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Trump Seeks to Delay China Trip, Presses Allies Over Hormuz; JBS Beef Plant Workers Strike By Mark R. Long | WSJ Logistics Report

President Trump said he sought to postpone a planned summit in Beijing with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, so he can stay in Washington as the Iran war continues . The delay comes as the president was leaning on allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and relieve pressure on the global economy.

So far, most of these allies aren't biting , the WSJ's Laurence Norman and Bertrand Benoit report. Germany has rejected taking part, while Japan and Australia indicated they were unlikely to send vessels to help. Britain and France said they were assessing possible action but didn't commit to doing anything before fighting halts.

Tehran has threatened to attack any vessels trying to cross without its approval. Select ships appeared to have secured that clearance , freeing a trickle of oil and gas that has helped keep a lid on energy prices, the Journal's Rebecca Feng and Joe Wallace write. The Pakistani-flagged oil tanker Karachi transited the strait on Sunday while broadcasting its location -the first non-Iranian vessel to have done so, according to MarineTraffic. Over the weekend, Indian ministers cheered the passage of two LPG tankers

through the passage following talks with Tehran.

Most of the ships that have so far passed have been from Iran's dark fleet. The more oil that heads out of the Persian Gulf to India and China, the less competition there is for barrels from the U.S. and other producers. On Monday, benchmark oil prices fell , with Brent crude trading around $100 a barrel.

U.S. and Chinese officials wrapped up two days of talks in Paris, where they discussed trade issues

including China's rare-earth export controls. (WSJ) The average price for a gallon of regular gas

in the U.S. is now $3.72, about 25% more than the national average of $2.98 on Feb. 27-the day before the war broke out. (WSJ) Exports of oil resumed from Iran's Kharg Island , the energy hub bombarded by the U.S., with some 3.8 million barrels of oil shipped from the island Sunday and Monday, Kpler said. (WSJ) Sable Offshore restarted the transportation of oil through the Santa Ynez pipeline system

off the California coast, following an emergency directive from the Trump administration. (WSJ) The U.S. Army awarded Anduril Industries a new enterprise contract worth up to $20 billion , which will consolidate purchases and management of the company's drones and technology. (Investor's Business Daily) CONTENT FROM: PENSKE Gain Momentum. Gain Ground With Penske Logistics.

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Quotable AI Infrastructure

Cloud computing startup Nscale acquired American Intelligence & Power, the owner of a 2,250-acre data center campus in West Virginia , with plans of building up to 8 gigawatts' worth of computing power there.

Backed by Nvidia, U.K.-based Nscale is one of the largest of the new class of companies known as neo-clouds, which buy thousands of AI processors, install them in data-center servers, and lease the use of those processors to hyperscalers and AI developers.

Microsoft is the client of the West Virginia site, which is officially known as the Monarch Compute Campus. Nscale signed a letter of intent with the tech giant to provide it with up to 1.35 gigawatts worth of computing power, or roughly twice the amount of electricity used by the city of Philadelphia in a year, using Nvidia's latest generation of AI servers.

Nebius secured a five-year deal worth about $27 billion to supply AI infrastructure capacity

to Meta for its data center computing needs. (WSJ) A U.S. startup, Reflection AI, and South Korea's Shinsegae Group are investing billions to build an AI data center, advancing the Trump administration's plan to export U.S. technology . (WSJ) Labor

Workers at a JBS plant in Greeley, Colo., that accounts for about 5% of U.S. beef-processing capacity went on strike, stifling production with prices at record highs, the Journal's Patrick Thomas writes.

The strike among unionized workers is the largest at a meat plant in decades . It comes as meat companies are losing billions of dollars annually producing beef. The smallest cattle herd in 75 years

has driven up the cost of purchasing cattle from ranchers, squeezing meatpackers' profits .

JBS, whose headquarters is in Brazil, is the world's largest meatpacker and the top beef processor in the U.S. by volume. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union last year agreed to a new, national long-term labor contract, but the union local representing about 3,800 Greeley workers opted out. JBS and the Greeley union local negotiated for months on a new contract, but weren't able to reach a deal.

Number of the Day In Other News China said its economy started the year on a steady footing , with readings on retail sales, fixed-asset investment and industrial output all coming in roughly in line with expectations in January and February. (WSJ) U.S. home builder confidence rose slightly in March , with the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index reaching 38 from 37 in February. (WSJ) Inflation in Canada eased off in February

to a nine-month low of 1.8%, compared with 2.3% in January, falling back below the Bank of Canada's target. (WSJ) Factory activity in New York State contracted in March , with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's manufacturing index unexpectedly falling to minus 0.2. (WSJ) Dollar Tree issued a cautious 2026 outlook, forecasting 3% to 4% comparable sales growth amid tariff and freight-cost uncertainty . (WSJ) $Public Storage(PSA-N)$ agreed to acquire

National Storage Affiliates in a $5.63 billion all-stock deal, creating a storage-unit company with a combined market cap of about $57 billion. (WSJ) Orion Resource Partners has raised about $2.2 billion for a new fund dedicated to financing the construction and acquisition of critical-mineral mining projects . (WSJ) Australia's Lynas Rare Earths reached a preliminary $96 million, four-year supply deal

with the Pentagon for rare earths. (WSJ) Walmart completed its 2026-2027 trans-Pacific rate contracts

with half a dozen container lines, raising expectations that other retailers will follow suit in the coming week. (Journal of Commerce) The Department of Energy is investing $500 million to strengthen U.S. supply chains

for critical battery materials such as lithium, graphite, and nickel. (SupplyChain24/7) Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings ordered 20 of Airbus' next-generation A350 freighter aircraft , with options for an additional 20, as it moves away from a Boeing-dominated widebody fleet. (Air Cargo News) About Us

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at [mark.long@wsj.com]. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long , Liz Young and Paul Berger .

This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 17, 2026 07:03 ET (11:03 GMT)

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