P.M. Edition for April 24. Chinese officials call for full repeal of levies and dismiss suggestions that trade talks with Washington have begun. WSJ Asia economic reporter Jason Douglas says President Trump’s apparent softening on tariffs against China strengthens Chinese leaders’ resolve that he will eventually cave if they wait him out. Plus, U.S. home sales fell 5.9% in March, their biggest drop since 2022. WSJ reporter Nicole Friedman joins to discuss what’s behind the fall that comes at the start of the crucial spring season. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hopes to address a labor shortage with teenage workers. WSJ reporter Tali Arbel discusses how Florida might remove the barriers for teenage workers. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the current U.S.-China tariff negotiations?
The governor, Ron DeSantis, he specifically has talked about Florida wanting to use teen workers at resorts and other employers. In 2023, Florida started cracking down on illegal immigration law and on foreign workers. And so in March, he was the one who made a connection to the foreign worker situation, teens for that.
This proposal in Florida and proposals in other states lower the age that teens can do certain things, like let them do certain jobs that were deemed hazardous for them before, or saying that they can work more hours on a school night. Florida's law now says that when 16 and 17-year-olds are in school, they can't work more than 30 hours during the week. And this would get rid of that.
And critics, what do they say? Why are they opposed to it?
They say that teens can already work, that this isn't necessary, and that lifting these protections could be bad for them, could be bad for their academic performance, for their mental health. Also, some people say that the reason that these laws are being changed or being sought to be changed is that businesses would like to be able to lower their labor costs.
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In business news, PepsiCo said today that it expects flat earnings this year, reversing earlier forecasts of growth. The company relies on concentrate from Ireland to make its U.S. drinks, which is now subject to a 10% tariff. Rival Coca-Cola doesn't have this problem, but both companies could be hurt by a 25% tariff on aluminum imports, which they use for cans.
Pepsi executives said they plan to take action to mitigate the impact of tariffs on the company's supply chain costs, but declined to provide details on their plan. Intel said today that it will streamline its business by cutting management positions, a move the chipmaker said will allow it to increase focus on engineering new products.
The company didn't say how many jobs it would cut or detail the charges it expects to incur as a result of the restructuring. Intel's streamlining plan came as the company logged a wider loss and lower sales in the first quarter. And Alphabet posted higher profit and revenue in the first quarter, driven by growth in its advertising, services, and cloud divisions.
Google's parent company posted a profit of more than $34 billion for the first quarter, while revenue rose 12% to about $90 billion. Both profit and revenue beat analyst expectations. Revenue increased 10% across Google services, which includes advertising, and 28% in its cloud unit, which includes its artificial intelligence business. And that's what's news for this Thursday afternoon.
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Chapter 2: How does Trump's tariff stance affect China?
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