- WASHINGTON (AP) — The first state visit by the leader of China in more than a decade takes place next week when President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for high-stakes talks — and a little schmoozing — at the White House with President Donald Trump. When Xi’s plan lands at Joint Base Andrews just outside […]
- ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Three generations of a Navajo family were heading home from picking up supplies for an 8th birthday party when their truck got stuck in mud as storms with heavy rain rolled through the area. Kalisi Begay opted to walk home while her mother and 7-year-old daughter stayed behind. The water rose […]
- By AJ Vicens Sept 18 (Reuters) – Foreign hackers targeted and manipulated equipment in two local Colorado water systems last month, a spokesperson for Colorado Governor Jared Polis said on Friday. The incidents occurred at two privately owned utilities, each serving less than 200 people, and there was “no impact to public safety or water […]
- FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — The stabbing of a truck driver at a remote Wyoming rest stop had U.S. Sikhs on edge Friday amid rising anti-immigrant vitriol against the community and its truck drivers in particular. The Sikh victim was attacked from behind early Sunday while in a restroom at the Bitter Creek rest stop […]
- UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations announced the appointment Friday of U.S. agriculture official Luke Lindberg to head the World Food Program, the U.N. food agency that calls itself “the world’s frontline responder to hunger” in conflicts, crises and emergencies around the world. Lindberg, the son-in-law of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, is now […]
- Even as trading and markets moved faster, Warren Buffett made patience profitable and cool
on September 19, 2026 at 4:18 amOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Even in the age of algorithms, short attention spans and TikTok teases, Warren Buffett continued to profit with his patient bargain-hunting approach while offering folksy advice on investing and life. As chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett became famous for his unwavering and methodical investing style: Buy good businesses when their prices are low, stay on the sidelines when prices are too high and be patient with well-chosen picks. He rode that to decades of beating the rest of the U.S. stock market before he retired as Berkshire’s chairman on Friday, less than a year after giving up his role as CEO. The formula of buying good things at low prices sounds simple, and it’s the foundation of a style of investing called “value” hunting. But it periodically comes under criticism when the hot new thing is enthralling Wall Street, whether it’s dot-com stocks in the late 1990s or gold when its price was setting records early this year. (Buffett is famously skeptical of gold as an investment, saying it “has two significant shortcomings, being neither of much use nor procreative.”) The investing world has had other celebrities. J.P. Morgan built his reputation by investing in railroads during the 19th century. Andrew Carnegie helped build the U.S. steel industry and became famous for his philanthropy. Jim Cramer and Kevin O’Leary are on TV shows. But few ever cracked into the national consciousness like Buffett, and none did so from near the geographic center of the country in Omaha, Nebraska. Many professional investors also adhere to Buffett’s style of bargain-hunting. But none have had the kind of folksy humor and candor that can draw hordes of investors each year, like those attending Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting. More than 40,000 people would pack an Omaha arena on the first Saturday in May to hear from Buffett and his longtime investing partner, Charlie Munger, who died in 2023 and espoused a similar take-it-slow and make-it-right approach to investing. Besides talking about how they hunted for well-run businesses and the news of the day, they would also regularly confess to their own mistakes and crack wise. “Not a day goes by where what I’ve learned about Warren doesn’t affect me positively, both personally and financially,” said Todd Finkle, a retired professor. He grew up in Omaha, knows Buffett’s children and wrote the book, “Warren Buffett: Investor and Entrepreneur.” When Finkle would bring students to visit the “Oracle of Omaha” for extended Q-and-A meetings, Finkle said the first topic Buffett would discuss was never financial. “He didn’t say anything about money. The first topic that he would always bring up is that the most important thing you’ll do in your life is to pick who to marry.” Following a scandal at Salomon Brothers, in which Berkshire Hathaway had an ownership stake, Buffett became chairman and testified in Congress. He said all employees were told, “After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.” That reputation for honesty, along with his famed patience for investments, helped Buffett stay famous even in this “post-truth” era where people scroll through feeds at finger-flicking speed. He’s such an icon that scammers would use him in AI-generated videos that appeared to show him endorsing questionable investments or political candidates. On Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum, traders share picks for potential get-rich-quick opportunities in day-trading stocks and options. The discussion jumps from idea to idea, but even the denizens there know Buffett and his famous advice to “be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” His reputation is so strong and his advice so well-known that some memes on the forum ironically joke about doing the opposite, with a picture of Buffett suggesting that everyone freak out and sell in a panic. Bob Miles, who has taught a college course about Buffett for 16 years, said that people might initially get attracted to Buffett because he is rich and has made many Berkshire shareholders wealthy. But their interest deepens after reading Buffett’s annual letters, which became required reading for many investors, and hearing him speak in interviews. Through reading and listening, people would glean nuggets from Buffett like his core rules for investing: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.” Or that “you only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out,” referencing how tough times will quickly show who has been taking too much risk. He also suggested that “who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.” “People associate him with successful investing, but I look at him more and more as kind of a guide toward how to live a successful life, whatever your talents happen to be,” Miles said. At the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of business, trips for students to Berkshire’s annual meetings were always a hot ticket. “I don’t know of any time that it wasn’t popular,” said David Musto, a finance professor at the school and faculty director of the Jacobs Master of Science in Quantitative Finance. With Buffett’s departure from the stage, the obvious question is whether anyone else could replace him as the world’s most famous value investor. Musto said some other big names still exist in the investing world, such as Will Danoff at Fidelity Investments, who is retiring from day-to-day management at the end of the year. But it’s difficult to find someone with as strong and as long a track record as Buffett’s. Or the wit and personality. Musto said it’s important for value investing to remain a force in the market, particularly when traders are jumping into meme stocks, obscure cryptocurrencies and other bets built more on hope that their prices will go up than belief that it’s a good business trading at a good price. “It certainly helps to have people in the middle,” Musto said, “thinking about the value of a stock.” Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Oil prices are high but could be much worse. Trump has China’s Xi to thank for that
on September 19, 2026 at 4:18 amWASHINGTON (AP) — It could be much worse. When President Donald Trump launched his war against Iran in late February, energy analysts issued dire warnings that oil prices could more than double during a protracted conflict and urged investors and motorists to buckle up for a bumpy ride. The war grinds on and oil prices certainly remain volatile. But the most dire projections have not yet come to pass six months into a conflict that has no end in sight. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is making a much-anticipated state visit to Washington next week, could make a credible argument that the world has his country’s energy strategy to thank for that. It’s unclear how much the two leaders will discuss Iran during the visit, which comes as Trump’s Republican Party faces pressure from voters over high gasoline prices, and as China’s buffer is being further tested as the conflict in the Middle East spreads. Trump, who has sought to keep a fragile trade truce with Beijing intact, has been careful in public comments about differences with Xi over the country’s relationship with Iran. “We’ve been free-riding off Beijing in a weird way,” said Rosemary Kelanic, director of the Middle East program at Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank. “China’s doing it because they understand that they’re on the train that Trump is driving off a cliff. If oil prices go way up, that hurts the global economy. If it hurts the global economy, it hurts them.” Beijing spent years and billions of dollars amassing the world’s largest oil stockpile, building its strategic reserve to about 1.4 billion barrels by the end of last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s estimates. To protect China from foreign supply risks, Xi made energy self-reliance a part of the country’s latest five-year plan. Drawing from the massive stockpile allowed China, the world’s second-biggest oil consumer and Iran’s top buyer, to dramatically cut crude imports once the U.S. and Israel began their bombardment and Tehran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. The country was also helped by its shift toward electric vehicles in recent years and increasingly tapping into other energy alternatives. China’s oil import diet in turn helped ease global demand, softening the upward price effects for the United States, Europe and beyond. “The Chinese deserve credit,” said retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank. “They did in 10 years what took us 25 years after the 1973 oil crisis to do: really build a kind of strategic petroleum reserve that could allow you to weather this.” But that resilience faces new challenges. Attacks by Iran-backed militias this month led Saudi Arabia to temporarily shut a vital pipeline that transports crude across the kingdom to ports on the Red Sea. The Yemen-based Houthis have also seized two strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, bolstering the Iran-backed rebels’ ability to disrupt a key maritime shipping route. Planned talks among Gulf nations focused on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which were supposed to take place earlier this week, have also been put on hold. Before he meets Xi, Trump is set to meet Tuesday with leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council in New York, on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly. The group includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. Analysts at Bank of America last week forecast oil at $83 a barrel for the second half of the year “in light of more persistent disruptions to Hormuz,” but said they still expected shipping through the strait to gradually pick up. But if violence escalates and keeps a chokehold on traffic, prices could reach $95 to $120 a barrel, while damage to major energy infrastructure could produce spikes of up to $150 a barrel, the analysts wrote. Brent crude averaged about $69 per barrel last year and currently is hovering around $100. Brent crude briefly peaked in late April, touching $126. How China has weathered the volatile oil market caused by Trump’s war is ultimately seen by Beijing as “a vindication of Xi’s last five-year plan and his focus on self-reliance,” said Jonathan Czin, a former senior CIA analyst who is now at the Brookings Institution. The war in Iran — and its impact on the global economy — is expected to be on the agenda for the Trump-Xi talks. But the prospects of the world’s two biggest powers coming up with a breakthrough appear dim. Over the course of the conflict, the Trump administration has faced resistance when urging Beijing to use its considerable economic leverage to press the Islamic Republic to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Chinese officials, who have expressed strong opposition to the U.S. war, also have bristled at more recent administration threats to ratchet up economic pressure on nations and entities still doing business with Iran. To be certain, analysts say there’s little altruism in how China came to sit on its massive stockpile of oil. Experts believe Beijing was driven by contingency planning for potential military action to take over the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China considers its own territory. Tapping the reserves now has been far from ideal for Beijing — but seeing global oil prices skyrocket was not ideal, either. The leaders last met in Beijing just four months ago, and could meet twice more later this year. After the talks in May, Trump claimed Xi agreed with him that a nuclear-armed Iran is a bad idea and that the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened. Chinese officials have neither affirmed nor denied Trump’s telling of the private conversation. The U.S. administration has also warned China not to aid Iran’s military effort. But earlier this week, Trump downplayed a Wall Street Journal report that Chinese entities had supplied Tehran with satellite images of a Jordanian military base ahead of an Iran strike in July that killed three U.S. soldiers working there. “You know, when they say that China spies on us, I say you’re right, and we spy on them too,” Trump told reporters. Trump at the outset of the war called the conflict a “little excursion” that would last a matter of weeks. He also has repeatedly predicted that oil prices will quickly plummet once the conflict ends. Less than three months into the conflict, he even declared “everybody was wrong” because the most dire projections for oil prices didn’t come to pass. The White House did not respond to queries on whether Trump credits China’s actions with helping keep oil prices from hitting the worst-case levels. But energy analysts credit Beijing’s slashing imports as having the single greatest impact on moderating prices since the start of the war. China’s crude imports averaged just 8.1 million barrels per day in the second quarter. That’s almost 4 million barrels per day, or 32% lower than in the first three months of the year, according to U.S. data. “It’s remarkable how China managed the market,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research, a firm providing consulting services and analysis in the oil and gas industry. “They didn’t panic and by turning to their inventories they kept the price down for everybody.” Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- AI fears are fueling progressive Democrat’s campaign in Michigan battleground district
on September 19, 2026 at 4:18 amMASON, Mich. (AP) — Emerson Hyde and Dan Ewart, both Republicans, stood outside a contentious city council meeting earlier this week in the central Michigan town of Mason and grappled with the fact that the most prominent person to stand with them against a possible artificial intelligence data center was the local Democratic candidate for Congress. Hyde, 70, a farmer and former construction worker, said he is supporting 36-year-old Will Lawrence, a longtime liberal activist who until recently was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, instead of incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett, a Republican who has not flatly opposed the Mason project. “He’s been out to my house several times,” Hyde said of Lawrence. Ewart, 43, a fellow opponent of the data center project, was startled to hear that. After all, Republicans have tried to turn Lawrence into a national symbol of Democratic radicalism because he once called for an end to fossil fuels, defunding the police and maintaining open borders. “Lawrence has said a lot of crazy stuff,” Ewart said. “I don’t trust him.” Hyde wasn’t convinced. “Right now, what’s a bigger fight — a data center or socialism?” Data centers are the leading example of how Lawrence is trying to defy expectations in a classic swing district by harnessing unease over the rapid pace of artificial intelligence’s development, which has created anxieties that hopscotch ideological lines and could upend the nation’s politics. It’s also created an opening for a wave of leftist Democrats like Lawrence who have long argued that their outsider, anticorporate message can have broader appeal than the moderate establishment. Lawrence has widened his aim to the entire AI industry, calling for a pause on AI development in the wake of fears from some at the companies that the technology could eliminate humanity. “We need to put a stop to this, because right now the whole thing is out of control and alarm bells are going off,” Lawrence said at a press conference where he also urged the halting of data center construction. The co-founder of the aggressive environmental group The Sunrise Movement, Lawrence is not like the candidates who normally triumph in Michigan’s evenly-divided 7th Congressional District. The previous Democrat to have represented the district is currently Michigan’s junior senator, Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and steadfast moderate. Lawrence once pleaded online for moderate Democrats to “hurry up and die.” “He wants to show up and talk about data centers all day to distract from the vulnerability he has on abolishing the police and the border,” Barrett, who is seeking a second term, said in an interview. Lawrence bristled at that charge, noting that he’s been protesting data centers since last fall when a wave of new projects was proposed across the district and the state. “I’m talking about it because I give a damn about the people of this district,” Lawrence said in an interview. “My whole career is about fighting back against corporate power, standing with regular working people who are getting screwed over.” Lawrence says he’s moved on from many of his previous stances and online postings, including defunding the police or having open borders — a suggestion he said was made during more of a “performance.” He declines to identify himself anymore as a socialist, saying an “ideological label” leads to division. He let his membership in the DSA, whose Lansing chapter a member has said was founded in the living room of the building where Lawrence lived after college, lapse this summer. Lawrence’s campaign said he was not present at the founding. Some Republicans could not believe their luck when Lawrence beat two more traditional candidates in August’s Democratic primary. “We think it’s a comical mistake by the Democratic establishment to let somebody like him slip through,” said Ty Bommarito, chair of the Michigan College Republicans and a senior at Michigan State University, the 51,000-student institution in Lawrence’s hometown of East Lansing. But other observers warned against underestimating Lawrence, who made a mark in the primary by energetically stumping across the district, which stretches from Detroit’s furthest exurbs to farming communities west of the state capital of Lansing, and has continued at a frenetic pace leading into the general election. “There’s more energy in this Lawrence campaign than I’ve seen for a very, very long time,” said Lingg Brewer, an 81-year-old former Democratic state lawmaker in Lansing. “The excitement in this town I think equals that for Obama when he first ran.” Lawrence has spent plenty of time with students on Michigan State’s sprawling campus, but he’s also become a staple at meetings of residents — often farmers or other rural denizens — fighting data center proposals. Water-rich Michigan, whose Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer embraced the industry initially, has seen a wave of potential projects over the past year. On the night of the Mason council meeting, Lawrence had to pass on appearing at a simultaneous township council meeting on the opposite side of his district to stand against a different potential project there. Lawrence wore a cap in the same shade of red as President Donald Trump’s campaign hats, but with the phrase “No Data Centers in Mason” instead of “Make America Great Again.” The standing-room-only meeting was full of people wearing identical caps. Lawrence’s reliable opposition to data centers has won him support from some unexpected quarters in the town of 8,000. “I’m sure I disagree with a whole lot of his policies,” Zach Bartels, 48, who identified himself as a conservative independent, said of Lawrence, “but right now I’m kind of a one-issue voter.” Patrick Lind, 51, regularly votes Republican, but he’s not sure if he will this year. “The partisan issue is going to be a lot less important than the data center issue,” Lind said. Ashley Wickham, 38, says she’s never been involved in politics and hadn’t voted in a congressional primary before last month’s, which was open to any voter regardless of party affiliation. She cast her ballot for Lawrence, noting that he’s been to almost every anti-data center event over the past year. “I’m definitely going to support him, because he supported me,” said Wickham, who bought a house in Mason just before the potential data center was announced last November. At the time, the city said there was not an official proposed project but disclosed it was in discussions to annex 405 neighboring acres where a company could build a $1 billion hyperscale facility. The community has been convulsed with opposition ever since. Lawrence scolded the council members, who sat stoically through dozens of speeches. “They say there’s a significant chance that all human beings may be killed by what they’re building — what they want to build in Mason,” Lawrence said. “How hard is it to just listen to the residents and just say ‘No’?” Lawrence threw barbs at Barrett, whom he has slammed for accepting donations from technology firms and voting last year for a version of Trump’s tax-and-budget bill that would have banned any state from regulating AI for 10 years. The provision was removed from the final version of the bill. A representative of Barrett’s office read a statement from the congressman, who was in Washington and could not attend the meeting. The statement reiterated Barrett’s view that local officials should decide on data centers rather than the federal government. In the interview, Barrett said he also favors limits on AI, and the 22-year Army veteran noted that he’s proposed legislation banning its use on the battlefield. Outside the Mason City Council chamber, Ewart said he’s urged Barrett to come out more forcefully against the project and warned the congressman about local disappointment with him. Ewart narrowly lost a Republican primary last month to represent the area in the state legislature, and he warned that voters shouldn’t gamble on Lawrence even if they oppose data centers. “The question is how fast the socialism comes in,” Ewart said. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Thousands join protest outside Kennedy Center, expressing concern that Trump might tear it down
on September 19, 2026 at 2:18 amWASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of people joined outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Friday evening to protest President Donald Trump’s plans for the facility, lending their voices to a chorus of organizations and individuals who have been horrified that he might make good on his threat to close and tear down the storied institution. The crowd streamed in from the nearest subway stop, crowding streets in the Foggy Bottom area of Washington and locking down traffic as they walked, many carrying signs, as they joined in “Hands Around the Kennedy Center.” At one point some held hands and formed a human chain around the center. Chris Raleigh, co-founder of Hands Off the Arts, which set up the gathering, said in an interview that he hoped the event would show that people are willing to fight to keep Trump’s plans for the building at bay. One of the most iconic buildings on the Potomac River waterfront, the Kennedy Center has been a focus of Trump’s remake of Washington since 2025, when he began installing favorites onto its governing board. Late last year, he had his named placed on the center. A judge ruled that Trump’s name was illegally added and ordered it removed. The Kennedy Center board, which is aligned with the president, voted Tuesday to close the center indefinitely for repairs hours after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper blocked their plans to return Trump’s name to the building. On Thursday, the judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it. Raleigh said he, like others, is concerned that Trump could take the step without notifying the court. “Look at the East Wing,” he said. “We got up one morning and there was a giant hole there.” Raleigh said the Kennedy Center is more in the public eye than the East Wing was. He added he doesn’t believe the president fully understands why people are so upset “but that’s our job right? This may be the line that no one expected but this is where the line is going to be.” Protesters talked about the importance of the center as the pinnacle of the nation’s performing arts world. Bud Wilkinson, a local member of the arts community, set up a chalkboard with Trump’s name written on it hundreds of times. Protesters flocked to him to erase the names and replace them with hearts. “The Kennedy Center is vital to the arts in Washington. We need it. We need this,” Wilkinson said. “This is not just about putting the president’s name on the Kennedy Center. It’s about censoring the performances and the programming. That’s what started all this. So that’s what the nitty-gritty really is about this. So I want to replace all of this with love. That’s why there’s a heart.” Alina Baciu talked about the opportunities and relationships that students at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts have with the center and how those relationships might be impacted by what’s going on. Her daughter had numerous opportunities to take advantage of all the center had to offer as a student at Duke Ellington, she said. “I mean, they borrowed the beautiful costumes and the beautiful dresses from the Washington National Opera for their performances at Duke Ellington,” she said. They also performed on the center’s Millennium Stage. “All of those things have gone away because of this craziness. And it just hurts my heart,” Baciu said. Laura Steinberg, a volunteer for the last 10 years, said the loss of performances has already been heart- wrenching. “This reminds me of that picture from Tiananmen Square, where that young man stood in front of the tank,” she said of the throngs present. “This was my visceral response to this. I’ll stand in front of the wrecking ball if it’s going to come to that. My guess is many of these people would come down because we saw what he did to the East Wing. Nobody thought he would actually do it. So I think the shock has mobilized people.” Friday’s event followed a tumultuous week in federal courts in Washington where filings and counter-filings flooded the courts as the administration continues pushing for the president’s vanity projects. The administration has made substantive steps to begin work on a number of projects, despite the fact they are still being litigated. Such projects include Trump’s triumphal arch and the administration’s takeover of East Potomac Golf Links and the U.S. Institute of Peace. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said he was willing to save the center, which he said was losing money. He did not address a question about demolishing it. “We have a lot of people working very hard on it to save it,” he said. “I can save it easily, but why should we be doing that and then raise money for the rest of our lives to keep it afloat? Because that’s what you have to do, if we get no recognition. I think the Trump administration should be recognized as having saved the Kennedy Center.” Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
- Trump will be at the airport to greet Xi when China’s leader arrives for his US state visit
on September 19, 2026 at 1:18 amWASHINGTON (AP) — The first state visit by the leader of China in more than a decade takes place next week when President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for high-stakes talks — and a little schmoozing — at the White House with President Donald Trump. When Xi’s plan lands at Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington on Wednesday, Trump will be there to welcome Xi for the state visit, senior administration officials told reporters. That’s unusual — Trump typically meets foreign leaders at the White House. The heart of the visit comes Thursday when Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcome Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan at an arrival ceremony held indoors on the State Floor of the White House. Trump and Xi will also participate in a review of troops in the Rose Garden before they retreat behind closed doors for their talks. The first lady and Peng Liyuan will hold a separate engagement while their spouses get down to business. Details were not released during a call the officials held Friday to brief reporters on Xi’s visit. Xi and his wife will also be the guests of honor Thursday as Trump and the first lady host the Chinese delegation for a state dinner in the East Room. Trump described the dinner as an event everyone wants to attend. Both leaders will deliver remarks. “Thousands of people would love to be at that dinner,” Trump told reporters Friday in the Oval Office. He appeared to lament that the 1,000-person ballroom he is adding onto the White House will not be available for the soiree because it is still under construction. “This is a very tough ticket for me.” “I’ve told a lot of very good friends of mine, ‘you just can’t come,'” Trump said. But some of the Republican president’s tech industry friends have been invited. Among the executives scheduled to attend the state dinner are Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai of Google and Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Technologies, the White House said. Also on the guest list are Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citigroup, and Tim Cook, who recently stepped down as the CEO of Apple. Next Friday, Xi and Peng Liyuan are scheduled to return to the White House for a private tea with the Trumps, who will then take them on a tour of the National Archives, the home of some of the United States’ most important founding documents as the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary. Xi will head for Joint Base Andrews after the tour. As for other substantive parts of the visit, U.S. officials said Washington and Beijing may be ready to ease some tariffs on some nonstrategic goods. Discussing the visit during a call with reporters, senior U.S. officials said such a move might affect a narrow band of goods that would advantage both sides. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, did not elaborate. But they said they did not expect the United States would be ready to ease export controls to allow for a greater flow of rare earth minerals, critical components in a wide range of products, into the global market. The officials said China maintaining an acceptable flow of such minerals would be discussed, but there was unlikely to be an exchange involving reduced U.S. export controls. Separately, Treasury Secretary Bessent will meet over the weekend in New York with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss a range of economic issues, according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details publicly. Artificial intelligence will be a focus of the talks, the person said. In Beijing, China’s commerce ministry announced that He would lead a delegation to the U.S. from Saturday to Wednesday for economic and trade consultations. Also on the agenda will be China’s stockpiles of rare earth minerals, essential to everything from smartphones to fighter jets. Beijing has used its near-monopoly on the minerals to bring the United States to the negotiating table in a trade war started by Trump’s tariffs and other sanctions on China. The talks might continue at the working level into Monday, the person said. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will join Bessent on Sunday for the meeting with He, Greer’s office announced Friday evening. Trump visited China in May, as well as in his first term, for talks with Xi, who rolled out the red carpet for his American counterpart. Xi was last in the United States for a state visit in September 2015 during the administration of Democrat Barack Obama. —- Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Will Weissert, Paul Wiseman and Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
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