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GS Power Partners’ Hof Community Solar Project combines clean power generation with ecological stewardship and educational initiatives.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n U.S. President Donald Trump has met with Japan’s newly elected, ultraconservative leader in Tokyo during one of the busiest days of his Asia trip. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi gave Trump gold-plated golf balls carrying his name, and Japan\u2019s government floated buying a fleet of American Ford F-150 trucks to ease trade tensions.<\/p>\n His Tuesday itinerary also included speaking to U.S. troops aboard an aircraft carrier and mingling with business leaders. During his trip through Asia, Trump has focused mostly on discussing trade with world leaders, aiming to highlight America\u2019s influence on the global economy.<\/p>\n Here’s the latest:<\/p>\n President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whose country has clashed with China over competing claims in the South China Sea, as have other ASEAN nations, welcomed China\u2019s signing of an expanded trade pact, but stressed that \u201cthis cooperation cannot exist alongside coercion.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chinese foreign minister said China and the ASEAN members \u2014 Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam \u2014 are \u201cgood neighbors and good brothers that are close in geography, culture and sentiment.\u201d<\/p>\n Marcos, who becomes ASEAN\u2019s chairman next year, has vowed to accelerate the conclusion of a Code of Conduct to govern behavior in disputed waters. <\/p>\n He urged China to \u201ccommit to cooperation and meaningful engagement, especially in the South China Sea,\u201d and said it\u2019s \u201cregrettable\u201d that Philippine vessels and aircraft continue to face \u201cdangerous actions and harassment\u201d over a hotly disputed shoal.<\/p>\n After China signed an expanded version of a free trade agreement Tuesday with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Premier Li Qiang pitching expanded economic ties with Beijing as an alternative to Trump\u2019s protectionist policies.<\/p>\n Li Qiang told an ASEAN-China summit meeting that closer cooperation could help overcome global economic uncertainties. \u201cPursuing confrontation instead of solidarity brings no benefit\u201d in the face of economic coercion and bullying, he said.<\/p>\n China is the world\u2019s leading producer and processor of rare-earth minerals and related technologies critical for fighter jets, robots, electric vehicles and a host of other high-tech products. In a show of strength and of the leverage it brings to the negotiating table, the country has limited exports of the elements, crippling U.S. and other foreign companies. Most recently, they tightened the restrictions Oct. 9, just ahead of the Trump-Xi summit.<\/p>\n \u201cRare earths are now the most effective lever that China can pull,\u201d said Zongyuan Zoe Liu, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. \u201cThe rest of the world does not have readily available or affordable productive capacity.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Toshimitsu Motegi held a telephone conversation with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Tuesday and expressed \u201cserious concern\u201d over Beijing\u2019s rare earths export controls.<\/p>\n Their talks came hours after Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi signed a rare earths cooperation agreement, showcasing the coordination between the allies amid the U.S.-China rare earths dispute ahead of Trump\u2019s expected talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a regional summit in South Korea.<\/p>\n The United States and China are not going to resolve all the issues that divide them before presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet Thursday in Busan, South Korea.<\/p>\n But they are likely to make enough progress on China\u2019s stranglehold on strategic minerals, American export controls and other nettlesome problems to calm financial markets and prevent their rivalry from doing much more economic damage for now.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re trying to get to some kind of d\u00e9tente,\u201d said Jeff Moon, a former U.S. trade official and diplomat who now runs the China Moon Strategies consultancy. \u201cThere\u2019s no pretense that they\u2019re going to reach a grand bargain that solves everything in the relationship.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n \u25b6 Read more about what\u2019s on the table \u2014 and what\u2019s not \u2014 for the U.S.-China meeting<\/p>\n He\u2019s scheduled to fly to South Korea for his last stop on his Asia trip, where he\u2019s expected to see President Lee Jae Myung and speak to business leaders Wednesday at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.<\/p>\n Amazon has about 350,000 corporate employees and a total workforce of approximately 1.56 million. The cuts announced Tuesday amount to about a 4% reduction in its corporate workforce, which doubled during the pandemic as millions stayed home and boosted online spending. The company previously cut 54,000 jobs since 2023 and the downsizing may not be over.<\/p>\n Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in a statement that the layoffs \u201crepresent a deep cleaning of Amazon\u2019s corporate workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n Many retailers are pulling back on seasonal hiring this year due to uncertainty over the U.S. economy and tariffs. Amazon Inc. said this month, however, that it would hire 250,000 seasonal workers, the same as last year\u2019s holiday season.<\/p>\n \u25b6 Read more about how Amazon is changing it\u2019s workforce to accelerate AI investments<\/p>\n Global shares were mostly lower on Tuesday as investors watched to see what might come of a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and China\u2019s top leader. In Asia, Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng dropped 0.3% to 26,346.14, reversing earlier gains, and the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.2% to 3,988.22 after briefly topping 4,000, its highest level in a decade.<\/p>\n Trump has suggested he expects to forge another trade agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim summit in South Korea later this week. That could help alleviate trade tensions that have roiled world markets and disrupted business since Trump\u2019s return to the White House.<\/p>\n The Federal Reserve will almost certainly cut its key interest rate on Wednesday and could signal another cut in December as it seeks to bolster hiring. A cut could bring down borrowing costs for mortgages and auto loans. Since Fed chair Jerome Powell strongly signaled in late August that rate cuts were likely this year, the average 30-year mortgage rate has fallen to about 6.2% from 6.6%, providing a boost to the otherwise-sluggish housing market.<\/p>\n Still, the Fed is navigating an unusual period for the U.S. economy and its future moves are harder to anticipate: Hiring has ground nearly to a halt, yet inflation remains elevated, and the mostly solid growth is heavily dependent on massive tech company investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The central bank is assessing these trends without most of the government data it uses to gauge the economy\u2019s health.<\/p>\n \u25b6 Read more on the Fed\u2019s efforts to support the U.S. economy without the usual data<\/p>\n The president told corporate executives that he would be their ally in the White House. If they aren\u2019t able to make progress by talking to his Cabinet officials, he said, \u201ccall me and I\u2019ll override them if I have to.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has been working to demonstrate that his trade policies can generate foreign investment that will boost the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n Ahead of a dinner at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick read a list of companies investing in the power system and the artificial intelligence buildout, among other projects, with funding from Japan.<\/p>\n The specific projects listed by Lutnick are tied to a trade framework, in which goods from Japan will be taxed at 15%. Trump announced in July that Japan would invest $550 billion as a result of trade negotiations.<\/p>\n Leading the investments were $100 billion each for nuclear projects involving Westinghouse and GE Vernova.<\/p>\n During Trump\u2019s visit, Japan and the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening America\u2019s struggling shipbuilding industry.<\/p>\n The $550 billion investment is part of the bilateral tariff deal agreed on earlier this year.<\/p>\n U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Japanese Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Takayuki Kaneko signed the MOU on the sidelines of a first summit between Trump and the Japanese prime minister.<\/p>\n Under the memorandum, two countries will set up a working group to foster cooperation in the development of shipbuilding and maritime industry, according to a Japanese statement.<\/p>\n Takaichi presented Trump with mementos from his 2017 visit when he and former leader Shinzo Abe played golf together, underscoring her own closeness to the late Abe, who had friendly ties with Trump.<\/p>\n The gifts included a golf club that Abe used when he and Trump played rounds six years ago, as well as a set of gold-coated golf balls carrying Trump\u2019s name, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara. <\/p>\n There was also a caddy bag used by a top Japanese golf pro Hideki Matsuyama who played with them at the time. Kihara declined to disclose what Takaichi received from Trump.<\/p>\n The trial of Abe’s accused assassin started on Tuesday in the western Japanese city of Nara. <\/p>\n Trump and Takaichi met with Sakie Yokota, 89, and about a dozen other people whose loved ones were abducted by North Korea decades ago.<\/p>\n In 1977, Yokota\u2019s then-13-year-old daughter Megumi was abducted to North Korea from Japan\u2019s northern coast on her way home from school. Yokota said she hopes for progress on the issue and thanked Trump for pledging his support.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a critical moment. We are getting old and this decades-old problem that has been left unresolved is now in the hands of our children,\u201d Yokota said. \u201cI desperately hope President Trump would have good talks with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un and convince him to return our loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House says Takaichi told Trump that she\u2019s nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n Doing so has become a common occurrence among foreign leaders looking to impress Trump, with several backing his nomination \u2014 or at least promising to do so \u2014 in recent months.<\/p>\n Trump also got nominated on this trip by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Monday.<\/p>\n The president didn\u2019t win the Nobel Peace Prize this year. But he\u2019s noted that the awards committee made its decision before he helped broker a ceasefire that has halted the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.<\/p>\n As Trump and Takaichi emerged from their bilateral meeting, a dozen people were seated on both sides of the room, holding pictures of family members.<\/p>\n The White House said that they were relatives who had loved ones abducted by North Korea.<\/p>\n Trump also met with families of Japanese who were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s during a visit to Japan during his first term in 2019. He suggested some of the same relatives were on-hand on Tuesday, saying, \u201cI remember all these beautiful faces.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m with them all the way,\u201d Trump said. \u201cAnd the U.S. is with them.\u201d<\/p>\n One agreement aimed to strengthen the supply chain of rare earths and other critical minerals, a move showcasing coordination between the two allies amid the U.S.-China dispute over Beijing\u2019s rare earths export controls.<\/p>\n Other deals between Japan and the U.S. include cooperation in Alaska\u2019s development of liquid natural gas and stoppage of Russian LNG imports, and Japan\u2019s soybean imports, according to Japanese media reports.<\/p>\n Call it pick-up diplomacy?<\/p>\n Japanese officials parked a trio of U.S. vehicles \u2014 a gold-hued Ford F-150 and what appeared to be two white American-made Toyota vehicles \u2014 outside Akasaka Palace, where Trump and Takaichi had met and signed trade agreements.<\/p>\n Trump wants allies, including Japan, to buy more American goods, while also making financial commitments to build factories and energy infrastructure in the U.S.<\/p>\n The vehicles were meant to impress him.<\/p>\n When he heard about the possibility of a Ford F-150 being incorporated into his visit, Trump praised the idea \u2014and Japan\u2019s prime minister.<\/p>\n Flying to Asia aboard Air Force One, the president said, \u201cShe has good taste\u201d and noted, \u201cThat\u2019s a hot truck.\u201d<\/p>\n Both leaders signed the implementation of an agreement for the \u201cgolden age\u201d of their countries\u2019 alliance.<\/p>\n Held up after the signing, the document ran to less than one-page.<\/p>\n Trump and Takaichi then signed a second agreement, this one laying out a U.S.-Japan framework for securing the supply of critical minerals and rare earths.<\/p>\n When the signing ceremony had concluded, a reporter called out a question to Trump but got no answer. Organizers asked in English that the press please move on to the next event.<\/p>\n Takaichi told Trump that her country would give Washington some 250 additional cherry trees next year, in honor of the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary celebration \u2014 as well as fireworks from Akita Prefecture for July 4 celebrations in 2026.<\/p>\n Then-Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gifted 250 new cherry trees to Washington during a visit to the White House with President Joe Biden in 2024.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s gift was meant to replace trees removed for construction to repair the crumbling seawall around the nation\u2019s capital\u2019s Tidal Basin, while also commemorating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. in 2026.<\/p>\n The president offered especially effusive praise to Takaichi, telling her, \u201cAnything I can do to help Japan, we will be there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to do a fantastic job, and we\u2019re going to have a fantastic relationship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Trump also hailed Takaichi being the first woman to hold the post, saying, \u201cThat\u2019s a big deal,\u201d before adding, \u201cYou will be one of the great prime ministers.\u201d<\/p>\n The president told Takaichi that his offer to support Japan in all situations extended to any \u201cfavors you need.\u201d<\/p>\n Takaichi used her early remarks to mention former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, her archconservative mentor who forged a strong bond with Trump during the U.S. president\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a matter of fact, Prime Minister Abe often told me about your dynamic diplomacy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In his own comments, Trump said, \u201cI want to thank you very much and I want to congratulate you.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cShinzo Abe was a great friend of mine,\u201d and added, \u201che spoke so well of you.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump said Abe \u201cwould be very happy to know that\u201d Takaichi was now prime minister.<\/p>\n Abe was assassinated on July 8, 2022, during an election campaign speech. Trump recalled being saddened by Abe\u2019s killing.<\/p>\n Before meeting with Trump, the Japanese prime minister said she was watching the Los Angeles Dodgers play the Toronto Blue Jays in the U.S. World Series.<\/p>\n Takaichi said the Dodgers were up 1-0 and that she really enjoyed watching it.<\/p>\n Baseball is a shared pastime in the U.S. and Japan. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is a near ubiquitous presence across Japan in ads and the Dodgers ballpark increasingly caters to tourists from Japan coming to the U.S. to watch him.<\/p>\n The president arrived for a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the Akasaka palace in Tokyo.<\/p>\n Trump was surrounded by U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.<\/p>\n While posing for photos, Trump shook hands with Takaichi and said, \u201cThat\u2019s a very strong handshake.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. delegation also included White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said to Takaichi, \u201cCongratulations, we\u2019re so excited for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump and Takaichi are scheduled to hold upcoming meetings.<\/p>\n
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