 |
|
|
|||||
China appears to be pursuing a calculated effort to recruit recently laid-off U.S. scientistsparticularly those with expertise in artificial intelligenceto relocate or contribute remotely to research operations based in Shenzhen. This campaign is reportedly being driven by a network of entities linked to a shadowy Chinese technology conglomerate. In March, advertisements offering full-cycle support for relocation to Shenzhen were placed on LinkedIn, Craigslist, and in several major international publications. (I was alerted to one such newspaper ad through a friend in the city.) The timing coincides with a wave of budget-driven layoffs across U.S. federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), following funding reductions by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The recruitment effort has drawn scrutiny from U.S. officials and intelligence analysts, who view it as part of a broader Chinese strategy to acquire advanced technological expertise through nontraditional channels. The FBI has previously warned that Chinese talent programs may serve as mechanisms to extract intellectual property and sensitive research from foreign institutions under the guise of academic or professional collaboration. Laid-off federal employees with security clearances or institutional knowledge are considered particularly vulnerable. Analysts suggest that financial strain and professional uncertainty may make these individuals more susceptible to overtures from foreign entities. While international recruitment of scientific talent is not unusual, the circumstances surrounding this initiativeparticularly the use of potentially deceptive firms and the targeting of a freshly displaced U.S. workforceraise significant counterintelligence and national security concerns. In response, U.S. agencies are reviewing protocols for layoffs involving sensitive personnel, including strengthening exit briefings and restrictions on post-employment affiliations. Platforms like LinkedIn have also stepped up efforts to detect and remove fraudulent recruiter profiles, which are often used in foreign influence and espionage operations. Shenzhens emergence as a global innovation hub is a relevant factor. Since being designated a Special Economic Zone in the 1980s, the city has attracted significant investment and become a core node in Chinas technology ecosystem. Many U.S. companies have longstanding relationships in the region, leveraging its capacity for rapid prototyping and cost-effective manufacturing. There is reason to believe that China may frame Shenzhen as a politically neutral environment for scientific work, potentially increasing its appeal to foreign researchers. Sources familiar with current efforts tell me that remote collaboration options are being offered to further lower barriersallowing scientists to contribute to Chinese research initiatives without relocating. However, analysts caution that any scientific contributionremote or otherwiseultimately supports the interests of the Chinese state. Shenzhen operates within the political and regulatory framework of the Peoples Republic of China, and research conducted there is unlikely to remain fully compartmentalized or independent. Additionally, former U.S. government employees with security clearances may face legal and regulatory constraints that bar them from working with Chinese research entities, including academic institutions. This recruitment campaign highlights a broader strategic competition between the U.S. and China over leadership in critical technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. In this context, the targeting of displaced American scientific personnel represents a pragmatic, if provocative, maneuver by Beijing. While it remains uncertain how effective this strategy will be, it reflects a sophisticated understanding of the intersection between economic dislocation and talent acquisitionand reinforces the urgency of policy responses that address both national security and workforce resilience.
Category:
E-Commerce
Big Lots continues to trickle back to life after a bankruptcy last year that was widely expected to lead to its demise. The discount retailer will see another 54 store reopenings at the beginning of next month, according to Variety Wholesalers, the North Carolina-based retail company that has taken control of hundreds of Big Lots leases. These second wave store openings will span 12 states across the South and Midwest, a Variety spokesperson shared with Fast Company. The stores are expected to open on Thursday, May 1. What happened to the original Big Lots? After suffering declining sales and foot traffic for years, Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2024. The company fell under the control of liquidation firm Gordon Brothers and had been expected to close every location. But Variety Wholesalerswhich owns Roses, Super Dollar, Bargain Town, and other discount retail chainsagreed to take over at least 200 leases in a last-minute deal announced in December. As part of the deal, Variety agreed to operate the locations under the Big Lots brand. However, after selling off merchandise and holding going-out-of-business sales, the Variety-owned locations will still shutter for at least a few weeks while the company prepares them for reopening. The first wave of nine locations opened last week with stores in six states, as Fast Company first reported in March. Future openings are planned for June, for a total fleet count of 219 locations when all is said and done. At the time of the bankruptcy, Big Lots had more than 800 locations around the country, meaning its footprint under Variety will be significantly smaller, though hopefully no less beloved by fans of discount merchandise. North Carolina will see the biggest number of Big Lots openings in the second wave, with 12 locations set to open in the state. Additional second-wave stores will be located in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. The full list appears below: Michigan 4157 E. Court Street, Burton, MI 48509 5112 Miller Rd, Flint, MI 48507 7651 23 Mile Rd, Shelby Township, MI 48316 Ohio 4331 Mahoning Ave NW, Warren, OH 44483 7100 South Ave, Boardman, OH 44512 1965 W State St, Alliance, OH 44601 498 Cadiz Rd, Wintersville, OH 43953 56104 National Rd, Bridgeport, OH 43912 6300 E Livingston Ave, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 Pennsylvania 866 Scranton Carbondale Hwy, Archbald, PA 18403 1010 O’Neill Hwy, Dunmore, PA 18512 7405 Westbranch Hwy, Lewisburg, PA 17837 West Virginia 1228 Country Club Rd, Fairmont, WV 26554 104 Thompson Dr, Bridgeport, WV 26330 710 Beverly Pike, Elkins, WV 26241 118 Hills Plz, Charleston, WV 25312 110 Eagle School Rd, Martinsburg, WV 25404 7200 Mccorkle Ave SE, Charleston, WV 25304 Kentucky 200 Sycamore St Ste 151, Elizabethtown, KY 42701 472 Eastern Byp, Richmond, KY 40475 1714 Perryville Rd Ste 400, Danville, KY 40422 942 Happy Valley Rd, Glasgow, KY 42141 Virginia 1090 Millwood Pike, Winchester, VA 22602 2715 W Main St, Waynesboro, VA 22980 4300 Portsmouth Blvd, Chesapeake, VA 23321 2646 Greensboro Rd, Martinsville, VA 24112 Indiana 195 S US Hwy 231, Jasper, IN 47546 Tennessee 1262 NW Broad St, Murfreesboro, TN 37129 4825 N Broadway St, Knoxville, TN 37918 420 Park Blvd, Rogersville, TN 37857 840 25th St NW, Cleveland, TN 37311 North Carolina 1504 N Bridge St, Elkin, NC 28621 1826 W US Hwy 421 Ste K, Wilkesboro, NC 28697 526c US Highway 70 SW, Hickory, NC 28602 2587 W Franklin Blvd, Gastonia, NC 28052 1328 Carter St, Mount Airy, NC 27030 1063 Yadkinville Rd, Mocksville, NC 27028 100 Westwood Village Dr, Clemmons, NC 27012 12295 Capital Blvd, Wake Forest, NC 27587 1110 Julian R Allsbrook Hwy, Roanoke Rapids, NC 27870 955 N Wesleyan Blvd, Rocky Mount, NC 27804 4956 Long Beach Rd SE Ste 8, Southport, NC 28461 2407 N Herritage St Ste E, Kinston, NC 28501 Alabama 5363 Hwy 90 W Ste C, Mobile, AL 36619 603 US Hwy 72 W, Athens, AL 35611 1820 6th Ave SE, Decatur, AL 35601 South Carolina 2349 Cherry Rd Ste 79, Rock Hill, SC 29732 1000 N Pine St, Spartanburg, SC 29303 915 S St Ste A, Simpsonville, SC 29681 1023A S Pendleton St, Easley, SC 29642 Georgia 558 Battlefield Pkwy, Fort Oglethorpe, GA 30742 323 Habersham Village Cir, Cornelia, GA 30531 110 E Northside Dr, Valdosta, GA 31602 2708 Peach Orchard Rd, Augusta, GA 30906
Category:
E-Commerce
Tariff exemptions announced Friday on electronics like smartphones and laptops are only a temporary reprieve until the Trump administration develops a new tariff approach specific to the semiconductor industry, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday.White House officials, including President Donald Trump himself, spent Sunday downplaying the significance of exemptions that lessen but won’t eliminate the effect of U.S. tariffs on imports of popular consumer devices and their key components.“They’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs but they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two,” Lutnick told ABC’s This Week on Sunday.Trump added to the confusion hours later, declaring on social media that there was no “exception” at all because the goods are “just moving to a different” bucket and will still face a 20% tariff as part of his administration’s move to punish China for its role in fentanyl trafficking.The Trump administration late Friday had said it would exclude electronics from broader so-called reciprocal tariffs, a move that could help keep the prices down for phones and other consumer products that aren’t usually made in the U.S.China’s commerce ministry in a Sunday statement welcomed the change as a small step even as it called for the U.S. to completely cancel the rest of its tariffs.Sparing electronics was expected to benefit big tech companies like Apple and Samsung and chip makers like Nvidia, though the uncertainty of future tariffs may rein in an anticipated tech stock rally on Monday.U.S. Customs and Border Protection said items like smartphones, laptops, hard drives, flat-panel monitors and some chips would qualify for the exemption. Machines used to make semiconductors are excluded too. That means they won’t be subject to most of the tariffs levied on China or the 10% baseline tariffs elsewhere.It was the latest tariff change by the Trump administration, which has made several U-turns in its massive plan to put tariffs in place on goods from most countries. White House officials sought to dismiss any suggestion of a reprieve as the weekend progressed.“It’s not really an exception. That’s not even the right word for it,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. “This type of supply chain moved from the tariff regime for the global tariff, the reciprocal tariff, and it moved to the national security tariff regime.”Greer added that “the president decided that we’re not going to have exemptions. We can’t have a Swiss cheese solution to this universal problem that we’re facing.”On Air Force One Saturday night, President Donald Trump told reporters he would get into more specifics on exemptions on Monday. In his post Sunday on TruthSocial, he promised the White House was “taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN.”Some had assumed the exemption filed Friday night reflected the president’s realization that his China tariffs are unlikely to shift more manufacturing of smartphones, computers and other gadgets to the U.S. any time soon, if ever.The administration has predicted that the trade war prod Apple to make iPhones in the U.S. for the first time, but that was an unlikely scenario after Apple spent decades building up a finely calibrated supply chain in China.It would take several years and cost billions of dollars to build new plants in the U.S., burdening Apple with economic forces that could triple the price of an iPhone and torpedo sales of its marquee product.The turmoil has battered the stocks of tech’s “Magnificent Seven” — Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Google parent Alphabet and Facebook parent Meta Platforms.At one point, the Magnificent Seven’s combined market value had plunged by $2.1 trillion, or 14%, from April 2 when Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs on a wide range of countries. When Trump paused the tariffs outside of China on Wednesday, the lost value in those companies was pared to $644 billion, or a 4% decline.An electronics exemption would fulfill the kind of friendly treatment that industry was envisioning when Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos assembled behind the president during his Jan. 20 inauguration.That united display of fealty reflected Big Tech’s hopes that Trump would be more accommodating than President Joe Biden’s administration.Apple won praise from Trump in late February when the Cupertino, California, company committed to invest $500 billion and add 20,000 jobs in the U.S. during the next four years. The pledge was an echo of a $350 billion investment commitment in the U.S. that Apple made during Trump’s first term when the iPhone was exempted from China tariffs.An electronics exemption would remove “a huge black cloud overhang for now over the tech sector and the pressure facing U.S. Big Tech,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in a research note. Ives amended that note after Lutnick’s comments Sunday, saying the confusing news out of the White House “is dizzying for the industry and investors and creating massive uncertainty and chaos for companies trying to plan their supply chain, inventory, and demand.”Neither Apple nor Samsung responded to requests for comment over the weekend. Nvidia declined to comment. O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island. AP White House correspondent Darlene Superville in West Palm Beach, Florida, and AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in Berkeley, California contributed to this report. Mae Anderson and Matt O’Brien, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||