Why it matters: CECOT in Tecoluca, El Salvador, has become the symbol of President Trump's immigration crackdown after he sent hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants there with little or no due process.
President Trump's trade war is inspiring the latest TikTok trend — Chinese manufacturers encouraging shoppers to buy direct and pay less.
Why it matters: The trend highlights American consumers' desperation to avoid massive price increases on Chinese-made goods as Trump's tariffs take effect.
President Trump expanded the portfolio of his adviser Adam Boehler and appointed him as special envoy for hostage response, according to a notification sent to Congress on April 4 and obtained by Axios.
Boehler will coordinate across agencies on hostage issues and report to Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Temu and Shein plan to raise prices as they grapple with President Trump's move to close a trade loophole on cheap Chinese goods.
Why it matters: Imported shipments valued at less than $800 had enjoyed the "de minimis" exemption from U.S. tariffs, enabling foreign online retailers like Temu and Shein to sell super-cheap items to American consumers.
The U.S. has been investing feverishly in recent years to create a domestic supply chain for electric vehicles and reduce its dependence on foreign countries, but it's far from complete.
Why it matters: Despite more than $130 billion in EV investments in the U.S., big gaps in the supply chain — mostly in mining and refining — have left America vulnerable to an escalating trade war with China.
A critical avenue of U.S.-China competition has slipped under the public's radar despite its potential outsize impacts on economies, militaries and weaponry: biotechnology.
Why it matters: Better body armor, dynamic camouflage, foods synthesized in trenches, super soldiers, landmine-detecting bacteria and sabotaged materials shipped to the enemy are all promises of this field.
And a new report concludes that Beijing is ascending to biotech dominance, at great risk to Washington.
President Trump has vowed to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon — but inside his national security team there's a divide over the best way to do it.
Beyond tariffs and court battles over Trump policies, two pieces of White House palace intrigue emerged Tuesday:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suspended two top Pentagon officials, Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick, as part of an investigation into who leaked word of a planned top-secret briefing on China for Elon Musk.
Axios learned that Musk or Hegseth didn't just decide to call off that briefing after the leak. President Trump himself ordered staffers to kill it.
