NPR News: 05-12-2026 9PM EDT
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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. President Trump is on his way to China for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The Iran war is expected to dominate the conversation, but it's also critical for trade talks between leaders of the world's two biggest economies, as NPR's Scott Horsley explains.
The White House says the president wants reciprocity and fairness.
What is President Trump's agenda for the summit with China?
And to be sure, lots of countries around the world are concerned that China is distorting markets by producing too much and dumping the excess elsewhere. Trump also wants China to buy a lot more stuff from the United States. China has made commitments to buy more in the past and then often fallen short of those promises. U.S. farmers in particular have paid a price when China started buying soybeans from Brazil instead, for example.
NPR's Scott Horsley reporting. Michigan congressional Democrats Debbie Dingell and Republican John Molinar have introduced a bill to ban Chinese cars in the U.S., From member station WEMU, Kevin Mershart reports.
Called the Connected Vehicle Securities Act, the legislation would prohibit the importation, manufacture, and sale of vehicles, software, and hardware linked to China. Dingell says the timing is important with this week's upcoming China-U.S. summit.
We are not competing on a level playing field when Chinese subsidizes its manufacturers, it manipulates its currency, it uses slave labor. That's not a level playing field.
China has been accused by the U.S. government of using technology to collect and transmit sensitive information from vehicles it produces. The legislation expands on orders from the first Trump and the Biden administrations by putting the protections into law. For NPR News, I'm Kevin Mershart in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Alabama officials are holding a special primary election for four of the state's seven congressional seats. This was announced after the Supreme Court yesterday cleared the way for a Republican-led state to use a map that had previously been blocked by the courts. NPR's Ashley Lopez reports.
After the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act two weeks ago, there's been a flurry of GOP redistricting efforts in the South. And now Alabama can use a map that has one more seat that favors Republicans compared to the now-defunct map that the lower court ordered. This ruling, however, came a week before the state's primary. Republican Governor Kay Ivey announced the state will hold a special primary for the four seats affected by the change. This is expected to cause some confusion for voters, particularly because this change was announced when absentee mail voting was already underway. The new special primary election will be held on August 11th. Ashley Lopez, NPR News.
Meanwhile, Missouri's Supreme Court today upheld new congressional districts that could help Republicans win an extra seat. But South Carolina's Republican-led state Senate rejected a move to hold a redistricting session. Nationwide, Republicans have gained about an eight-seat advantage over Democrats in the redistricting push set off by President Trump. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. eBay has rejected an unsolicited $56 billion takeover from GameStop, calling the proposal neither credible nor attractive. GameStop saw eBay as a vehicle to compete with Amazon and that its 1,600 stores could become drop-off and shipping locations. Kuwait says it detained four men with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who tried to infiltrate the country.
Iran says the men were performing a patrol mission when their navigation system failed, sending them into Kuwaiti waters. More from NPR's Aya Batraoui.
Kuwait's Interior Ministry says a group of six men landed on its Bubian Island on May 1st with a rented fishing boat to, quote, carry out a mission that included hostile acts against the state of Kuwait. It named all six and listed their rank in Iran's navy. The statement says Kuwaiti forces exchanged fire with the group and that a member of Kuwait's armed forces was wounded in the clashes.
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