The White House strongly hinted yesterday that it will consider delaying the rapidly approaching March 2 deadline to reach a trade deal with China, “saying the United States might not impose higher tariffs on Chinese goods if talks with Beijing were going well.” That date has previously been characterized as “firm” – NYTimes
Stocks liked the thought of an extension, by the way – WSJ
A major sticking point for any Sino-American trade talks? Ensuring that the broken promises that have marked the relationship in the past are, in fact, a thing of the past. In part by making sure that any future deal comes with teeth for noncompliance – NYTimes
Meanwhile, in the background, the White House is reading an executive order that would “ban telecommunications companies in the United States from using Chinese equipment” to build 5G networks. In other words, they’re prepping the Huawei EO – NYTimes
As if CBS didn’t have enough lingering drama from its removal of Les Moonves to deal with, a shareholder lawsuit not alleges that several current and former network execs engaged in “insider trading in advance” of the sexual-harassment allegations against Moonves becoming public – WSJ and Law360
A bit of a lay of the land on the “unexpected” storm brewing for Amazon as it prepares to descend upon Queens – NYTimes and Bloomberg
Speaking of Bezos & Co., a year after Amazon’s very public takeover of Whole Foods (complete with an Amazonification of Whole Paycheck prices), the grocer is raising prices again, “bowing to pressure from some consumer-product makers to cover rising packaging, ingredient and transportation costs on hundreds of products” – WSJ
Prosecutors in Manhattan this week opened their case against top KPMG execs engaging in “cheating and corruption” as part of an alleged scheme to “steal confidential information” from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in order to “improve the Big Four accountant’s inspection results” – Law360
The inside scoop on Lyft’s forthcoming IPO suggests that company founders are “preparing to take near-majority voting control” of the company “despite together owning a stake of less than 10%.” This focus on supervoting shares is all the rage in Silicon Valley, as company founders seek to reap the benefits of a public offering without losing their “nearly unchecked power” – WSJ
Always intrigued when cities try to find a way to reinsert some actual wilderness into the concrete jungle. Here’s a look at the efforts from three American cities trying to do just that – NYTimes