The U.S. Interior Department announced new guidelines on Thursday that expand allowable pressure limits for oil production in a section of the Gulf of Mexico, a move the Biden-era rules had restricted but which the Trump administration now sees as key to advancing its “Energy Dominance” strategy.

The changes apply to the Wilcox rock formation, a prolific reservoir located beneath waters recently rebranded by President Donald Trump as the “Gulf of America.” The revised rules allow for so-called downhole commingling — producing oil from multiple underground reservoirs through a single wellbore — at significantly higher pressure differentials.

The United States is set to impose hefty fees on large Chinese ships calling at its ports, escalating the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. These charges, part of a broader strategy to reinvigorate the U.S. maritime industry and push back against China’s dominance in global shipping, will impact a substantial share of the merchant fleet that carries over 80% of global trade.

While a range of exemptions gives operators some flexibility, the industry is expected to adapt by rerouting ships and altering ownership structures to limit exposure. The new charges, outlined by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), apply in two ways depending on a ship’s connection to China.

The Trump administration is considering a major overhaul of a Biden-era export control rule that governs global access to advanced U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) chips, a shift that could further weaponize semiconductors as a tool of U.S. trade diplomacy. The rule in question, known as the Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion, was introduced in January by the U.S. Department of Commerce to regulate who can receive the most advanced AI chips and under what conditions.

It is scheduled to take effect on May 15. Currently, the rule divides the world into three tiers. Seventeen allied countries, plus Taiwan, are in Tier 1 and have unrestricted access to AI chips. Around 120 other countries are in Tier 2 and face strict volume caps on how many chips they can import. Tier 3 includes countries such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, which are banned entirely from receiving these semiconductors.