A persistent downturn in world trade raises questions about whether deeper changes are under way that would alter long-term patterns of goods flows. Weak global economic growth, high interest rates and geopolitical tensions are weighing on goods trade, the WSJ’s Marcus Walker and Yuka Hayashi write, even as trade in services gets a boost from rebounding travel and tourism. But declining shipment counts, including slumping Chinese exports, suggest decades of global integration may be unwinding. Instead, shifting supply chains suggest trade is entering a new era in which the West and China do more business with their political friends and less with each other. The change toward more fragmented trade patterns would have significant implications for a shipping sector that has supported far-flung supply chains. For now, forecasters are projecting only meager global trade growth this year and a recovery next year well short of average yearly growth.

Yellow’s collapse into bankruptcy isn’t tamping down the one-time trucking giant’s feud with the Teamsters union. Company and union officials have stepped up their harsh exchanges, blaming each other for the demise of the 99-year-old less-than-truckload carrier and the loss of 30,000 jobs. The WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes the conflict threatens to spill into Yellow’s bankruptcy court proceedings and affect the union’s organizing efforts at other companies. The Teamsters have decried “Yellow’s dysfunctional, greedy C-suite,” and say workers should be first in line for relief in the bankruptcy process. Yellow officials say the union “intentionally triggered a death spiral” for the carrier, and says other companies and workers should take note of the trucker’s experience. The union under combative leader Sean O’Brien has organizing efforts around the U.S., including at Amazon. Labor experts expect other companies to point to Yellow’s failure to dissuade workers from unionizing.

• Trucker Estes Express Lines and hedge fund MFN Partners are competing with Apollo Global Management to provide the financing for Yellow’s bankruptcy proceedings. (WSJ)

China’s rapidly expanding electric-vehicle business is raising concerns in traditional automotive supply chains. The clouds are especially heavy over Japan, where the country’s automakers are overhauling their operations in China after getting hit by local competition. Some of Japan’s big car makers are warning that the coming years will determine whether they can stay afloat in the world’s largest car market, the WSJ’s River Davis reports. The outcome will help determine the direction of supply chains being formed to produce new-technology automobiles. Japanese automakers, like other foreign car brands, had thrived in China for decades. Today, overall demand for cars in the country has peaked, and the remaining area of growth—battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles—is dominated by local manufacturers such as BYD. Some call the country’s fast adoption of EVs a “China shock.” Some of those manufacturers now are looking to build sales in the West.

• Mitsubishi Motors will begin producing hybrid vehicles in Thailand early next year. (Nikkei Asia)
• The consumer-electronics arm of Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely disbanded its chip research team. (South China Morning Post)
• The global lithium industry will need $116 billion in investment to reach production goals for EV battery makers. (Supply Management)
• Chemical logistics specialist NRS Logistics is building a distribution center​ south of Phoenix to serve Arizona’s burgeoning semiconductor and EV battery business. (KTAR)

China's consumer prices tipped into deflationary territory in July while producer prices contracted 4.4% from a year ago. (WSJ)

The U.S. will prohibit Americans from investing in some Chinese companies developing advanced semiconductors and quantum computers. (WSJ)

U.S. crude output is expected to rise sharply to nearly 12.8 billion barrels per day this year. (Reuters)

The U.S. Postal Service says it has cut its volume of shipments on aircraft by 90% in two years. (Associated Press)

A backup at the Panama Canal has grown to 154 vessels with an average wait time of 21 days. (CNBC)

New companies with anonymous owners are springing up to manage “dark fleet” tankers serving Russian oil trade. (Lloyd’s List)

Container lines took another 200,000 20-foot-equivalent units of new tonnage last month, following a record 300,000 TEUs delivered in June. (The Loadstar)

Mediterranean Shipping is buying 10 more mid-sized containerships with liquefied natural gas fuel capability. (TradeWinds)

Local Louisiana officials are suing the Port of New Orleans to block a proposed $1.8 billion container terminal. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

Ecuadorian produce exporters and their U.S. customers charged that Del Monte’s shipping operation discriminated against them. (Maritime Executive)

Expeditors International’s net profit fell 48% in the second quarter to $196.8 million as air and ocean freight forwarding revenue both fell by more than half. (Air Cargo Next)

South Korean online retailer Coupang swung to a $145 million profit in the second quarter, its fourth straight quarterly profit. (Bloomberg)

Kenyan logistics startup Sendy is shutting down and exploring a sale of its assets. (TechCrunch)

Quarterly sales at industrial parts supplier DXP Enterprises jumped 16.4% to $428 million. (Industrial Distribution)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on X at @WSJLogistics.