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Tariff and Trade War Headlines
Retail Sales Fall Modestly In January on Slower Auto Sales
American consumers pulled back their spending to start 2026, extending the malaise in retail sales that began late last year. Retail sales fell 0.2% in January, following a flat reading in December, according to the Commerce Department’s report issued on Friday. January’s figure came in below the forecasts of economists, who were expecting another flat reading, The report was delayed because of the 43-day government shutdown.
January sales were weighed down by a decline at motor vehicle and auto parts dealerships. Gas stations also saw a drop in business, reflecting lower gas prices in January, though the intensifying war in the Middle East is driving up prices in recent days. The national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline was $3.32 Friday; a week ago, it was $2.98, AAA said. Excluding business at gas stations and auto dealers, retail sales rose 0.3% in January, according to the Commerce Department.
Read more at The AP
Airbus Tasked to Devise New Drones
Airbus Helicopters will research and develop an unmanned aircraft for deployment in various missions under a new contract from the European Defence Agency for its Multi Mission Unmanned Aircraft System (M2UAS) project. The estimated €1.1 million ($1.3 million) assignment will have a 48-month schedule, and will proceed from Airbus’s ongoing Capa-X uncrewed aerial system for civilian and military use.
Through M2UAS, the EDA is seeking to reduce its reliance on non-EU suppliers for drone systems that are cost-effective and adaptable for high-intensity warfare. Airbus stated its developments through the M2UAS project will contribute to defining new drone architectures capable of performing a wide range of missions, such as surveillance and reconnaissance, electronic warfare, aerial effects deployment, and automated in-flight refueling.
Read more at American Machinist
Global New York To Sponsor NY Firms on Trade Mission to ASEAN Nations
Join Global NY on their upcoming Trade Mission to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) May 5 -15, 2026 Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia. Participants will receive a customized schedule of B2B meetings to discuss export and business opportunities with prospective customers and business partners and benefit from networking events and logistical support provided by our Global NY’s ASEAN Trade Office. Major Industries and Opportunities:
- Food and Beverage
- Consumer Goods
- Agribusiness & Agri-food Tech
- Healthcare & Life Sciences
- Advanced Technology & Manufacturing
- Digital Economy & Information & Communication Technology (ICT)
- Green Economy and Energy Transition
Global NY State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) grant funding is available to offset 50 percent of the total eligible costs. Learn more here as funds are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Read more at Empire State Development
U.S. To Scramble To Replenish Supplies Of Smart Munitions And Guided Weapons Expended In Iran War
The Iran war started Saturday morning with a barrage of advanced weapons from land, sea, and air, including warship-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs), Joint Standoff Weapons (JSOWs), and uncrewed weapons such as Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drones and the MQ-9 Reaper uncrewed aircraft. Air-to-air weapons used over the weekend included the AIM-9X Sidewinder infrared-guided missile and the radar-guided AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM) for air defense.
Smart weapons are expensive, however, and their stockpiles don't last forever. U.S. military leaders estimate that strikes on Iranian targets could last much longer than through the weekend. Attacks might last over the next four or five weeks. It's a cinch that over the next several months, one of the Pentagon's top priorities will be to ramp-up smart munitions production. Just last week -- before the war even started -- the Air Force let a $61.5 million contract to Boeing for about 17 more GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting super bombs.
Read more at Military Aerospace Electronics
Honeywell Takes Next Step In Aerospace Spinoff, Offers More Details
Honeywell is looking to spin off its aerospace division later this year to focus more on its core industrial automation and technology segments as artificial intelligence demand grows across manufacturing. The company split from its advanced materials business, known today as Solstice Advanced Materials, last October. Honeywell Aerospace, if approved by regulators, would become one of the largest U.S.-based aerospace and defense suppliers.
As a standalone company, according to the filing, Honeywell Aerospace will be divided into three operating segments: electronic solutions; engines and power systems; and control systems. Form 10 filings are used to register securities and provide transparency to investors about the finances and growth potential of prospective companies, according to Donnelley Financial Solutions. Honeywell said its offshoot will continue to grow across commercial air transport, business aviation and defense and space, with a focus on efficiency, safety and connectivity of customer fleets.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
IBM Scientists Unveil The First Ever “Half-Möbius” Molecule, With The Help Of Quantum Computing
Scientists have just created a new, strange type of molecule. It’s made of a bunch of atoms bound together in a ring, like many other, simpler molecules. But if you could somehow zoom in on the electrons zipping about the atoms, you’d see that their motion around the ring had become weird and twisty. Those twists form a new structure akin to the famously mind-bending one-sided, one-edged Möbius strip but even more complicated.
The team, based at IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, engineered this molecule by manipulating individual atomic bonds and then imaged it with high-powered microscopy. The researchers also confirmed what they were seeing with the power of IBM’s state-of-the-art quantum computers. Their work was published today in Science. It’s the latest breakthrough in “topological” chemistry, the study of strangely shaped molecules and the bizarre quantum behaviors they exhibit. And it shows how quantum computers can help study and simulate such subatomic mayhem. Until the new study, no one had even imagined this as a theoretical possibility—and now it’s real. “The fact that such a molecule has not only been theoretically proposed but has actually been synthesized will have a major impact on the field of molecular science,” says Yasutomo Segawa, a researcher at the Institute for Molecular Science in Japan, who was not part of the team’s work.
Read more at Scientific American
Nucor Partner Selects Rural North Carolina For Steel Mill
US Forged Rings, a startup that plans to make steel piping, cylinders and other industrial components, said it will build a major production facility in Hertford County, North Carolina.The project is part of a broader three-phase development valued at $875 million by the company. Its first two phases are expected to create 625 jobs for the state. US Forged Rings was founded in 2022 and is part of the Sozzi family’s group of industrial companies, which has more than 40 years of experience in steel forging.
The Hertford County site, once completed, will produce specialty tubulars and forgings used in power generation, as well as industrial components like rings, shafts and cylinders. It is adjacent to a steel plant owned and operated by Charlotte-based Nucor Steel, one of US Forged Rings’ supply chain partners. CSX Transportation has agreed to provide long haul rail services for the planned facility. Phase 1 and 2 production is scheduled to begin in 2028, according to US Forged Rings’ website.
Read more at The Daily Advance
Novartis To Build Cancer Treatment Factory In North Texas
Pharmaceutical giant Novartis said it plans to establish a 46,000-square-foot radioligand therapy manufacturing site in Denton, Texas, as part of a broader U.S. investment effort. It will be the company’s fifth facility in the United States that makes targeted treatments for patients with advanced cancers, according to a news release. Construction is scheduled to begin this year, with production set to start by 2028. The investment is valued at $280 million and is eligible for nearly $9 million in state and local tax incentives, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported.
Novartis has broken ground on four U.S. facilities over the past ten months, making progress on its $23 billion commitment last year to expand its manufacturing and research and development footprint across the country. The company in January announced plans to build its fourth RLT manufacturing facility in Winter Park, Florida, with the goal of ramping up production by 2029. The Denton site will create jobs in bioengineering, advanced manufacturing, quality and operations for the city and surrounding communities, according to a news release.
Read more Manufacturing Dive
Battery, Supply Chain, And Power Generation Innovations Strengthen An Energy-Secure Future
While electricity can travel very long distances, very quickly, it must be consumed just as fast. The infrastructure for storing electricity is much less developed than that for generating and transporting it. To that end, researchers are creating stronger and safer battery materials and production processes. At the same time, rare earth elements—essential for batteries, motors, semiconductors, and more—remain largely sourced overseas, and this has prompted U.S. investment and research in domestic recovery and processing.
To meet the future energy needs of an electrified world, researchers are also exploring alternative power sources, from modular nuclear microreactors for on-site industrial power to advanced materials for fusion power production. These projects could provide low-carbon energy and drive advances in high-temperature and high-stress materials. Research in The Industrial Science Report from Plant Services last week traces the full arc of energy innovation—sustainability, resilience, and advanced technologies. All of these contribute to an energy-secure future, which will be deliberately engineered in the translation of laboratory science into industrial practice.
Read more at Plant Services
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