Author: Marketplace

After President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in South Korea late last month, some tariffs have been suspended or lowered, and China said it will restart purchases of U.S. soybeans and other agricultural goods. To hear about the mood among Chinese buyers and U.S. exporters, Marketplace's Jennifer Park recently attended a trade show in Shanghai. But first: an ethics violation by a former Fed and the impacts of delayed government data.

Tomorrow's when we’re supposed to learn more about how imports and exports have been faring from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, though the 43-day government shutdown may still delay that data release. What might those numbers be able to tell us (whenever they do come out) about some of the impacts of the president’s tariffs? Plus, China has a glut of EVs, and that oversupply is starting to spill over into the rest of the world.

From the BBC World Service: As COP30 in Brazil enters its second week, one of the key agreements protecting the Amazon rainforest is under threat from powerful Brazilian agri-business interests. Currently, a pact bans the sale of soy beans — Brazil’s largest agricultural export — grown on Amazon land deforested after 2008. Then, shares in Japanese retail and travel-related companies fell after China urged citizens not to visit the country over remarks made by Japan's prime minister about Taiwan.

About a third of global greenhouse gas emissions come from our food systems, and livestock production is a big part of that. Experts largely agree that one of the biggest actions individuals can take to lower emissions is to eat less meat.

But that's a hard sell for a lot of consumers. Americans have actually been eating more meat in recent years, and sales of plant-based meat alternatives have dropped.

There are a lot of companies out there trying to innovate climate-friendly meat and alternatives for the future.

For our podcast "How We Survive," Marketplace's Amy Scott visits a lab at Columbia University where researchers are figuring out how to make a more convincing and enjoyable fake meat.

The latest in President Donald Trump’s trade war waffling? Tariff exemptions aimed at lowering Americans’ grocery bills. Affected products could include supermarket staples, like coffee and bananas from Ecuador, Argentina, El Salvador and Guatemala. In this episode, how long it could take for shoppers and businesses to see lower prices. Plus: Work permit rollbacks fuel a janitorial workforce crunch in Texas, moviegoers shell out for IMAX screenings, and we check in with a Pennsylvania customs broker.

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The Latin Grammys threw a party in Las Vegas last night. But this year, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has had a chilling effect on the Latin entertainment industry. Mountain West News Bureau reporter Yvette Fernandez joins Kimberly from Las Vegas to share her reporting, including how the city is handling a lengthy tourism slump. Plus, we’ll play a round of Half Full/Half Empty!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "Latinx Files: Recapping the Latin Grammys" from The Los Angeles Times
• "Immigration crackdown, visa issues spark issues for Latin music festivals" from Marketplace 
• "New Statistics Underscore Las Vegas' Prolonged Tourism Slump" from Travel Pulse
• "Healthcare costs continue to be at the heart of the government shut down as costs will still increase" from KNPR
• "He has a soulful voice, a No. 1 hit and he's not real. Meet AI star Breaking Rust" from USA Today
• "The death of the penny is leaving businesses stuck in the middle" from Marketplace
• "The growing business of disconnecting" Marketplace
• "Holiday catalogs are making a comeback" Marketplace
• Test your news knowledge with Marketplace’s new weekly quiz

We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

Even though we haven’t gotten recent economic data because of the government shutdown, there’s still plenty of speculation that the next Fed meeting will be a contentious one. We hear from Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, about how the slowing job market and creeping inflation may force the guardians of interest rates into uncomfortable compromises. Plus, a look at why the Trump administration is lowering some tariffs on imported food items from Latin America. And, a chat with McKinsey’s Michael Chui about how companies are utilizing AI and what that means for the workforce.

How optimistic are small business owners nowadays? According to a recent survey, the picture is downbeat — many owners have been dealing with tariffs and other stressors. We delve into the data. And, a chat with the co-founder of a non-profit restaurant in New York City that serves up economically inclusive meals priced with a sliding scale based on what diners can pay.

From the BBC World Service: Donald Trump is set to cut import taxes on products like coffee, bananas, and beef as part of trade agreements with four Latin American countries, aimed at easing food prices. A tariff of 10% will stay on most goods from Guatemala, Argentina, and El Salvador, as will a 15% tax on imports from Ecuador. But staples like coffee and bananas, which the U.S. can’t produce enough of, will be exempt.

This week we learned the Japanese investment firm Softbank sold all of its stake in the juggernaut chipmaker Nvidia. We'll get into why on today's “Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review.” Plus, Apple is reportedly pushing back the release of its thinnest iPhone, the Air, and Wikipedia is asking AI companies, once again, to pay for scraping its data.

But first, back to that big move by Softbank and its CEO, Masayoshi Son. It cashed out its stake in Nvidia in October, the same month that the chipmaker hit a $5 trillion valuation. The $5.8 billion it netted will be redirected to OpenAI, part of a promised $30 billion to be invested in the maker of ChatGPT.

Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, about what all this means.

SoftBank Sells Its Nvidia Stake for $5.8 Billion to Fund OpenAI Bet - The Wall Street Journal

SoftBank sells its entire stake in Nvidia for $5.83 billion - CNBC

Apple Delays Release of Next iPhone Air Amid Weak Sales - The Information

iPhone Air Sales Are So Bad That Apple's Delaying the Next-Generation Version - MacRumors

Wikipedia urges AI companies to use its paid API, and stop scraping - TechCrunch

In the AI era, Wikipedia has never been more valuable - the Wikimedia Foundation