
Sorry, America: China is now Europe's biggest trading partner for goods
CNN
Europe is now trading more goods with China than the United States, a sign of how the pandemic is transforming the global economy.
Data released this week by the European Union's statistics service attributed the shift to a 5.6% increase in imports from China in 2020 and a 2.2% increase in exports. Meanwhile, there was a "significant drop" in trade with the United States, with imports plunging 13.2% and exports falling 8.2%. The overall value of EU-China goods trade last year was €586 billion ($706 billion), about €31 billion ($37 billion) more than between the European Union and the United States. China's economy expanded 2.3% last year as it raced to recover from the pandemic, while the United States saw output shrink 3.5%. That allowed China, the world's second largest economy, to increase its clout.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.











