President Trump said he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed their teams would hold a new round of trade talks as soon as possible, and that they “addressed” the sticky issue of rare-earth minerals in a 90-minute call.

The WSJ’s Alex Leary, Lingling Wei and Alexander Ward write that Beijing struck a less conciliatory note in its account of the call, with the official Xinhua News Agency saying Xi urged Trump to remove “negative” measures that disrupted trade. It made no mention of rare earths, raising questions about whether Trump got a commitment from Xi to loosen export controls on the minerals that are critical to the U.S. auto sector and other industries. The administration accused China of violating a 90-day truce by slow-walking exports of rare earths, while Beijing blamed the U.S. for undermining the deal. For the next round of talks, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will join Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Trump said. Adding Lutnick suggests Beijing is getting a desired link to the cabinet member overseeing export controls. When negotiations resume, Beijing will likely try to get the U.S. to reverse some recent restrictions on the sale of high-tech products to China, which include jet engines for commercial aircraft and software-design chips.

• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited the White House, hoping to persuade Trump to drop tariffs on Europe and to discuss the war in Ukraine. (WSJ)
• A private gauge of China’s services sector signaled that activity picked up in May, despite a drop in new export orders. (WSJ)
• The head of the world's largest investment firm, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, said tariffs could soon cause a double whammy of higher inflation and slower growth. (WSJ)
• China avoided buying U.S. crude for a second straight month amid the trade dispute. (Bloomberg)

U.S. imports of goods and services dropped 16% to $351 billion in April, the biggest drop on record, as Trump’s new tariffs hit demand. The Journal’s Justin Lahart and Anthony DeBarros write that the big dip in imports drove the U.S. trade deficit to a seasonally adjusted $61.6 billion, down from a record $138.3 billion hit in March. In dollar terms, it was the biggest monthly change in the goods and services deficit in data going back to 1992. Consumer-goods imports fell 32%, a decline led by a drop in pharmaceutical products. Drug companies in particular raced goods into the U.S. before tariffs hit. Imports of industrial supplies and materials and of motor vehicles and parts also fell sharply. Exports, meanwhile, rose 3% to a record $289.4 billion, as businesses in other countries bought American products before retaliatory measures against the U.S. went into effect.

• Canada’s trade deficit ballooned to a record 7.14 billion Canadian dollars, or about $5.22 billion, as U.S. demand for the nation’s goods slumped, even as trade with other countries hit an all-time high. (WSJ)

U.S. officials are dissecting how the Houthi militants of Yemen were able to test the world’s most capable surface fleet, engaging the Navy in its fiercest battles since World War II from caves and other meagre quarters. The WSJ’s Stephen Kalin and Shelby Holliday write that the militants benefited from a proliferation of cheap missile and drone technology from Iran. The Navy destroyed much of their arsenal, but hasn’t achieved the strategic goal of restoring shipping through the Red Sea, despite raining down at least $1.5 billion worth of munitions on the militants. The group’s dozens of attacks had largely frozen traffic through one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. This drove ocean carriers to divert shipments around the Cape of Good Hope. Ship owners remain wary, despite a truce Trump declared with the group in early May. Navy officials say the fight offered invaluable combat experience as a potential warmup for a conflict with China, despite the wear and tear.

• Vessel traffic in the Red Sea has increased 60% since August 2024, but remains lower than before the Houthis started attacking ships in the region, an EU naval official said. (Reuters)

Initial jobless claims in the U.S. hit the highest level since October in the week through May 31, with 247,000 people newly filing for unemployment benefits, the Labor Department said. (WSJ)

The European Central Bank cut its key interest rate to the lowest level since early 2023, signalling its rate-cutting cycle is nearing an end as inflation abates. (WSJ)

German manufacturing orders unexpectedly rose in April, confounding fears that the Trump administration’s ratcheting up of tariffs would hit demand. (WSJ)

The average rate on a standard U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage slipped to 6.85% this week, down from 6.89% a week earlier, according to a Freddie Mac survey of lenders.

Ireland’s economy grew three times as rapidly as first estimated in the first quarter, driven by stockpiling of pharmaceuticals and other goods by U.S. businesses ahead of tariffs. (WSJ)

Tesla’s market value plunged by around $152.4 billion, its biggest ever drop, as the clash between CEO Elon Musk and Trump escalated. (WSJ)

Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger owner PVH lowered its annual profit outlook, as it faces an estimated $65 million hit from tariffs. (WSJ)

Cracker Barrel hopes to hold off on big price hikes to its retail goods, about a third of which come from China, and instead trim lower-selling items and negotiate with vendors, among other actions. (WSJ)

Norway’s Equinor signed a contract valued currently at about $27.11 billion to supply the U.K. with natural gas over the next decade. (WSJ)

Global investment in clean-energy technology and infrastructure is set to double that of fossil fuels this year, despite market turmoil, the International Energy Agency says. (WSJ)

Dongfeng Motor said it wasn’t engaged in any business restructuring, months after announcing plans for one, sending shares of the Chinese auto giant sharply lower. (WSJ)

The first tug is expected on about June 9 to reach the Morning Midas car carrier that caught fire in the Pacific Ocean, with operator Zodiac Maritime hiring Resolve Marine to lead the salvage job. (gCaptain)

Amazon is finishing a “humanoid park” obstacle course at a San Francisco site to test humanoid robots that could eventually deliver packages, according to a person involved. (The Information)

Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance inspectors on June 25 will start issuing out-of-service violations for truckers unable to pass roadside tests for communicating and reading signs in English. (The Trucker)

Federal workforce cuts will leave a Florida-based emergency-response team that reopens ports after storms and accidents unstaffed this hurricane season. (Reuters)

• Morgan Stanley has built its own AI tool to help modernize its legacy code—something with which it says existing tools on the market still struggle.
• After last year’s relative calm, U.S. companies are now dealing with rising logistics costs, supply-chain upheaval and uncertain consumer demand.
• Climate startups are feeling the impact of President Trump’s attacks on the energy-transition sector, as funding and job cuts, operational halts and bankruptcies rack up.
• Private equity is feeling the heat as buyout fund backers look for cash returns while firms hold tens of thousands of unsold companies.

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.