Today's GLOBAL TRADE story

US, China extend trade war truce for another 90 days

What happened
President Donald Trump and China's government yesterday extended a truce in their trade war for another three months, giving negotiators until Nov. 10 to secure a trade agreement or another extension. Trump threatened China with tariffs as high as 145% in April, provoking retaliatory tariffs of 125% from Beijing, before a temporary truce in May lowered tax rates to 30% on Chinese imports and 10% on U.S. goods.

Who said what
April's triple-digit tariffs "amounted to a de facto trade embargo" between the world's two biggest economies and showed that China could "create supply shortages that risked empty shelves at Walmart" and a shortage of rare-earth magnets for defense contractors, The Washington Post said.

While the European Union, Japan and other U.S. trading partners "agreed to lopsided trade deals with Trump," accepting "once unthinkably" high U.S. tariffs, The Associated Press said, China showed it had a "cudgel of its own," testing the "limits of a U.S. trade policy built around using tariffs" as a bludgeon. "Having demonstrated their ability to hurt each other," the two nations have been "talking ever since."

What next?
The extension of the truce "buys crucial time for the seasonal autumn surge of imports for the Christmas season, including electronics, apparel and toys at lower tariff rates," Reuters said. But with U.S. grievances unlikely to be resolved in a grand bargain, the "trade war will continue grinding ahead for years into the future," former U.S. diplomat and trade official Jeff Moon told the AP.

Today's ECONOMIC Story

Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLS

What happened
President Donald Trump yesterday said he will nominate E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the independent federal agency that compiles closely watched jobs and inflation reports. Trump fired the previous BLS commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, 11 days ago after a weak July jobs report that he baselessly alleged she had "rigged" for political reasons.

Who said what
"Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE," Trump said on social media. Antoni, a contributor to "Project 2025," was a critic of the BLS during the 2024 presidential campaign, arguing that the data was out of step with how people felt about the economy. He called for McEntarfer's removal shortly before Trump fired her.

The BLS is widely "seen as the gold standard for information on prices, employment, productivity and more," The New York Times said. And "economists on both the left and right of the political spectrum" say it's "critical" that the commissioner be seen as "politically neutral." Antoni's nomination was "met with reservations from economists," Reuters said. It will "result in a surge in demand for private label data," said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US.

What next?
Antoni must be confirmed by the Senate. A test of how Trump "might handle future releases of economic data" arrives today with the publication of the latest BLS monthly report on consumer prices, the Times said. The report is "expected to show an uptick in inflation partly because of the president's expanding trade war."

It's not all bad

In Los Angeles, six buildings representing the city's Black heritage have received Historic-Cultural Monument status, preserving the cultural landmarks. The African American Historic Places Los Angeles project was launched in 2022 by Getty and the city's Office of Historic Resources as a way to protect and celebrate Black history. Designated buildings include the LGBTQ+ nightclub Jewel's Catch One and the Tom and Ethel Bradley Residence, the home of L.A.'s first Black mayor.

Under the radar

Blue whales have gone silent

Blue whales have been singing less, and it could be a bellwether of climate change. Warming oceans affect the availability of krill, the whales' only food source, and according to a study published in the journal PLOS One, there's a correlation between blue whale vocalizations and their food supply.

The study tracked more than six years of acoustic monitoring in the central California Current Ecosystem. And during those years, blue whale sounds decreased by approximately 40%.

High ocean temperatures lead to algal blooms that can kill krill. And blue whales are "forced to forage over a much larger geographic area when krill populations become depleted," said Newsweek. "It's like trying to sing while you are starving," John Ryan, a biological oceanographer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and the lead author of the study, said to National Geographic.

Blue whales, the largest animal on the planet, can provide important "clues about how resilient different whale species may be in the face of changing ocean conditions," said Newsweek. As they "navigate seas transformed by climate change, noise and industrial activity, their voices offer a vital record of a world in flux," said National Geographic. And if a species "capable of roaming an entire coastline begins to falter, struggling to find food and delaying reproduction, researchers say the signal is unmistakable: Something deep within the ecosystem is shifting."

On this day

August 12, 1990

Paleontologists led by Sue Hendrickson discovered the fossil of a Tyrannosaurus rex in the foothills of South Dakota. The fossil, named Sue after the woman who found it, remains the largest T. rex skeleton ever discovered, at over 40 feet long. It has been on display at Chicago's Field Museum since 2000.

TODAY'S newspaperS

Silenced 'voice in war-torn Gaza'

"Trump ramps up federal control in D.C.," The Washington Post says on Tuesday's front page. But his "talk of replicating D.C. police takeover in Chicago" is just empty "Windy City bluster," says the Chicago Sun-Times. "Explosion at U.S. Steel plant leaves two dead," The Wall Street Journal says. "Ford makes move to add EVs," says the Detroit Free Press. "Journalist slain in Israeli strike was a voice in war-torn Gaza," says the Los Angeles Times. "Journalists' killings elevate Israel-Qatar tension," The New York Times says.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Fowl pinups

Geese that have been roaming the streets of March, England, for years are getting their own 2026 calendar. The "gregarious" flock can often be found entering shops and using crosswalks, and the calendar, a fundraiser for animal charities, will feature candid photos of the birds captured by residents, said the BBC. But not everyone is a fan of the local celebrities. The idea of these "quite intimidating" geese having their own calendar is "disgusting," said resident Brenda Smith.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.