Good morning. Some in law enforcement continue to push for the federal government to collect beneficial ownership information, despite the Trump administration’s exempting all U.S. companies from reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act, Dow Jones Risk Journal’s Mengqi Sun reports.

Law enforcement authorities and local prosecutors say a national ownership registry would help them greatly in exposing identities of bad actors hiding behind anonymous shell companies, particularly those financing crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering and frauds preying on the elderly at the state and local levels. Access to such a database could also help connect the dots in identifying organized crime groups and save time in investigations, they said. 

Groups representing law enforcement agencies are still lobbying the White House to get a large portion of U.S. firms to report ownership information in a way that would make the database more helpful for investigators. Meanwhile, groups representing district attorneys are exploring opportunities for alternative databases of beneficial ownership information at the state level.

The efforts come as financial institutions say a much narrower ownership registry won’t help them as much as expected with their efforts to combat financial crime.

Coming up on May 7, the WSJ CCO Council will convene in London for its annual summit. CCOs will hear from Sara Chouraqui, joint head of fraud and bribery at the Serious Fraud Office, about the new international anti-bribery taskforce, and from Chris Prevett, general counsel at the Competition and Markets Authority about the CMA’s new powers and its alignment with the U.K. government’s pro-growth agenda.

EU delayed punishing Apple, Meta just before trade talks started.

The European Union recently delayed penalizing Apple and Meta Platforms, temporarily avoiding a conflict with the Trump administration during a week that saw the bloc ramp up its push for a trade deal with the U.S.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, had initially planned to announce cease-and-desist orders targeting the tech giants on Tuesday and had informed at least one of the companies of that timing, people familiar with the matter said. Both companies could have also been slapped with fines.

• President Trump is replacing the acting IRS commissioner that he appointed just three days earlier, according to people familiar with the matter, making a sudden shift that continues an unusual upheaval at the tax agency.
   
• Trade tensions between the U.S. and China are escalating rapidly. Wall Street could be the next battleground.
   
• The Trump administration recently sent a letter to states nationwide with a demand: Certify that your schools aren’t engaging in what federal officials call illegal diversity, equity and inclusion programs—or risk funding. Several states swiftly pushed back.

U.S. accuses China of helping the Houthis target their attacks.

A Chinese satellite company has been aiding Houthi attacks on U.S. interests, a State Department spokesperson said, a sign of Beijing and Moscow’s increased support for the Yemeni rebel group.

President Trump began a campaign of airstrikes against the Iran-backed militants last month, bringing a second aircraft carrier and an array of other military assets into the region in an effort to stop attacks that have snarled key commercial routes through the Red Sea. The Houthis have responded with barrages of missiles and drones aimed at U.S. warships in the area, as well as by firing missiles at Israel.

The new allegations highlight how the Houthis have been building ties with China and Russia to offset their dependence on a badly weakened Iran, according to Western and Yemeni officials, and analysts who track the flow of weapons around the world.

• President Trump’s tariffs are challenging one of the biggest American export successes of the past decade: the propane trade with China.
   
• China’s No. 2 official is urging authorities to roll out forceful policy support, state media say, as signs of economic stress emerge from Beijing’s trade battle with the U.S. As the trade war gathers force, the Chinese leadership is rallying the nation around the flag, a strategy that seeks to blame the U.S. for many of China’s economic problems.
   
• The effects of President Trump’s new tariffs are starting to be felt across the world, preliminary South Korean trade data suggest, as Seoul prepares to begin negotiations with Washington.
   
• Avoiding a trade war is simple, say some economists: Just don’t fight back. So far, that strategy appears to be paying off for much of the world.
   
• Argentine President Javier Milei, a MAGA superstar, is bucking Trump on trade.
   
• Iran and the U.S. concluded a new round of talks Saturday in Rome in what Iranian officials described as a step forward, and opening the way for further talks next week.
   
• Ukraine is under pressure to respond this week to a series of Trump administration ideas for how to end the war in Ukraine by granting concessions to Russia, including potential U.S. recognition of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and excluding Kyiv from joining NATO.
   
• Deutsche Post is suspending high-value shipments to the U.S., effective Monday, as it struggles with delays from customs clearances amid the new U.S. rules.

• The Trump administration is preparing to deport a second group of Venezuelan migrants under a rarely used wartime authority that has for weeks put the government in a tense showdown with the courts, according to an emergency legal filing.
   
• Billionaire hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman disclosed a nearly 20% stake in rental-car company Hertz and has mused about a potential partnership with ride-hailing giant Uber.
   
• Far fewer people are trying to cross illegally into the U.S. to start new lives.
   
• About three-quarters of the energy produced by a typical combustion engine is lost through heat and released through a car’s exhaust system. But what if some of that heat could be captured and turned into electricity?

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