If I were to grade the five boxes across every Strategy Choice Cascade that I have ever seen, the How-to-Win (HTW) box would get the lowest gradeeven lower than Enabling Management Systems, which is the least understood box. To remedy the weakness, I am dedicating this Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI) to Why the How-to-Win Strategy Choice is So Hard: How to Overcome the Challenge. And as always, you can find all the previous PTW/PI here.
Key feature of weak HTW choices
I have talked extensively about the key weakness of HTW choices both in a previous piece in this series, From Laudable List to How to Really Win, and in my viral video, A Plan is Not a Strategy. The weakness is that the so-called HTW is in fact a list of initiatives, one that doesnt pass the key test of strategy: Is the Opposite of Your Choice Stupid on its Face? That is, it is a set of things that are utterly sensible but dont add up to a strategy that wins, and therefore wont compel desired customer action. Considered another way, it is a list of pixels, not a portrait.
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This, by the way, is a core problem manifested in the popular strategy tool called the OGSMwhich stands for Objectives, Goals, Strategy, and Measures. As I have discussed before in this series, P&G is known for its use of the OGSM for strategy and since I am known for my longtime involvement with P&G, people think that either OSGM is my tool, or I am a proponent of it. Neither is true. I had nothing to do with the development of the tool, and I find it not to be a tool for good strategyespecially for HTW. In the classic OGSM, the S is a list of initiatives, generally called “strategies”a term I hate (which I explain in this piece)! I had to work hard (along with AG Lafley) at P&G to convert the S in OGSM to something usefuland related to strategy.
Why is How-to-Win so weak?
I think there are at least four reasons why HTW is so generically weak.
Unhelpful Top-of-the-Cascade Choices
Logically, Winning Aspiration (WA) and Where-to-Play (WTP) sit before HTW in the Strategy Choice Cascade. In this respect, they set the context for HTWand they generally dont set it particularly well.
WA choices err in one of two unhelpful ways.
First, WA is often unrealistic. We aspire to be the best IT company in world. We aspire to be the most innovative company in the world. For some companies, these may be fully realistic WAs for which there are entirely plausible HTWs. But for most, there is no plausible HTW for such an over-the-top WA, so whatever the company puts in its HTW box, it cant match with the WA. For example, if you are a modestly sized company, chances are that you wont be able to spend the resources necessary to be either the best IT or most innovative company in the world. Given the impossibility of the task, you will be lost in coming up with a robust HTW.
The second error is a WA made up of vague, platitudinous statements. We aspire to be a caring company. We aspire to elevate the worlds consciousness. What do those even mean? These provide little or no context for the WTP/HTW choices that follow and are unhelpful to crafting a great HTW.
With respect to WTP choices, they are unhelpful to HTW choices when they are unlinkedwhich is frequently the case. Far too typically, management contemplates WTP independently of HTW and picks the WTP that look most lusciousit is large, it is growing, it features high margins, etc. Unfortunately, that WTP inevitably looks luscious to many other competitors as well. Because of the intense competition for that luscious WTP, when it comes to determining a HTW for it, there simply isnt one for the company in question. There are lots of how-to-play options available to play like one of the other enthusiastic participantsand one of these blah options becomes the misnamed “HTW.”
This sort of thing often happens with “fighting brands.” The scenario is that a differentiated player doesnt like the incursion of an effective low-cost player into its market that creates dramatic growth in the low-price segment of its market. So, it adds this segment to its WTP. But every single time I have seen this, the HTW is really a blah how-to-playand an unprofitable one at that.
It is harder than the other four questions
You have wide latitude of what you say on your WA. You can say practically anything. Similarly, for WTP, you can pick anything because with few exceptions, no one can stop you from playing in a place of your choosing. Must-have Capabilities (MHC) are not terribly hard to identify when you have done the first three boxesthough if you havent done them well, you will end up identifying MHC that you are incapable of building. And similarly, once you have identified your MHC, it isnt terribly challenging to identify the Enabling Management Systems (EMS) that you would have to put in place to build and maintain the MHC.
But for HTW, there is a high bar. You must be superior to everyone lse in your chosen WTP to have a genuine HTW. That means developing a plausible theory for how you will be competitively distinctive. How-to-play is easy because it is a low bar. HTW is hard because the definition is tighter and more challenging.
Management delusion
The fact that it is hard leads to delusion when it comes to HTW. My friend and colleague Michael Porter often remarked that the dream of many executives is to do the same as every other company but get superior results. Sadly, like Mike, I have seen this often. There is a relatively widespread belief that if a company does the same things as competitors but just tries harder, it will earn superior and attractive returns. It would be nice if that were truebut it just isnt. The others try hard, too!
Unhelpful supporting systems
The systems outside the company that should support strong HTW choices dont. The capital markets generally mete out greater punishments for unique choices that dont work out well than they do for making no interesting choices whatsoever. They love blah sameness. Business schools dont teach students how to generate creative strategy choices but rather how to analyze data as a managerial technocrat. And strategy consulting firms do very little real strategy anymore because it is a much smaller and less profitable business than overhead cost reduction, post-merger integration, and digital transformation. Net, there is very little either encouragement or support for high-quality HTW choices in strategy.
What to do about it
There are four things that you can do to improve the quality of your HTW choices.
Recognize the playing field
Internalize the reality that the supporting systems arent supportive. Dont be discouraged by the reality. Recognize that the capital markets will be net negative, business schools unhelpful, and strategy consulting firms expensive and unhelpful. Recognize that you will have to build your skills with little outside help. This is the biggest reason that I write this seriesto provide practical help when there is little out there to be found.
And drop the delusion. Dont waste precious time and resources on replicating competitors and hoping for terrific results. Such results arent just around the corner.
Show restraint on the front end
Dont believe that you can lock and load on your WA before proceeding to the other choices. Just develop a general idea of what kind of WA would be interesting and inspiring and then park it for further work and refinement when you have considered the other four choices.
Dont ever make your WTP choice independently of HTW. I keep making this argument as strenuously as I can, including in this seriesOn the Inseparability of Where-to-Play and How-to-Win: Why Thinking about them Independently will Wreck your Strategy. The subtitle is not an exaggeration! Nonetheless, strategy teams still make lists of WTP and pick a luscious one before proceeding to HTW.
As I have written previously in this series, there is lots of strategic leverage in WTP, but only if it is paired with a great HTW with each complementing the other perfectly.
Buckle up for hard thinking
Recognize that HTW is a tough task and buckle up. It doesnt just pop out of a slew of analyses. And it isnt the summation of a list of consensus initiatives. It is a theory of advantage: how we are going to perform sustainably better than competitors. It isnt easy to create a unique new theory. So, it is unlikely that you will get it on your first iteration. It will be a journey and not a quick or easy one. Remember while you are on that journey that a winding road is a feature, not a bugthat is, it is a feature of the development of a HTW worth having.
Search along multiple vectors
Dont jump quickly onto a single HTW theory. Source theories broadly and keep multiple theories in play. I have discussed three search vectorsanalogies, trade-offs and anomaliesin a previous piece in this series. Search across all three for unique HTWs. Dont worry at all if you havent got lots of data early on to support your theories. You dont want to kill possibilities early. They need to be nurturedand stress-tested ever more intensively over time using the Strategic Choice Structuring Process (laid out in the piece).
Practitioner insights
To be a great strategist, you need to master HTW. A strategy cant be great without a great heart of strategythe WTP/HTW combinationand of course that pair cant be great without a uniquely powerful and well-matched HTW. Done poorly, HTW undermines strategymaking it into a blah playing to play. And frankly, life is too short for you to waste years of your worklife playing to play.
HTW is the hardest part of strategy. Help yourself by treating it as such. Impatience isnt helpful to you in creating a powerful HTW. Taking the necessary time is.
Dont undermine your effort by setting the bar low to make the task easier. Set the bar high at a theory of sustainable advantage.
Go broad before narrowing. Iterate before settling. You can do this!
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Multiple Twin Sisters Creamery cheese products have been recalled following an E. coli outbreak in Washington and Oregon. To date, two adults and one child have reported illnesses linked to the outbreak.
On October 25, 2025, Twin Sisters Creamery recalled Whatcom Blue, Farmhouse, Peppercorn, and Mustard Seed varieties of its 2.5-pound round cheese wheels. The cheese wheels were sent to distributors in Washington and Oregon. Some products were further distributed to retail stores for repacking or sold as pre-cut, half-moon-shaped pieces.
The products are made with raw, unpasteurized milk and may be contaminated with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Escherichia coli O103.
Third-party testing of Farmhouse cheese samples confirmed the presence of E. coli O103. Whatcom Blue samples analyzed by the FDA and the Washington State Department of Agriculture tested positive for E. coli STEC.
On October 26, 2025, Washington State-based food distributor Peterson Company recalled half-moon-shaped pieces of Farmhouse, Whatcom Blue, and Twin Sisters Creamery cheeses after Twin Sisters Creamery notified them of the three reported STEC infections.
The FDA published the Twin Sisters Creamery and Peterson Company recall notices on October 27, 2025. Heres what you need to know.
[Photos: via FDA]
Which products are included in the recalls?
The following Twin Sisters Creamery products have been recalled:
2.5-pound Whatcom Blue cheese wheels
2.5-pound Farmhouse cheese wheels
2.5-pound Peppercorn cheese wheels
2.5-pound Mustard Seed cheese wheels
Roughly 5 to 6-ounce half-moon-shaped pieces of Whatcom Blue cheese
Roughly 5 to 6-ounce half-moon-shaped pieces of Farmhouse cheese
The 2.5-pound round cheese wheels were shipped to distributors in Washington and Oregon between July 27, 2025, and October 22, 2025. The cheese wheels may also have been further distributed to retail stores for repacking or sold as pre-cut, half-moon-shaped cheese pieces with different lot numbers and expiration dates.
The recalled 2.5-pound round cheese wheels have the following batch codes:
Batch Code 250527B Whatcom Blue
Batch Code 250610B Whatcom Blue
Batch Code 250618B Whatcom Blue
Batch Code 250624B Whatcom Blue
Batch Code 250603F Farmhouse
Batch Code 250616B Farmhouse
Batch Code 250603P Peppercorn
Batch Code 250616M Mustard Seed
The recalled half-moon-shaped cheese pieces were packaged in clear wrap and distributed to retailers and food businesses, including caterers, distributors, and restaurants, in Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington between August 14, 2025, and October 24, 2025.
They have the following manufacturer codes printed or them or on a sticker:
Item# 28855 Whatcom Blue MFG Code 793511
Item# 28855 Whatcom Blue MFG Code 781511
Item# 28855 Whatcom Blue MFG Code 775511
Item# 28855 Whatcom Blue MFG Code 761511
Item# 29608 Farmhouse MFG Code 765511
Item# 29608 Farmhouse MFG Code 752511
Item# 29608 Farmhouse MFG Code 738511
Item# 29608 Farmhouse MFG Code 726511
Do not consume the recalled products.
Consumers who have purchased any of the recalled products should return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.
If you have questions, call Twin Sisters Creamery at 360-656-5240 or Peterson Company at (800) 735-0313, extension 2101.
Three infections linked to the E. coli outbreak
There have been three reports of STEC infections caused by E. coli O103 to date, one in Oregon and two in Washington. One of the three reported infections involved a young child.
An infected Oregon resident consumed Twin Sisters Creamery Farmhouse cheese before becoming ill. The Washington State Department of Health, Oregon Health Authority, and federal authorities are investigating the outbreak.
E. coli can cause STEC infections
You can get an STEC infection by eating foods contaminated by E. coli.
Symptoms may include diarrhea, stomach cramps, or blood in the stool. Symptoms typically appear 1 to 10 days after exposure.
The FDA recall notices explain that STEC infection can lead to Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), which is a life-threatening condition that can cause kidney failure and have fatal complications. HUS is particularly dangerous for young children, elderly adults, and immunocompromised people.
UnitedHealth on Tuesday raised its annual profit forecast and said it aims to grow in 2026, in a sign that the turnaround efforts under new CEO Stephen Hemsley were gaining steam.
Shares of the company rose more than 5% in premarket trading after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings as the U.S. health insurer kept medical costs in check.
The company had set a far lower profit forecast in July after suspending its prior outlook in May, which had sent its shares reeling.
The healthcare giant now sees 2025 adjusted profit per share to be at least $16.25, compared with its previous estimate of at least $16.00, and above analysts estimate of $16.20 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
“We remain focused on strengthening performance and positioning for durable and accelerating growth in 2026 and beyond, and our results this quarter reflect solid execution toward that goal,” said newly returned CEO Hemsley.
Hemsley, who was at the helm of the company from 2006 to 2017, has been working to regain investor and consumer trust in the wake of an unexpected surge in medical costs and Americans’ anger at the high price of health care.
He was brought in earlier this year as part of a management shakeup and has since replaced several long-time executives.
UnitedHealth said it continues to see elevated costs, which the industry has been struggling with for more than two years.
For the third quarter ended September 30, the company’s medical loss ratio the percentage of premiums spent on medical care stood at 89.9%, in line with the company’s expectations. Insurers aim for a ratio close to around 80%.
Analysts on average had expected the company to report a ratio of 89.87%.
Shares of peers CVS Health, Humana and Elevance rose about 2% before the bell.
UnitedHealth’s quarterly revenue at its Optum health services unit was flat year-over-year at $25.9 billion.
Revenue at Optum Rx, UnitedHealth’s pharmacy benefit manager, rose 16% to $39.7 billion, partly helped by higher prescription volumes.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned a profit of $2.92 per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ average estimate of $2.79.
Sriparna Roy and Sneha S K, Reuters
Bill Gates thinks climate change is a serious problem but it won’t be the end of civilization. He thinks scientific innovation will curb it, and it’s instead time for a “strategic pivot” in the global climate fight: from focusing on limiting rising temperatures to fighting poverty and preventing disease.A doomsday outlook has led the climate community to focus too much on near-term goals to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause warming, diverting resources from the most effective things that can be done to improve life in a warming world, Gates said. In a memo released Tuesday, Gates said the world’s primary goal should instead be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions in the world’s poorest countries.If given a choice between eradicating malaria and a tenth of a degree increase in warming, Gates told reporters, “I’ll let the temperature go up 0.1 degree to get rid of malaria. People don’t understand the suffering that exists today.”The Microsoft co-founder spends most of his time now on the goals of the Gates Foundation, which has poured tens of billions of dollars into health care, education and development initiatives worldwide, including combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. He started Breakthrough Energy in 2015 to speed up innovation in clean energy.He wrote his 17-page memo hoping to have an impact on next month’s United Nations climate change conference in Brazil. He’s urging world leaders to ask whether the little money designated for climate is being spent on the right things.Gates, whose foundation provides financial support for Associated Press coverage of health and development in Africa, is influential in the climate change conversation. He expects his “tough truths about climate” memo will be controversial.“If you think climate is not important, you won’t agree with the memo. If you think climate is the only cause and apocalyptic, you won’t agree with the memo,” Gates said during a roundtable discussion with reporters ahead of the release. “It’s kind of this pragmatic view of somebody who’s, you know, trying to maximize the money and the innovation that goes to help in these poor countries.”
Climate scientists say every fraction of a degree of warming matters
Every bit of additional warming correlates to more extreme weather, risks species extinction and brings the world closer to crossing tipping points where changes become irreversible, scientists say.University of Washington public health and climate scientist Kristie Ebi said she thoroughly agrees with Gates that the U.N. negotiations should focus on improving human health and well-being. But, she said, Gates assumes the world stays static and only one variable changes faster deployment of green technologies to curb climate change. She called that unlikely.Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, called the memo “pointless, vague, unhelpful and confusing.”“There is no reason to pit poverty reduction versus climate transformation. Both are utterly feasible, and readily so, if the Big Oil lobby is brought under control,” he wrote in an email.Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field said there is room for a healthy discussion about whether the current framing of the climate crisis is typically too pessimistic.“But we should also invest for both the long term and the short term,” he wrote in an email. “A vibrant long-term future depends on both tackling climate change and supporting human development.”Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said he doesn’t dispute the principle of making human well-being the primary objective of policy, but what about the natural world?“Climate change is already wreaking havoc there,” he wrote in an email. “Can we truly live in a technological bubble? Do we want to?”Gates is clear in his memo that every tenth of a degree of warming matters: “A stable climate makes it easier to improve people’s lives.”
Carbon dioxide pollution is increasing
A decade ago, the world agreed in a historic pact known as the Paris agreement to try to limit human-caused warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times. The goal: to stave off nastier heat waves, wildfires, storms and droughts.In a 2021 book, Gates laid out a plan for reducing emissions to avoid a climate disaster. But humans are on track to release so much greenhouse gas by early 2028 that scientists say crossing that 1.5-degree threshold is now nearly unavoidable.Breakthrough Energy focuses on areas where the cost of doing something cleanly is much higher than the polluting way, such as making clean steel and cement. Gates concluded his memo by saying governments should work toward driving this difference to zero, and be rigorous about measuring the impact of every effort in the world’s climate agenda.
Gates is optimistic innovation will curb climate change
Gates said the pace of innovation in clean energy has been faster than he expected, allowing cheap solar and wind energy to replace coal, oil and natural gas plants for electricity and averting worst-case warming scenarios. Artificial intelligence is helping accelerate advances in clean energy technologies, he added.At the same time, money to help developing countries adapt to climate change is shrinking. Led by the United States, rich countries are cutting their foreign aid budgets. President Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax.Gates criticized the aid cuts. He said Gavi, a public-private partnership started by his philanthropic foundation that buys vaccines, will have 25% less money for the next five years compared to the past five years. Gavi can save a life for a little more than $1,000, he added.Vaccines become even more important in a warming world because children who aren’t dying of measles or whooping cough will be more likely to survive when a heat wave hits or a drought threatens the local food supply, he wrote.Health and prosperity are the best defense against climate change, Gates said, citing research from the University of Chicago Climate Impact Lab that found projected deaths from climate change fall by more than 50% when accounting for the expected economic growth over the rest of this century.Under these circumstances, he thinks the bar must be “very high” for what’s funded with aid money.“If you have something that gets rid of 10,000 tons of emissions, that you’re spending several million dollars on,” he said, “that just doesn’t make the cut.”
AP Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press
Recently, there has been a rise in reports from consumers that some physical retail stores are running low on pennies, making it difficult for cashiers to give customers exact change.
This week, many social media users reported that one of America’s largest grocery store chains, Kroger, was asking customers to use exact change. This has led many to wonder if there is a national penny shortage.
The answer is more complex than just a simple yes or no. Heres what you need to know.
What’s happened?
Numerous reports this week said customers at Kroger stores were greeted with signs asking them to provide exact change when paying in cash.
Among the reports was one from the Cincinnati Enquirer, which said that these signs were posted at the company’s 103 stores in the Cincinnati/Dayton Division.
“The U.S. Treasury has stopped production of pennies, which is now impacting supply,” the signs read. “If using cash for payment, please consider providing exact change.”
Reached for comment by Fast Company, a Kroger spokesperson confirmed the move. “We continue to assess the impact of the U.S. Treasurys decision to end penny production,” the spokesperson said.
These signs, along with a growing number of other reports on social media, have contributed to speculation about an American penny shortage.
Is there a penny shortage?
Without a doubt, the availability of the penny seems to be decreasing. However, according to the American Bakers Association (ABA), there isnt currently a penny shortage in the traditional sense.
Rather, there is a slowing of the circulation of pennies throughout Americas banks and retailers. And theres a reason for this.
In February, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he had instructed U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to stop producing new pennies.
For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents, Trump wrote, adding, Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.
And the Treasury did as Trump instructed.
As the ABA notes, the U.S Mint, which is responsible for minting Americas currency, reportedly stopped production and delivered their last shipment of new pennies in August.
That means no new pennies have been minted in two months. Still, the ABA estimates that there are about 250 billion pennies still in circulation. So why are they reportedly getting harder to come across?
Its because many people dont like carrying around the 1-cent coins. They take up too much space in a wallet or purse, so people just tend to leave them in drawers, jars, or car cupholders.
This means that, unlike most dollar bills, a significant amount of the existing pennies that are out there dont reenter circulation.
When no new pennies are being minted, and enough existing pennies arent reentering circulation, it can lead to an absence of an adequate amount of change at banks and in cash registers.
This is responsible for the penny shortage some retailers and customers are now beginning to see.
Why does Trump want to get rid of the penny?
Its not just Trump who wants to get rid of the penny. A YouGov poll from earlier this year found that more Americans now support eliminating the coin rather than saving it.
Pennies can be inconvenient. You need need a hundred of them or more just to buy something simple, like a can of soda. And carrying a hundred pennies around in a purse, wallet, or pocket can be cumbersome.
As for Trump, he is correct that the penny coin actually costs more than 1-cent to make. A 2024 report from the U.S. Mint revealed that the U.S. government lost more than $83 million in 2024 producing the penny.
This is because though the penny has a face value of only 1-cent, it had a total unit cost of $0.0369 per coin in 2024. Thats over 3.5x its face value.
In other words, the penny is both disliked by some consumers and doesnt make financial sense from a minting standpoint. No wonder so many people want to see it go.
Can Trump actually kill the penny?
While the U.S. Treasury and U.S. Mint have followed Trumps instructions to stop producing the penny, the penny remains legal tender in America. And most experts seem to agree that Trump cant just end the pennys life by dictate.
As New York Magazine noted in May, killing off the penny likely requires an act of Congress, since Congress controls the specifications of Americas currency. However, both houses of Congress have reportedly introduced bills to kill off the penny since Trump issued his decree.
The ABA itself notes that the decision to eliminate the penny lies with Congress and the President, as the Constitution gives Congress the authority to coin money.
But it adds that The banking industry is prepared to support whatever policy is enacted and will ensure a smooth transition if the penny is officially phased out.
Can I still get exact change if there are no pennies available?
Given that so many items in America are priced at one penny short of a whole dollarbefore taxits no surprise that if there is a penny shortage, stores may have trouble giving consumers their exact change.
But if this is indeed the case, the ABA says that banks and retailers may temporarily round cash transactions to the nearest five cents since nickels are widely available. This means the customer may save a few centsor pay a few cents moredepending on which way the rounding goes.
However, the price of online transactions, as they are all electronic, shouldnt be impacted at all.
U.S. President Donald Trump lavished praise on Japan’s first female leader Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Tuesday, welcoming her pledge to accelerate a military buildup and signing deals on trade and rare earths.
Takaichi, a protegee of Trump’s late friend and golfing buddy Japanese leader Shinzo Abe, applauded Trump’s push to resolve global conflicts, vowing to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to Trump’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt.
Both governments released a list of projects in the areas of energy, artificial intelligence and critical minerals in which Japanese companies are eyeing investments of up to $400 billion in the U.S.
Tokyo pledged to provide $550 billion of strategic U.S. investments, loans and guarantees earlier this year as part of a deal to win a reprieve from Trump’s punishing import tariffs.
Those gestures may temper any Trump demands for Tokyo to spend more towards its security in the face of an increasingly assertive China, calls that Takaichi sought to head off by promising to fast-track plans to increase defence spending to 2% of GDP.
“Everything I know from Shinzo and others, you will be one of the great prime ministers,” Trump told Takaichi as they sat down to discussions, accompanied by their delegations, at Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace.
“I’d also like to congratulate you on being the first woman prime minister. It’s a big deal,” Trump added.
TAKAICHI INVOKES ABE LEGACY
Takaichi repeatedly referred to Abe’s affection for Trump and gifted him the former prime minister’s putter encased in glass, a golf bag signed by Japanese major winner Hideki Matsuyama and a gold-leaf golf ball, photographs posted on X by Trump’s assistant Margo Martin show.
Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his 2016 election victory and the two went on to forge a close bond over several rounds of golf in the United States and Japan.
Over a lunch of U.S. rice and beef, and vegetables from Takaichi’s hometown of Nara, she presented Trump with a map of major investments Japanese firms have made in the United States since his last visit in 2019.
Japanese companies on the list of possible future investors included Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Softbank, Hitachi, Murata Manufacturing and Panasonic, among others.
Japanese carmaker Toyota would also open auto plants in the United States to the tune of $10 billion, Trump said.
Toyota did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DEAL ON CRITICAL MINERALS
Trump praised Japan’s efforts to buy more U.S. defense equipment, while Takaichi said his role in securing ceasefires between Cambodia and Thailand, and Israel and Palestinian militants, was an “unprecedented” achievement.
They signed a deal to bolster supplies of critical minerals and rare earths, as their nations seek to reduce China’s dominance of some areas of key electronic components.
After lunch, Trump met relatives of people abducted by North Korea in the 1960s and 1970s. While some were later repatriated, Japan continues to press Pyongyang for a full accounting of all the abductees and the return of any who remain alive, a cause championed by Abe.
“The United States is with them all the way,” Trump told reporters after greeting the families. He has repeatedly said he was open to meeting North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Un during his five-day Asia visit.
The U.S. leader began his trip in Malaysia on Sunday, before traveling to Japan late on Monday to receive a royal welcome at the Imperial Palace.
He hopes to cap off his trip, his longest overseas journey since returning to the White House in January, by agreeing a trade war truce with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday.
VISIT TO U.S. NAVAL BASE
Takaichi’s efforts to invoke Abe’s legacy to forge a bond with Trump could help bolster her weak political position at home and help her navigate Trump’s at times erratic decision-making, analysts said.
Though she has seen a surge in public support since becoming prime minister, her coalition government is two votes shy of a majority in parliament’s lower house.
Trump and Takaichi later flew on his presidential helicopter to the nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington, docked at the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo.
There Trump delivered an hour-long speech that ranged from topics such as the U.S. southern border and inflation to American football and the possibility of deploying “more than the national guard” to “troubled” U.S. cities.
Flanked by two fighter jets, Trump ushered Takaichi up on stage before 6,000 U.S. sailors.
“This woman is a winner,” he said, before Takaichi thanked the forces for helping defend the country and the region. Japan hosts the largest concentration of U.S. military power abroad.
Delivery would begin this week on Japan’s long-awaited order of U.S. missiles for F-35 fighter jets, Trump added.
“I told the president that I want to work with him to build a new chapter in the Japan-U.S. alliance that will make both countries stronger and more prosperous,” Takaichi told reporters after returning to Tokyo.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is due to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi on Wednesday.
Trump will meet business leaders in Tokyo later on Tuesday, before travelling on Wednesday to South Korea to meet President Lee Jae Myung ahead of his Thursday summit with Xi.
Trevor Hunnicutt, Tim Kelly and John Geddie, Reuters
A shortage of air traffic controllers caused more flight disruptions Monday around the country as controllers braced for their first full missing paycheck during the federal government shutdown.The Federal Aviation Administration reported staffing-related delays on Monday afternoon averaging about 20 minutes at the airport in Dallas and about 40 minutes at both Newark Liberty International Airport and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The delays in Austin followed a brief ground stop at the airport, meaning flights were held at their originating airports until the FAA lifted the stop around 4:15 p.m. local time.The FAA also warned of staffing issues at a facility in Jacksonville, Florida, that could cause some problems.Just last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had predicted that travelers would start to see more flights delayed and canceled as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the shutdown, which is nearing the one-month mark.During a weekend appearance on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures,” Duffy said more controllers were calling in sick as money worries compound the stress of an already challenging job.“And that’s a sign that the controllers are wearing thin,” Duffy said.Earlier Monday, flights were also briefly delayed at Los Angeles International Airport, one of the busiest in the world. The disruptions emerged a day after the FAA had issued a temporary ground stop at LAX for about two hours due to a shortage of controllers. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said about 72% of the flights scheduled Sunday at LAX took off within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure times.Most controllers are continuing to work mandatory overtime six days a week during the shutdown without pay, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said Monday. That leaves little time for a side job unless controllers call in sick to the FAA.Union members were expected to gather Tuesday at major airports across the U.S., including in New York City and Atlanta, to pass out leaflets to passengers detailing how the shutdown is negatively impacting the national aviation system and the workers who keep it running safely. The action coincides with controllers’ first full missing paycheck since the shutdown began.Some U.S. airports have stepped in to provide food donations and other support for federal aviation employees working without pay, including controllers and Transportation Security Administration agents.Before the shutdown, the FAA was already dealing with a shortage of about 3,000 air traffic controllers. Nick Daniels, president of NATCA, has said the agency had reached “the lowest staffing we’ve had in decades of only 10,800.”
Rio Yamat, AP Airlines and Travel Writer
Food banks and pantries were already struggling after federal program cuts this year, but now they’re bracing for a tsunami of hungry people if a pause in federal food aid to low-income people kicks in this weekend as the federal government shutdown persists.The rush has already begun. Central Christian Church’s food pantry in downtown Indianapolis scrambled Saturday to accommodate around twice as many people as it normally serves in a day.“There’s an increased demand. And we know it’s been happening really since the economy has downturned,” volunteer Beth White said, adding that with an interruption in funding for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, “it’s going to continue to get worse for folks.”It’s a concern shared by charitable food providers across the country as states prepare for lower-income families to see their SNAP benefits dry up. SNAP helps 40 million Americans, or about 1 in 8, buy groceries. The debit cards they use to buy groceries at participating stores and farmers markets are normally loaded each month by the federal government.That’s set to pause at the start of next month after the Trump administration said Friday that it won’t use a roughly $5 billion contingency fund to keep food aid flowing in November in the government shutdown. The administration also says states temporarily covering the cost of food assistance benefits next month will not be reimbursed.
[Map: AP Digital Embed]
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement. “At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01.”It’s the latest in a string of hardships placed on charitable food services, which are intended to help take up the slack for any shortcomings in federal food assistance not replace government help altogether.Charities have seen growing demand since the COVID-19 pandemic and the following inflation spike, and they took a hit earlier this year when the Trump administration ended programs that had provided more than $1 billion for schools and food banks to fight hunger.
Food pantry visitors are worried
Reggie Gibbs, of Indianapolis, just recently started receiving SNAP benefits, which meant he didn’t have to pick up as much from Central Christian Church’s food pantry when he stopped by on Saturday. But he lives alone, he said, and worries what families with children will do.“I’ve got to harken back to the families, man,” he said. “What do you think they’re going to go through, you know?”Martina McCallop, of Washington, D.C., said she’s worried about how she’ll feed her kids, ages 10 and 12, and herself, when the $786 they get in monthly SNAP benefits is gone.“I have to pay my bills, my rent, and get stuff my kids need,” she said. “After that, I don’t have money for food.”She’s concerned food pantries won’t be able to meet the sudden demand in a city with so many federal workers who aren’t being paid.In Fairfax County, Virginia, where about 80,000 federal workers live, Food for Others executive director Deb Haynes said she doesn’t expect to run out of food entirely, largely because of donors.“If we run short and I need to ask for help, I know I will receive it,” Haynes said.
Food banks feel the increased demand
Food pantries provide about 1 meal to every 9 provided by SNAP, according to Feeding America, a nationwide network of food banks. They get the food they distribute through donations from people, businesses and some farmers. They also get food from U.S. Department of Agriculture programs and sometimes buy food with contributions and grant funding.“When you take SNAP away, the implications are cataclysmic,” Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot said. “I assume people are assuming that somebody’s going to stop it before it gets too bad. Well, it’s already too bad. And it’s getting worse.”Some distributors are already seeing startling low food supplies. George Matysik, executive director of Share Food Program in the Philadelphia area, said a state government budget impasse had already cut funding for his program.“I’ve been here seven years,” Matysik said. “I’ve never seen our warehouses as empty as they are right now.”
States scramble to fill in where they can
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is fast tracking $30 million in emergency food assistance funds to “help keep food pantries stocked,” and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said her state would expedite $8 million that had been allocated for food banks.Officials in Louisiana, Vermont and Virginia said last week they would seek to keep food aid flowing to recipients in their states, even if the federal program is stalled.Other states aren’t in a position to offer much help, especially if they won’t be reimbursed by the federal government. Arkansas officials, for example, have been pointing recipients to find food pantries, or other charitable groups even friends and family for help.-AP writers JoNel Aleccia in Los Angeles, Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York, Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, and video journalists Obed Lamy in Indianapolis and Mike Householder in Detroit contributed to this report.
Margery A. Beck and Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press
The Federal Reserve will almost certainly cut its key interest rate on Wednesday and could signal it expects another cut in December as the central bank seeks to bolster hiring.A cut Wednesday would be the second this year and could benefit consumers by bringing down borrowing costs for mortgages and auto loans. Since Fed chair Jerome Powell strongly signaled in late August that rate cuts were likely this year, the average 30-year mortgage rate has fallen to about 6.2% from 6.6%, providing a boost to the otherwise-sluggish housing market.Still, the Fed is navigating an unusual period for the U.S. economy and its future moves are harder to anticipate than is typically the case. Hiring has ground nearly to a halt, yet inflation remains elevated, and the economy’s mostly solid growth is heavily dependent on massive investment by leading tech companies in artificial intelligence infrastructure.The central bank is assessing these trends without most of the government data it uses to gauge the economy’s health. The release of September’s jobs report has been postponed because of the government shutdown. The White House said last week October’s inflation figure may not even be compiled.The shutdown itself may also crimp the economy in the coming months, depending on how long it lasts. Roughly 750,000 federal workers are nearing a month without pay, which could soon start weakening consumer spending, a critical driver of the economy.Federal workers laid off by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts earlier this year may formally show up in jobs data if it is reported next month, which could make the monthly hiring data look even worse.Powell has said that the risk of weaker hiring is rising, which makes it as much of a concern as still-elevated inflation. As a result, the central bank needs to move its key rate closer to a level that would neither slow nor stimulate the economy.Most Fed officials view the current level of its key rate 4.1% as high enough to slow growth and cool inflation, which has been their main goal since price increases spiked to a four-decade high three years ago. The Fed is widely expected to reduce it to about 3.9% Wednesday. WIth job gains at risk, the goal is to move rates to a less-restrictive level.Kris Dawsey, head of economic research at D.E. Shaw, an investment bank, said that the lack of data during the shutdown means the Fed will likely stay on the path it sketched out in September, when it forecast cuts this month and in December.“Imagine you’re driving in a winter storm and suddenly lose visibility in whiteout conditions,” Dawsey said. “While you slow the car down, you’re going to continue going in the direction you were going versus making an abrupt change once you lose that visibility.”In recent remarks, the Fed chair has made clear that the sluggish job market has become a signficant concern.“The labor market has actually softened pretty considerably,” Powell said. “The downside risks to employment appear to have risen.”Before the government shutdown cut off the flow of data Oct. 1, monthly hiring gains had weakened to an average of just 29,000 a month for the previous three months. The unemployment rate ticked up to a still-low 4.3% in August from 4.2% in July.Layoffs also remain low, however, leading Powell and other officials to refer to the “low-hire, low-fire” job market.At the same time, last week’s inflation report released more than a week late because of the shutdown showed that inflation remain elevated but isn’t accelerating and may not need higher rates to tame it.Yet a key question is how long the job market can remain in what Powell has described as a “curious kind of balance.”“There have been some worrisome data points in the last few months,” said Stephen Stanley, chief U.S. economist at Santander, an investment bank. “Is that a weakening trend or are we just hitting an air pocket?”The uncertainty has prompted some top Fed officials to suggest that they may not necessarily support a cut at its next meeting in December. At its September meeting, the Fed signaled it would cut three times this year, though its policymaking committee is divided. Nine of 19 officials supported two or fewer reductions.Christopher Waller, a member of the Fed’s governing board and one of five people being considered by the Trump administration to replace Powell as Fed chair next year, said in a recent speech that while hiring data is weak, other figures suggest the economy is growing at a healthy pace.“So, something’s gotta give,” Waller said. “Either economic growth softens to match a soft labor market, or the labor market rebounds to match stronger economic growth.”Since it’s unclear how the contradiction will play out, Waller added, “we need to move with care when adjusting the policy rate.”Waller said he supported a quarter-point cut this month, “but beyond that point” it will depend on what the economic data says, assuming the shutdown ends.Financial markets have put the odds of another cut in December at above 90%, according to CME Fedwatch and Fed officials have so far said little to defuse that expectation.Jonathan Pingle, chief U.S. economist at UBS, said that he will look to see if Powell, at a news conference Wednesday, repeats his assertion that the risks of a weaker job market remain high.“If I hear that, I think they’re on track to lowering rates again in December,” he said.
Christopher Rugaber, AP Economics Writer
As more and more drivers purchase electric vehicles, some people have voiced concerns about how the EV boom could further strain our aging, stressed electricity grid. More EVs means more electricity demand, which could require costly infrastructure upgrades or limit when drivers can charge if demand is too high.
But one long-talked about promise of EVs is that they could actually make our electricity grid more resilient. Through bidirectional charging, EVs could essentially act as batteries parked outside your home, powering houses so that they dont need to rely on outside electricity.
They could also even send energy back to the grid.
[Image: Ford]
A handful of EVs can already power your home during an outage, including the Ford F-150 Lightning. And Ford is expanding how its EV drivers can take advantage of bidirectional charging.
[Image: Ford]
Through its Home Power Management program, F-150 Lightning owners can use their trucks to power their homes when electricity prices from the grid are high, easing energy burdens and saving people money on their monthly bills.
It also gives customers the ability to send energy from the trucks back to the grid, in some instances earning them money from their electricity company for doing so.
We see an opportunity here where our vehicles can be part of the solution rather than compounding the problem, Dave McCreadie, director of Fords EV-Grid Integration Strategy and Business Development, said during a recent press briefing on the program.
The rollout is currently limited, but Ford expects to expand a Home Power Management pilot in 2026.
At a time when EV sales are lagging and EV tax credits have expiredand as homeowners across the country are seeing their energy bills increaseFord hopes potential customers see these features as another benefit to owning an EV.
[Image: Ford]
A personal power plant to lower energy bills
Backup power has been a feature in the F-150 Lightning since its release in 2022.
After major hurricanes like Helene in North Carolina and Beryl in Texas, F-150 Lightning owners used their trucks as generators, allowing them to keep the lights on and the refrigerator running when the power went out. A fully charged F-150 Lightning can power a home for three days; if that power is rationed, it can last up to 10 days.
Backup power only works when the grid goes down. Home Power Management, however, allows EV owners to use their trucks to power their homes even when the grid is up and running.
The idea is that customers can charge their EVs overnight during offpeak hours, when electricity rates are low. Then, when demand peaks and rates go up, they can use their EV to power their homes.
That both offsets a homeowners electricity bills and frees up power from the grid to go elsewhere. The home in question is now essentially invisible to the grid, the automaker explains.
[Image: Ford]
In June 2024, Ford partnered with Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) and Sunrun, a home solar and battery company, to launch the countrys first vehicle-to-home pilot program, allowing EV owners to use their vehicles to power their homes anytime, not just during an outage.
Brian Foreman, an F-150 Lightning owner in Highland, Maryland, was the first customer to do so, essentially turning his EV into his own personal power plant.
Ford didnt share exactly how much Foreman saved on his electricity bills, but says that customers can save an average of $42 per month, or $500 per year, by using the vehicle-to-home capability.
When most people would be concerned, Ive got an electric vehicle, my electricity bill is going to go up, well now you have this offset. Your vehicle is actually working for you in your driveway while its parked, said Ryan OGorman, senior manager of energy services business strategy and delivery at Ford.
Brian Foreman [Image: Ford]
Sending energy to the gridand making money
In the summer of 2025, Foreman joined two other BGE customers for another pilot, this time one that allowed customers to use their F-150 Lightnings to send power to the grid.
This turns the EVs into distributed power plants, per the utility company, which also paid customers for the energy they shared.
Instead of just saving customers money on their electricity bills, this next step in Fords Home Power Management program lets EV owners make money through their EVs. The participants could earn up to $1,000 for the power they provided between July and September.
Using your F-150 Lightning to power your home during peak energy demand or to send power to the grid does require extra equipment: an inverter called the Home Integration System, created by Ford and Sunrun.
That equipment is also needed if you want to use your truck to provide backup power during an outage, so some customers already have it installed. The Home Integration System costs $3,895, and installation can be another $3,000, though those prices vary.
That expense is on top of the price to buy and install a home EV charger. Some Ford customers received a free charger and installation through the automakers Ford Power Promise program, but for those that missed out on that opportunity, a level 2 Ford Charge Station Pro costs another $1,310 plus installation, which can vary from $200 to $1,000, depending on any wiring upgrades your home needs.
That means there is an upfront cost to eventually being able to offset your energy bills or make money by providing power through your EV. But Ford says its F-150 Lightning is cost competitive to buying a 10-kilowatt stationary backup generator for your homeplus, it’s a generator you can drive around.
[Image: Ford]
Looking ahead for Ford
Currently, a handful of customers in just nine states are using Fords Home Power Management capabilities, including Maryland, Georgia (where Ford did a six-month pilot program with energy provider Southern Company focused on commercial fleets), and Vermont (where energy expert Peter Schneider tested the program with Ford, using it to power his home, and reduce grid strain, during extreme heat there this past summer).
Getting this system set up requires working with utility companies, which have to provide approval and permits for EVs to be interconnected with the grid in these ways.
Automakers also work with utilities to communicate about peak demand, with software that automatically charges an EV at grid-friendly times.
Ford trying to maintain communications with hundreds and even thousands of electric utilities across the country is an untenable business solution, McCreadie said. We found that other automakers were having the same problem.
Ford worked with BMW and Honda to create ChargeScape, a joint venture that launched in 2024, which basically acts as connective tissue, McCreadie explained, to link utilities and automakers, and integrate EVs into the grid.
Though vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid charging is a goal for the EV industry at large, Ford says it’s ahead of the pack with its recent pilot programs.
Ford and Michigan-based DTE Energy have also recently launched a new program piloting the vehicle-to-home capabilities, starting with a group of 15 Ford employees.
Through that pilot, DTE Energy will pay participants for using their EVs to power their homes during times of high electricity demand. But EV owners dont have to do anything themselves; the system is entirely automated.
DTE Energy will send notifications to ChargeScape to schedule when participants EVs provide power for their homes. Though its only available to Ford employees right now, the automaker says its working with DTE to hopefully expand the program to the general public later on in 2026.
