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Senate Reaches Tentative Deal to End Government Shutdown

admin - Latest News - November 10, 2025
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A bipartisan group of senators have reached the 60-vote threshold that would end the stalemate on Capitol Hill and forge a path forward on a bipartisan deal to end the longest government shutdown in history. The plan would fund all of government through the end of January and pay for military construction, agriculture and SNAP benefits through September of next year. NBC’s Ryan Nobles reports and Hallie Jackson joins TODAY to provide analysis.



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October 23, 2025
Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 23, 2025, 5:00 AM EDTBy Peter GuoHONG KONG — As the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown narrows paths to entry for foreign science and technology workers, China is opening its doors wider — and drawing backlash from the public. The new “K visa,” which launched on Oct. 1, aims to make it easier for the world’s top young talents in science and technology to live and work longer in China as it vies with the U.S. for global dominance in science and technology. The new category requires no job offer, with the only requirements being an as-yet-unspecified age cap and having at least a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering or math from a top Chinese or foreign university, or relevant teaching or research experience there.Though many of the details have yet to be announced, the new Chinese visa program is already drawing interest in India, where China is seen as an increasingly appealing destination amid warming relations and the Trump administration’s surprise announcement last month that it is raising the fee for the equivalent H-1B worker visa to $100,000. Beijing’s talent-friendly move could also give it a boost amid continuing trade tensions and tech rivalries with Washington, which has imposed export controls on chips and other advanced technology that are spurring China to develop its own.But the new visa scheme has not gone over so well with young job seekers in China, who face intense competition even as universities churn out millions of new graduates a year amid an economic slowdown. Unemployment among people ages 16 to 24, excluding students, was at 17.7% last month, according to government figures released Wednesday.Prospective graduates at a job fair in Wuhan, China, in December.Zhang Chang / China News Service via Getty Images filePeople worry that foreign talents may turn an “already fiercely competitive job market even harsher,” said Geng Xiangshun, a Beijing-based commentator experienced in youth career counseling.“China already has an abundant, even surplus, supply of highly educated young talent,” Geng wrote in a post on the popular social media platform Weibo. “Since these local talented individuals aren’t even fully employed yet, why do we need to bring in foreign bachelor-degree holders?”Loosening restrictionsChinese work visas generally come with strict, complex requirements and allow limited stays for a small group of high-end applicants who are sponsored by employers. Immigrating to China is difficult, and there are many obstacles to living and working there long-term.Consequently, China is less attractive for foreign professionals than many advanced economies with skilled migration policies, experts say. Only about 950,000 foreigners work in China, making up just 0.12% of the country’s labor force of about 775 million, according to the Chinese Science and Technology Ministry. In contrast, foreign-born workers accounted for more than 19% of the U.S. civilian work force in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.The new visa aims to loosen restrictions and enhance China’s global appeal, promising more generous terms such as longer validity periods and multiple entries.Though China is a relative “latecomer” with this initiative, it represents an “upgrade” to China’s existing talent schemes, said Liu Guofu, a law professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology.Notably, the new visa does not require employer sponsorship or invitation, resembling “independent skilled immigration,” Liu said.However, Liu stressed that Beijing’s new talent scheme, which was announced in early August, “bears little direct relation” to President Donald Trump’s shake-up of the H-1B visa fees, which was announced several weeks later.With the visa’s focus on early-career STEM talents, Beijing is pivoting away from repatriating Chinese scientists and selectively inviting senior foreign experts, said Denis Simon, a leading expert on U.S.-China science and technology affairs.“By codifying a youth-focused, flexible entry channel, Beijing is normalizing inbound STEM mobility as part of its innovation strategy,” Simon said.It offers a “lower-friction alternative” for foreign STEM talents who may be frustrated by the higher U.S. fee for H-1B visas, he added, noting that more than 70% of H-1B visa holders are from India.“Even small diversions of applicants can shift the geography of labs and startups at the margin — precisely where innovation clusters are won,” Simon said.Trump administration raises fee for H-1B visas to $100,00000:49Public backlashBeijing’s K visa has been met with strong backlash on Chinese social media, where commenters complained of a lack of transparency and public discussion in policymaking.Matthew Ma, 18, a freshman majoring in integrated circuits in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, said he was “quite surprised” that he had read “nothing” about the new visa in the two months since it was announced.“The biggest misstep they took in this whole process was not giving out enough information in time,” Ma said. “And this is, I think, the major reason why people are so angry about this visa.”Others are angered that the visa requires only an undergraduate STEM degree, saying that is setting the bar too low at a time when young people in China feel pressured to rack up advanced degrees in order to compete with their peers in the job market. Social media has also been flooded with racist and xenophobic comments, especially about Indians, amid fears that an influx of foreigners could erode national identity in China, where the population has fallen for the past three consecutive years.In a strongly worded editorial last month, China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper dismissed such concerns as “strange,” “unnecessary” and “misleading.”“To secure its future, China must attract and utilize the best minds from around the globe,” it said, noting that there is a projected shortage of nearly 30 million skilled workers in the country’s key manufacturing sectors this year alone.“Such talents are in high demand, and the more we have, the better,” it added. “The K visa is just to facilitate young foreign science and tech talents to work and live in China. It shouldn’t be equated with immigration.”Peter GuoPeter Guo is an associate producer based in Hong Kong.Eric Baculinao contributed.
September 23, 2025
Sept. 23, 2025, 1:03 AM EDTBy Janis Mackey Frayer and Jennifer JettBEIJING — Washington and Beijing will have to communicate better if they are to resolve their various disagreements — and if they don’t talk, it could be “dangerous,” a U.S. lawmaker said Tuesday during a rare congressional visit to China.This is the first delegation of House lawmakers to visit China since 2019; a group of U.S. senators visited Beijing in 2023. Their trip comes amid tensions between the United States and China over trade, technology and wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the leader of the bipartisan delegation, said that they held “robust and very helpful” meetings with Chinese officials and that the objective of the trip was to reopen lines of communication between “the two most powerful countries in the world.”“Our relationship is going to be the most consequential relationship in terms of what the world is going to be like for decades to come,” Smith told reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. “It is really important that we work to strengthen that relationship and better understand each other.”The military relationship between the United States and China is of particular concern, he said. The congressional delegation arrived weeks after Beijing showed off its military might and advanced weaponry in a highly choreographed parade.“China is the most rapidly growing military and the most rapidly growing nuclear power in the world. The U.S. has the biggest military in the world and the biggest nuclear arsenal,” Smith said. “It is dangerous for us not to be having regular communications about our capabilities and intentions.”President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke Friday in their first phone call since June. Trump said that they agreed during the call to meet on the sidelines of the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 APEC Summit in South Korea and that he would visit China early next year. David Perdue, the new U.S. ambassador to China, said the two leaders had a “great call” and were “looking forward to getting together.” “I would say that the relationship between President Xi and President Trump is actually very good and very encouraging right now,” he said.The other members of the delegation are Reps. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash.; Ro Khanna, D-Calif.; and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa. They are in China until Thursday.Trump discusses TikTok deal in call with China’s Xi02:47After they arrived Sunday, the lawmakers met with Premier Li Qiang, China’s No. 2 official. On Monday, they met with Vice Premier He Lifeng, who has been leading the Chinese side in trade negotiations with the United States, and Defense Minister Dong Jun.In their meeting with He, the delegation discussed the talks with China, which accounts for the largest U.S. trade deficit, and urged Beijing “to help stem the flow of fentanyl to the U.S. and reduce non-tariff barriers to U.S. companies seeking to do business in China,” according to a congressional readout.The delegation also discussed the future of the video app TikTok, which faces a ban in the United States unless its Chinese parent company sells its U.S. assets to U.S. owners, as well as the issue of critical minerals and the export controls Beijing has sought to impose on them as it leverages its near-monopoly in the industry. In their meeting with Dong, the lawmakers stressed the importance of greater communication between the U.S. and Chinese militaries to avoid miscalculation and conflict. Communications between the militaries were suspended starting in August 2022 after Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the House speaker at the time, angered Beijing by visiting Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy that China claims as its territory. They were restored in November 2023 after a meeting in the United States between Xi and President Joe Biden. The lawmakers visiting China said that the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific “should not be construed as a threat to China,” that they sought a peaceful resolution to the issue of Taiwan and that conflict between the United States and China “should not be inevitable.”Speaking before their meeting, Dong said the visit “shows a good phase in strengthening China-U.S. communications, and I believe it is the right thing to do.”Janis Mackey Frayer reported from Beijing and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong.Janis Mackey FrayerJanis Mackey Frayer is a Beijing-based correspondent for NBC News.Jennifer JettJennifer Jett is the Asia Digital Editor for NBC News, based in Hong Kong.
October 4, 2025
Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 4, 2025, 7:30 AM EDTBy Steve KopackThe humble soybean is the latest flashpoint in the Trump administration’s campaign to reshape global trade.Used in everything from animal feed to fuel, soybeans regularly rank among the most valuable U.S. agricultural exports, towering over higher-profile crops like corn and cotton. More than $30 billion worth of American soybean products were exported in fiscal year 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.For American soybean farmers, their top overseas market has long been China, which bought around a third of the export crop — approximately $12 billion worth of American soybean products — in the last calendar year, USDA data shows.But not anymore.As President Donald Trump’s trade war leaves U.S.-China relations somewhere between frosty and openly hostile, America’s soybean farmers appear to be an early casualty.An embargo in all but nameSo far, China has not purchased any U.S. soybeans during this year’s main harvest period, with sales falling to zero in May. This has pushed many American farmers reliant on soybeans nearly to the breaking point. It has also complicated the Trump administration’s plans to provide billions in foreign economic aid to Argentina. Buenos Aires recently sold more than 2.5 million metric tons of soybeans to Beijing, after briefly suspending its export tax on the soy products. Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday.Greg Baker / AFP – Getty ImagesU.S. officials blame China for the looming crisis facing American soybean producers. “It’s unfortunate the Chinese leadership has decided to use the American farmers, soybean farmers in particular, as a hostage or pawn in the trade negotiations,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday on CNBC.Farmers view the situation differently, however. They want Trump to reach a trade deal with China that ends the unofficial embargo on soybeans. But instead, what they see is the White House preparing to bail out one of their chief rivals for the Chinese export market.“The frustration is overwhelming,” American Soybean Association President Caleb Ragland said in a recent statement.Meanwhile, China — the world’s biggest buyer of soybeans —indicated last week that it won’t resume U.S. purchases unless more Trump tariffs are lifted. “As for soybean trade, the U.S. side should take proactive steps to remove relevant unreasonable tariffs, create conditions for expanding bilateral trade, and inject more stability and certainty into global economic development,” Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yadong told reporters in Beijing.Emergency relief is comingThe Trump administration will announce new support for farmers, “especially the soybean farmers,” on Tuesday, Bessent said.“We’re also going to be working with the Farm Credit Bureau to make sure that the farmers have what they need for the next planting season,” he added.Bessent personally owns as much as $25 million worth of farmland in North Dakota that produces corn and soybeans, according to his recent financial disclosures.He said soybeans would be a topic of discussion at the upcoming meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum later this month.Mark German loading soybeans into a truck in Dwight, Ill., in August.Scott Olson / Getty Images fileTrump is also aware of the impact his trade policies are having on American farmers, starting with soybean growers.“The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for ‘negotiating’ reasons only, not buying,” the president posted Wednesday on Truth Social.“We’ve made so much money on Tariffs, that we are going to take a small portion of that money, and help our Farmers,” Trump added.The question is whether this aid will come soon enough to save this year’s massive harvest of soybeans.At the center of the firestorm is Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, who warned this week that “this moment of uncertainty in the farm economy is real.” Speaking on Fox Business Network, she emphasized that Trump has long supported U.S. farmers.Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins outside the White House on Tuesday.Aaron Schwartz / Sipa USA via AP“President Trump and Secretary Rollins are always in touch about the needs of our farmers, who played a crucial role in the President’s November victory,” the White House said in a statement Thursday. “He has made clear his intention to use tariff revenue to help our agricultural sector, but no final decisions on the contours of this plan have been made.”The Argentina factorThe current U.S.-China stalemate over soybean exports is also complicating another American foreign policy conundrum: what to do about Argentina’s faltering economy.As U.S. soybean exports to China screech to a halt, Argentina’s farmers jumped at the opportunity to sell China their own soybeans. From their perspective, a potential U.S. economic aid package has nothing to do with their soybean exports, and everything to do with the personal and political alliance between Trump and libertarian President Javier Milei. Milei was the first foreign leader to visit Trump after his 2024 election victory, and he has become a familiar face at U.S. political events attended by the president’s MAGA supporters.At a Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, D.C. in February, Milei gifted then-Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk a red chainsaw. Musk then waved it around onstage, calling it “the chainsaw for bureaucracy.” Elon Musk holding a chainsaw onstage at a CPAC conference in Oxon Hill, Md., in February.Andrew Harnik / Getty ImagesEight months later, Milei’s popularity with voters has plunged, raising doubts about the future of his market-friendly economic reforms and strict austerity measures.Local elections in early September dealt a blow to Milei’s party, triggering massive turmoil in Argentina’s stock and currency markets. A few weeks after the market plunge, Bessent announced on social media that the U.S. was prepared to deploy billions of dollars to support the South American country.A presidential delegation from Buenos Aires is expected to visit the White House next week to finalize the U.S. foreign aid deal.This has infuriated the soybean farmers. “U.S. soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway, and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the U.S. government is extending $20 billion in economic support to Argentina while that country drops its soybean export taxes to sell 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China in just two days,” Ragland said.President-elect Donald Trump with Argentine President Javier Milei at the America First Policy Institute gala at Mar-a-Lago in November.Carlos Barria / Reuters fileMeanwhile, Milei has also secured a currency swap line for Argentina from China, a situation that gives pause to some in Washington. In response, Milei has said Argentina will maintain its mutually beneficial trade and economic relationship with China. Tensions inside the Trump administration over China, Argentina and the soybean farmers broke into the open last week.While attending the U.N. General Assembly, Bessent received a text message from a contact labeled “BR.”“We bailed out Argentina yesterday … and in return, the Argentine’s removed their export tariff on grains, reducing their price, and sold a bunch of soybeans to China at a time when we would normally be selling to China,” read the message, widely presumed to come from Rollins.“Soy prices are dropping further because of it. This gives China more leverage on us,” the message concluded.Spokespeople for Bessent and Rollins did not respond to questions about the text message exchange.
September 21, 2025
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