P.M. Edition for May 9. In a social-media post, President Trump said lowering tariffs on Chinese goods to 80% “seems right.” Meanwhile, Beijing moved to enforce restrictions on exports of rare-earth metals before this weekend’s talks in Switzerland. But when it comes to the future of electric motors, that might not matter; WSJ tech columnist Christopher Mims tells us about one startup that’s using iron and steel instead. Plus, Newark Liberty International Airport suffers its second tech outage in two weeks. Victoria Craig 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 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.
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Chapter 2: How are customs brokers adapting to new trade policies?
Chapter 3: What innovations are startups making in electric motors?
Chapter 4: What are the impacts of rare earth metal export restrictions?
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.
How do you create a market out of thin air? How do you get the largest technology merger over the finish line? Learn more at FTI Consulting. Experts with impact.
The heyday of free trade meant less paperwork and less to do for the customs brokers who handle the logistics of getting goods from one country to another. But tariffs have changed all that, at least for now. WSJ reporter Kajal Viez traveled to Laredo, Texas, America's biggest inland port, to see how anxious importers are bombarding customs brokers with work. Kajal, let's just start really broad.
What does a customs broker actually do?
So a customs broker is kind of like the unsung middleman in international trade. They're responsible for making sure companies are paying what they owe in duties to the government when importing or exporting goods. And for the government, they are kind of the first line in terms of revenue collection from taxes or tariffs on imports. And so it was a job that was always on autopilot in many ways.
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Chapter 5: How has the role of customs brokers changed in recent years?
He said it could be completed in three or four years, but would require billions of dollars in funding from Congress. In unrelated news out of Newark, the city's mayor was arrested today. Ross Baraka was accused of trespassing during a protest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. The interim U.S.
attorney for the District of New Jersey said the mayor ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security to leave the center. A campaign spokeswoman for Baraka, a Democrat who is running for governor, said she would provide more details when available. A Vermont judge has ordered the Trump administration to release Turkish Tufts University graduate student Rumesa Ozturk.
The judge said the government did not provide sufficient evidence justifying Ozturk's detention in Louisiana. The only evidence it gave was a pro-Palestinian opinion piece she co-wrote for a student newspaper. Ozturk, who has not been charged with a crime, will need to return for court hearings as her case proceeds.
She is at least the second student freed from custody under the Trump administration. Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter has died at 85. He served on the court from 1990 until his retirement in 2009. Souter was nominated by Republican President George H.W. Bush, but he did not tilt the court to the right.
Souter preserved abortion rights and became a reliable member of the court's liberal bloc. Sports complexes aren't just for sports fans anymore. To revitalize sleepy downtowns, many U.S. cities are adopting a megaprojects approach that centers on sports arenas. Last week, Washington, D.C.
's Commander's football team reached a $3.8 billion deal for a new stadium development that includes not just a place for the team to play, but for fans to stay, eat, shop, and relax. WSJ Real Estate Reporter Rebecca Picciotto.
The model of building new neighborhoods anchored by stadiums is not necessarily a new real estate blueprint, but it's becoming an increasingly popular formula for American cities to revive their struggling downtowns. In North America alone, there are at least 39 of these major sports anchored mixed use development projects in different stages of planning.
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Chapter 6: What challenges do customs brokers face with new tariffs?
Chapter 7: What is the current state of U.S.-China trade talks?
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.
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Chapter 8: What does the future hold for electric vehicles and local supply chains?
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.
How do you create a market out of thin air? How do you get the largest technology merger over the finish line? Learn more at FTI Consulting. Experts with impact.
The heyday of free trade meant less paperwork and less to do for the customs brokers who handle the logistics of getting goods from one country to another. But tariffs have changed all that, at least for now. WSJ reporter Kajal Viez traveled to Laredo, Texas, America's biggest inland port, to see how anxious importers are bombarding customs brokers with work. Kajal, let's just start really broad.
What does a customs broker actually do?
So a customs broker is kind of like the unsung middleman in international trade. They're responsible for making sure companies are paying what they owe in duties to the government when importing or exporting goods. And for the government, they are kind of the first line in terms of revenue collection from taxes or tariffs on imports. And so it was a job that was always on autopilot in many ways.
That's all very different now with seemingly off the cuff and very spontaneous changes to U.S. trade policies, the applications of new tariffs. It's become quite a pickle for both companies who are importing goods and these customs brokers who are suddenly in the eye of the hurricane.
So now these customs brokers are in high demand, and one of them told you that it's his company's best year. So what does that actually look like in practice?
It's meant really a lot of long hours and really manual work. Or in an age when we're talking so much about artificial intelligence and automation, it was quite surprising to see how much of the work was people staring at spreadsheets and really facing like 13 hour days, this really tedious paperwork effectively.
They've kind of become almost like therapists for a lot of companies playing art, crystal ball readers, consultants, accountants, lawyers wearing numerous hats these days.
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