USA Basketball's FIRST Asian American head coach

Filipino American NBA coach Erik Spoelstra has been officially named head coach of the U.S. men’s national basketball team, USA Basketball announced.

The Rebel Yellow - Issue #133

As trade tensions between Washington and Beijing flare anew, the global economy braces for impact while diplomacy finds rare footing in the Middle East. From an Indian exoneree’s shocking ICE detention to organized burglaries targeting Asian American families, questions of justice and belonging remain front and center. Meanwhile, Filipino American coach Erik Spoelstra makes history at USA Basketball’s helm, and a new pope calls for compassion in an era of division.

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Trump and Beijing exchange fresh threats as trade war intensifies

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to ban Chinese cooking oil imports in retaliation for Beijing’s refusal to buy American soybeans, marking a sharp new turn in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

State of play: The threat stems from China’s halt of all U.S. soybean purchases in May. Trump accused Beijing of an “economically hostile act,” pointing to how China had been America’s top customer, buying $12.8 billion in soybeans last year, before switching to Argentina and Brazil after retaliatory tariffs made U.S. crops more expensive. On Truth Social, the president wrote Washington is “considering terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil, and other elements of Trade, as retribution,” adding that America does not need Chinese cooking oil.

On Friday, Trump announced an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods starting Nov. 1, responding to Beijing’s Oct. 9 expansion of rare earth export controls. China’s commerce ministry responded Sunday, saying “We do not want a tariff war but we are not afraid of one” and promising to “resolutely take corresponding measures” if Trump follows through. Beijing’s confidence stems from its control of rare earths as it mines about 70% of the world’s supply and handles roughly 90% of processing for minerals critical to jet engines, electric vehicles, semiconductors and consumer electronics.

What this means for Americans: The escalating tensions threaten to worsen inflation already hitting American shoppers at supermarkets and beyond. New U.S. tariffs took effect Tuesday on imported timber, kitchen cabinets and upholstered furniture, categories where China is a major supplier, as both countries also began charging higher fees on each other’s cargo ships at their ports. Meanwhile, U.S. soybean farmers are still waiting for a promised government bailout that has not materialized.

For Asian American communities, the hostile rhetoric and stock market swings fuel anxiety about economic consequences. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed China wants to “pull everybody else down with them” by harming the global economy, while China’s commerce ministry accused the U.S. of “threatening to intimidate” and vowed to “fight to the end” in trade negotiations. Vice President JD Vance warned China not to respond in a “highly aggressive manner,” telling Fox News that “the president of the United States has far more cards than the People’s Republic of China.”

The big picture: The escalation puts at risk months of trade negotiations and casts uncertainty over whether Trump and Xi Jinping will meet as planned at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Seoul later this month, though Bessent said Monday he expects the meeting to happen. Beijing argues its rare earth measures, which cover 12 of 17 mineral varieties effective Dec. 1 and require Chinese approval before foreign firms can export products containing Chinese rare earths, were proportionate responses to Washington’s late-September expansion of export controls. That U.S. move added several thousand Chinese companies to sanctions lists already containing about 3,000 entities, coming just 10 days after a positive phone call between Xi and Trump.

As the rhetoric intensifies, U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports average 58% while Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods average 33%.

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Israel-Hamas deal sparks cautious optimism from Asian American leaders

President Donald Trump hailed the release of the final hostages held by Hamas as a “historic dawn of a new Middle East” after brokering a ceasefire that ended nearly two years of conflict in Gaza. The deal, reached with Qatari and Egyptian mediation, freed 20 remaining hostages and opened a narrow path for renewed diplomacy in the region. In Washington, the moment was met with both gratitude and restraint, as leaders urged that the fragile calm be used to rebuild and prevent the return of war.