Monday, September 28, 2026Week of September 21–27, 2026Vol. 1 · No. 3

Trump and Xi Buy Time

China’s leader comes to Washington and the trade truce gets a longer leash, a judge lets banned reporters back in, and mortgage rates cross 7%. Here is your week, in porch-sized bites.

By , founder and editor
· About a 10-minute read

The week in brief

  • Trump and Xi extend their trade truce. The tariff fight between the world’s two biggest economies has rattled prices and markets before. For now it stays on pause, just a little longer.
  • Judge lets banned reporters back into the White House. Last week’s Two Sides asked whether a president can pick his press corps. A Trump-appointed judge’s first answer is no, at least not like this.
  • Supreme Court clears a voter citizenship check. Five weeks before an election, states have a new tool for checking their voter rolls, and a live argument over whether it trips up lawful voters.
  • The Iran war hangs over UN week. The Strait of Hormuz is a main route for the world’s oil, so every twist in these talks shows up in fuel prices.
  • Hurricane Nolo lashes Hawaii as the Atlantic sits quiet. El Niño reshuffles weather worldwide, so a quiet Atlantic and a busy Pacific are two sides of the same coin.
  • US rallies to win its 11th straight Presidents Cup. A comeback like this is golf at its most fun, and a 21-year-old just announced himself.

The Lead

Trade

Trump and Xi extend their trade truce

Why it mattersThe tariff fight between the world’s two biggest economies has rattled prices and markets before. For now it stays on pause, just a little longer.

China’s Xi Jinping landed in Washington on Wednesday for his first state visit in 11 years, and President Trump broke with custom to meet him on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, with a red carpet, an honor guard and a B-1 bomber flying overhead. Over three days the two leaders held a 90-minute private meeting that ranged over Iran and the Middle East, Ukraine, the Korean Peninsula and artificial intelligence, and the visit wrapped up Friday with a stop at the National Archives.

The clearest result was on trade. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the truce between the two countries, which was due to lapse on November 10, now runs until January 10, 2027. While it lasts, both sides keep tariffs scaled back and hold off on new trade restrictions. China had wanted a longer extension, and Bessent said he didn’t know whether a bigger deal could be done.

Analysts saw more ceremony than substance. “There’s just not a lot there,” said the Cato Institute’s Scott Lincicome. But the two men have a busy calendar: Xi says they will meet twice more before the year is out, at the APEC summit in Shenzhen in November and at the G20 meeting at Trump National Doral in Miami in December.

Sources: PBS NewsHour (AP), PBS NewsHour (AP), WHSV (AP)

The Big Five

What else happened

Judge lets banned reporters back into the White House

Courts · Wednesday

Five days after President Trump barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, a federal judge ordered their access restored. The three outlets sued on Monday, and late Wednesday US District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a 2017 Trump nominee, issued a 14-day temporary restraining order. He found the outlets were likely to win, saying their passes were pulled without the due process the Constitution requires, and he rejected the administration’s national-security argument, noting it offered no declarations or other support. Reporters were briefly held at the gate on Thursday before being let back in. The case goes on while the order is in place.

Why it mattersLast week’s Two Sides asked whether a president can pick his press corps. A Trump-appointed judge’s first answer is no, at least not like this.

Sources: NBC News, Al Jazeera

Supreme Court clears a voter citizenship check

Courts · Friday

The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on Friday to let the Trump administration keep using its expanded SAVE database, a Homeland Security tool that states can now use to check whether people on their voter rolls are citizens. About 67 million registrations have been run through it since it was expanded. A federal judge had blocked it in June over privacy worries and the risk of wrongly removing eligible voters, and an appeals court agreed. The majority leaned on a 1996 law and said the lower court’s order kept the government from using the program it thinks best. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, dissented, faulting the court for acting without full briefing or oral argument. The midterms are November 3.

Why it mattersFive weeks before an election, states have a new tool for checking their voter rolls, and a live argument over whether it trips up lawful voters.

Sources: Shaw Local (AP), NPR, CBS News

The Iran war hangs over UN week

World · Tuesday

World leaders gathered in New York for the UN General Assembly, and the war with Iran was the talk of the week. Speaking Tuesday, President Trump called Iran the top sponsor of terror, vowed it would never get a nuclear weapon and said he believed a deal would come. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian answered on Wednesday, casting his country as the victim. Behind closed doors, American and Iranian negotiators discussed a step-by-step deal in which Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the US would lift its blockade, but on Saturday Trump said he had rejected Iran’s proposal. Back in Washington on Thursday, the Senate fell one vote short, 49-50, on a non-binding measure calling for an end to US military action against Iran. ABC reports 18 US troops have been killed and more than 800 wounded.

Why it mattersThe Strait of Hormuz is a main route for the world’s oil, so every twist in these talks shows up in fuel prices.

Sources: UN News, Al-Monitor (Reuters), ABC News

Hurricane Nolo lashes Hawaii as the Atlantic sits quiet

Climate · Saturday

Hurricane Nolo swept south of Hawaii on Saturday with 90 mph winds, threatening up to 20 inches of rain on parts of the Big Island along with flash floods and dangerous surf. President Trump approved an emergency declaration, more than 400 National Guard members were called up, and state parks on the Big Island and Maui closed. It is the third hurricane to hit or pass near Hawaii in under two months. By Monday, CBS reported, Nolo had grown to a Category 4 storm while moving away from the main islands. The contrast with the other ocean is striking: NPR counts 18 Pacific hurricanes so far this year and, as of Friday, not one in the Atlantic, a first in more than a century. Scientists point to what may become the strongest El Niño on record.

Why it mattersEl Niño reshuffles weather worldwide, so a quiet Atlantic and a busy Pacific are two sides of the same coin.

Sources: PBS NewsHour (AP), NPR, CBS News

US rallies to win its 11th straight Presidents Cup

Sports · Sunday

Down three points going into Sunday’s singles matches at Medinah Country Club in Illinois, the US team won nine, lost two and halved one to beat the International team 17-13. ESPN calls it the most lopsided singles session in the event’s history. Jacob Bridgeman sealed the win by beating Min Woo Lee 1-up on the 18th hole, and 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivun came from behind to beat Si Woo Kim. “The kid is special,” said US captain Brandt Snedeker. It is the Americans’ 11th Presidents Cup win in a row.

Why it mattersA comeback like this is golf at its most fun, and a 21-year-old just announced himself.

Sources: ESPN, PGA Tour

Follow the Money

Where the money is moving

Mortgage rates top 7% again

Housing · Thursday

Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed mortgage at 7.03% on Thursday, up from 6.95% a week earlier and 6.30% a year ago. It is the first reading above 7% since January 2025. The 15-year fixed rose to 6.42%. The climb follows the bond market: the 10-year Treasury yield, a benchmark for long-term loans, went from 4.96% on Monday to 5.18% on Thursday in Treasury’s daily data, its highest since 2007, and ended the week at 5.17%. (General information, not financial advice.)

Why it mattersA few tenths of a point adds real money to a monthly payment, so this lands on buyers and anyone hoping to refinance.

Sources: Freddie Mac (GlobeNewswire), U.S. Treasury, Yahoo Finance

Oil drops on Iran talks, but the pump barely moves

Energy · Friday

US crude oil settled at $92.41 a barrel on Friday, down from $100.30 a week earlier and its first weekly drop since late August, as American and Iranian negotiators talked about reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Diesel futures fell more than 8% for the week. Relief at the pump is slower: AAA’s national average for regular was $4.48 on Monday, the same as a week ago and up from $3.13 a year ago, and AAA says prices are the highest ever for this time of year. Diesel eased to $6.45 from last week’s record $6.51. Trump has also said he is considering a ban on US diesel exports, which analysts warn could push prices higher elsewhere.

Why it mattersOil moves first and pump prices follow slowly, so a real deal on Hormuz would take weeks to reach your tank.

Sources: DTN, The National, AAA

Meta’s AI agent lifts tech stocks

Markets · Week

Meta’s new AI agent, Muse, shot to the top of the app charts and took the company’s stock along: shares jumped 11.43% on Monday alone and reached $777.59 on Thursday, up from $613.48 on September 8. Muse has passed 2.5 million downloads and sells paid plans at $20 and $100 a month. Tech carried the market to its first winning week in three. The Nasdaq rose 2.1%, the S&P 500 gained 1.2% to 7,743.41 and the Dow added 0.3%, while the small-company Russell 2000 slipped 0.8%. (General information, not financial advice.)

Why it mattersMost retirement accounts hold big tech stocks, so a surge in one of them nudges a lot of 401(k) balances.

Sources: The Motley Fool, Seoul Economic Daily, WTOP (AP)

Two Sides

Should states check voter rolls against a federal citizenship database?

The questionSupporters of the rulingThe dissent and critics
The lawThe majority points to a 1996 law as backing for the program.The dissent says the court ruled on laws it has never interpreted before.
Who decidesSays a lower court shouldn’t stop the government using the program it thinks best.Says the court acted in a hurry, without full briefing or oral argument.
VotersLets states confirm the people on their rolls are citizens.A lower court worried about privacy and wrongly removing eligible voters.
The stakesAbout 67 million registrations have already been checked.Jackson says even a few lawful voters harmed outweighs the government’s claimed harm.

Sources: Shaw Local (AP), NPR

Porch Talk

Questions for the dinner table

  1. Will this make things cheaper at the store?

    Not by itself. The truce doesn’t add new tariff cuts; it keeps the current scaled-back tariffs and the pause on new restrictions in place until January 10 instead of November 10. (General information, not financial advice.)

  2. Did they settle anything beyond trade?

    Not much that was announced. They talked for 90 minutes about Iran, Ukraine, the Korean Peninsula and AI, and AP reported no major breakthroughs.

  3. When do they meet next?

    Twice more this year, Xi says: at APEC in Shenzhen, China, in November and at the G20 at Trump National Doral in Miami in December.

Say It Over Coffee

Three quick ones

  • A new once-a-week insulin approved Thursday cuts basal insulin shots from 365 a year to 52.

    Eli Lilly

  • The Greenland security pact signed at the UN on Tuesday has no end date.

    Al Jazeera

  • Only 8% of Americans in the University of Michigan’s September survey expect their income to outpace inflation.

    Yahoo Finance

Worth the Walk

Longer reads, at the source

Pull up a chair. See you next Monday.