After President Trump’s auto tariffs took effect a year ago, General Motors pledged about $5 billion in new U.S. investments to boost domestic production. But the tariff math still works for GM to build plenty of vehicles halfway around the world in South Korea, the WSJ’s Jiyoung Sohn writes.

The biggest U.S. automaker by sales volume has greenlighted roughly $600 million in new investments to bring Korean production back to full capacity. Roughly 90% of the Chevrolet and Buick subcompact SUVs made in South Korea are exported to the U.S., analysts say.

The current 15% U.S. tariff on South Korean autos alone adds roughly $2,000 to the cost of each vehicle, HSBC estimates. The base models of these vehicles start at around $22,000 to $32,000 in the U.S. and margins tend to be slim. But the starting costs of setting up new U.S. production can translate to roughly an extra $1,500 to $3,000 per vehicle, meaning it can still be cost-effective to manufacture overseas, despite the tariffs.

• Ford Motor plans to expand partnerships with Chinese manufacturers abroad, while also opening the door to one day allowing Chinese cars in the U.S. (WSJ)
• A U.S. agreement with the Philippines establishes a 4,000-acre high-tech industrial hub on Luzon to lessen China’s dominance over global supply chains for critical minerals. (WSJ)

A U.S. program to insure tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz is still working out security issues with the Navy before it launches, an official said, but is nearly ready, the Journal’s Jared Mitovich reports.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corp. is in daily contact with Navy officials to get the program up and running, according to its head of investments, Conor Coleman. The program will insure losses up to $40 billion for ships brave enough to cross the key maritime chokepoint.

President Trump first announced the plan to unblock the strait in early March but ships have yet to use it. Chubb will administer the program, which has also attracted support from Berkshire Hathaway, Liberty Mutual and other major insurers.

• The U.S. expanded its blockade of Iran to “all ships, regardless of nationality” and will pursue them beyond the Middle East if necessary, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine said.
• Fourteen ships turned around to comply with the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and coastal areas, according to U.S. Central Command, and no ships breached the blockade in the first 72 hours of the operation. 
• Most cargo ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz in recent days used a route prescribed by Iran as a part of its plan to control the waterway, according to data from shipping analysis firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
• Europe has only roughly six weeks of jet-fuel supply left and could soon face flight cancellations as the war in Iran strains global markets, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.

A half-decade ago, Robert Friedland expected to get $150 a ton for sulfuric acid as a byproduct from a copper smelter in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now, his company, Ivanhoe Mines, is selling the industrial chemical for $500 a ton and prices have reached $800 a ton in the local spot market.

Ivanhoe is one node in a globe-spanning supply chain in which fossil fuels underpin the technologies pitched as their replacements, the Journal’s Ed Ballard writes. Among many other things, sulfuric acid is crucial for processing the metals in EV batteries. Yet it largely comes from sulfur that was removed from oil and gas in refineries.

This little-noticed supply chain is being tested to the limit by the throttling of exports through the Strait of Hormuz, with serious implications for everybody who depends on sulfuric acid, from fertilizer makers to semiconductor manufacturers, who use it to clean chips.

• Around 70% of U.S. farmers say they can’t afford all of the fertilizer they need this year, with nearly 60% saying their finances are worsening, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. (WSJ)

• U.S. industrial production fell 0.5% in March after an upwardly revised 0.7% increase in February, according to the Federal Reserve. (WSJ)
• The Chinese economy grew 5.0% in the first quarter, beating expectations, but showed signs of weakness amid global supply-chain disruptions from the Iran war. (WSJ)
• Eurozone consumer prices rose 2.6% in March, higher than previously thought, due to the Iran war’s energy shock. (WSJ)
• Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings cut its first-quarter guidance, citing weather-related disruption, rising fuel costs, and claims development in its less-than-truckload business. (WSJ)
• J.B. Hunt Transport Services posted higher revenue and profit in the first quarter, as executives see trucking capacity shrinking, creating more room to gain market share. (Dow Jones Newswires)
• Chinese EV-battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology, known as CATL, posted a 48.5% rise in first-quarter net profit despite a slowdown in electric-vehicle sales in China. (WSJ)
• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing raised its revenue forecast to more than 30% growth for the year on confidence in global AI demand. (WSJ)
• The Federal Maritime Commission is investigating whether ocean carriers discriminate against U.S. exporters of hazardous and radioactive materials. (Journal of Commerce)
• Zim Integrated Shipping Services said in a news release that CEO Eli Glickman will resign in six months, as Hapag-Lloyd works toward completing its acquisition of the Israeli carrier.
• Hong Kong’s Pacific Basin Shipping is switching an order for four methanol dual-fuel ultramax vessels to conventional fuel amid uncertainty about global emissions-reduction plans. (Ship&Bunker)
• The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will withhold more than $73 million in highway funding from New York for allegedly failing to revoke illegally issued non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits and CDLs. (Transport Topics)
• Virginia’s governor signed into law a bill requiring two-person train crews for freight trains in the state. (TrainsPRO)

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.