.

    Here’s what to know:

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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    Gavin Bade

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