An Eye-Scanning Orb.

The White House Drudge Report.

“It’s the first thing I read every day.” — Brigadier General (retired) Russ Howard, founding director of The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

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1. The Wall Street Journal:

China has signaled that as a nation it is better able to tolerate the pain of a prolonged tariff war than the U.S. But cracks are starting to show, suggesting how deeply that pain is already setting in across its economy.

Plunging trade across the Pacific is leading to production halts and threatening to undermine job stability for millions of Chinese. On Wednesday, China’s economy showed its first big signs of damage from the trade war, with a drop in export orders in April and the weakest production at the country’s factories in more than a year.

Chinese officials have played down any evidence of hardship, reiterating their confidence that this year’s growth target of around 5% will be reached.

But in recent weeks, signs have accumulated that many businesses are struggling to survive. Companies reliant on sales to the U.S. market, ranging from makers of toys, furniture and T-shirts, to metal producers and manufacturers of electrical appliances and construction equipment, have suspended production and put employees on leave. Those that need to source U.S. components for production, such as semiconductor plants and carmakers, have been scrambling to keep operations running.

Some business owners have likened the disruptions to production shutdowns during the Covid pandemic—with the warning that the outlook appears more dismal this time. (Source: wsj.com)

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2. Chinese state media has said there would be “no harm” in holding trade talks with the Trump administration, indicating a softening of Beijing’s position as both sides look for a way out of their crushing tariff war. The gesture comes as the fallout from the trade war has begun to show in China’s economic data, with factory activity in April dropping the most since 2023 as export orders dried up. Yuyuan Tantian, an account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, said in a social media post on China’s Weibo platform on Thursday that Beijing did not need to talk to the US before Washington took substantive action. “But if the US wishes to engage with China, there’s no harm in it for China at this stage,” it said. (Source: ft.com)

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3. The European Union is planning to share a paper with the US next week that will set out a package of proposals to kick-start trade negotiations with the Trump administration. The paper will propose lowering trade and non-tariff barriers, boosting European investments in the US, cooperating on global challenges such as tackling China’s steel overcapacity and purchasing US goods like liquefied natural gas and technologies, according to people familiar with the matter. The plans could still change as the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm that handles trade matters for the bloc, continues to consult with member states, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. (Source: bloomberg.com)