Latest news with #Fusariumgraminearum
The Sun
30-06-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Trump says ‘getting along well' with China, downplays hostile acts
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed the importance of aggressive actions linked to Beijing including recent arrests of two Chinese nationals accused of smuggling a dangerous pathogen into the United States, saying 'that's the way the world works.' Trump told Fox News that Washington behaves in a similar way. 'You don't think we do that to them? We do, we do a lot of things,' he said on the 'Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo' show. 'That's the way the world works. It's a nasty world.' Trump was responding to a question about how he viewed Chinese intellectual property theft, hacking of the US telecoms system and controversy around the Covid-19 pandemic. He likewise dismissed concerns over a case in which two Chinese nationals were accused last month of smuggling in a toxic fungus. Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud. The US Justice Department said the pair conspired to smuggle into the United States a fungus called Fusarium graminearum that causes 'head blight,' a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Trump downplayed this saying, 'you don't know where that came from, though. I mean, did that come from the country, or is that three wackos that happened to carry something?' Referring to the ongoing US-China trade war, Trump appeared to signal he was satisfied, saying 'We're getting along well with China.' He added: 'I think getting along with China is a very good thing, but they are paying substantial tariffs.' This past week the White House signaled trade progress with China, with an official saying both sides have reached an understanding on issues including expediting rare earth shipments to the United States. After talks in Geneva in May, Washington and Beijing agreed to temporarily lower steep tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's products.
Business Times
29-06-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Trump says ‘getting along well' with China, downplays hostile acts
[WASHINGTON] President Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed the importance of aggressive actions linked to Beijing including recent arrests of two Chinese nationals accused of smuggling a dangerous pathogen into the United States, saying 'that's the way the world works.' Trump told Fox News that Washington behaves in a similar way. 'You don't think we do that to them? We do, we do a lot of things,' he said on the Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo show. 'That's the way the world works. It's a nasty world.' Trump was responding to a question about how he viewed Chinese intellectual property theft, hacking of the US telecoms system and controversy around the Covid-19 pandemic. He likewise dismissed concerns over a case in which two Chinese nationals were accused last month of smuggling in a toxic fungus. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud. The US Justice Department said the pair conspired to smuggle into the United States a fungus called Fusarium graminearum that causes 'head blight,' a disease of wheat, barley, maize and rice. Trump downplayed this saying, 'you don't know where that came from, though. I mean, did that come from the country, or is that three wackos that happened to carry something?' Referring to the ongoing US-China trade war, Trump appeared to signal he was satisfied, saying 'We're getting along well with China.' He added: 'I think getting along with China is a very good thing, but they are paying substantial tariffs.' This past week, the White House signalled trade progress with China with an official saying both sides have reached an understanding on issues including expediting rare earth shipments to the United States. After talks in Geneva in May, Washington and Beijing agreed to temporarily lower steep tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's products. AFP
Straits Times
29-06-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Trump says ‘getting along well' with China, downplays apparent hostile acts
US President Donald Trump says the US is getting along well with China, even though "they are paying substantial tariffs". PHOTO: AFP Trump says 'getting along well' with China, downplays apparent hostile acts WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on June 29 dismissed the importance of actions linked to Beijing that are deemed to be aggressive , including recent arrests of two Chinese nationals accused of smuggling a dangerous pathogen into the United States, saying 'that's the way the world works.' Mr Trump told Fox News that Washington behaves in a similar way. 'You don't think we do that to them? We do, we do a lot of things,' he said on the Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo show. 'That's the way the world works. It's a nasty world.' Mr Trump was responding to a question about how he viewed Chinese intellectual property theft, hacking of the US telecoms system and controversy around the Covid-19 pandemic. He likewise dismissed concerns over a case in which two Chinese nationals were accused in June of smuggling in a toxic fungus. Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud. The US Justice Department said the pair conspired to smuggle into the United States a fungus called Fusarium graminearum that causes 'head blight,' a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Mr Trump downplayed this saying, 'you don't know where that came from, though. I mean, did that come from the country, or is that three wackos that happened to carry something?' Referring to the ongoing US-China trade war, Mr Trump appeared to signal he was satisfied, saying 'We're getting along well with China.' He added: 'I think getting along with China is a very good thing, but they are paying substantial tariffs.' This past week the White House signalled trade progress with China, with an official saying both sides have reached an understanding on issues including expediting rare earth shipments to the United States. After talks in Geneva in May, Washington and Beijing agreed to temporarily lower steep tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's products. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
USA Today
28-06-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Congress, stop neglecting the farm bill. Only luck has shielded us from disaster.
From foreign actors smuggling in crop diseases to outbreaks like the bird flu, America has come dangerously close to disaster. Our luck cannot continue. There is nothing more American than agriculture. Yet, it's often an afterthought in national security ‒ and it shouldn't be. FBI agents have recently arrested three Chinese scientists accused of smuggling biological materials into the United States. In the first case, the boyfriend of a University of Michigan researcher is accused of concealing baggies containing a potentially devastating plant fungus in a wad of tissues in his backpack; in the second, a Chinese scientist was arrested entering the United States on suspicion of mailing biological material related to roundworms to a laboratory at the same university. Whether the roundworm material or the version of Fusarium graminearum in the baggies could cause billions of dollars in damage to our farmers and food supply remains unclear ‒ but the fact that these biological materials entered the country through the mail and Detroit's airport should serve as a wake-up call. Risks keep growing in food and agriculture industry From foreign actors smuggling in crop diseases to outbreaks like the latest avian flu, the United States has come dangerously close to disaster ‒ and we've avoided it not because we were prepared, but because we have been lucky. America is among the most food-secure nations in the world, but it's time to treat food and agriculture as critical components of our national security. The cost of not doing so is simply far too high. Today, food and agriculture contribute $1.537 trillion to U.S. gross domestic product, and the sector employs more than 22 million people. Farming is a defining feature of our identity. But while politicians pose in front of barns, tractors and fields for campaign ads, meaningful agricultural security policy sits on the back burner as the risks keep growing. Opinion: Many American farmers agree with spending cuts. But those policies hurt farms most. In 2020, more than 30,000 unsolicited packages of seeds were sent from China to random American households. While the government eventually determined that these shipments were not a deliberate act of biological warfare, the next time they may be. Pathogens, pests and invasive weeds could have easily hidden in these packages, potentially yielding devastating damage to our crops, causing billions of dollars in economic damage. You've heard of bird flu, but what about African Swine Fever? Before avian flu caused egg prices to go up and cows to get sick, African Swine Fever was making a home right outside of our borders. This virus is now on the island of Hispaniola, comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic, fewer than 700 miles from the United States. With millions of U.S. tourists visiting the island each year and hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants fleeing due to criminal activity and insecurity, we have been lucky the virus has not found its way to the United States on the sole of someone's shoe. African Swine Fever spreading in the United States could create losses of up to $50 billion to the U.S. pork industry. There's also plenty of evidence of 'agroterrorism' out there. In China, for example, criminal gangs have been known to spread the virus between farms for economic gain. Opinion: Amid bird flu, farmers culled millions of chickens ‒ but USDA fired workers helping to deal with outbreak The U.S. government needs to pay as much attention to securing food and agriculture as to other national and economic security threats. The U.S. Department of Agriculture works diligently to protect and promote the nation's agriculture from natural and accidental threats, but it operates as a trade agency, not a national security agency. Vital USDA programs for identifying agricultural threats are historically underfunded compared with their public health counterparts. The Farm Bill, which authorizes and prioritizes policies and programs for agriculture, has not been updated since 2018. This means that programs like the National Veterinary Stockpile, which protects the nation's food supply, will continue to operate on a shoestring budget that is less than 1% of its public health counterpart. Congress needs to modernize and approve a Farm Bill designed to protect national and economic security. As a first step, the bill should establish a senior USDA position for national and homeland security. Appointed by the president, this official can be responsible for threats to agricultural security. Further, Congress needs to appropriately fund programs that secure U.S. agriculture. The cost of inaction far outweighs any expenditure. Our government's response to the current avian flu has already cost $1.4 billion alone ‒ response always costs more than prevention. The USDA works tirelessly to protect our food, health, national and economic security, but today it's fighting a wildfire with a watering can. We have managed to evade an economic catastrophe, but our luck cannot continue. Congress must prioritize and invest in agricultural security by updating and passing a Farm Bill. It is in everyone's interest. David Stiefel serves as a director for the Global Biological Policy and Programs team at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Before joining NTI, Stiefel held several senior roles on the National Security Council at the White House and directed the government's biopreparedness review, resulting in the 2022 National Biodefense Strategy. He also led efforts to shape U.S. government plans to strengthen the security and resilience of U.S. food and agriculture.
Newsweek
20-06-2025
- Health
- Newsweek
China's Fungus—A Biological Weapons Attack on America's Food Supply?
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. This month, three Chinese nationals were charged with smuggling biological agents into the United States. The attempts could be part of a biological weapons attack on America's farms and ranches. On June 3, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced that Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, had been charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud. Jian was arrested for smuggling Fusarium graminearum, a "potential agroterrorism weapon" that causes "head blight." The fungal disease hits wheat, barley, maize, and rice and "is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year." In humans and livestock, head blight causes vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects. A tractor and planting implement creates a dust cloud while planting a wheat field in the fertile farm fields of Idaho. A tractor and planting implement creates a dust cloud while planting a wheat field in the fertile farm fields of Idaho. Getty Images Their actions, according to U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon, Jr., represented "the gravest national security concerns." Cheyvoryea Gibson, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit Field Office, said the pathogens "posed an imminent threat to public safety." Then on June 9, Michigan's Eastern District announced that it had charged Chinese citizen Chengxuan Han with smuggling "biological materials" and making false statements. The materials, it appears, related to round worms. So why were Jian, Liu, and Han importing pathogens? "Fusarium graminearum is a common pathogen affecting crops in China, and numerous Chinese research institutes, including the Institute of Rice Biology at Zhejiang University, have been actively studying it," Xiaoxu Sean Lin, a former lab director of the viral disease branch of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, told Newsweek. "The FBI confiscated samples labeled 'ARP9,' an actin-related gene known to influence chromatin remodeling and gene transcription. This suggests the samples were genetically modified strains of Fusarium graminearum." "This raises a critical biosafety question," Lin noted. "Were these modified strains designed to enhance infectivity or pesticide resistance?" The pair may have intended, Lin said, "to perform field testing with these modified fungal strains on university-owned agricultural land." And perhaps they were intending to develop one or more modified strains of head blight to be introduced on farmland or ranchland elsewhere. Zunyong Liu was affiliated with Zhejiang University, where he conducted research on Fusarium graminearum. That institution, Lin said, has a well-documented collaboration with the People's Liberation Army. As he pointed out, "China's military-civil fusion strategy makes it reasonable to speculate about military interest in these genetically modified pathogens, which are potentially related to biological warfare or agroterrorism." Lin said research on such organisms would require special permits from both the University of Michigan and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Jian and Liu, as experienced researchers, would have known that. "If the intent was purely academic," Lin asked, "why did the researchers not pursue the legal, regulated channels for pathogen transfer?" The fact that Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu would risk their careers by smuggling a known pathogen is a factor suggesting malign intent, especially given their relations with the Communist Party—Jian is a member—and their probable connections with military research at their home institutions in China. U.S. Attorney Gorgon said Chengxuan Han's smuggling was part of "an alarming pattern." Brandon Weichert, author of Biohacked: China's Race to Control Life, agreed, telling Newsweek, "The twin incidents are unlikely to be coincidental and certainly part of a troubling series of pathogen transfers to and from Chinese research institutions in recent years." Lin believed Han's affiliation with Huazhong University of Science and Technology is a warning sign because that institution is also involved in military-civil fusion programs. "Questions about PLA involvement are warranted," Lin said. "Biological warfare is a strategic 'commanding height' in Chinese military doctrine." As Weichert told this publication, "These agents can be weapons of mass destruction and their introduction into the United States could very well have been preparation for a biological weapons attack." The Chinese attempts this year to smuggle pathogens may be only the latest incidents in a Chinese campaign to bring down American agriculture. China, I believe, has been trying to plant invasive species in America since at least 2020. That year, Americans in all 50 states received seeds unsolicited from China. Early this year, Temu, the online Chinese retailer, was caught sending seeds to the U.S. unsolicited. In one case, a Chinese party sent unsolicited both seeds and an unidentified liquid. "We can expect many more attempts at sabotaging our food supply both to damage our economy and cause chaos," Weichert said. Gordon G. Chang is the author of Plan Red: China's Project to Destroy America and The Coming Collapse of China. Follow him on X @GordonGChang. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
