Good morning. The leaders of China and North Korea meet in Beijing. Huawei’s folding phone showcases its hardware. And South Korean businesses are investing in the future. Listen to the day’s top stories.
— Sara Marley
Xi Jinping vowed deeper ties with Pyongyang in his first bilateral meeting with Kim Jong Un in about six years. Beijing is willing to strengthen high-level exchanges and strategic cooperation, Xinhua reported. Kim’s teenage daughter made her international debut, with the unprecedented appearance abroad intensifying speculation she is being groomed as his eventual successor.
Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to let him fire the only remaining Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission, teeing up a case that may overturn a 90-year-old precedent and give the White House tighter control over regulators. Stephen Miran, the president’s pick for a vacant seat on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, said he supported the central bank’s independence even though he plans to keep his White House job.
DeepSeek is developing an artificial intelligence model with more advanced AI agent features to compete with US rivals such as OpenAI, people familiar said. The model—designed to perform multi-step tasks with minimal user direction and improve through experience—may be available by the end of the year.
Borrowing a tactic from its northern neighbor, Mexico is weighing new tariffs on countries with which it does not have a trade deal, including China, Claudia Sheinbaum said. Trump signed an executive order implementing a trade agreement reached in July with Japan, under which the US will impose a maximum 15% tariff on most of its imports, including automobiles and parts.
Huawei’s Mate XTs, a refreshed version of its groundbreaking trifold device, underscores its continued prowess in hardware design. The series has helped Huawei reclaim ground lost to Apple in China’s premium mobile arena in recent years.
The phone’s two folding mechanisms allow it to function either as a regular smartphone or as two variations of iPad-like tablets. Huawei unveiled the devices days before Apple’s Sept. 9 event to introduce its new iPhone lineup.
The device is powered by a breakthrough in made-in-China chipmaking, built around its latest Kirin 9020 processor, and marks another step in the Shenzhen-based company’s departure from Google’s Android software.
Multitasking should be easier, with the ability to switch between apps or view them side by side when the phone is unfolded. It’s also a bit lighter on the pocketbook, starting at 17,999 yuan ($2,500)—cheaper than last year’s $2,800 sticker.
China’s renewed zeal for homegrown AI suggests the inflection point has arrived for the sector, Catherine Thorbecke writes. Beijing has long sought such a shift, even if companies prefer Nvidia’s superior offerings, which may put the US tech giant’s foothold in the country at risk.
Photographer: Tim Franco for Bloomberg Businessweek
Baby bombshell. Booyoung, one of South Korea’s biggest construction companies, is offering 100 million won ($72,000) for every baby born to an employee. The country’s fertility rate—the lowest on Earth—ticked up last year as the government and companies both try to tackle the problem.
