FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is set to reopen next month. According to a statement from the Department of Education, the online form for the 2026 to 2027 year will be available on Oct. 1.
The timing of the application’s opening is notably different from recent years. While in 2016, the application began opening to students in October, major technical issues in recent years have set the schedule back. In 2023, the application for the 2024 to 2025 year didn’t launch until December, meaning students had less time to apply for aid. The issues came about after a 2020 law mandated the form be revised and simplified.
The new application is also still in its beta testing stage. “The second phase of testing is now open and runs through September 2025,” the Department of Education’s announcement explains. “Anyone can request to participate, and well invite participants throughout this phase.” The announcement also noted that if students apply for aid during the beta testing period, they won’t need to resubmit the application later.
The department says the new application is simplified in a number of ways. For starters, it now has a real-time account verification tool which allows students to use their Social Security Number to avoid a waiting period. It also has a tool which allows students filling out the application to allow another person, like a parent, to collaborate in filling out the form.In terms of loan limits, the new application comes with a few changes from previous years after the passing of Trump’s budget cuts on July 4. For undergrad applicants, new borrowers will have a lifetime limit of $257,500. For the Parent PLUS loan program, parents will only be able to borrow $20,000 per dependent each year or a total of $65,000 per dependent. However, if students are already receiving loans (prior to July 1, 2026) they will be able to continue without the new Parent PLUS caps through the end of their child’s college years.Schools can now enforce specific loan limits for certain programs.All students looking to receive federal aid must complete the form by June 30, 2026. However, colleges and universities all have their own deadlines which students need to be aware of. “Many schools FAFSA due dates have priority deadlines, which means you need to submit your FAFSA form by that date to receive the best aid package,” according to the Department of Education. “These schools typically publish this date on their financial aid web pages. If you cant find the deadline, call the schools financial aid office.”
Borrowers can request access to the application here.
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As unsold completed new-build inventory piles up and builders see their pricing power decreasedparticularly in Sun Belt markets like Austin, Tampa, and Jacksonvillemore homebuilders are turning to layoffs to avoid a larger margin compression. Many builders are trimming corporate staff headcounts a little and scaling back on spec construction in areas where months of supply has gotten too high for their liking.
Look no further than a recent John Burns Research and Consulting survey, which found that 63% of U.S. homebuilders said their local peers had recently conducted layoffs, while only 14% reported no recent layoffs among peers.
The numbers were even more striking in key Sun Belt markets: 87% of Texas builders and 79% of Florida builders said their peers had recently cut workers.
By contrast, homebuilders in the Midwest and Northeast reported the lowest levels of layoff activity.
Unlike some other subsectors of residential real estatesuch as mortgage lending or the agent side of the businesshomebuilding employment had remained relatively resilient following the 2022 rate shock. Bigger incentives, like forward-commitment mortgage rate buydowns, helped many builders maintain sales volume and avoid a sharper pullback.
But with the housing market softening further over the past year and multifamily completions now rolling overafter a wave of projects completed that were financed during the ultra-low-rate pandemic yearsmore builders are cutting staff to adjust to the current environment.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, residential building construction employment has fallen by 3,800 jobs (-0.4%) from its cycle high in March 2025, while residential specialty trade contractor employment is down 44,000 jobs (-1.8%) from its September 2024 peak.
So far, thats not a big pullbackbut it certainly marks a softer residential labor market.
Given the recent softening in the residential construction labor market, its no surprise that during the latest earnings season, homebuilders emphasized that labor availability and labor costs arent major concerns right now. Heading into 2025, there were fears that a sharp slowdown in undocumented immigration at the border and an uptick in deportations could quickly tighten the residential construction labor pool and drive up labor costs. So far, broader conditions in homebuilding have outweighed those concerns.
On D.R. Horton’s July 22 earnings call, CEO Paul Romanowski said:
From labor availability, it’s plentiful. We have the labor that we need. Our trades are looking for work. And that’s why you’ve seen sequential and year-over-year reduction in our cycle time. Because we have the support we need to get our homes built. And, you know, given those efficiencies, reductions in stick and brick [costs] over time. Some of that is from design. And efficiency of the product that we’re putting in the field. And some of that is just from the efficiency of our operations.
On builder PulteGroup’s July 22 earnings call, CEO Ryan Marshall said:
Labors available. We havent seen any change there. We continue to be an employer of choice. Weve got consistent, predictable work. We pay on time. We pay well and fairly. So I think well continue to be a place that will attract available labor. You know, in terms of our cost assumptions, really no change from what we rolled out at the beginning of the year on the labor front.
We have always and continue to verify the labor thats on our job site to be able to work legally in the country. Thats always been the case. We continue to make that a priority. You know, there certainly is, I think, disruptions within the broader labor force, not just in construction related to kind of ICE enforcement, and, you know, thats something that I think the country is going to have to grapple with. And, you know, as that impacts the total available labor force, I dont think itll be specifically just a construction challenge depending on what level of enforcement and deportation ultimately happens.
And on builder Meritage Homes’ July 24 earnings call, CFO Hilla Sferruzza said:
“Labor also seems to be more available in our markets potentially stemming from slower multifamily construction and reduced starts in the industry.”
Historically, residential construction employment tends to roll over before most traditional recessions (i.e., those not driven by sudden shocks like the COVID-19 downturn in 2020). As a leading indicator, combined with signs of softening in the broader labor market, its something to keep an eye on right now.
Hypothetically, IF the U.S. unemployment rate were to spike and the economy weakened, financial markets could respond with a flight to safetydriving up demand for Treasuries, pushing bond prices higher, and sending yields (including mortgage rates) lower. For now, however, the labo market appears to be softening rather than experiencing an outright break. If that changes, well cover it.
A TikTok comedian has sparked debate after riffing on the viral term clanker, which in recent months has surfaced as an insult for robots, AI systems, and those who rely on them.
The term, originally from Star Wars, spiked in searches in early June, according to Google Trends. As it spreads online, people are questioning whether its just a harmless joke or an insensitive slur.
Comedian and TikTok star Stanzi Potenza fueled the discussion in late August with a skit roleplaying a Southern waitress. The caption of the now-viral video reads: POV: youre a clanker in 2050.
Well, well, well, look what the Roomba dragged in, Potenza says in a southern drawl. Didnt you see the sign outside? We dont serve clankers here.
She goes on to call the robots wirebacks (a term many say is uncomfortably close to a slur used against Mexicans in the U.S.) and adds: We dont have none of your oil or microchips or whatever it is you rust buckets eat.
The video, which has been viewed nearly a million times, struck many as echoing real racial slurs and stereotypes. It feels out of touch, taking actual slurs and turning them into silly robot slurs is notgreat,” one commenter wrote.
The skit was also reposted to X, where one user wrote: roleplaying actual 50s racism with fucking robots is egregious in so so many ways.
Others defended Potenza, arguing critics were being too woke and that the video actually makes fun of racism.
Potenza isnt alone in riffing on clanker. Another TikTok comedian, Samuel Jacob, posted a similar video days later with the caption: If the 2050s become like the 1950s (but instead its Robophobia).
His skit features human-robot segregated bathrooms, a schoolyard bully, a thug provoking street violence, and a cop arresting a clanker named George Droid. Always taking it too far, one commenter wrote.
Fast Company has reached out to Potenza and Jacob for comment.
Argentina’s markets tumbled on Monday, with the peso currency at a historic low, after a heavy defeat for President Javier Milei’s party at the hands of the Peronist opposition at local elections stoked worries about the government’s ability to implement its economic reform agenda.
The peso was last down almost 5% against the dollar at 1,434 per greenback while the benchmark stock index fell 10.5%, and an index of Argentine stocks traded on U.S. exchanges lost more than 15%. Some of the country’s international bonds saw their biggest falls since they began trading in 2020 after a $65 billion restructuring deal.
The resounding victory for the Peronists signaled a tough battle for Milei in national midterm elections on October 26, where his party is aiming to secure enough seats to avoid overrides to presidential vetoes.
The government now faces the difficult choice whether to allow the peso to depreciate ahead of next month’s midterms or spend its foreign exchange reserves to intervene in the FX market, according to Pramol Dhawan, head of EM portfolio management at Pimco.
“Opting for intervention would likely prove counterproductive, as it risks derailing the IMF [International Monetary Fund] program and diminishing the countrys prospects for future market access to refinance external debt,” Dhawan said via email. “The more resources the government allocates to defending the currency, the fewer will be available to meet obligations to bondholdersthereby increasing the risk of default.”
He said early indications that the government may double down on the current strategy “would be a strategic misstep.”
The 13-point gap in the Buenos Aires Province (PBA) election in favor of the opposition Peronists was much wider than polls anticipated and what the market had priced in. The government setback at the polls adds to recent headwinds for a market that had until recently outperformed its Latin American peers.
“We had our reservations about the market being too complacent regarding the Buenos Aires election results. The foreign exchange market will undoubtedly be under the spotlight, as any instability there can have a ripple effect on Argentine assets,” said Shamaila Khan, head of fixed income for emerging markets and Asia Pacific at UBS, in response to emailed questions.
“However, it’s important to note that simply using reserves to prop up the currency isn’t likely to provide much reassurance to the market,” she added. “The midterm elections, in my opinion, carry more weight and their outcome will significantly influence how Argentine assets perform in the coming months.”
The bond market sell-off saw the country’s 2035 issue fall 6.25 cents, on track for its largest daily drop since its post-restructuring issuance in 2020.
Based on official counts, the Peronists won 47.3% of the vote across the province, while the candidate of Milei’s party took 33.7%, with 99.98% of the votes counted.
Argentinaone of the big reform stories across emerging markets since Milei became president in December 2023has seen its markets come under heavy pressure over the last month following a corruption scandal involving Milei’s sister and political gatekeeper Karina Milei.
The government defeat also comes after the International Monetary Fund approved a $20 billion program in April, of which some $15 billion has already been disbursed. The IMF has eagerly backed the reform program of Milei’s government to the point that its director, Kristalina Georgieva, had to clarify remarks earlier this year in which she invited Argentines to stay the course with the reforms.
The IMF did not respond to questions on whether this vote result would change its relationship with the Milei administration or alter the program.
Market sell-off
Argentina’s main equity index had dropped around 20% since the government corruption scandal broke, its international government bonds have sold off, and pressure on the recently unpegged peso forced authorities to start intervening in the FX market.
“The result was much worse than the market expectedMilei took quite a big beating, so now he has to come up with something,” said Viktor Szabo, portfolio manager at Aberdeen Investments.
Morgan Stanley had warned in the run-up to the vote that the international bonds could fall up to 10 points if a Milei drubbing dented his agenda for radical reform. On Monday, the outcome saw the bank pull its “like” stance on the bonds.
Barclays analyst Ivan Stambulsky pointed to comments from Economy Minister Luis Caputo on Sunday that the country’s FX regime wont change.
“Were likely to see strong pressure on the FX and declining reserves as the Ministry of Economy intervenes,” Stambulsky said. “If FX sales persist, markets will likely start wondering what will happen if the economic team is forced to let the currency depreciate before the October midterms.”
Some analysts, however, predicted other parts of the country were unlikely to vote as strongly against Milei as in the Buenos Aires Province, given it is a traditional Peronist stronghold.
They also expected the Milei government to stick to its program of fiscal discipline despite economic woes.
“The Province of Buenos Aires midterm election delivered a very negative result for the Milei administration, casting doubt on its ability to deliver a positive outcome in Octobers national vote and risking the reform agenda in the second half of the term,” said JPMorgan in a Sunday client note.
“The policy mix adopted in the coming days and weeks to address elevated political risk will be pivotal in shaping medium-term inflation expectationsand, ultimately, the success of the stabilization program.”
By Karin Strohecker and Rodrigo Campos; additional reporting by Marc Jones and Shashwat Chauhan, Reuters
Pope Leo XIV canonized the Catholic Churchs first millennial saint over the weekend, a teen computer whiz who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 15 and had used technology to spread his faith, earning him the nickname Gods influencer, according to The Associated Press.
Some 80,000 worshippers filled St. Peters Square in Rome on Sunday to see the canonization of Carlo Acutis, including many millennials and young children with their parents, The Washington Post reported. Pope Leo also canonized Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian who died in 1925 at age 24.
Acutis’s ascent to sainthood is being called one of the fastest in modern history, and comes at a time when many younger generations, from Gen Z to millennials, struggle to connect with the church. For some, Acutis, who was tech-savvy and reportedly loved video games, may be seen as more relatable and a good role model for the next generation of Catholics.
The former pope, Francis, also championed Acutis. Carlo was well aware that the whole apparatus of communications, advertising, and social networking can be used to lull us, to make us addicted to consumerism and buying the latest thing on the market, obsessed with our free time, caught up in negativity, Francis said in 2019, as reported by The Washington Post. Yet he knew how to use the new communications technology to transmit the Gospel, to communicate values and beauty.
The teen, who was born in London and raised in Milan by a well-known Italian Catholic family, designed a website documenting reported Eucharistic miracles around the world, which has become a teaching tool for parishes worldwide and is seen as a positive way to use technology in support of religion.
For decades, scientists believed Prochlorococcus, the smallest and most abundant phytoplankton on Earth, would thrive in a warmer world. But new research suggests the microscopic bacterium, which forms the foundation of the marine food web and helps regulate the planets climate, will decline sharply as seas heat up.
A study published Monday in the journal Nature Microbiology found Prochlorococcus populations could shrink by as much as half in tropical oceans over the next 75 years if surface waters exceed about 82 degrees Fahrenheit (27.8 Celsius). Many tropical and subtropical sea surface temperatures are already trending above average and are projected to regularly surpass 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius) over that same period.
These are keystone species very important ones, said François Ribalet, a research associate professor at the University of Washingtons School of Oceanography and the studys lead author. And when a keystone species decreases in abundance, it always has consequences on ecology and biodiversity. The food web is going to change.
These tiny organisms hold a vital role in ocean life
Prochlorococcus inhabit up to 75% of Earths sunlit surface waters and produce about one-fifth of the planets oxygen through photosynthesis. More crucially, Ribalet said, they convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into food at the base of the marine ecosystem.
In the tropical ocean, nearly half of the food is produced by Prochlorococcus, he said. Hundreds of species rely on these guys.
Though other forms of phytoplankton may move in and help compensate for the loss of oxygen and food, Ribalet cautioned they are not perfect substitutes. Evolution has made this very specific interaction, he said. Obviously, this is going to have an impact on this very unique system that has been established.
The findings challenge decades of assumptions that Prochlorococcus would thrive as waters warmed. Those predictions, however, were based on limited data from lab cultures. For this study, Ribalet and his team tested water samples while traversing the Pacific over the course of a decade.
Over 100 research cruises the equivalent of six trips around the globe they counted some 800 billion individual cells taken from samples at every kilometer. In his lab at the University of Washington, Ribalet demonstrated the SeaFlow, a box filled with tubes, wires and a piercing blue laser. The custom-built device continuously pulls in seawater, which allowed the team to count the microbes in real time. We have counted more Prochlorococcus than there are stars in the Milky Way, Ribalet said.
Experts warn of big consequences
Paul Berube, a research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies Prochlorococcus but was not involved in the work, said the breadth of data is groundbreaking. And he said the results fit with what is known about the microbes streamlined genome, which makes it less adaptable to rapid environmental changes.
Theyre at the very base of the food web, and they feed everything else the fish eat the things that eat the phytoplankton and we eat the fish, he said. When changes are being made to the planet that influence these particular organisms that are essentially feeding us, thats going to have big consequences.
To test whether Prochlorococcus might evolve to withstand hotter conditions, Ribalets team modeled a hypothetical heat-tolerant strain but found that even those would not be enough to fully resist the warmest temperature if greenhouse emissions keep rising, Ribalet said.
He stressed that the studys projections are conservative and dont account for the impacts of plastic pollution or other ecological stressors. We actually tried to put forth the best-case scenario, Ribalet said. In reality, things may be worse.
Steven Biller, an associate professor at Wellesley College, said the projected declines are scary but plausible. He noted Prochlorococcus form part of the invisible forests of the ocean tiny organisms most people never think about, but are essential to human survival.
Half of all photosynthesis is happening in the oceans and Prochlorococcus is a really important part of that, Biller said. The magnitude of the potential impact is kind of striking.
Biller, Berube and Ribalet said that while other microbes may compensate somewhat, the broader risks to biodiversity and fisheries are real.
We know what drives global warming. There is no debate among the scientific community, Ribalet said. We need to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
He hopes the findings bring more attention to tropical oceans, which could serve as natural laboratories for warming adaptations and as early warning signals for ecological collapse.
For the first time, I want to be wrong. I would love to be wrong, he said. But these are data-driven results.
Annika Hammerschlag, Associated Press
The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a civil jury’s finding that President Donald Trump must pay $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll for his repeated social media attacks against the longtime advice columnist after she accused him of sexual assault.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s appeal of the defamation award, finding that the jury’s damages awards are fair and reasonable.
Trump had argued the damages were unreasonably excessive and pushed for a new trial in light of the Supreme Courts expansion of presidential immunity.
But the appeals court roundly rejected those arguments, writing that Trumps extraordinary and unprecedented broadsides against Carroll justified the steep award.
Given the unique and egregious facts of this case, we conclude that the punitive damages award did not exceed the bounds of reasonableness, the three-judge panel concluded.
Attorneys for Trump didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, welcomed the decision.
Earlier today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed, in a comprehensive 70-page ruling, that E. Jean Carroll was telling the truth, and that President Donald Trump was not,” Kaplan wrote in a statement, noting that her client had received threats during the legal process and that they look forward to an end to the appellate process.
The ruling centered on the second and far more expensive of two defamation awards issued to Carroll over Trumps yearslong attacks on her character, which began after she accused Trump in her 2019 memoir of sexually assaulting her decades-earlier at a Manhattan department store.
In her memoir and again at a 2023 trial, Carroll described how a chance encounter with Trump at Bergdorf Goodmans Fifth Avenue in 1996 started with the two flirting as they shopped, then ended with a violent struggle inside a dressing room.
Carroll said Trump slammed her against a dressing room wall, pulled down her tights and forced himself on her.
At the initial trial, a jury found Trump liable for sexual assault, but concluded he hadnt committed rape as defined under New York law.
Trump repeatedly denied that the encounter took place and accused Carroll of making it up to help sell her book. He also said that Carroll was not my type.
The 2023 jury awarded Carroll $5 million to compensate her for both the alleged attack and statements Trump made denying that it had happened.
After that first verdict, the court held a second trial with a new jury for the purpose of deciding damages for additional statements Trump made attacking Carrolls character and truthfulness.
Trump skipped the first trial but attended the second, which took place as he was running for president in 2024. Speaking to reporters throughout the second trial, Trump portrayed the lawsuit as part of a broader effort to smear him and prevent him from regaining the White House.
His lawyers complained that the judge, in setting rules for the damages trial, had barred Trump and his defense team from claiming in front of the jury that he was innocent of the attack. The judge ruled that that issue had been settled by the first jury and didnt need to be revisited.
In its ruling Monday, the appeals court agreed, concluding that the trial judge did not err in any of the challenged rulings and that the jurys duly rendered damages awards were reasonable in light of the extraordinary and egregious facts of this case.
Jake Offenhartz, Associated Press
The Department of Government Efficiency made its reputation on staff cuts. Under Elon Musk, DOGE slashed the federal payroll in the name of cost-cutting. Now, the divisions new leader is urging the government to start hiring again.
Amy Gleason, acting head of DOGE, spoke last week at the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association International Health IT Summit about the need to hire and empower great talent in government.
“There’s not enough tech talent here,” she said at the time. “We need more of it.”
That’s a pretty major reversal for DOGE. While the government hasnt provided an exact tally of layoffs earlier this year, The New York Times estimates 135,000 employees were fired or resigned, with another 150,000 at risk. Gleason isnt calling for all of them to return, but she did argue for hiring more technical staff to modernize outdated government systems within five years.
That plan faces immediate obstacles. The government remains under a hiring freeze, extended twice already, through at least October 15. (And it has already been extended twice, once in April and once again in July.)
It’s also something of an open question as to which of those public-facing systems will continue. The Trump administration canceled the IRS Direct File programending free online tax filing for eligible taxpayers after just one seasonand ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to halt nearly all operations, effectively shuttering the agency. (The CFPB relies on user-submitted complaints to detect wrongdoing.)
Gleason was named acting administrator of DOGE in February, and has kept a low profile during her tenure, never appearing alongside Trump on any public comments about DOGEs work since being named to the role. (The White House did not respond to Fast Company‘s request for comment.)
Since its creation early in Trumps presidency, DOGE has been mired in controversy. It claims to have saved $205 billion, but those figures are widely disputed. An independent tracker, The Musk Watch DOGE Tracker, estimates savings closer to $16.3 billion.
Musk initially promised DOGE would save $2 trillion. By March, he lowered the target to $1 trillion. Then at an April cabinet meeting, he scaled it back again, telling Trump and other officials that DOGE now expected to cut $150 billion during the 2026 fiscal yearwhich runs from October 2025 through September 2026, months after the agency is scheduled to be disbanded.
An expansion of government hiring would add even more volatility to those numbers, should government officials take Gleason’s suggestion. The hiring would be slow, even if the freeze ends, however. Under new rules set by Trump, government agencies will only be able to hire one person for every four workers who leave.
Endless notifications, a constant barrage of information, and never-ending to-do lists can make it feel like you’re digitally drowning. Why not use AI to claw some of your precious time back?
While you may have used ChatGPT for the basics like writing an email or proofreading documents, theres plenty of power to be harnessed from less obvious applications.
Here are five ways you can put AI to work for you.
The meeting note parser
You’ve just finished an hour-long meeting, and your notes look like a verbal train wreck: a mix of shorthand, half-finished sentences, and random keywords. There are action items in there somewhere, but finding them feels like a chore.
Paste your notes into ChatGPT with a prompt such as: “Here are my meeting notes. Please create a prioritized task list with deadlines and the person responsible for each item.”
ChatGPT can turn that mess into a clean, actionable list in seconds, giving you back precious time you’d have spent deciphering your own writing.
The simple concept explainer
You’ve come across a new industry term or a technical concept that’s critical to your job, but the online explanations are full of jargon you don’t understand. Or maybe you’re trying to explain something complex to a colleague who isn’t as familiar with the subject.
Ask ChatGPT to “explain [the concept] in plain English for someone with no background in [the field].”
AI is great at simplifying dense information. You can even ask it to “use a relatable analogy” to make the concept stick. It’s like having a personal tutor who’s always on call.
The interview prep guru
You have an important call with a potential client or a new partner, and you want to go in prepared. But digging through their company’s website, recent press releases, and social media feeds for relevant background info is a serious time sink.
Prompt ChatGPT with something like: “Help me prepare for a call with [Customer Name]. Summarize the top 3 news stories from the past six months and highlight anything relevant to their business goals.”
This gives you a quick, digestible cheat sheet, so you can sound informed and confident without spending hours on a deep dive.
The content repurposer
You’ve created a great piece of content: a long-form blog post, a podcast episode, or a detailed report. Now you need to turn it into a dozen different things for social media. The thought of writing 12 unique captions and a handful of tweets is exhausting.
Upload your content and ask ChatGPT to “repurpose this information into three short social media captions and five bullet points for a Twitter thread.”
It can instantly transform your work into multiple formats, saving you the mental load of starting over each time you switch platforms.
The brainstorming partner
Theres nothing quite like smashing head-first into a creative wall. You’ve got to come up with ideas for a new marketing campaign, a blog post title, or a product name, but the well has run dry. The blank page is staring at you, mocking your lack of creativity.
Use a prompt to get the ball rolling, such as: “I’m launching a new service for [target audience]. Give me 10 creative marketing campaign ideas that are both approachable and professional.”
ChatGPT can act as a tireless brainstorming partner, providing you with a starting point, new angles, and ideas you might never have considered on your own. It won’t do all the work, but it’ll give you a solid foundation to build upon.
China’s exports grew last month but at a slower pace than in recent months, the country’s customs agency said Monday.
Exports reached $321.8 billion in August, a 4.4% increase compared to the same month last year. That was down from a 7.2% jump in July. Meanwhile, imports totaled $219.5 billion, a 1.8% rise.
China’s large trade surplus has become a contentious issue with major trading partners including the U.S. and the European Union. Low-priced Chinese imports are a boon for consumers but can lead to job cuts in manufacturing.
In the first eight months of the year, China’s exported $785.3 billion more in goods than it imported from other countries, the monthly customs data showed.
President Donald Trump has imposed 30% in additional tariffs on imports from China since taking office early this year. He backed down from even higher tariffs after China retaliated with import taxes of its own. The two countries are in talks to try to reach a trade agreement.
The tariffs from both sides and the possibility they could be raised again are having an impact on two-way trade. Chinese exports to the U.S. plunged 33% in August to $47.3 billion, while its imports from the U.S. dropped 16% to $13.4 billion.
Exports to the EU rose 10.4% to $46.8 billion, while imports from the 27-member bloc edged down slightly to $22.8 billion.
Overall, China’s exports grew at the slowest pace since the January-February period, when they rose just 2.3%. The first two months of the year are reported together to smooth out distortions from the long Lunar New Year break.
China’s exports of rare earths rose on a monthly basis to $55 million in August, up from $41 million in July, but down 25.6% compared to the same month last year.
Rare earth magnets, which can withstand high heat, are vital to many products including washing machines, cars and fighter jets.
China dominates the global market for processing rare earths, and a clampdown on their export in April temporarily halted production at some factories in Europe and the U.S. and raised fears of shutdowns at others.
The issue became a focal point of a round of U.S.-China trade talks in London in June. China agreed to approve more export permits for rare earths in return for the U.S. lifting curbs on the sale of chip design software and jet engines to China.
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This story has been corrected to say China’s January-August trade surplus of $785.3 billion was in goods only, not in goods and services.
Ken Moritsugu, Associated Press
