GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Authorities in Guyana arrested the South American country’s incoming opposition leader on Friday following an extradition request from the U.S. government.

Azruddin Mohamed, one of Guyana’s wealthiest citizens, was recently indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida on charges including money laundering, bribery, tax evasion and wire and mail fraud.

Mohamed is the leader of the We Invest in Nationhood party, which won 16 of the 65 parliamentary seats in the Sept. 1 general election.

He appeared in court Friday and was later released on $750 bond and ordered to return to court in early November for a second extradition hearing.

Also arrested and released on bond was his father, Nazar Mohamed, who faces the same accusations.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall said authorities were acting on a formal request from the U.S. for their extradition.

One of the Mohameds’ attorneys, Siand Dhurjon, said some of the offenses “are not extraditable offenses under the laws of our land or even the extradition treaty” that Guyana has.

Last year, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Azruddin Mohamed, his father and his family business for allegedly smuggling more than 22,000 pounds (10,000 kilograms) of gold to the U.S. from Guyana, and evading more than $50 million in taxes.

Azruddin Mohamed was expected to be elected by incoming opposition lawmakers as their leader on Monday when Parliament reconvenes for its first sitting.

The case has underscored persistent government corruption in the oil-rich South American nation.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s government on Friday criticized the U.S. refugee policy shift that gives priority to Afrikaners, the country’s white minority group of Dutch descent.

The Trump administration on Thursday announced a ceiling of 7,500 refugees to be admitted to the United States, a sharp decrease from the previous 125,000 spots and said Afrikaners would be given preference over other groups.

U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed that there is a “genocide” against Afrikaners in South Africa and that they are facing persecution and discrimination because of the country’s redress policies and the levels of crime in the country.

It’s one of the contentious issues that has seen diplomatic relations between South Africa and U.S. hit an all-time low, with Trump suspending all financial aid to South Africa and setting one of the highest tariffs for the country’s exports to the U.S.

The South African government’s international relations department said Friday that the latest move was concerning as it “still appears to rest on a premise that is factually inaccurate.”

“The claim of a ‘white genocide’ in South Africa is widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence,” spokesman Chrispin Phiri said.

Phiri said that a program designed to facilitate the immigration and resettlement of Afrikaners as refugees was deeply flawed and disregarded the country’s constitutional processes.

“The limited uptake of this offer by South Africans is a telling indicator of this reality,” Phiri said.

The U.S. notice, which signifies a huge policy shift toward refugees, mentioned only Afrikaners as a specific group and said the admission of the 7,500 refugees during the 2026 budget year “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.”

Trump’s asylum offer for Afrikaners has sparked divisive debate in South Africa, but has been largely rejected even by many in the Afrikaner community.

This week, a group of prominent Afrikaners including politicians, activists, writers and businesspeople penned an open letter rejecting the notion that Afrikaners needed to emigrate from South Africa.

“The idea that white South Africans deserve special asylum status because of their race undermines the very principles of the refugee program. Vulnerability — not race — should guide humanitarian policy,” they wrote in the widely publicized letter.

However, some Afrikaner groups continue to be very critical of the South African government’s handling of crime and redress policies even though they reject the “white genocide” claim.

An Afrikaner lobbyist group, Afriforum, on Thursday said that it doesn’t call the murder of white farmers a genocide, but raised concerns about white people’s safety in South Africa.

“This does not mean AfriForum rejects or scoffs at Trump’s refugee status offer — there will be Afrikaners that apply and they should have the option, especially those who have been victims of horrific farm attacks or the South African government’s many racially discriminatory policies,” AfriForum spokesman Ernst van Zyl said.

While it’s unclear how many white South Africans have applied for refugee status in the U.S., a group of 59 white South Africans were granted asylum and were received with much fanfare in May.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen has said that his refusal to sign a $35 billion gas agreement with Egypt has prompted his U.S. counterpart to cancel a planned trip to Israel.

A statement from Cohen’s office on Thursday night said that U.S. officials had been “exerting a great deal of pressure on Israeli officials” to approve the deal, but it said that the minister would refuse to do so “until Israeli interests are secured and a fair price for the Israeli market is agreed upon.”

The move, the statement said, prompted U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright to cancel his trip to Israel. Wright’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. U.S. officials in Israel declined to comment. Egypt’s Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cohen’s refusal to sign the deal appears to freeze progress on what his office says would be the largest gas export agreement in Israel’s history, exporting natural gas from the Leviathan gas field to Egypt.

The gas field is located in the Mediterranean Sea, 130 kilometers (80 miles) off the coast of northern Israel, according to Chevron, a U.S. gas corporation that operates the plant.

Cohen’s move appears to risk inflaming Israel’s relations with the United States and Egypt, both key brokers of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which has paused more than two years of war. The statement from Cohen’s office said that efforts have been made to settle “the political issues between Israel and Egypt,” but didn’t specify further.

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief says U.S. military strikes against vessels allegedly carrying illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop.

The condemnation Friday by Volker Türk marks the first of its kind from a United Nations organization.

President Donald Trump has justified the attacks on the boats as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday that he would try to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to grant Hungary exemptions from Washington’s newly announced sanctions targeting Russian oil when he meets with the president next week.

The Trump administration unveiled sanctions against Russia’s major state-affiliated oil firms Rosneft and Lukoil last week, a move that could expose their foreign buyers — including customers in India, China and Central Europe — to secondary sanctions.

While most European Union member states sharply reduced or halted imports of Russian fossil fuels after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Hungary and Slovakia have maintained their pipeline deliveries. Hungary has even increased the share of Russian oil in its energy mix.

Orbán, a Trump ally who is expected to visit Washington next week for his first bilateral meeting with the president since he retook office in January, has long argued that landlocked Hungary has no viable alternatives to Russian crude, and that replacing those supplies would trigger an economic collapse. Critics dispute that claim.

“We have to make the Americans understand this strange situation if we want exceptions to the American sanctions that are hitting Russia,” Orbán said in comments Friday to state radio.

The Hungarian leader, widely considered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest partner in the EU, has maintained warm relations with the Kremlin, despite the war, and has taken a combative stance toward Ukraine, portraying the neighboring country as a major threat to Hungary’s security and economy.

Orbán said Friday that both the U.S. administration and Moscow were seeking an end to the war, but that Ukraine and the EU were the primary impediments to peace. However, a planned meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest was recently scrapped after Russian officials made clear they opposed an immediate ceasefire in the conflict.

Orbán said that he would be accompanied to Washington by a “large delegation” of ministers, economic officials and security advisers aimed at “a complete review” of U.S.-Hungarian relations. He said that Budapest hopes to finalize an economic cooperation package with the U.S., including new American investments in Hungary.

But any deal, he stressed, depends on securing Hungary’s continued access to Russian energy.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Asian shares are mixed after the U.S. stock market sank from record heights as Wall Street sifted through various developments such as trade relations with China and profits of Big Tech giants.

U.S. futures advanced and oil prices fell.

President Donald Trump hailed his talk Thursday with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, but major tensions remain between the world’s two largest economies.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.7% to 52,201.05, touching fresh records after data showed industrial production rose 2.2% month-on-month in September, beating market expectations and rebounding from a 1.5% drop the previous month.

In Chinese markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.9% to 26,050.08 and the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.6% to 3,963.01.

Data released Friday showed factory activity in China contracted in October for a seventh straight month. The official NBS Manufacturing PMI fell to 49.0 from 49.8 in September.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4% to 4,105.81, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 8,903.50. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.5%.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 1% to 6,822.34, pulling further from its all-time high set on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2% to 47,522.12. The Nasdaq composite dropped 1.6% from its record set the day before, closing at 23,581.14.

Stock markets elsewhere in the world were mixed, coming off a highly anticipated meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies. Trump rated his meeting with Xi as a “12” on a scale of zero to 10, saying he would cut tariffs.

But stocks had already run to records on expectations for potentially bigger improvements in trade friction between Beijing and Washington.

Earnings of Big Tech companies were also feeling the pressure of high hopes. Meta Platforms dropped 11.3%, cutting into what had been a 28.4% jump for the year so far. It was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Analysts said investors were likely perturbed by how much Facebook’s parent company said it’s planning to spend in 2026. Companies across the industry have been on an investment spree to build out their artificial-intelligence capabilities, and the concern is whether it will all pay off.

“There are moments in market history when capital stops behaving like money and starts acting like obsession — when spending becomes the strategy, not the consequence. That’s exactly where we are now with artificial intelligence,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

Microsoft sank 2.9% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Analysts pointed to how it also expects to spend more on investments in 2026 than in 2025, while growth for its Azure business may have fallen a bit short of some investors’ expectations.

On the winning side of Big Tech was Alphabet. Shares of Google’s parent company climbed 2.5% after its profit and revenue for the latest quarter easily topped analysts’ expectations.

How such companies do matters incredibly for investors. The trio of Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft alone account for 14.5% of the total value of all the companies in the S&P 500 index, which dictates the movements for many 401(k) accounts. That means movements for them and a handful of other Big Tech companies can easily overshadow what hundreds of other stocks are doing.

In other dealings early Friday, benchmark U.S. crude oil shed 42 cents to $60.15 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 42 cents to $63.95.

The U.S. dollar fell to 153.95 Japanese yen from 154.14 yen. The euro rose to $1.1573 from $1.1566.

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AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.

TOKYO (AP) — For an “America First” president, Donald Trump seemed to love his whirlwind five days skipping across Asia — a reflection of a White House that is increasingly focused on the rest of the world.

When Trump stepped off Air Force One on Sunday for his first stop in Malaysia, he danced with local performers who had greeted him on the red carpet. In Japan, he helicoptered to a mammoth aircraft carrier for a speech with the country’s prime minister. And South Korea gave him a gold medal and crown as gifts.

Back home in Washington, the federal government was shut down as Trump’s poll numbers remain low, and it’s unclear how much Trump’s trip will resonate with voters consumed by other concerns at home.

Yet on the last night of his trip, Trump was overheard at a state dinner talking about how much he enjoyed meetings with his foreign counterparts.

“That was a great meeting,” Trump said. “They’re all great meetings. This was a great meeting. We had a fantastic meeting.”

Had a president who once used the term “globalist” as a slur suddenly found the fun in being a little bit globalist? He definitely likes the international dealmaking, the parties in his honor, the praise from other leaders and the possibility of leaving his mark on the wider world.

But that ebullience abroad also reflects the mood of a president who has struck economic deals and helped smooth relations between warring nations.

He helped to affirm a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand. There’s a detailed list of nearly $500 billion in investment commitments from Japan. And South Korea pledged $150 billion to help revive American shipbuilding, including a project to acquire a nuclear-powered submarine — on top of $200 billion in investments over a decade to the U.S.

“It’s not globalism to go to other countries and stand up for America,” said Hogan Gidley, a former White House aide who traveled to Asia and other foreign destinations with Trump in his first term. When Trump travels, he makes sure “the globe is fully aware that this president is going to stand up for the American people first,” Gidley said, making it “the exact opposite of globalism.”

As for the dancing?

“Look, when you’re scoring touchdowns, it’s OK to dance in the end zone,” Gidley said. “And this president is scoring touchdowns and running up the score.”

Foreign leaders are learning what makes Trump happy

Many Trump voters believed they were electing a president who would focus on them instead of distant countries. But Trump in his second term is increasingly finding it easier to sell the idea of America with jaunts to Asia and the Middle East.

The shift in tone reflects foreign governments’ strenuous efforts to keep Trump happy, like stationing American-made vehicles near him in Tokyo and featuring U.S.-raised beef on the menu.

Trump is increasingly showing confidence that he can play on the global stage, instead of grinding metaphorical axes as he did during his first term by attacking NATO and finding ways to intimidate and frustrate allies such as Angela Merkel, then the chancellor of Germany.

“He appears to believe in his skills as a one-on-one negotiator with world leaders,” said Jasen Castillo, a professor with a focus on national security at Texas A&M University. “All of this suggests that his foreign policy ventures are genuine.”

Still, it’s not always clear what Trump is trying to achieve, other than a chance to declare victory. Some of his trade talks have led to foreign countries promising investments, but not necessarily the careful negotiations on which durable coalitions are built.

“What can confuse observers is that he lacks a consistent, coherent world view,” Castillo added.

‘The best deals are deals that work for everybody’

The U.S. president in Asia was hardly the grimacing presence he’s been at times in the Oval Office, where he’s objected to the support Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought in the war against Russia and chastised post-apartheid South Africans on their treatment of white Afrikaners.

In Asia, it was a lovefest. Trump said Southeast Asian nations had “spectacular leaders,” the new Japanese prime minister was “a winner” and the South Korean president could “go down as the greatest of them all.”

Rather than complaining about foreign countries ripping off America, he told business leaders that “the best deals are deals that work for everybody.”

Trump was similarly effusive after sitting down on Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping shortly before returning to Washington.

“I guess on the scale from 0 to 10, with ten being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Diplomacy on his own terms

Trump seems to enjoy doing foreign policy on his own terms. He prizes bold shows of force, like attacking nuclear sites in Iran and boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean. He minimizes participation in lengthy multilateral meetings that can require more listening than talking.

Arriving at the summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Trump offered a spot in the armored presidential limousine to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was thrilled to join him in the vehicle nicknamed “The Beast.”

“When the president arrives, he asked me to join him in the car,” Anwar later recalled in a speech. “I said, ‘That’s against the security and protocol rules,’ and he was delighted to break the rules.”

The White House said that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi planned to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, with Takaichi telling him she was “so impressed and inspired” by Trump’s commitment to world peace and stability.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Trump “will be recognized forever in the history of humanity” if he could bring his peacemaker skills to ending the military standoff with North Korea, before complimenting him for U.S. stock indices hitting a record high.

Even the far more reserved Xi seemed to suggest that Trump’s policies behind elevating America were also good for China.

“I always believe that China’s development goes hand in hand with your vision to ‘Make America Great Again,’” Xi said through a translator.

While the White House is trumpeting the results of Trump’s trip back home, it’s unclear how much his foreign policy actions mattered to a country worried about inflation staying high.

Going into the 2025 elections Tuesday with a mayoral race in New York City and governors’ elections in Virginia and New Jersey, many Americans are harboring deep anxieties about Trump’s leadership. The month-long government shutdown is starting to cause pain with missed paychecks and government food aid no longer being available to millions of families.

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s performance as president, according to an October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Trump told his audiences in Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and South Korea that America has never been better.

“We’re literally sort of an inspiration to a lot of other countries,” Trump said.

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Megerian reported from Busan, South Korea, and Kim reported from Washington.

BANGKOK (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he had an “amazing” meeting Thursday with China’s top leader Xi Jinping that produced very important decisions.

Trump met with Xi on the sidelines of Pacific Rim summit gatherings in South Korea, where the two leaders agreed to dial back some of their trade measures and work together to resolve others.

The one hour and 40 minutes meeting’s agenda appears not to have touched on some perennial problems such as tensions over the self-governed island of Taiwan.

But Trump said China had agreed to buy large quantities of American farm products and to ensure steady supplies of rare earths elements used in many industries. Here are some of the key takeaways from the meeting, based on comments by Trump and U.S. and Chinese officials.

Rolling back tariffs

Trump told reporters while heading home on Air Force One that he had agreed to cut to 10% his 20% tariff increase imposed over China’s role in producing fentanyl and chemicals used to make it. China confirmed that will take average tariffs on Chinese goods the U.S. imports to 47% from 57%.

The two sides agreed to continue to work on cracking down on illicit flows of the drug into the U.S.

Other tariff increases remain in place, but for now, the two sides have extended a truce on even steeper tariff increases that began in May when Trump and Xi agreed to pause those to allow time to work on a framework for resolving trade tensions.

Sales of computer chips to China

Trump said he discussed U.S. sales of computer chips to China. Trump and former President Joe Biden had imposed restrictions on access to the most advanced chips such as those used for artificial intelligence.

China will speak with Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia about purchasing their computer chips, he said.

That won’t include its next-generation Blackwell AI chip, he said, “but a lot of the chips.”

“We make great chips,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “Nvidia’s the leader.”

U.S. soybeans and other farm exports

Trump said the Chinese side has committed to buying “a tremendous amount” of American soybeans, sorghum and other farm products.

The Chinese side did not provide any details. Beijing took aim at U.S. agricultural exports soon after Trump began announcing hikes on tariffs after he returned to the White House in January. Cutbacks in Chinese purchases of soybeans, beef and other products have hit U.S. farmers hard.

“Farmers should immediately go out and buy more land and larger tractors,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “I would like to thank President Xi for this!”

There were no specific details on purchase agreements.

No TikTok deal yet

Beijing said it will work with the Trump administration to resolve issues related to TokTok’s ownership.

“China will work with the U.S. to properly resolve issues related to TikTok,” China’s Commerce Ministry said after the Xi’s meeting with Trump.

It gave no details on any progress toward ending uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the U.S. The Trump administration had been signaling that it may have finally reached a deal with Beijing to keep TikTok running in the U.S.

Rare earths, port fees and U.S energy sales

Trump told reporters that China had agreed not to tighten restrictions on exports of rare earths and the technology and equipment used to process them. Trump earlier had threatened a 100% import tax because of China’s rare earth restrictions.

“That roadblock is gone now,” he said. He said Beijing had agreed not to implement for a year its recently announced controls that had raised concerns over access to the critical minerals used in many industries, including electric vehicles and aircraft.

China and the U.S. likewise said they would not impose higher port fees on each others vessels.

In his post on Truth Social Trump said China had agreed to begin purchasing oil and gas from Alaska, adding that officials would be meeting to see “if such an Energy Deal can be worked out.”

China’s take on the meeting

The first official Chinese comments on the meeting were less specific and suggested any deal is not done.

Xi noted that negotiating teams from both countries had reached a consensus, a likely reference to talks held in Malaysia last weekend, according to a report on the meeting distributed by state media.

The Chinese leader said the teams should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that will provide “peace of mind” to China, the U.S. and the rest of the world.

The recent twists and turns in the relationship offer lessons for the U.S. and China, Xi said. The U.S. and China should have positive interactions on the global stage that demonstrate their responsibility as major powers to achieve positive results for their countries and the world, he said.

“Both sides should take the long-term perspective into account, focusing on the benefits of cooperation rather than falling into a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation,” he said, according to the report.

Stressing that dialogue is better than confrontation, Xi listed a range of issues where China and the U.S. could work together, including combating illegal immigration and telecom fraud, anti-money laundering efforts, artificial intelligence and handling infectious diseases.

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AP writers Josh Boak, Chris Megerian, Mark Schiefelbein and other AP journalists contributed.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump’s comments Thursday suggesting the United States will restart its testing of nuclear weapons upends decades of American policy in regards to the bomb, but come as Washington’s rivals have been conducting their own atomic tests and expanding their arsenals.

Nuclear weapons policy, once thought to be a relic of the Cold War, increasingly has come to the fore as Russia has made repeated atomic threats to both the U.S. and Europe during its war on Ukraine. Moscow also acknowledged this week testing a nuclear-powered-and-capable cruise missile called the Burevestnik, code-named Skyfall by NATO, and a nuclear-armed underwater drone.

China is building more ground-based nuclear missile silos. Meanwhile, North Korea just unveiled a new intercontinental ballistic missile it plans to test, part of a nuclear-capable arsenal likely able to reach the continental U.S.

The threat is starting to bleed into popular culture as well, most recently with director Kathryn Bigelow ‘s new film “A House of Dynamite.”

But what does Trump’s announcement mean and how would it affect what’s happening now with nuclear tensions? Here’s what to know.

Trump’s remarks came before meeting with China’s Xi

Trump’s comments came in a post on his Truth Social website just before meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In it, Trump noted other countries testing weapons and wrote: “I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”

The president’s post raised immediate questions. America’s nuclear arsenal is maintained by the Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous agency within it — not the Defense Department. The Energy Department has overseen testing of nuclear weapons since its creation in 1977. Two other agencies before it — not the Defense Department — conducted tests.

Trump also claimed the U.S. “has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country.” Russia is believed to have 5,580 nuclear warheads, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association, while the U.S. has 5,225. Those figures include so-called “retired” warheads waiting to be dismantled.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute further breaks the warhead total down, with the U.S. having 1,770 deployed warheads with 2,591 in reserve. Russia has 1,718 deployed warheads and 1,930 in reserve.

The two countries account for nearly 90% of the world’s atomic warheads.

U.S. last carried out a nuclear test in 1992

From the time America conducted its “Trinity” nuclear bomb detonation in 1945 to 1992, the U.S. detonated 1,030 atomic bombs in tests — the most of any country. Those figures do not include the two nuclear weapons America used against Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.

The first American tests were atmospheric, but they were then moved underground to limit nuclear fallout. Scientists have come to refer to such tests as “shots.” The last such “shot,” called Divider as part of Operation Julin, took place Sept. 23, 1992, at the Nevada National Security Sites, a sprawling compound some 105 kilometers (65 miles) from Las Vegas.

America halted its tests for a couple of reasons. The first was the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. The U.S. also signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty in 1996. There have been tests since the treaty, however — by India, North Korea and Pakistan, the world’s newest nuclear powers. The United Kingdom and France also have nuclear weapons, while Israel long has been suspected of possessing atomic bombs.

But broadly speaking, the U.S. also had decades of data from tests, allowing it to use computer modeling and other techniques to determine whether a weapon would successfully detonate. Every president since Barack Obama has backed plans to modernize America’s nuclear arsenal, whose maintenance and upgrading will cost nearly $1 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The U.S. relies on the so-called “nuclear triad” — ground-based silos, aircraft-carried bombs and nuclear-tipped missiles in submarines at sea — to deter others from launching their weapons against America.

Restarting testing raises additional questions

If the U.S. restarted nuclear weapons testing, it isn’t immediately clear what the goal would be. Nonproliferation experts have warned any scientific objective likely would be eclipsed by the backlash to a test — and possibly be a starting gun for other major nuclear powers to begin their own widespread testing.

“Restarting the U.S. nuclear testing program could be one of the most consequential policy actions the Trump administration undertakes — a U.S. test could set off an uncontrolled chain of events, with other countries possibly responding with their own nuclear tests, destabilizing global security, and accelerating a new arms race,” experts warned in a February article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

“The goal of conducting a fast-tracked nuclear test can only be political, not scientific. … It would give Russia, China and other nuclear powers free rein to restart their own nuclear testing programs, essentially without political and economic fallout.”

Any future U.S. test likely would take place in Nevada at the testing sites, but a lot of work likely would need to go into the sites to prepare them given it’s been over 30 years since the last test. A series of slides made for a presentation at Los Alamos National Laboratories in 2018 laid out the challenges, noting that in the 1960s the city of Mercury, Nevada, — at the testing grounds — had been the second-largest city in Nevada.

On average, 20,000 people had been on site to organize and prepare for the tests. That capacity has waned in the decades since.

“One effects shot would require from two to four years to plan and execute,” the presentation reads. “These were massive undertakings.”

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The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Asian shares initially retreated Thursday after President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

While Trump said the meeting was “amazing” and had resolved many issues, investors appeared skeptical. U.S. futures were flat.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index bounced lower and then inched up less than 0.1% to 51,333.51 after the Bank of Japan kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged.

Chinese markets gave up early gains, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shedding 0.2% to 26,298.64. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.3% to 4,006.60.

South Korea’s Kospi index broke through the 4,000 mark for the first time, edging up 0.1% to 4,084.91 after climbing more than 1% earlier in the day following reports of progress in Washington’s trade talks with South Korea. Solid corporate earnings also boosted shares in tech, auto and shipbuilding.

In Chinese markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.8% to 26,555.36 while the Shanghai Composite index added less than 0.1% to 4,017.95. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on Thursday cut its base rate by 25 basis points to 4.25%. It always follows the U.S. lead in interest rate policies since the value of Hong Kong’s currency is linked to the U.S. dollar.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed more than 0.5% to 8,885.50, pulled lower by losses in real estate and consumer discretionary stocks.

Taiwan’s Taiex dropped 0.1% while India’s BSE Sensex shed 0.5%.

Trump told reporters he was cutting average tariffs on Chinese goods to 47% from 57%, effective immediately after his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in six years. He cited progress by Beijing in curbing exports of fentanyl and the chemicals used to make it.

Trump also said China was keeping its policy of tighter restrictions on exports of rare earths and related technologies on hold for a year, and he expects that agreement to be extended. ’s aggressive use of tariffs since returning to the White House for a second term combined with China’s retaliatory limits on exports of rare earth elements have given the meeting newfound urgency.

There was no immediate word on details of the talks from the Chinese side.

The encounter was a chance for the leaders of the world’s two largest economies to stabilize relations after months of turmoil over trade issues.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks bounced around their records on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve made moves to boost the job market but also warned that more help isn’t guaranteed.

The S&P 500 finished virtually flat and edged down by less than 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 73 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.5%. All three indexes were coming off an all-time high.

Stocks had been on track for modest gains in the afternoon after the Fed cut its main interest rate for the second time this year in hopes of helping the slowing job market. But the market snapped lower after Chair Jerome Powell later warned that it “is not a foregone conclusion” that the Fed will cut again in December at its next meeting, “far from it.”

“That needs to be taken off the board,” Powell said.

In the meantime, the deluge continued of big U.S. companies reporting how much profit they made during the summer, and the frenzy in artificial-intelligence technology is driving growth. The pressure is on companies to deliver gains because that’s one way they can quiet criticism that their stock prices have shot too high.

In other dealings early Thursday, the benchmark U.S. crude shed 24 cents to $60.24 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 22 cents to $64.10 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 152.94 Japanese yen from 152.65 yen. The euro edged up to $1.1627 from $1.1609.

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AP Business Writers Elaine Kurtenbach, Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.

BUSAN, South Korea (AP) — President Donald Trump is meeting face-to-face with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, a chance for the leaders of the world’s two largest economies to stabilize relations after months of turmoil over trade issues.

Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs since returning to the White House for a second term combined with China’s retaliatory limits on exports of rare earth elements have given the meeting newfound urgency. There is a mutual recognition that neither side wants to risk blowing up the world economy in ways that could jeopardize their own country’s fortunes.

In the days leading up to the meeting, U.S. officials have signaled that Trump does not intend to make good on a recent threat to impose an additional 100% import tax on Chinese goods — and China has shown signs it is willing to relax its export controls on rare earths and also buy soybeans from America.

Trump went further aboard Air Force One on his way to South Korea, telling reporters he may reduce tariffs that he placed on China earlier this year related to its role in making fentanyl.

“I expect to be lowering that because I believe that they’re going to help us with the fentanyl situation,” Trump said, later adding, “The relationship with China is very good.”

Shortly before the meeting on Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social that the meeting would be the “G2,” a recognition of America and China’s status as the world’s biggest economies. The Group of Seven and Group of 20 are other forums of industrialized nations.

But while those summits often happen at luxury spaces, this meeting is taking place in humbler settings. Trump and Xi will be talking in a small gray building with a blue roof on a military base adjacent to Busan’s international airport.

The meeting began roughly at 11 a.m. (10 p.m. ET) in Busan, South Korea, a port city about 76 kilometers (47 miles) south from Gyeongju, the main venue for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Trump’s helicopter landed at 10:17 a.m. local time, with an Air China plane rolling on the tarmac about 10 minutes later.

Before Trump and Xi appeared for a handshake to formally start the meeting, there was a chaotic series of exchanges among U.S. and Chinese officials about how to stage the meeting.

“We’re going to have a very successful meeting, I have no doubt,” Trump said as they shook hands. The U.S. president added Xi is a “very tough negotiator,” with Trump saying they “could” sign a deal but they have a “great understanding” of each other.

At a dinner on Wednesday night with other APEC leaders, Trump was caught on a microphone saying the meeting with Xi would be “three, four hours” and he would then go home to Washington.

Officials from both countries met earlier this week in Kuala Lumpur to lay the groundwork for their leaders. Afterward, China’s top trade negotiator Li Chenggang said they had reached a “preliminary consensus,” a statement affirmed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who said there was “ a very successful framework.”

The anticipated detente has given investors and businesses caught between the two nations a sense of relief. The U.S. stock market has climbed on the hopes of a trade framework coming out of the meeting.

However cordial the rhetoric, Trump and Xi remain on a potential collision course as their countries vie to dominate manufacturing, develop emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and shape world affairs such as the status of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump indicated that he did not plan to bring up issues such as the security of Taiwan with Xi.

“The proposed deal on the table fits the pattern we’ve seen all year: short-term stabilization dressed up as strategic progress,” said Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Both sides are managing volatility, calibrating just enough cooperation to avert crisis while the deeper rivalry endures.”

The U.S. and China have each shown they believe they have levers to pressure the other, and the past year has demonstrated that tentative steps forward can be short-lived.

For Trump, that pressure comes from tariffs.

Right now, China had faced new tariffs this year totaling 30%, of which 20% has been tied to its role in fentanyl production. But the tariff rates have been volatile. In April, he announced plans to jack the rate on Chinese goods to 145%, only to abandon those plans as markets recoiled.

Then, on Oct. 10, Trump threatened a 100% import tax because of China’s rare earth restrictions.

Xi has his own chokehold on the world economy because China is the top producer and processor of the rare earth minerals needed to make fighter jets, robots, electric vehicles and other high-tech products.

China had tightened export restrictions on Oct. 9, repeating a cycle in which each nation jockeys for an edge only to back down after more trade talks.

What might also matter is what happens directly after their talks. Trump plans to return to Washington, while Xi plans to stay on in South Korea to meet with regional leaders during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which officially begins on Friday.

“Xi sees an opportunity to position China as a reliable partner and bolster bilateral and multilateral relations with countries frustrated by the U.S. administration’s tariff policy,” said Jay Truesdale, a former State Department official who is CEO of TD International, a risk and intelligence advisory firm.

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Boak reported from Tokyo.

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This story has been corrected to show that Trump and Xi are set to meet at 10 p.m. ET.

TORONTO (AP) — The leader of Canada’s most populous province on Wednesday said the U.S. ambassador to Canada should apologize to Ontario’s representative in Washington after the ambassador reportedly shouted profanely at him about the province’s anti-tariff ad.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Ambassador Pete Hoekstra owes David Paterson an apology for an “absolutely unacceptable” tirade that Ford said is “unbecoming for an ambassador.”

An official familiar with the matter confirmed that Hoekstra shouted at Paterson during a reception hosted by the Canadian American Business Council in Ottawa on Monday night. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

“Pete, you’ve got to call Dave up and apologize. It’s simple,” Ford told journalists, adding: “I get it. You’re ticked off. But call the guy up, because you’re a good guy.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy declined comment.

Ontario’s television ad criticizes President Donald Trump’s tariffs by citing a speech by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The ad infuriated Trump, who said he plans to raise tariffs on imports of Canadian goods by an extra 10%.

Trump said the ad misrepresented the position of Reagan, a two-term president and a beloved figure in the Republican Party. But Reagan was wary of tariffs and used much of the 1987 address featured in Ontario’s ad to spell out the case against tariffs.

“The intention wasn’t to go poke the president in the eye,” Ford said. “My intention was to get a conversation going.”

Ford said Hoekstra should understand why Canadians are upset: “You have someone attacking your province, attacking your country, constantly saying its the 51st state, trying to take our auto jobs down to the U.S., taking our manufacturing, our life science jobs, trying to take our steel jobs. What do they expect me to do?”

Ford pulled the ad Monday after it was shown during the first two games of the baseball World Series over the weekend. Trump said he won’t talk to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for a while.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States has informed its NATO allies that it will scale back its troop presence along Europe’s eastern border with Ukraine as it focuses on security priorities elsewhere in the world, Romania’s defense ministry said on Wednesday,

Depending on operations and exercises, around 80,000-100,000 U.S. troops are usually present on European soil. NATO allies have expressed concern that the Trump administration might drastically cut their numbers and leave a security vacuum as European countries confront an increasingly aggressive Russia.

The administration has been reviewing its military “posture” in Europe and elsewhere, but U.S. officials have said that the findings of the review were not expected to be known before early next year.

NATO has recently been bulking up its defensive posture on its eastern flank bordering Belarus, Russia and Ukraine after a series of airspace violations by drones, balloons and Russian aircraft.

The Romanian defense ministry said that the U.S. decision will “stop the rotation in Europe of a brigade that had elements in several NATO countries,” including at a base in Romania.

It said in a statement that about 1,000 U.S. troops will remain stationed in Romania. As of April, more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel were estimated to be deployed there. A brigade usually numbers anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 troops.

Romania’s Defense Minister Ionut Mosteanu said the decision reflects Washington’s shift “toward the Indo-Pacific” region, and that allied troop numbers would remain above the number before Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

“Our strategic partnership is solid, predictable, and reliable,” he said in a news conference.

After the war started in 2022, NATO bolstered its presence on Europe’s eastern flank by sending additional multinational battle groups to Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia. Many more European troops are now stationed there.

The ministry statement said that the U.S. “decision also took into account the fact that NATO has strengthened its presence and activity on the Eastern Flank, which allows the United States to adjust its military posture in the region.”

Asked about the move, a NATO official said that “adjustments to U.S. force posture are not unusual.” Under the terms of their employment contract, the official is permitted to speak to reporters but only on condition that they not be named.

The official said that even with this new adjustment, about which NATO was informed in advance, the American “force posture in Europe remains larger than it has been for many years, with many more U.S. forces on the continent than before 2022.”

The official played down any security concerns, saying that “NATO and U.S. authorities are in close contact about our overall posture – to ensure NATO retains our robust capacity to deter and defend.”

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McGrath reported from Leamington Spa, England.

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka said on Tuesday that his non-resident visa to enter the United States had been rejected, adding that he believes it may be because he recently criticized U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Nigerian author, 91, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, becoming the first African to do so.

Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Soyinka said he believed it had little to do with him and was instead a product of the United States’ immigration policies. He said he was told to reapply if he wished to enter again.

“It’s not about me, I’m not really interested in going back to the United States,” he said. “But a principle is involved. Human beings deserve to be treated decently wherever they are.”

Soyinka, who has taught in the U.S. and previously held a green card, joked on Tuesday that his green card “had an accident” eight years ago and “fell between a pair of scissors.” In 2017, he destroyed his green card in protest over Trump’s first inauguration.

The letter he received informing him of his visa revocation cites “additional information became available after the visa was issued,” as the reason for its revocation, but does not describe what that information was.

Soyinka believes it may be because he recently referred to Trump as a “white version of Idi Amin,” a reference to the dictator who ruled Uganda from 1971 until 1979.

He jokingly referred to his rejection as a “love letter” and said that while he did not blame the officials, he would not be applying for another visa.

“I have no visa. I am banned, obviously, from the United States, and if you want to see me, you know where to find me.”

The U.S. Consulate in Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos, directed all questions to the State Department in Washington, D.C. Through a spokesperson, it said that because under US law visa records are generally confidential, they would not discuss the specifics of this case while stressing that “visas are a privilege, not a right” and that “visas may be revoked at any time, at the discretion of the U.S. government, whenever circumstances warrant.”

BEIJING, China (AP) —

The Chinese government has blanketed the country with the world’s largest network of surveillance cameras.

Some cameras swivel, ensuring sweeping views of public squares. Others scan license plates of passing cars, allowing police to track vehicles in real-time. At night, cameras light up across China’s cities, shining lights down alleys and corners.

Over the past few decades, the Chinese government has rolled out a series of high-tech surveillance projects aimed at bringing the entire country under watch, including “Sky Net” and the “Golden Shield”.

The latest such project is called the “Xueliang Project,” or Sharp Eyes, a reference to a quote from Communist China’s founder, Mao Zedong, who once said “the people have sharp eyes” when urging them to root out neighbors opposed to socialist values.

AP investigations have found that American companies to a large degree designed and built China’s surveillance state, playing a far greater role in enabling human rights abuses than previously known. The U.S. government repeatedly allowed and even actively helped American firms to sell technology to the Chinese police, government and surveillance companies, AP found.

The cameras studding China are knitted together in policing systems that allow authorities to track and control virtually anyone in the country, often targeting perceived threats to the state like dissidents, religious believers or ethnic minorities. Following directives from Beijing to ensure “100 percent coverage” in key public areas, authorities have installed facial-recognition cameras across the country, including in unlikely locations:

Ski slopes.

Beaches.

Remote country roads.

The Great Wall of China.

A slew of cameras greets visitors to Beijing, with a screen underneath announcing: “Amazing China travel starts here!”

At times, entire neighborhoods have been demolished and rebuilt in part to make it easier for cameras to keep watch. The historic quarter of Xinjiang’s ancient silk road city of Kashgar, once a maze-like warren of twisting alleys, was demolished and rebuilt with wider avenues and thousands of camera that light up at night.

China’s cities, roads and villages are now studded with more cameras than the rest of the world combined, analysts say — roughly one for every two people.

The goal is clear, according to authorities: Total surveillance in every corner of the country, with “no blind spots” to be found.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday welcomed Japan’s determination to accelerate its ongoing military buildup and defense spending.

During a visit to Japan, Hegseth said he hopes to see those pledges implemented as soon as possible, noting China’s increasingly assertive military activity.

“The threats we face are real, and they are urgent. China’s unprecedented military buildup and its aggressive military actions speak for themselves,” he said. “Make no mistake about it, our alliance is critical to deterring Chinese military aggression, to responding to regional contingencies, and keeping our countries safe.”

Hegseth said he was “glad” to see Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi — speaking alongside U.S. President Donald Trump this week — make a commitment to increase Japan’s defense spending, calling it “wonderful.”

He said the U.S. government had not demanded Japan’s spending increase.

His comment comes a day after Takaichi, who became prime minister only last week, explained to Trump during their first summit that her government will raise Japan’s defense spending to 2% of its gross national product by March, two years ahead of initially planned. Japan also plans to revise its ongoing national security strategy several years ahead of schedule.

“It’s an important step forward, and one that we hope would be implemented and believe will be as soon as possible,” Hegseth told a joint news conference after holding talks with Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi. “The result, through our shared strength, will deter threats.”

“We’re going to invest now and invest quickly while we still have time,” Hegseth said.

Koizumi welcomed the agreement between the two governments to move up deliveries of U.S.-made Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, though he did not give further details.

Japan is seeking to create a more self-sufficient military as a deterrence against China’s increasingly assertive military activity in the region, and has concentrated on defense buildup on its southwestern islands. Japan also has concerns about the rising tensions caused by North Korea and Russia.

Japan has already moved up a planned deployment of its medium and long-range missiles such as Tomahawk and Japanese-made Tupe-12 anti-ship missiles.

These efforts mark a historic shift from Japan’s longstanding policy of limiting use of force to self-defense only under a pacifist Constitution written after World War II.

It made a major break from that policy under the 2022 security strategy that calls for more offensive roles for Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and easing restrictions on arms exports. The Takaichi government is also seeking to further relax weapons transfers.

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher Wednesday in Asia as Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index surged more than 2% to another record.

U.S. futures were mixed and oil prices were little changed.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been touring Asia and his upbeat comments on relations with major economies like Japan and China have helped fuel rallies while U.S. stocks have pushed further into record heights.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was up 2.4% at 51,410.40.

After a charm offensive in Japan that culminated in $490 billion in investment commitments, President Donald Trump met with South Korea’s leader on Wednesday, though a trade deal with that country appeared more elusive.

Still, South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.2% to 4,058.37.

The Shanghai Composite index was up 0.5% at 4,006.21. It has been trading near decade highs ahead of Trump’s expected meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a regional summit in South Korea.

Trump and Xi have been locked in an escalating trade war, with Washington imposing high tariffs and tightened technology controls and China retaliating with curbs on rare earth shipments, one of its key sources of leverage.

The fact that a meeting is planned suggests there is room for some progress in easing tensions, experts say.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1% to 8,926.20 after the release of higher than expected inflation data, an annual rate of 3.2%, dashed hopes for an interest rate cut anytime soon.

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 1.2% and India’s Sensex was up 0.3%.

On Tuesday, the U.S. stock market pushed further into record heights.

The S&P 500 added 0.2% to 6,890.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 47,706.37, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to 23,827.49. All three indexes set all-time highs for a third straight day.

Wall Street is waiting for a few events that could shake things up. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will announce its latest move on interest rates, while some of the stock market’s most influential companies will report how much profit they made during the summer.

Investors expect the Fed to announce a rate cut given the slowing job market. It would be the second time this year that it’s lowered the federal funds rate in hopes of helping the job market.

United Parcel Service rallied 8% Tuesday after delivering stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

PayPal climbed 3.9% after saying it made a bigger profit during the summer than analysts expected. It also said it plans to pay its shareholders a dividend every three months, while announcing a deal where internet users will be able to pay for purchases through OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Skyworks Solutions climbed 5.8% after saying it would merge with Qorvo in a cash-and-stock deal where Skyworks shareholders will own roughly 63% of the combined company, valued at $22 billion. Qorvo’s stock rose nearly as much, 5.7%.

Microsoft was one of the strongest forces lifting the market after rising 2%. That sent the company’s total value on Wall Street above $4 trillion.

On the losing end of Wall Street was Royal Caribbean, which lost 8.5% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected. Its revenue for the latest quarter fell short of expectations.

Homebuilder D.R. Horton sank 3.2% after reporting a weaker profit for the summer than analysts expected.

Amazon, meanwhile, rose 1% after saying it will cut about 14,000 corporate jobs, or about 4% of its corporate workforce, as it ramps up spending on artificial intelligence while cutting costs elsewhere.

In other dealings early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil inched up 2 cents to $60.17 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, also rose 2 cents, to $63.85 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar rose to 152.36 Japanese yen from 152.11 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1631 from $1.1651.

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AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — Hurricane Melissa barreled toward eastern Cuba, where it was expected to make landfall as a major storm early Wednesday after pummeling Jamaica as one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Authorities in Cuba had evacuated more than 700,000 people, according to Granma, the official newspaper, and forecasters said the Category 4 storm would unleash catastrophic damage in Santiago de Cuba and nearby areas.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Holguin and Las Tunas, as well as for the southeastern and central Bahamas. A hurricane watch was in effect for Bermuda.

On Tuesday night, Melissa had top sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph) and was moving northeast at 9 mph (15 kph) according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane was centered about 110 miles (175 kilometers) southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba, and was forecast to move across the island through the night.

The storm was expected to generate a storm surge of up to 12 feet (3.6 meters) in the region and drop up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain in parts of eastern Cuba.

“Numerous landslides are likely in those areas,” said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The hurricane could worsen Cuba’s severe economic crisis, which already has led to prolonged power blackouts, fuel shortages and food shortages.

“There will be a lot of work to do. We know there will be a lot of damage,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel said in a televised address, in which he assured that “no one is left behind and no resources are spared to protect the lives of the population.”

At the same time, he urged the population not to underestimate the power of Melissa, “the strongest ever to hit national territory.”

Provinces from Guantánamo — in the far east — to Camagüey, almost in the center of elongated Cuba, had already suspended classes on Monday.

As Cuba prepared for the storm, officials in Jamaica prepared to fan out Wednesday to assess the damage.

Extensive damage was reported in parts of Clarendon in southern Jamaica and in the southwestern parish of St. Elizabeth, which was “under water,” said Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council.

The storm also damaged four hospitals and left one without power, forcing officials to evacuate 75 patients, McKenzie said.

More than half a million customers were without power as of late Tuesday as officials reported that most of the island experienced downed trees, power lines and extensive flooding.

The government said it hopes to reopen all of Jamaica’s airports as early as Thursday to ensure the quick distribution of emergency relief supplies.

The storm already was blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s most iconic truck might be the tiny white transport vehicles that farmers use to lug gear on the narrow roads that link their rice fields.

But Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had another truck in mind as she looked to build rapport with visiting U.S. President Donald Trump.

Takaichi, who wants to improve economic ties with Washington and cement a strong relationship with Trump, placed U.S.-made cars, including an enormous American Ford F-150 truck, in the courtyard of the Akasaka Palace where the leaders held their first talks Tuesday.

Trump, who is a fan of the Ford F-150, has responded positively to the possibility that the Japanese government is considering buying dozens of the pickups.

Trump has complained that there are hardly any American cars in Japan and that the country’s vehicle safety standards are too strict.

But the lack of big American automobiles might be linked to more practical reasons, including local tastes, the conditions and size of roads, and marketing.

The trucks may be too big for Japanese roads

Japan is smaller than California, there is limited parking and many streets here are very narrow.

Consumers seem to prefer compact or mini cars that can easily navigate the crowded, narrow roads. Those who can afford more expensive foreign cars tend to go for compact or medium-size vehicles from Europe, such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Audi.

Except for American-produced Japanese cars such as Honda, Mazda and Nissan, the top-selling American brand is Jeep, according to the Japan Automobile Importers Association.

Many American cars have their steering on the left side, the opposite of the standard right-side steering in Japan, where expressway tolls are on the right side, for instance. Lower mileage and lack of maintenance and service networks also help explain why American brands except for Jeep have struggled in Japan.

“Why don’t American cars sell well in Japan? Because they lack understanding for road conditions and housing situations, as well as energy conservation,” former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament in April.

Trump loves the idea, but it’s unclear how Japan will respond

When Trump heard of the Ford truck idea as he flew to Asia on Air Force One, he reacted enthusiastically.

“She has good taste,” Trump told reporters of Takaichi. “That’s a hot truck.”

The underlying context is Takaichi’s need to figure out how to navigate the complex trade relationship that Trump shook up earlier this year with tariffs.

Trump wants allies to buy more American goods and also make financial commitments to build factories and energy infrastructure in the United States.

Japan’s previous administration agreed in September to invest $550 billion in the U.S., which led Trump to trim a threatened 25% tariff on Japanese goods to 15%. But Japan wants the investments to favor Japanese vendors and contractors.

In Japan, sport utility vehicles and are becoming popular among people with families and for outdoor activities such as camping, but buyers often go for more stylish, smaller models.

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Tuesday, with Chinese markets gaining as investors watch to see what might come of a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and China’s top leader.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.1% higher to 26,451.08 and the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.2% to 4,005.44, its highest level in a decade.

Trump has suggested he expects to forge another trade agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim summit in South Korea later this week. That could alleviate trade tensions that have roiled world markets and disrupted business since Trump’s return to the White House.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.2% in early trading to 50,419.96, falling back after hitting record highs since Sanae Takaichi became prime minister, the nation’s first woman leader.

On Tuesday, Trump is meeting with Takaichi, visiting a U.S. military base and then meeting with business leaders in Tokyo. Both sides are reaffirming their security alliance and Japan is promising to abide by Trump’s demands for more investments, and bigger role in its own defense and increased imports from the U.S.

“So Asia opens not with fireworks, but with an uneasy calm — a market breath half held. Traders aren’t chasing the rumor this time; they’re watching, weighing, waiting for something real to sign,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.4% to 9,017.80. South Korea’s Kospi shed 1.2% to 3,992.77 after the nation reported relatively strong quarterly economic growth thanks to strong consumption, investments and exports.

On Wall Street, stocks climbed to more records on Monday ahead of a week packed with potentially market-moving events. The S&P 500 rose 1.2% to 6,875.16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7% to 47,544.59, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.9% to 23,637.46.

The U.S. stock market has been on a record-breaking rally. The S&P 500 has shot up a stunning 38% since hitting a low in April, when worries about Trump’s tariffs on China and other countries were at their peak. Besides hopes for easing trade tensions, the rally has also been built on expectations for several more things to happen.

One is that the Federal Reserve will keep cutting interest rates in order to give the slowing job market a boost. The Fed’s next announcement on interest rates is due on Wednesday, and the nearly unanimous expectation among traders is that it will cut the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point at a second straight meeting.

It’s not a certainty though, because the Fed has also warned it may have to change course if inflation accelerates beyond its still-high level. That’s because low interest rates can make inflation worse.

Besides lower interest rates, another expectation that’s propped up stock prices is the forecast that U.S. companies will continue to deliver solid growth in profits. Some of Wall Street’s most influential stocks are set to report their results this week, including Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Microsoft on Wednesday, and Amazon and Apple on Thursday.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 3.99% from 4.02% late Friday.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude slipped 3 cents to $61.28 a barrel. Brent crude fell 2 cents to $64.86 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar dropped to 152.41 Japanese yen from 152.88 yen. The euro cost $1.1658, up from $1.1645.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.