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MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Tuesday that Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own, after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% import duties on Mexican goods if the country doesn’t stop the flow of drugs and migrants across the border.

Sheinbaum said she was willing to engage in talks on the issues, but said drugs were a U.S. problem.

“One tariff would be followed by another in response, and so on until we put at risk common businesses,” Sheinbaum said, referring to U.S. automakers that have plants on both sides of the border.

She said Tuesday that Mexico had done a lot to stem the flow of migrants, noting “caravans of migrants no longer reach the border.” However, Mexico’s efforts to fight drugs like the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl — which is manufactured by Mexican cartels using chemicals imported from China — have weakened in the last year.

Sheinbaum said Mexico suffered from an influx of weapons smuggled in from the United States, and said the flow of drugs “is a problem of public health and consumption in your country’s society.” read more

By Eliza Haverstock, NerdWallet

The 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is open to all students as of Nov. 18 — and you should submit it as soon as possible if you think you might be in college next year.

The FAFSA unlocks all federal student aid, including student loans, need-based Pell Grants, work-study and even some private scholarships. Colleges use the form to build financial aid offers for students. There’s no income limit to qualify for aid.

The release is earlier than expected; the Education Department previously said it would open the FAFSA to all students by Dec. 1, 2024. It comes after nearly two months of limited FAFSA beta testing, during which time the form was open to select groups of students in phases.

This was a strategy to avoid last year’s chaotic FAFSA rollout, which was marked by major technical glitches and processing delays as the Education Department struggled to implement the simplified 2024-25 FAFSA form. As a result, FAFSA completion dropped 8.8% among last year’s high school seniors from the year prior, per the National College Attainment Network (NCAN), a nonprofit member organization that aims to increase higher education access. read more

By SIMINA MISTREANU and KEN MORITSUGU, Associated Press

YIWU, China (AP) — Visitors who bought fridge magnets at Times Square or other tourist hotspots around New York in recent years most likely were purchasing the work of Du Jing or one of her fellow exporters in a small Chinese city that supplies the U.S. and the world with tons of small commodities.

Du and her husband run Yiwu Xianchuang Handicraft Manufacturing in the eastern city of Yiwu, home to the world’s largest wholesale market. Products from here -– ranging from plushies to glass vases and portable toolboxes -– are sold in stores and on online platforms around the world, including to U.S. consumers on Amazon.

For years, the United States has been a major destination for Chinese goods, but exporters like those in Yiwu have been reducing their reliance on the world’s largest consumer market as Beijing and Washington feud over trade. Some have moved production to Southeast Asia and other parts of the world to evade U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. read more

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, Associated Press Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, joining a growing list of major corporations that have done the same after coming under attack by conservative activists.

The changes, confirmed by Walmart on Monday, are sweeping and include everything from not renewing a five-year commitment for an equity racial center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd, to pulling out of a prominent gay rights index. And when it comes to race or gender, Walmart won’t be giving priority treatment to suppliers.

Walmart’s moves underscore the increasing pressure faced by corporate America as it continues to navigate the fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 ending affirmative action in college admissions. Emboldened by that decision, conservative groups have filed lawsuits making similar arguments about corporations, targeting workplace initiatives such as diversity programs and hiring practices that prioritize historically marginalized groups. read more

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — Months after an alarmist review from NASA’s Office of the Inspector General, hundreds of construction workers seem out to prove their critics wrong as progress picks up steam on the Artemis program’s mobile launcher 2, the platform atop which future versions of the powerful Space Launch System rocket will launch.

Taking shape on a patch of concrete at KSC just north of the massive Vehicle Assembly Building, ML2’s steel structure is part of NASA’s current battle plan to support SLS launches beginning with Artemis IV currently on the schedule for late 2028.

NASA OIG audits have warned of rising costs and growing delays for all facets of the Artemis program, and its future, including the Artemis II crewed flight planned for next year and the Artemis III moon landing in 2026, could be redefined by the direction of the incoming Trump administration.

“Our marching orders haven’t changed, and we can’t really speculate what the new administration is going to do,” said Darrell Foster, the ML2 project executive with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems based at KSC. “We know what our priorities are right now. We know what our mission is right now, and we’re staying focused on that.” read more