Victoria Craig

But as for what we can expect out of this meeting, our senior trade writer Alan Beattie says that it's likely to produce little except maybe goodwill pledges of future Chinese investment in the U.S.

Thanks, Mark.

Good morning from the Financial Times.

Today is Monday, May 4th, and this is your FT News briefing.

We're counting the cost of the war in Iran as industries face shortages and disruption.

Plus, Britain's governing party is bracing for local elections this week.

I'm Victoria Craig, and here's the news you need to start your day.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is now in its third month.

The critical Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's oil traveled before the war, is still closed.

And that is causing a commodity shock that's hitting a lot of industries.

Firstly, airlines.

They're slashing thousands of flights globally because they're worried about running out of fuel in the coming weeks.

Since the start of the war in late February, the cost of jet fuel has doubled.

But driving instead of flying might not be any cheaper.

Not only are petrol prices soaring, but the cost to buy a car might also soar too.

U.S.

automakers estimate they're going to take a $5 billion hit from the war this year.

That's because the domino effect from stalled oil shipments in the Gulf is making everything from aluminum to plastics and paint harder to get.

If those weren't enough shortages to worry about, agriculture is on edge, too.

Prices of the world's most widely used fertilizer have also doubled since the start of the war.