Luke Vargas

And we'll drop in on some surprising stops along China's new Silk Road.

It's Thursday, December 18th.

I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

President Trump defended his handling of the economy in a primetime address last night, claiming to have brought down prices, announcing a warrior dividend of $1,776 for active duty service members to be funded by tariff revenue and predicting a drop in housing costs.

The president also promised that Americans would have the largest tax refund season of all time next year.

He has teased the prospect of sending $2,000 checks, funded in part by tariffs, to low- and middle-income Americans, though congressional Republicans have expressed misgivings about handing consumers cash given the size of the budget deficit and with inflation running almost a full percentage point above the Fed's target.

We're set to get a fresh look at U.S.

inflation data for November at 8.30 a.m.

Eastern.

Meanwhile, we are exclusively reporting that President Trump was told by his former lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, this week that the Constitution wasn't clear on the issue of whether Trump can serve a third term in office.

Earlier this week, Dershowitz gave Trump a draft of a book he's writing on the topic, which describes scenarios by which he could become president again.

Asked by the Journal about the meeting and Trump's position on the matter, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the country would be lucky if he served a longer period.

The US has approved more than $11 billion in arms sales to Taiwan.

The sales include howitzers, missiles, and anti-tank drones, along with truck-based HIMARS missile launchers that would help Taiwan to inflict pain on invading forces, part of the island's goal of making China think twice before attacking.

The sales come at a delicate time as President Trump tries to demonstrate support for Taiwan while pursuing trade deals with China and taking a softer stance toward the country.

But reporter Zhou Yuwang in Taipei said that Beijing didn't mince words in condemning the latest news.

The U.S.

government has accepted fault for the collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that killed 67 people earlier this year near Washington, D.C.

In a filing in federal court yesterday responding to a lawsuit filed by the wife of one of those deceased passengers, the Justice Department said the Black Hawk helicopter failed to maintain vigilance to avoid the jet and that air traffic controllers overseeing Reagan Airport's airspace

didn't properly alert pilots that the aircraft were on a collision course.