Forbes Daily: U.S. Stocks Soar Following Temporary China Trade Deal

The U.S. and China announced a temporary trade deal Monday, providing a much-needed reprieve for the financial markets. But for some small businesses, it’s not enough.

The agreement set the U.S. tariff rate on most Chinese goods at 30%, down from 145%, and while that’s a step in the right direction, it’s still a heavy lift for small firms that rely on Chinese manufacturing. “There has been irreversible damage caused by the tariff policies to my business, and there is no easy way out,” says Kristin Bear, who runs a Florida-based lingerie company.

It’s no surprise that amid such uncertainty, hiring at small businesses has fallen: Businesses with fewer than 10 employees have cut more than 366,000 jobs since President Donald Trump took office, a decline of 3%, according to new data analyzed by the bipartisan Joint Economic Committee.

FIRST UP

As trade tensions between the U.S. and China improved with the temporary deal, stocks surged, leading all three indexes to close at their highest levels in over a month. The tech giants most dependent on strong trade ties between the countries led Monday’s gains, like Amazon, Apple and Nvidia. A rally in Tesla stock led Elon Musk’s fortune to grow by $11 billion, while the world’s second- and third-wealthiest people—Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg—enjoyed $14 billion and $16 billion boosts, respectively.

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WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Wondermind, the mental health startup cofounded by singer and entrepreneur Selena Gomez, laid off 60% of its 15-person staff Monday, days after Forbes broke the news of its financial woes. The 4-year-old company focuses on promoting mental “fitness,” but multiple employees previously told Forbes the company failed to pay them in recent weeks and owed tens of thousands of dollars to freelancers and vendors.

TECH + INNOVATION

On the eve of President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the kingdom unveiled a state-backed AI company called Humain, as it has worked to transform itself into an AI powerhouse. The project will be chaired by Saudi’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, backed by its sovereign wealth fund, and will be headed up by former Aramco Digital and Rakuten executive Tareq Amin.

MORE: Conflict-of-interest worries are swirling around Trump’s four-day visit to the Middle East. The trip starts in Saudi Arabia, where Elon Musk and executives from Palantir, BlackRock, Citigroup and others will attend an investment forum hosted by the Saudi government, as the Trump family continues to expand its business footprint in the region.

MONEY + POLITICS

President Donald Trump dismissed conflict-of-interest concerns over the luxury plane Qatar is expected to give his administration, saying he would donate it to his presidential library after leaving office and that it’s a gift to the Department of Defense, not him. Trump partly justified his use of the aircraft by reiterating complaints that Boeing was taking too long to build new Air Force Ones, and said his administration would accept the gift “in a very public and transparent transaction.”

MORE: Congressional lawmakers from both parties spoke out about the White House’s plan to use the jet, with Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) saying, “I don’t want the president of the United States flying on an unsafe plane,” as he accused Qatar of supporting Hamas.

WORLD

Hamas released the last living U.S. citizen it had been holding hostage, Edan Alexander, and his family called on Israel to continue negotiations to help secure the release of all remaining hostages. It’s not clear what Hamas received in exchange for Alexander’s release, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office noted Israel has “not committed to a ceasefire of any kind or the release of terrorists.”

TRENDS + EXPLAINERS

Dozens of refugees from South Africa arrived in Washington on Monday, despite the Trump Administration stopping most other refugee operations. The first plane of Afrikaners, a white minority in South Africa, arrived in the U.S. just a few months after Trump signed an executive order accusing the African government of dismantling “equal opportunity in employment, education, and business.” The order calls on leaders within the Trump Administration to “prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement.” The South African government denies Trump’s claims.

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DAILY COVER STORY

How A Grisly Injury Threw A $5 Billion Drone Startup Off Course

Defense tech unicorn Shield AI has emerged as a lead contender in the increasingly crowded race against competitors like Anduril and AeroVironment to outfit the U.S. military with killer drones.

The $5 billion-valued startup, founded in 2015 by brothers Ryan and Brandon Tseng, sells a suite of hardware and products—including autonomous piloting software that has been used to fly fighter jets. In March, it raised $240 million with the goal of preparing the military for the future of autonomous warfare.

But back in April of 2024, as a handful of Navy SEALs gathered outside of Fort Stockton, Texas to watch the company demo its latest drone called the V-BAT, things went sideways as the drone came in for landing.

Unlike most drones, which don’t require physical intervention, Shield’s operators needed to assist the drone in landing vertically, like a SpaceX rocket. Instead it dropped to the ground and tipped over, resulting in a grisly incident: When a U.S. service member approached the drone, his fingers were caught in the spinning blades and partially severed.

A spokesperson for U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command said in a statement that a service member had three fingers partially amputated during the incident. The person made a full recovery after four months and is now “performing all duties without limitations.”

CEO Brandon Tseng said that the V-BAT “had been flying almost 10 years, with a perfect safety record” adding, “The event was a surprise, and it was one that, frankly, I feel terribly about.”

But Forbes found that for years, as Shield raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors like Andreessen Horowitz and billionaire Thomas Tull’s USIT, its executives overlooked engineering issues and safety hazards that scuttled contract opportunities, according to former employees, internal documents and legal filings.

WHY IT MATTERS

Shield’s 1,000-strong workforce has been encouraged to embody a warrior ethos, with slogans like “Do what honor dictates” and “Live as a servant leader.” But the incident with the U.S. Navy, which hasn’t previously been reported, has spotlighted the risks brought by a new generation of hard-charging military startups seeking Pentagon contracts while hyping their companies to Silicon Valley investors, sometimes at the expense of personal safety.

MORE

Silicon Valley’s Military Drone Companies Have A Serious ‘Made In China’ Problem

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FACTS + COMMENTS

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday requiring pharmaceutical companies to match the lowest prices charged by other developed countries for prescription drugs in the U.S. Trump has referred to the concept since his first term as a “most-favored-nation” policy:

30% to 80%: The amount Trump claims his order will reduce prescription drug prices by

Nearly 2.8 times: How much higher U.S. drug prices were compared to other countries, a 2024 RAND study found

$1,126: The amount Americans spent per capita on prescription drugs compared to $552 for other developed countries, according to one analysis

STRATEGY + SUCCESS

Even the best workplaces have conflict, but it’s best not to get caught up in the negativity. Create boundaries with coworkers and redirect the conversation if a colleague tries to pull you into drama. Look for coworkers who aren’t involved and aim to build positive, collaborative relationships with them—and if the tension is affecting your work, it’s okay to talk to your manager about it.

QUIZ

In his second term, President Donald Trump has at least three new ways for allies, favor seekers, foreign governments and pretty much anyone else to direct money to his business empire. Which of the following is not currently a reported funnel to Trump’s businesses?

A. Buying Trump Media & Technology Group shares

B. Buying his cryptocurrency $TRUMP coin

C. Buying World Liberty Financial’s $WLFI token

D. Spending a night at the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Check your answer.