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President Donald Trump intensified his confrontation with China, vowing to punish the country for the coronavirus pandemic and taking steps to curb Hong Kong’s autonomy by ending the territory’s special trade status with the U.S. and denying visas to Chinese officials.

An early look at Saudi Arabia’s crude exports for May shows that historic production cuts have done little to squelch the kingdom’s flood of oil to China, which is just getting back on its feet from the coronavirus.

The extent of the devastation wrought on the European car industry by the coronavirus pandemic came into sharp focus May 29 when a sampling of major vehicle and parts manufacturers from France to Sweden revealed plans for at least 35,000 job cuts.

U.S. consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the world’s largest economy, plunged in April by the most on record after the coronavirus pandemic halted purchases of all but the most essential goods and services.

Just how deep and swift the U.S. economy’s plunge into a recession has been since the coronavirus pandemic hit the nation was evidenced by a number of reports, including that millions continued to apply for unemployment benefits.

The often discussed driver shortage is over — at least for the time being — as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the deepening U.S. recession and a falloff in the amount of freight being hauled by many sectors of trucking, industry experts said.

House Democrats signaled the potential for unveiling a comprehensive infrastructure measure in the near-term as they continue to push Senate leaders to consider a pandemic relief bill that would provide $15 billion for highway programs.

An estimated 2.1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week despite the gradual reopening of businesses around the country, bringing the running total since the coronavirus shutdowns took hold in mid-March to about 41 million, the government said May 28.

On May 22, before Memorial Day, a six-foot long, red-and-white drone took off from a field in Kannapolis, N.C., flew 15 miles west over suburban Charlotte to Novant Health’s Huntersville Medical Center, and dropped a box of protective masks in a designated spot next to the parking lot.

Present conditions signal the bottom of the pandemic’s vertiginous drawdown of the freight market, trucking industry observers said. But other economic conditions, in place earlier in 2019 and 2020, remain as a potential drag.