MANUFACTURING

Every two years, the aerospace industry networks for a week in Montreal at the Montreal Aerospace Innovation Forum.  This year, seven Vermont aerospace companies were in attendance, looking for business.

Updated at 5:26 p.m. ET

China's leaders followed President Trump in taking another step toward a new trade war, announcing a plan to put steep tariffs on $50 billion of U.S. imports. China's proposed 25 percent tariffs would target a wide range of American products, from soybeans and whiskey to airplanes and cars.

"China currently buys about $14 billion worth of American soybeans each year — almost a third of the entire U.S. crop," NPR's Dan Charles reports for our Newscast unit. "Prices for U.S. soybeans tumbled by 3 to 5 percent" on the news, Dan adds.

Updated at 1:45 a.m. ET on Friday

In a major escalation of the president's "America First" trade policy, the Trump administration is preparing to impose stiff tariffs on Chinese imports. The goal is to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China by $50 billion. President Trump is also calling for new limits on Chinese investment in U.S. technology, in an effort to protect what the administration calls America's "economic seed corn."

Pledging to defend American businesses and workers, President Trump imposed tariffs on imported solar panel components and large residential washing machines on Monday.