Middle East oil exports return to pre-blockade levels
Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have rebounded to their highest levels since the U.S. action against Iran began. Roughly 13 million barrels a day are now moving through the Strait, reaching nearly 80% of pre-conflict shipment levels. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia has restarted pumping oil through its damaged East-West pipeline and is now shipping oil through the Red Sea. As a result, oil prices should be dropping soon. Meanwhile, the U.S. blockade against Iran has shut down its ability to ship any oil through the Strait, further strangling its economy. This may push Tehran to take more military action and escalate the conflict. It appears that President Donald Trump strategy to economically strangle and wait out the Iranian regime is seeing increasing success.

U.S. and China make major tariff cuts
Negotiation details are starting to trickle out after a summit between President Trump and Chinese dictator Xi Jinping in Washington, DC, last week. China will cut tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods like corn, wheat, meat, and dairy, while the U.S. will lower tariffs on Chinese fireworks, appliances, blankets, and so on. As a result, $30 billion of trade in each direction will receive favorable tariff rates. The two economic powers also extended an ongoing trade truce through January 10, allowing both sides to reevaluate their positions and provide a stable policy environment through the end of the year. China will also be importing 10 million tons of U.S. coal yearly, 2% of its total usage. No deal was reached on high technology, with Chinese markets shrinking amid evidence of a bipartisan U.S. push to ban Chinese components.

Networks resume White House coverage as CNN blockage still up in the air
Despite President Trump’s ongoing efforts to block CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House press room, major media networks have returned to cover the president and related topics. The three networks under fire successfully sued over the ban, and a judge ruled that Trump could not simply kick them out without due process. The White House is looking for alternative ways to remove the three offending media outlets, but all of the major networks and other media delegations are continuing coverage as normal. The president is not necessarily obligated to speak to the press, but statements that he makes to the press do need to go out to all of the major news sources. Giving some outlets preference may run afoul of the First Amendment, but the litigation will continue.

White House announces first new American steel mill in half a century
For the first time in over 50 years, the U.S. will build a new steel mill. On Monday, President Trump touted the development and tied it to his tariff policies. Mesabi Metallics, a Minnesota-based company, plans to spend $2.5 billion to build a new steel plant in Iowa, the first such facility in 57 years. The mill, planned for completion by 2030, is projected to produce 10 million tons of steel a year and create 1,750 permanent jobs, making it the largest steel plant ever built in the U.S. “I imposed powerful 50% tariffs on all foreign steel, and now our steel industry is roaring back to life,” Trump stated. “Everyone’s building their plant here because they don’t want to pay tariffs. It’s really not that complicated.”

Alito recuses himself in important climate case
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has recused himself from a climate change case. The case asks whether energy companies are liable for nuisance actions related to climate, and the decision could have major consequences for virtually every producing company in the country. Justice Alito recused himself because he has a financial interest in energy companies that would undoubtedly be affected by this decision. This will likely make for a very tight decision. Justice Alito did the right thing, which is uncommon; however, this situation exposes a flaw in the system where a justice knows the company he is investing in. If he had invested only through a blind trust, where a trustee manages his assets unbeknownst to him, this could have been avoided.

George Floyd-era “community groups” embezzle Minnesota gov’t money
More fraud continues to be uncovered in Minnesota, and it’s related to the Left’s Saint George Floyd. In the wake of Floyd’s death, over 100 contracts were awarded to Minneapolis community groups posing as alternatives to policing, and there has been very little oversight of those contracts. An audit, detailed in the new Neighborhood Safety Contract Management Audit Report, reviewed spending from 2020–2025 and found that the city has not been “managing contracts effectively.” The report warns that contractors haven’t provided thorough documentation, while the city keeps making payments despite missing records and without site visits to ensure services are actually being performed. Not only does Minneapolis need better policing of its city grant programs, but it also has not published substantive evidence showing that these “violence-interrupter programs” are reducing violent crime.

TikTok makes users dumber
It turns out TikTok and other short-form video really do rot the brain. A study published on Nature.com had participants use short-form videos from various platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, etc. to “learn” things. At the neural level, the videos impaired their “neural synchrony, episodic memory, and cognitive control.” Participants in the study showed acutely lower memory accuracy and a significantly higher rate of forgetting when using short videos for learning. The findings showed that the fragmented and rapidly switching nature of social media short videos, which enhances attention capture at the expense of top-down cognitive processes, is where most of the cognitive decline occurs. This is why just 10 minutes on TikTok is enough to impair a person’s memory. Long-form video and reading information on X (even 280 characters) don’t cause the same cognitive decline.

Annual cost of jailing criminal aliens is $1B
The federal government spent $8 billion from 2016–2023 on jailing foreigners, a new study finds. Mexicans represent the largest portion of noncitizens held in U.S. prisons, with other Central American nations also prominently featured. The Government Accountability Office, which released the study, says foreigners are overrepresented in crimes with a larger scope, like drug offenses, fraud, and money laundering, but underrepresented in everyday crimes like burglaries and arson. The recidivism rate (those who wind up in prison multiple times) was lower than that of the general population at 10%, likely because many are deported after their time is served. The cost of holding these inmates dipped in the middle of the years examined, likely because private prisons cost as much as 35% less per bed.

AOC shunned by swing-state Democrats
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a potential 2028 Senate or even presidential candidate. But as the 2026 election season ramps up, several campaigning Democrats have rejected working with her. AOC is one of the most recognizable faces in the party’s socialist extremity, but one senior Democrat strategist told Axios, “The polling is atrocious for her.” Even without support, AOC is traveling for her campaign, trying to pivot after backlash for her Woke 1 comments. She recently told an audience in Buffalo, “I want to be very forthright about our intentions here, which is to transform the state of New York.” Specifically, Montana Democrat Sam Forstag and Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed have both dropped connections with AOC.

Headlines

  • Senate passes Protect College Sports Act with decisive vote (OutKick)
  • Jack Smith faces Senate hearing over “abuse of authority” accusations (Reuters)
  • Three black men now charged with “lynching” death of black Mississippi woman (Not the Bee)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, Jacob Geoffrey, Hudson Baldwin, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.