US arrests another Chinese scientist for allegedly smuggling biological material

A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at the Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine…

The C.E.O. of Detroit Axle Gave Trump’s Tariffs a Chance. Now He’s Nervous.

Mike Musheinesh gets about 75 percent of the auto parts his company sells from China. But even with plenty to lose in a trade war, Mr. Musheinesh gave President Trump the benefit of the doubt when he started increasing tariffs on the company’s most important trading partner. The president “needs to shake it up, and I’m actually paying for the shake-up,” Mr. Musheinesh said in mid-April. “But at the end,” he added, “I think it’s going to be much better off.” These days, he is less certain. The U.S.-China trade…

Biden Takes a Hit in Michigan, and Wildfires Spread Across Texas

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A New Law Supercharged Electric Car Manufacturing, but Not Sales

President Biden’s signature climate law has stimulated a surge of investment in electric vehicle production across the country, including tens of billions of dollars on battery plants across the South and new assembly lines near the Great Lakes. Based on early evidence, it is succeeding at a goal that economists have long considered difficult and costly: using the power of government to rapidly grow a new industry. That growth could prove crucial for the other side of the electric vehicle equation: enticing more consumers to buy them. That’s because Mr.…

Lawmakers Challenge Ford and Chinese Battery Partner Over Forced Labor

A partnership between Ford Motor and a major Chinese battery maker is facing scrutiny by Republican lawmakers, who say it could make an American automaker reliant on a company with links to forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. In a letter sent to Ford on Thursday, the chairs of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Ways and Means Committee demanded more information about the partnership, including what they said was a plan by Ford to employ several hundred workers from China at a new…

US shoots down ‘octagonal’ flying object near military sites in Michigan

The US military has shot down a third flying object over North American airspace in three days, as the air force general overseeing the airspace said he would not rule out any explanation for the objects yet. The high-altitude unidentified object, described as an “octagonal structure” with strings attached to it, was shot down over Lake Huron in Michigan on Sunday. It is understood to have been the same item that was picked up by radar over Montana on Saturday. At the point it was struck by an air-to-air missile…