Good morning. The Trump administration has a message for China: Keep off the farm.

• What they plan to do: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday the administration will work with state lawmakers to ban sales of U.S. farmland to buyers from China and other countries of concern, citing national-security interests.
   
• Increased vigilance: Rollins, joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said the government is ratcheting up scrutiny on existing land owned by Chinese buyers and is looking at ways to potentially claw back past purchases. “We’ll never let foreign adversaries control our land,” said Rollins.
   
• Why the concern? State and federal lawmakers for years have warned that China and other countries could use U.S. farmland to facilitate spying or wield influence over the U.S. food supply chain. Chinese-owned entities hold nearly 300,000 acres—roughly 0.02%—of U.S. farmland, according to Agriculture Department data, an area about the size of Los Angeles.
   
• A bipartisan issue: Republicans and Democrats alike have sought to curb foreign ownership of American farmland, at times seeking to increase government scrutiny of purchases and investments. Critics have raised fears that foreign owners could drive up land prices or sidestep environmental rules. China’s government has played down such concerns as overblown. Representatives of China’s embassy in Washington had no immediate comment.

U.K.’s Monzo Bank hit with $28.6 million fine.

A main U.K. financial regulator has fined fast-growing digital bank Monzo Bank 21.1 million pounds, or about $28.6 million, over poor systems for handling potentially risky customers, including lax due diligence that allowed customers to open accounts while giving Buckingham Palace as an address.

The Financial Conduct Authority said Monzo had inadequate financial controls between 2018 and August 2020, and then failed to stop high-risk customers from opening accounts even after the FCA told it to improve its systems following a 2020 review.

U.S. to pay whistleblowers for successful antitrust tips.

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday announced a new pilot whistleblower program that would pay individuals who come forward with information about criminal antitrust violations across industries.

The program, a partnership between the department’s antitrust division and the U.S. Postal Service, will award whistleblowers up to 30% of any criminal fines recovered when they voluntarily provide original information of antitrust violations that lead to fines or recoveries of at least $1 million.

• The Justice Department’s criminal healthcare-fraud unit is investigating UnitedHealth Group’s Medicare billing practices, including how the company deployed doctors and nurses to gather diagnoses that bolstered its payments, people familiar with the matter said.
   
• The U.K. has sanctioned two Russian military officials and a research institute for allegedly using chemical weapons in Ukraine.
   
• A U.S.-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics agreed to pay about $1.5 million to settle allegations it violated U.S. sanctions on Iran.
   
• The U.S. sanctioned key figures in a network of North Korean information technology workers it said have generated revenue for the country’s regime.
   
• Dutch financial intelligence authorities documented a 35% increase in suspected sanctions evasion cases in 2024.
   
• The European Union is ready to enact its most severe sanctions against Russia in three years, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said.

Tariff uncertainty likely to weigh on global growth even after extended talks.

Uncertainty about the terms under which trade will be conducted is a headwind for the global economy, but complete clarity is unlikely to be available to businesses even after freshly extended negotiations.

President Trump Monday signed an executive order extending the date when his so-called reciprocal tariffs would take effect, with a pause previously scheduled to expire at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Economists expect higher tariffs to directly impede economic growth by weakening demand for goods in the U.S. and exports to that country from the rest of the world. But uncertainty also comes with a cost as businesses delay decisions to invest or hire while they seek clarity on their access to the world’s largest market.

• Trump Delayed Reciprocal Tariffs After Bessent Wanted More Time
• U.S.’s Biggest Asian Allies Ready Last-Ditch Trade Appeal to Trump
• EU Closes In on U.S. Trade Deal, Testing Bloc’s Unity

• The U.S. continues to show it’s serious about punishing Iran for its nuclear ambitions and support for terrorism, but tighter sanctions on Tehran risk being a shot in the foot for America’s plans to keep crude-oil prices low, reports Myra P. Saefong for MarketWatch.
   
• President Trump is considering sending an additional Patriot air-defense system to Ukraine after vowing in recent days to strengthen Kyiv’s defenses against Russian attacks, according to two defense officials.
   
• Five Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hamas ambush in northern Gaza, Israel’s military said Tuesday, adding to a string of deadly incidents for Israeli troops that are fueling a debate in Israel over ending the war.

• The Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a halt on President Trump’s plan to shrink the federal workforce, clearing the way for potential mass layoffs.
   
• Ukraine is using fiber-optic cable drones to combat Russia’s electronic warfare, which blocks radio signals.
   
• Grok, the flagship chatbot behind Elon Musk’s fledgling artificial intelligence company xAI, published a number of antisemitic posts Tuesday, its second flurry of controversial responses to users in recent months.
   
• In Europe, loosely defined hate-speech laws and the rise of social media have led to zealous policing of speech. 
   
• Shares of Fair Isaac Corp., the company behind the FICO credit score, sank nearly 9% Tuesday after a federal agency greenlighted the use of its biggest rival in mortgage underwriting.
   
• Goldman Sachs hired former U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a senior adviser, tapping a onetime world leader who could help the investment bank attract companies and governments as clients.

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