The U.S.-China trade war is creating a golden opportunity for India.

The WSJ’s Tripti Lahiri reports that more companies are weighing manufacturing in India as high tariffs cut off Chinese exporters from American consumers. Indian officials are signaling they plan to be more open to Western businesses and are moving for a quick trade deal with the U.S.

The country wants to emulate what has made China the world’s factory floor by offering not just assembly of goods but also design, parts and other knowhow.

Apple is moving to export more iPhones to the U.S. from India. Contract manufacturer Foxconn is opening a factory in India that will eventually produce 20 million phones a year. A network of suppliers is popping up to service the country's growing smartphone industry.

But foreign companies say they still face challenges operating in the world’s most populous nation. The number of people in the country working in agriculture dwarfs the number employed in manufacturing. High-tech firms and retailers say India is a harder place to do business than China or Vietnam due to government red tape, a powerful labor movement and an often-punitive approach to compliance and taxation.

Nike for years tried to automate part of its manufacturing process. The challenges it faced illustrate how tough it is for U.S. brands to wean themselves off the flexible, low-cost contract manufacturers across Asia that use armies of workers to churn out products.

The WSJ’s Jon Emont writes that Nike’s effort is a cautionary tale for companies looking to establish U.S. manufacturing to avoid President Trump’s stiff tariffs. High U.S. labor costs mean companies would have to find ways to replace human workers with machines—but that’s not a simple task.

Nike in 2015 enlisted American manufacturer Flex to help automate production in Mexico. The companies established production lines using machines commonly seen in electronics manufacturing to build the upper part of a shoe, knit fabric and add logos. But the robots struggled to handle the soft, squishy and stretchy parts that are integral to shoemaking, and Flex and Nike abandoned the project by 2019.

• In an episode of the WSJ’s Tech News Briefing podcast, Emont discusses how automating manufacturing isn’t simple. 

President Trump’s broad tariff rollout takes aim at the U.S. trade deficit, which he calls a national emergency. A WSJ video explains how the trade deficit works, how tariffs affect it—and why economists say it isn't necessarily bad for the economy.

The outlook for the U.S. economy fell in March for the fourth consecutive month. (Dow Jones Newswires)

An early set of data from trade bellwether South Korea shows a big drop in exports to the U.S. this month. (WSJ)

Deutsche Post is suspending high-value shipments to the U.S. as it struggles with delays from customs clearances. (WSJ)

PepsiCo faces a new 10% tariff on the concentrate needed for nearly all U.S. sales of Pepsi and Mountain Dew. (WSJ)

Tomatoes could be one of the first everyday products to become more expensive as a result of President Trump’s trade policies. (WSJ)

Trans-Pacific blank sailings are accelerating as the trade war between the U.S. and China escalates. (gCaptain)

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear railroad CSX's bid to revive an antitrust lawsuit accusing rival Norfolk Southern of illegally restricting access to an East Coast terminal. (Reuters)

Boeing secured new stocks of specialized nuts and bolts used in 737 MAX jets after a fire at a key supplier's factory. (Reuters)

Building-materials supplier Heidelberg Materials North America plans to build a $7.3 million distribution terminal in South Carolina’s Lowcountry region. (Transport Topics)

Two vessels were boarded in separate pirate attacks off Indonesia. (TradeWinds)

Seacon Shipping is growing its dry bulk fleet with an ultramax newbuilding at Tsuneishi Zhoushan Shipbuilding. (Splash 247)

Global pistachio prices are surging after a TikTok video of “Dubai chocolate” bars went viral, straining supplies. (Financial Times)

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.