Trump Floats Lower China Tariff Ahead of Trade Talks
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What did President Trump propose regarding China tariffs?
They've kind of become almost like therapists for a lot of companies, playing art, crypto ball readers, consultants, accountants, lawyers, wearing numerous hats these days.
And a Vermont judge orders the release of a graduate student detained as the Trump administration singled out students with links to pro-Palestinian activism. It's Friday, May 9th. I'm Victoria Craig for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for Alex Osola. This is the p.m. edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.
A day before U.S.-China trade talks begin in Switzerland, President Trump this morning floated the idea of easing tariff rates on China. In a Truth Social post, he said an 80 percent tariff on China seems right, but added that decision is up to his Treasury Secretary Scott Besant. If the U.S. does land on such a number, it would be a climb down from the 145 percent tariffs Trump imposed on Chinese imports earlier this year. An 80 percent rate, though, would still present hurdles to trade between the world's two biggest economies. Meanwhile, the Journal exclusively reports that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has tapped his top public security aide to participate in this weekend's trade talks. That's according to people familiar with the matter. And it signals the importance of the fentanyl issue to bilateral relations.
The Trump administration has pushed Beijing to help fix America's drug crisis with more drastic measures to cut off the production and export of chemicals used to make the synthetic opioid. Also today, Chinese authorities pledged to step up their enforcement of limits on the export of rare earth metals. In April, Beijing retaliated against U.S. tariffs with controls on the resources needed for advanced defense systems including missile defense platforms, attack submarines and F-35 fighter jets. Those rare earths also serve as magnets in motors and other electronics. So what if you could make those with cheaper materials found within North America? You'd be tariff-proof. One startup, Conifer, is working on electric motors that use steel and rust, that is, plain old iron. WSJ tech columnist Christopher Mims told me on our Tech News Briefing podcast about where we might see these newfangled motors.
Their first application is going to be like Vespa style scooters. Turns out that's a huge market. There's a billion of those in the world, but you know, this could go into vacuum cleaners. It could go into your HVAC system. It could be scaled up. It could go into electric vehicles. So that's a big deal. It just means local supply chains for motors eventually all over the world. One challenge though, is that because these motors are typically a bit less powerful than the current ones. They really have to be in the wheels. Turns out that just makes it more efficient. You don't have to transmit the power through a bunch of gears.
You can hear more of my conversation with Christopher on Tech News Briefing. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts, including where you're listening to this one. In U.S. stocks today, benchmarks were a little changed ahead of the U.S.-China trade talks this weekend. The Dow fell roughly three-tenths of a percent, the S&P dropped less than one-tenth of a percent, and the Nasdaq was unchanged. Coming up, if you build it, they will come. That's the hope for many U.S. cities building entire neighborhoods around new sports stadiums. That's after the break.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What did President Trump propose regarding China tariffs?
0:48–7:35
2
How are customs brokers adapting to new trade policies?
7:35
3
What innovations are startups making in electric motors?
3:27
4
What are the impacts of rare earth metal export restrictions?
2:53–8:00
5
How has the role of customs brokers changed in recent years?
8:00–10:12
6
What challenges do customs brokers face with new tariffs?
10:12
7
What is the current state of U.S.-China trade talks?
2:13–3:58
8
What does the future hold for electric vehicles and local supply chains?
3:58–13:54
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from WSJ What’s News
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