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Stocks, the dollar and oil are soaring on Monday after President Trump\u2019s top negotiators outlined the specifics<\/a> of a major \u2014 though temporary \u2014 de-escalation in the U.S.-China trade fight.<\/p>\n Expectations were sky-high for some kind of breakthrough. The market reaction suggests mission accomplished in terms of reaching an important d\u00e9tente, though significant trade barriers remain and plenty still needs to be worked out.<\/p>\n \u201cThe consensus from both delegations is that neither side wanted a decoupling,\u201d<\/strong> Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was a point person in the U.S.-China talks in Geneva over the weekend, said on Monday. \u201cNow we have the mechanism in place for further talks,\u201d he added, noting that the framework agreement expires after 90 days. Those talks could come in \u201cthe next few weeks<\/a>,\u201d Bessent told CNBC.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what is in the agreement:<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. will lower tariffs on Chinese imports to 30 percent from its current 145 percent.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n China will lower duties on U.S. goods to 10 percent from 125 percent.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Sector-specific tariffs are not part of this deal, according to Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative. Trump has imposed targeted levies on items including Chinese-made semiconductors, medical devices, and aluminum and steel imports.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n China will remove nontariff export controls<\/a>, but did not say whether it would lift restrictions on critical mineral shipments to the U.S. Beijing said it looked forward to stable and sustainable trade relations<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Both sides appear to see futility in clobbering each other with huge tariffs.<\/strong> The tit-for-tat measures had created \u201cthe equivalent of an embargo, and neither side wants that,\u201d Bessent said. Companies have been warning that the levies would upend global supply chains and force them to raise prices<\/a>. (Apple is weighing raising prices on its fall lineup of iPhones<\/a>, but is determined not to blame tariffs publicly for the move, according to The Wall Street Journal.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That uncertainty has virtually paralyzed corporate investment and hiring, analysts say, and pushed the Fed into limbo on interest rates as it watches for any fallout on inflation and the labor market.<\/p>\n Trump seems onboard with Monday\u2019s agreement.<\/strong> Yesterday, he hailed the state of talks on Truth Social, calling it \u201ca total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n But the terms are far more dovish than what he called for just three days ago<\/a>: 80 percent tariffs on China \u201cseems right,\u201d he wrote on Friday, adding it would be \u201cup to Scott B,\u201d an apparent reference to Bessent.<\/p>\n Investors had regarded the China impasse as the toughest trade hurdle to surmount.<\/strong> Any progress there is likely to fuel optimism for further deals. \u201cThe worst of his trade wars and much of the crippling uncertainty could be over within two months from now,\u201d Holger Schmieding, the chief economist for Berenberg, wrote in a research note on Monday.<\/p>\n However, higher tariffs will stick, and the biggest damage would be to American businesses and households, Schmieding added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Among those rallying in premarket trading are tech giants with big exposure to China, including Nvidia, Amazon and Apple.<\/p>\n DEALBOOK WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU<\/p>\n We\u2019d like to know how the tariffs are affecting your business. Have you changed suppliers? Negotiated lower prices? Paused investments or hiring? Made plans to move manufacturing to the U.S.? Or have the tariffs helped your business? Please <\/em>let us know what you\u2019re doing<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n President Trump\u2019s drug-pricing plan rattles pharma stocks. <\/strong>The president announced on Truth Social that he would sign an executive order on Monday<\/a> seeking to lower drug prices to levels that peer countries pay. (In his first term, Trump unsuccessfully tried to do something similar with dozens of drugs covered under Medicare.) The move is likely to face stiff court challenges; still, shares in global drugmakers fell sharply on Monday<\/a>. Separately, House Republicans yesterday released a proposal that would vastly weaken Medicaid coverage<\/a>, as the party seeks cost savings to pay for expansive tax cuts later this year.<\/p>\n Air travel could be disrupted nationwide, U.S. official says.<\/strong> After another radar outage at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press With Kristen Welker\u201d yesterday that he would begin discussions about scaling back flights there<\/a> \u2014 and that the problems at Newark may be affecting other airports. Duffy said regulators had been finding \u201cantiquated systems\u201d at airport traffic control sites nationwide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Inflation will be front and center this week.<\/strong> The Consumer Price Index report for April is scheduled for publication on Tuesday, with economists expecting to see new evidence of Trump\u2019s trade war reigniting inflation<\/a>. The health of the consumer will come into focus on Thursday with the release of retail sales and Walmart\u2019s latest quarterly earnings. On Friday, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey is set for publication, as some polls show Trump\u2019s handling of the economy eroding his approval rating<\/a>.<\/p>\n Critics of President Trump were outraged over the weekend by reports that he is poised to accept a Boeing 747-8 from Qatar<\/a> \u2014 valued at $400 million \u2014 as an upgraded Air Force One.<\/p>\n While White House officials said such a move would be done in compliance with federal law, skeptics said it represented a clear violation of ethics rules and a conflict of interest. It\u2019s worth noting what Qatar has already gotten from Trump, and what it might gain in the future.<\/p>\n A recap:<\/strong> Qatar is in talks to give the 747, currently owned by the emirate\u2019s royal family, to the administration, The Times reports, with the plane later being donated to Trump\u2019s presidential library. That might mean he could use it after his term ends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Trump has long complained about the state of the U.S. government\u2019s current Air Force One planes, and excoriated Boeing as being slow in providing replacements. That said, the jumbo jet wouldn\u2019t be available right away, since a U.S. contractor would still need to retrofit it to meet military standards.<\/p>\n ABC News, which broke the news, reports that administration lawyers concluded such a gift would be acceptable because it isn\u2019t conditioned on a specific request<\/a>, and the plane would be given to the federal government. A Qatari official added that such a gift would be a temporary loan.<\/p>\n Critics didn\u2019t mince words about what they saw as a clear violation of federal law.<\/strong> The Qataris have an expansive array of business interests tied to the U.S., including energy projects and investments. Good-government advocates also noted that Trump\u2019s family business just announced that it will build a new golf resort in Qatar<\/a>, which will be developed in part by a state-owned business.<\/p>\n \u201cThe corruption is brazen,\u201d Senator Adam Schiff<\/a>, Democrat of California, wrote on X. \u201cNothing says \u2018America First\u2019 like Air Force One, brought to you by Qatar,\u201d added Senator Chuck Schumer<\/a> of New York, the minority leader. \u201cIt\u2019s not just bribery, it\u2019s premium foreign influence with extra legroom.\u201d (Trump pointedly dismissed<\/a> such criticism on Truth Social.)<\/p>\n The president has already faced criticism over an array of seeming conflicts of interest<\/a>, including his family\u2019s business interests in cryptocurrency<\/a>, a sector he and Republicans are pushing to deregulate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Worth watching:<\/strong> Trump\u2019s visit to three Middle Eastern allies<\/a> \u2014 Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi \u2014 starting on Monday, which will be his first major international trip. (A deal for the Qatari 747 isn\u2019t expected to be announced during the trip.)<\/p>\n Among Trump\u2019s priorities is striking \u201ceconomic agreements\u201d<\/a> with the three governments to invest more in the U.S., CNN reports.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has drawn criticism for dismissing scores of government officials suddenly and seemingly without explanation.<\/p>\n But one of the latest such moves<\/a> is notable because of its timing \u2014 and for a potential benefit to a corner of the tech industry that President Trump has championed, artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Shira Perlmutter was fired as head of the U.S. Copyright Office on Saturday,<\/strong> after holding the post since October 2020, in the first Trump administration. No reason was given.<\/p>\n The legality of the move is unclear: Politico reports<\/a> that her position is appointed and supervised by the librarian of Congress, who must be nominated by the president and approved by the Senate \u2014 except that the last librarian, Carla Hayden, was dismissed on Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Critics of the move pointed to a report on A.I. that Perlmutter\u2019s office published last week,<\/strong> which questioned how much data A.I. developers need to train their models. From the document<\/a>:<\/p>\n When a model is deployed for purposes such as analysis or research \u2014 the types of uses that are critical to international competitiveness \u2014 the outputs are unlikely to substitute for expressive works used in training. But making commercial use of vast troves of copyrighted works to produce expressive content that competes with them in existing markets, especially where this is accomplished through illegal access, goes beyond established fair use boundaries.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Still, the report didn\u2019t urge direct action by the government, at least for now.<\/p>\n A.I. companies have argued for more permissive copyright rules to keep creating more-capable models, with Elon Musk suggesting last month on X that he favored scrapping all intellectual property laws<\/a>. (Disclaimer: The Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems.)<\/p>\n A.I. is an industry that Trump has championed,<\/strong> having announced the expansive Stargate data center project led by OpenAI and SoftBank. OpenAI\u2019s Sam Altman also donated $1 million to Trump\u2019s inauguration, while Musk remains a close ally of the president.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s surely no coincidence\u201d that Perlmutter was fired \u201cless than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk\u2019s efforts to mine troves of copyright works to train AI models,\u201d Representative Joe Morelle, Democrat of New York and the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, wrote on X.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The White House has not responded to news organizations\u2019 requests for comment on Perlmutter\u2019s firing.<\/p>\n In other A.I. news: Pope Leo XIV this weekend said that it would be a focus of his papacy<\/a>, suggesting that he will continue his predecessor\u2019s calls for greater worker protections amid the technology\u2019s rapid commercialization.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Deals<\/strong><\/p>\n Politics, policy and regulation<\/strong><\/p>\n Best of the rest<\/strong><\/p>\n Klarna said it had stopped hiring new workers because it was focusing on using artificial intelligence. Now the buy-now-pay-later lender is reversing course<\/a>. (Bloomberg)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \u201cIs the California Dream a Mirage?<\/a>\u201d (NYT)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Even award-winning writers are turning to Substack<\/a> to publish their latest works of fiction, experimenting with new formats and reviving old devices like serialized releases. (The New Yorker)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The inside story on how a quiet American emerged as the next pope<\/a>. (NYT)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\nHERE\u2019S WHAT\u2019S HAPPENING <\/span><\/h3>\n
What Qatar might gain from a gifted 747<\/h2>\n
\nWhy was a copyright regulator fired?<\/h2>\n
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THE SPEED READ <\/span><\/h3>\n
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