U.S. and China establish a trade board.
Today's events
U.S.–China Board of Trade.
The U.S. Trade Representative opened public comment on a new government-to-government “Board of Trade” meant to manage U.S.–China commerce on an ongoing basis and keep bilateral trade more balanced.1Jun 2 · USTRMetals tariffs.
President Trump signed a proclamation adjusting steel, aluminum, and copper duties — cutting tariffs on farm and industrial equipment from 25% to 15% and offering lower rates for goods made mostly of U.S. metal through 2027.2Jun 2 · WHIran crypto sanctions.
State and Treasury sanctioned Iran's largest digital-asset exchanges and their leaders for helping the Revolutionary Guard move money and evade sanctions as the regime's economy slides.3Jun 2 · StateCongo militias.
The U.S. blacklisted senior commanders of the FDLR and the Rwanda-backed M23 — Gustave Kubwayo and John Imani Nzenze — over ethnic killings, child-soldier use, and attacks on civilians in eastern Congo.4Jun 2 · StateFuel-system cyberattacks.
CISA, the FBI, and the NSA, with five partner agencies, warned that hackers are compromising internet-exposed automatic tank-gauge systems at U.S. fuel sites and urged operators to disconnect them.5Jun 2 · CISAAntimony mine.
A federal court let construction proceed on Idaho's Stibnite project, the only domestic source able to supply antimony — a munitions mineral China has restricted — projected to yield 115 million pounds.6Jun 2 · DOJMeatpacking antitrust.
The Justice Department filed a settlement forcing data firm Agri Stats to stop sharing competitors' price, output, and cost data among the largest meat processors, which it says inflated consumer prices for years.7Jun 2 · DOJChip-laser award.
Commerce and NIST finalized a $150 million CHIPS award to xLight to build a free-electron-laser light source for advanced chipmaking at New York's Albany Nanotech complex.8Jun 2 · CommerceNavy fleet plan.
The Navy released its 2027 shipbuilding plan, a long-term strategy to expand the fleet and rebuild the maritime industrial base — what its acting secretary calls the “Golden Fleet.”9Jun 2 · Navy
This week
Quad minerals pact.
The U.S., Japan, Australia, and India launched a framework to mobilize up to $20 billion across critical-mineral mining, processing, and recycling, explicitly to break China’s grip on rare-earth supply chains. It opened a week in which Washington also signed a minerals corridor with Armenia and authorized salaries up to $400,000 to staff investment programs — a coordinated bid for materials independence.1May 26 · StateIran pressure, daily.
Sanctions landed on Iran on four of the week’s days: a Hong Kong–based shadow-oil network moving tens of millions of barrels (May 28), a ring posing as U.S. firms to buy restricted technology (May 29), and Iran’s largest digital-asset exchanges (June 2). Prosecutors also indicted a Kata’ib Hizballah commander and jailed a man over an Iran-directed plot to kill a New York journalist.3May 28–Jun 2 · StateAI security order.
Trump signed an executive order to harden federal and military systems for advanced AI, directing the cyber agency CISA to issue binding directives within 30 days and Treasury to run a “cybersecurity clearinghouse” with industry (June 2). It landed in a week of active intrusions — hackers hitting internet-exposed fuel-tank gauges and a developer-tool supply-chain compromise that breached a GitHub employee.4Jun 2 · WHPowell on independence.
Accepting the Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in Boston, Fed Chair Jerome Powell defended the central bank’s independence, saying its decisions “do not take into account the fortunes of any political party or politician” (May 31). It was a public defense of central-bank autonomy delivered as he accepted an award named for political courage.7May 31 · Fed
Allied Governments
Romania drone strike.
Britain condemned a Russian armed drone that struck a residential building in Galați, Romania, injuring civilians and violating NATO airspace, and pressed Russia at the OSCE to explain.aJun 2 · UK FCDOMissile stockpiles.
The UK Ministry of Defence signed £36 million in contracts with Thales for hundreds more Lightweight Multirole Missiles, replenishing British air-defence stockpiles in the Middle East.bJun 1 · UK MoDNATO eastern flank.
NATO's deputy chief, Radmila Shekerinska, told the Parliamentary Assembly in Lithuania the Alliance is “ready, willing, and able to defend every inch of Allied territory,” and previewed a summit in Ankara.cJun 1 · NATO
Voices
“Under President Trump's leadership, the United States and China have established a Board of Trade to ensure that trade with China is more balanced and beneficial for Americans.”
Ambassador Jamieson Greer, USTR · June 21
“While Iran's economy is in free fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital assets for its corrupt agenda.”
U.S. Department of State · June 23
“Antimony is among the minerals most vital to our national defense, and for too long the United States has relied on foreign adversaries to supply it.”
PDAAG Adam Gustafson, DOJ Environment & Natural Resources · June 26
“The United States is at a strategic inflection point, and rebuilding American maritime dominance requires urgency, accountability, and sustained commitment.”
Acting Navy Sec. Hung Cao · June 29
“A fair market depends on real competition, not privileged access to competitors' playbooks.”
Associate AG Stanley Woodward, DOJ · June 27
“A stable and affordable food supply is critical to our country's well-being.”
Acting Att'y Gen. Todd Blanche · June 27
Sources
- USTR, “USTR Seeks Public Comment on the Scope and Operation of a Mechanism to Promote Balanced and Reciprocal Trade with China,” June 2, 2026. ustr.gov/…/balanced-reciprocal-trade-china
- White House, “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Updates Tariffs on Steel, Aluminum, and Copper Imports,” June 2, 2026. whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/…/tariffs-steel-aluminum-copper
- U.S. Dept. of State, “Targeting Iran's Digital Asset Exchanges for Terror Finance and Sanctions Evasion,” June 2, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/iran-digital-asset-exchanges
- U.S. Dept. of State, “United States Sanctions Armed Group Leaders in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo,” June 2, 2026. state.gov/releases/…/sanctions-armed-group-leaders-drc
- CISA, “CISA and Partners Urge Hardening Automatic Tank Gauge Systems,” June 2, 2026. cisa.gov/resources-tools/…/automatic-tank-gauge-systems
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “Justice Department Secures Motion to Allow Continued Construction of Idaho Gold Mine Critical to National Defense,” June 2, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/idaho-gold-mine-critical
- U.S. Dept. of Justice, “Justice Department Requires Agri Stats to End Exchange of Competitively Sensitive Information Among Nation's Largest Meat Processors,” June 2, 2026. justice.gov/opa/pr/…/agri-stats-meat-processors
- U.S. Dept. of Commerce / NIST, “Department of Commerce Announces Finalization of CHIPS Incentives with xLight to Support Next-Generation Light Source for Lithography,” June 2, 2026. nist.gov/news-events/…/chips-incentives-xlight
- U.S. Dept. of the Navy, “Department of the Navy Releases Fiscal Year 2027 Shipbuilding Plan,” June 2, 2026. navy.mil/…/fiscal-year-2027-shipbuilding-plan
- UK Foreign Office (FCDO), “Russian drone injuring civilians in Romania underscores dangers of its ongoing war against Ukraine: UK statement to the OSCE,” June 2, 2026. gov.uk/…/russian-drone-romania-osce
- UK Ministry of Defence, “Boost for Britain's air defence stockpiles in the Middle East with hundreds more UK-made missiles,” June 1, 2026. gov.uk/…/uk-made-missiles-middle-east
- NATO, “Deputy Secretary General addresses the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Lithuania,” June 1, 2026. nato.int/…/nato-parliamentary-assembly-lithuania