Switzerland will host top economic officials from the U.S. and China late this week for talks that might pave the way for broader trade negotiations.

The WSJ’s Brian Schwartz and Lingling Wei write that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with He Lifeng, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s economic czar. Bessent said in a television interview that initial talks with Chinese counterparts would take place over the weekend.

The discussions come as Washington and Beijing appear to seek an exit from hostility roiling global trade and pummeling markets. A gatekeeper to the world’s No. 2 economy, Vice Premier He—pronounced “huh”—started his current role a couple of years ago, focused mainly on how to respond to U.S.-led Western sanctions, the Journal wrote in an October profile. He is the latest in a line of "barbarian handlers," a tongue-in-cheek term for Chinese officials dedicated to dealing with foreigners. Unlike previous go-betweens with Western politicians and CEOs, he doesn't have a background in managing trade tensions or courting foreign investors.

• A private gauge of China’s services sector signaled that activity slowed in April, falling to a seven-month low. (WSJ)

Yemen’s Houthis would no longer target ships navigating Middle Eastern waters under a truce President Trump said the U.S. reached with the militant group.

The Journal’s Alexander Ward and Michael R. Gordon report that, under the Omani-mediated pact, the U.S. agreed to suspend airstrikes in Yemen and the Houthis agreed to not fire on U.S. ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Weeks of U.S. airstrikes on more than 1,000 targets were meant to force the militants to stop their missile and drone assaults on shipping. Aside from pausing to align with a ceasefire in Gaza, the Houthi attacks for more than a year largely froze seaborne trade on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes. The specific terms of the truce weren’t entirely clear and an Omani statement left unanswered whether Houthi attacks would end on all international shipping or just U.S. vessels.

• Israeli warplanes hit the main airport controlled by Yemen’s Houthi militia, in the second day of retaliatory strikes after the group struck Tel Aviv’s airport. (WSJ)
• Armed robberies of ships in the Singapore Strait have risen this year, with four incidents reported in the week ending May 5. (Seatrade Maritime News)

Trade policies to cut a ballooning U.S. trade deficit had the opposite effect, at first. 

Businesses stockpiling goods to get ahead of new tariffs sent the U.S. trade deficit up to a record $140.5 billion in March, the WSJ’s Chao Deng and Anthony DeBarros write. Pharmaceuticals, which face tariffs under consideration by the Trump administration, made up the lion’s share of a 4.4% increase in imports. Computer accessories, autos, and car parts and engines also rose. U.S. exports eked out a 0.2% gain. The mad dash to bring in goods appears to be short-lived as tariffs bite, with cargo shipments from China sinking. The president’s rejection of free trade is spurring countries around the world to reach their own separate deals, with the U.K. and India completing a pact that had been stuck for years, among others.

• Canada’s goods-trade deficit with the world narrowed sharply in March to the equivalent of about $366 million, though its surplus with the U.S. declined. (WSJ)
• U.S. import-booking volumes have dropped 35% since late March, according to the shipping data company Vizion. (Barron's)

France’s industrial output continued to rise. (WSJ)

The European Commission set out a plan to cut off imports of Russian oil and gas by the end of 2027. (WSJ)

DHL Supply Chain acquired Indiana-based logistics company IDS Fulfillment. (WSJ)

Home-products maker Fortune Brands Innovations withdrew its financial guidance as tariffs hit demand. (Dow Jones Newswires)

Rivian Automotive cut its outlook for electric-vehicle deliveries and raised spending expectations amid evolving tariff policies. (WSJ)

DoorDash swung to a profit and struck deals for British food-delivery company Deliveroo and software firm SevenRooms. (WSJ)

WK Kellogg cut its guidance to account for tariffs and a weaker first-quarter performance than it had expected. (WSJ)

Shipping magnate John Fredriksen increased his stake in U.S. dry bulk shipping company Star Bulk. (ShippingWatch)

U.S. carrier Matson expects ocean-transportation operating income to be meaningfully lower in the second quarter than a year earlier as tariffs bite. (gCaptain)

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.