A.M. Edition for April 15. The Trump administration freezes billions in funding for Harvard University, after the school said it would resist demands to change its governance structure over antisemitism concerns. Plus, confusion in Detroit as automakers struggle to claim tariff relief on U.S.-sourced products. And Chinese leader Xi Jinping heads overseas, pitching stability to Asian countries facing high reciprocal tariffs from Washington. WSJ reporter Austin Ramzy explains what Beijing can realistically offer amid broader trade tensions. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened with Harvard's funding?
He's offering a pitch of stability, of support for free trade. So he's coming to these countries at a time when they're looking for support.
It's Tuesday, April 15th. 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.
The Trump administration is freezing more than $2 billion in federal grant and contract funding for Harvard University after the school resisted demands to change its governance structure over campus anti-Semitism concerns. An administration task force had demanded Harvard enact a mask ban and DEI programs and change classroom instruction to, among other things, improve viewpoint diversity.
Chapter 2: Why did the Trump administration freeze funding?
Harvard's president issued a letter yesterday rejecting those demands, leading the Trump administration to announce the funding freeze hours later. The government has couched the withholding of funding as an effort to uphold civil rights laws, while lawyers for Harvard say its demands violate the First Amendment and ignore due process.
Chapter 3: What are the implications of the funding freeze for Harvard?
This month, Harvard issued $750 million in the bond market that it could use to free up cash flow should it be unable to reconcile with the task force. New filings by the Commerce Department show the Trump administration opened tariff investigations into pharmaceutical products and semiconductors on April 1st, potentially teeing up additional duties.
Both investigations are broad and are being carried out under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to impose tariffs on goods deemed essential for national security. President Trump has indicated that around 25 percent tariffs on the sectors are forthcoming after he previously exempted some semiconductors and other electronic products from separate reciprocal tariffs.
Meanwhile, Asian auto stocks closed higher today after President Trump said he was considering short-term tariff exemptions to help car companies looking to move components manufacturing to the U.S.
Chapter 4: How are automakers affected by tariff relief confusion?
I'm looking at something to help some of the car companies where they're They're switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico, and other places. And they need a little bit of time. because they're going to make them here, but they need a little bit of time.
Trump didn't offer any specifics, potentially adding to confusion within the auto industry, which imports about 7.5 million vehicles into the U.S. each year. Journal Auto's reporter Ryan Felton says that when Trump enacted a 25% tariff on vehicle imports last month, he gave automakers some relief in the form of a U.S. content deduction.
Chapter 5: What is China's approach to trade amid U.S. tariffs?
But the weeks on, industry executives remain puzzled over how to collect it on certain of the 20,000 to 30,000 parts in the average vehicle.
The way it would work is you basically just subtract the dollar amount or take the percentage of content that isn't from the United States and reduce the effective tariff rate that companies would pay on these cars. Basically, at this point, the Commerce Department hasn't yet set a process for declaring U.S. content in the cards that are being brought over.
And then at that point, Commerce would give guidance to the Customs Department. And then only at that point could the company start kind of getting the lower effective tariff rate. So it could happen soon. It may not happen soon.
There's real no clear guidance at this point, but there's essentially money being left on the table every day that the companies can't save as a result of this process not being in place from the time the tariffs were initially imposed.
A White House spokesman said the Commerce Department was working on a process for automakers to seek approval and begin taking advantage of the U.S. content deduction as soon as possible, but did not give a timeline.
In other markets news, after announcing emergency support measures for its auto sector last week, South Korea today said it's preparing roughly $23 billion in government support for the chip sector as it faces U.S. tariff pressure. Semiconductors made up about 20 percent of the country's exports in 2024, led by homegrown firms like Samsung and SK Hynix, a key partner to NVIDIA.
The funds will cover infrastructure construction costs, low-interest loans to companies, and worker recruitment.
We are exclusively reporting that Netflix aims to achieve a $1 trillion market cap and double its revenue in five years, according to people present at the streaming giant's annual business review last month, where executives also shared ambitious plans to earn about $9 billion in global ad sales by 2030. The streaming giant is set to report quarterly results on Thursday.
And speaking of earnings, the likes of Bank of America, Citigroup, Albertsons and United Airlines are reporting results today. Also in focus, Boeing. Its stock fell pre-market after a report from Bloomberg that Beijing told Chinese airlines to stop taking delivery of the U.S. company's planes.
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Chapter 6: What are the latest developments in the semiconductor sector?
China is very interested in investment in data centers in Malaysia, and that's been a key part of their economic relationship in recent years. In Cambodia, China has funded a lot of infrastructure investment. built some major highways. Cambodia just reopened a naval base that was refurbished with Chinese investment.
So these are all countries that have close ties with China and rely on China for investment. Southeast Asia is, as a region, China's biggest trading partner. And these countries are all very important to China. So Xi is stepping in at a time to offer some at least rhetorical support. But the numbers, the improvements in trade and investment, we have to wait to see the details on that.
And finally, Austin, is Southeast Asia the extent of this diplomatic push? I noticed last week when we were reporting on comments from Xi Jinping, we had a line that the Spanish prime minister was visiting Beijing at the time. So clearly there's more engagement going on at present.
Right. So we've seen China preparing for the likelihood of a trade fight with the U.S. for some time now. And so it announced last month that they were holding off on tariffs on French brandy, for example. And the European Commission president recently had a call with the Chinese premier discussing trade.
And one of the key issues is whether or not products that will now no longer be exported to the US might hit other markets, which is obviously a concern of a lot of countries. And then in Latin America, China is carrying out a lot of economic diplomacy there as well. They buy a lot of commodities from the region. And foreign policy experts have told us that It's seen as a place where the U.S.
perhaps has dropped the ball in terms of engagement. The Chinese foreign minister spoke recently about not trying to dominate regions around the world, which is obviously a slight towards the U.S. And Lula da Silva will visit Beijing next month. And he and she have met several times recently. So there is likelihood that there will be more agreements announced between.
So that provides an opportunity for China as well.
I've been speaking to Wall Street Journal reporter Austin Ramsey in Hong Kong. Austin, thanks so much for the update. Thank you. Israeli troops have taken over about a third of the Gaza Strip in renewed military action, declaring security zones in swaths of the north and south while pushing out their populations.
After relying mainly on airstrikes and tactical raids for the first year and a half of the war, Israel is now seizing land and threatening to hold it indefinitely as it presses Hamas to release hostages still held in Gaza.
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