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WASHINGTON — American manufacturers grew at a slower pace in October as factories contended with supply disruptions caused by disputes with China, Europe and other trading partners.

U.S. productivity grew at an annual rate of 2.2% in the third quarter, a slowdown from the previous quarter but still better than the lackluster gains of the last decade. Labor costs accelerated but remained at a low level.

The European Union is revamping its plan to reform the World Trade Organization in an effort to win support from the U.S., according to two people briefed on the process.

The Federal Trade Commission is requiring Marathon to sell five New York convenience stores to settle charges that its proposed acquisition of Express Mart would violate federal antitrust laws.

California’s meal-and-rest-break requirements hinder interstate commerce and cause inefficiency industrywide, the American Moving & Storage Association emphasized in a show of support for American Trucking Associations’ petition to federal trucking regulators.

Companies in October added the highest number of workers in eight months to U.S. payrolls, topping estimates and signaling the job market remains solid, according to data released Oct. 31 from the ADP Research Institute in Roseland, N.J.

Tanker trucks laden with oil are journeying almost 500 miles to pipeline and rail terminals. It’s a phenomenon that Ken Boettcher, president of Three Star Trucking Ltd. in Alida, Saskatchewan, started to see three or four months ago when oil shippers around Kindersley, near the Alberta border, began requesting trucks to move their crude, in some cases, as far south as North Dakota.

BANGOR, Maine — The story of how Barry Pottle rescued his longtime family enterprise is a testament to the determination and business acumen of the tall, soft-spoken, thoughtful man with an encyclopedic knowledge of trucking who has risen to become ATA chairman.

AUSTIN, Texas — Over the past year Dave Manning, the immediate past chairman of American Trucking Associations, has walked in the White House Rose Garden, rubbed elbows with members of Congress, racked up a hefty airline travel-point balance, and even watched the Supreme Court in action. But his greatest memories, he said, were meeting with the trucking industry’s hard-working, passionate people who occupy offices, workshops and truck cabs nationwide.

AUSTIN, Texas — While enjoying the benefits of a booming economy and abundant freight to haul, trucking leaders took aim at some of the more persistent challenges that hold the industry back, even in this favorable business environment.