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SpaceX test flight crash-lands
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- SpaceX launched its shiny, bullet-shaped, straight-out-of-science fiction Starship several miles into the air from a remote corner of Texas on Wednesday, but the 6 1/2-minute test flight ended in an explosive fireball at touchdown. It was the highest and most elaborate flight yet for the rocketship that Elon Musk says could carry people to Mars in as little as six years. Despite the catastrophic end, he was thrilled. "Mars, here we come!!" he tweeted. This latest prototype -- the first one equipped with a nose cone, body flaps and three engines -- was shooting for an altitude of up to eight miles. That's almost 100 times higher than previous hops and skimming the stratosphere. Starship seemed to hit the mark or at least come close. There was no immediate word from SpaceX on how high it went. The full-scale, stainless steel model -- 160 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter -- soared out over the Gulf of Mexico. After about five minutes, it flipped sideways as planned and descended in a free-fall back to the southeastern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. The Raptor engines reignited for braking and the rocket tilted back upright. When it touched down, however, the rocketship became engulfed in flames and ruptured, parts scattering. The entire flight -- as dramatic and flashy as it gets, even by SpaceX standards -- lasted six minutes and 42 seconds. SpaceX broadcast the sunset demo live on its website; repeated delays over the past week and a last-second engine abort Tuesday heightened the excitement among space fans. Musk called it a "successful ascent" and said the body flaps precisely guided the rocket to the landing point. The fuel tank pressure was low, however, when the engines reignited for touchdown, which caused Starship to come down too fast. "But we got all the data we needed!" he tweeted. Musk had kept expectations low, cautioning earlier this week there was "probably" 1-in-3 chance of complete success.
Johns Hopkins a slave owner
Johns Hopkins University, whose researchers have been at the forefront of the global response to COVID-19, announced on Wednesday that its founder owned slaves during the 19th century, a revelation for the Baltimore-based school that had taken pride in the man purportedly being a staunch abolitionist. Researchers uncovered the information in government census records as part of an initiative exploring the university's history. The long-held narrative of an abolitionist Hopkins whose father had freed the family's slaves in 1807 came into question over the past several months. "We now have government census records that state Mr. Hopkins was the owner of one enslaved person listed in his household in 1840 and four enslaved people listed in 1850," President Ronald J. Daniels and other school officials wrote in a letter to the Johns Hopkins community. "By the 1860 census, there are no enslaved persons listed in the household." Maryland did not abolish slavery until 1864. The officials said the school will continue researching Hopkins' life in the coming months to "have a full picture," as a complete biography of the university's founder does not exist. They wrote they decided to share the development as part of the school's effort "to deepen our historical understanding of the legacy of racism in our country, our city, and our institutions." Hopkins died in 1873 and left $7 million to open a university, orphanage and hospital. The donation at the time was considered to be the largest philanthropic gift made in the U.S. Today, the school has about 27,000 students and its researchers have earned 29 Nobel laureates. The private university has played a globally prominent role in tracking the spread of the coronavirus. An online dashboard by the university's Center for Systems Science and Engineering tracks reported cases in near real-time, providing information to public health officials, media outlets and the public.
Israel has new plan for moon
JERUSALEM -- Israel is again aiming for the moon. SpaceIL, the nonprofit Israeli initiative whose spacecraft crashed as it tried to land on the moon last year, announced on Wednesday that it is launching another lunar mission with its Israeli government partners. The Beresheet 2 project will aim to send three spacecraft -- an orbiter and two landers -- to the moon. The first Beresheet, or "Genesis," spacecraft, built by SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, had aimed to match a feat only achieved by the U.S., Russia and China. But moments before touchdown, it crashed. The science minister, Yizhar Shai, said seven countries, including the United Arab Emirates, have expressed interest in joining the effort. Beresheet 2 is due to be launched in 2024.
Hunter Biden taxes scrutinized
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's investigation scrutinizing Hunter Biden's taxes has been examining some of his Chinese business dealings, among other financial transactions, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The investigation was launched in 2018, a year before his father, Joe Biden, announced his candidacy for president, but it isn't clear which entities might be tied up in the probe, and the inquiry was not disclosed to Hunter Biden until Tuesday. The younger Biden has a history of international affairs and business dealings in a number of countries, and the revelation of a federal investigation puts a renewed spotlight on the questions about his financial dealings that dogged his father's successful White House campaign. Federal investigators served a round of subpoenas on Tuesday, including one for Hunter Biden, according to another person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing probe. The tax investigation centers on his business dealings, the person said. Investigators did not reach out in the weeks prior to the election because of a Justice Department policy surrounding elections that prohibits overt investigative acts, one of the people said. "I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors," Hunter said in a statement. He has long been a target of President Donald Trump and his allies, who have accused him of profiting off his political connections. Trump and his supporters also raised charges of corruption related to Hunter Biden's work in Ukraine at the time his father was vice president.
US, states sue Facebook
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government and 48 states and districts sued Facebook Wednesday, accusing it of abusing its market power in social networking to crush smaller competitors and seeking remedies that could include a forced spinoff of the social network's Instagram and WhatsApp messaging services. The landmark antitrust lawsuits, announced by the Federal Trade Commission and New York Attorney General Letitia James, mark the second major government offensive this year against seemingly untouchable tech behemoths. The Justice Department sued Google in October for abusing its dominance in online search and advertising -- the government's most significant attempt to buttress competition since its historic case against Microsoft two decades ago. Amazon and Apple also have been under investigation in Congress and by federal authorities for alleged anticompetitive conduct. James noted at a press conference that "it's really critically important that we block this predatory acquisition of companies and that we restore confidence to the market." The FTC said Facebook has engaged in a "a systematic strategy" to eliminate its competition, including by purchasing smaller up-and-coming rivals like Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. James echoed that in her press conference, saying Facebook "used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users." The FTC fined Facebook $5 billion in 2019 for privacy violations and instituted new oversight and restrictions on its business. The fine was the largest the agency has ever levied on a tech company, although it had no visible impact on Facebook's business. Facebook called the government actions "revisionist history" that punishes successful businesses and noted that the FTC cleared the Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions years ago. "The government now wants a do-over, sending a chilling warning to American business that no sale is ever final," Facebook general counsel Jennifer Newstead said in a statement that echoed the company's response to a recent congressional antitrust probe. Facebook is the world's biggest social network with 2.7 billion users and a company with a market value of nearly $800 billion whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the world's fifth-richest individual and the most public face of Big Tech swagger.
Chemical plant blast kills 1
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- An explosion and fire at a West Virginia chemical plant that shook surrounding homes killed a plant worker and injured three other people. It happened after 10 p.m. Tuesday at Optima Chemicals Co., a tenant on the Chemours property site in the Kanawha County community of Belle, Chemours said in a statement. Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper said one person died Wednesday. In a statement, the victim's family identified him as plant worker John Gillenwater of Hurricane. "The family is devastated over the loss of their husband, father and friend John Gillenwater," the statement said. "John was beloved by many in his community and his church. Among the injured, another plant worker was hurt and one person was hit by debris.
Wichita feels 5 quakes in 2 weeks
LIBERTY, Mo. -- Five low intensity earthquakes have rattled part of the Wichita area since Thanksgiving, but a Kansas expert on seismic activity says residents of the state's largest city should not be overly concerned about a larger, more destructive quake occurring there. A quake with an estimated 2.6 magnitude was felt Wednesday morning in southeast Wichita, where four other quakes have been reported in the last two weeks. The strongest quake was magnitude 3.3 on Tuesday. Wichita media reported concerned residents calling emergency dispatchers after feeling the quakes and hearing booms associated with them, but no injuries or significant damage were reported. Geologists say damage is not likely in quakes below magnitude 4.0. Rick Miller, a senior scientist with the Kansas Geological Survey, said the area has a history of low-intensity earthquakes dating as far back as 1919. The affected region is along the western edge of the Nemaha Ridge, an "underground mountain" with several faults. He said KGS recorded nine earthquakes in the region in 2017-2018, but they were small enough that no one felt them. Historically, if an area experiences 10 magnitude 2.0 earthquakes, a magnitude 3.0 quake is likely to occur, he said. More smaller quakes are likely before the ridge "settles down," he said. "You can never predict with complete certainty, but we shouldn't expect anything in the damaging range," Miller said.
AP/John Raoux
Five of the astronauts that will be part of the Atremis missions, from left, Jessica Meir, Joe Acaba, Anne McClain, Matthew Dominick, and Jessica Watkins are introduced.
NASA names 18 astronauts
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has named the 18 astronauts -- half of them women -- who will train for its Artemis moon-landing program. The first woman and next man on the moon will come from this elite group. Vice President Mike Pence introduced the astronauts Wednesday at the close of his final meeting as chairman of the National Space Council. The announcement was made at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, beneath one of only three remaining Saturn V moon rockets from the 1960s and 1970s Apollo program. Pence noted that the last of the 12 men to walk on the moon, the late Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, wanted nothing more than to remove "last" from his title. Cernan's final lunar footsteps were on Dec. 14, 1972. "He spent the rest of his natural life advocating for America to go back to the moon, and we are going to honor Gene Cernan's memory," Pence told the small crowd, seated several feet apart from one another. Five of the astronauts -- the only ones in attendance -- walked onto the stage, waving and wearing masks. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine stressed there would be more astronauts joining the group. NASA has 47 active astronauts. The space agency is aiming for a moon landing by 2024, although the chances of that happening are growing increasingly dim. The upcoming change in administration also adds uncertainty. Half of the NASA astronauts have spaceflight experience. Two are at the International Space Station right now: Kate Rubins and Victor Glover. The two astronauts who performed the world's first all-female spacewalk last year made the cut: Christina Koch and Jessica Meir. It's a fairly young group, with most in their 30s or 40s. The oldest is 55, the youngest 32. Only two -- Joe Acaba and Stephanie Wilson -- flew on NASA's old space shuttles.
Women's HOF class named
SENECA FALLS, N.Y. -- "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin and Nobel laureate and "Beloved" author Toni Morrison will be inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame Thursday as part of a posthumous class of Black honorees that also includes Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were widely used in biomedical research; Barbara Hillary, the first Black woman to travel to both the North and South Poles, and civil rights activists Barbara Rose Johns Powell and Mary Church Terrell. The evening ceremony will be the first in a series of planned virtual inductions meant to correct a lack of diversity among honorees, hall officials said.
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Fully driverless cars in Frisco
SAN RAMON, Calif. -- General Motors' self-driving car company is sending vehicles without anybody behind the wheel in San Francisco as it navigates its way toward launching a robotic taxi service that would compete against Uber and Lyft in the hometown of the leading ride-hailing services. The move announced Wednesday by GM-owned Cruise come two months after the company received California's permission to fully driverless cars in the state. Like dozens of other companies testing the robotic technology, Cruise's self-driving cars have been allowed on California public streets for several years with humans poised behind the wheel to take over in an emergency. Now, Cruise is confident enough to send out its self-driving cars without that safety net, instead monitoring from remote locations and, at least initially, having a company employee sitting in the front passenger seat. That employee won't have access to the same controls as a backup driver and eventually won't be sitting in front, according to the company. "You're seeing fully driverless technology out of the (research and development) phase and into the beginning of the journey to being a real commercial product," Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said Wednesday. California regulators also recently approved new rules allowing ride-hailing services to pick up passengers in self-driving cars, but Cruise isn't going down that road yet. Instead, Ammann pledged the company will move cautiously while dispatching up to five fully driverless cars into parts of San Francisco initially. Cruise's employees most likely will be the only passengers initially riding in the fully driverless cars, just as they were when the company was testing the vehicles with a human backup behind the wheel.
F-16 crashes during training
STEUBEN, Mich. -- A Wisconsin-based fighter jet crashed in a national forest in Michigan's Upper Peninsula while on a training mission and searchers were looking Wednesday for the pilot, who was the only person aboard, authorities said. The F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the Wisconsin Air National Guard's 115th Fighter Wing at Truax Field Air National Guard Base in Madison crashed about 8 p.m. Tuesday, the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs said in a statement. The plane went down in Hiawatha National Forest, about 250 miles northeast of the base. Capt. Leslie Westmont, a spokeswoman for the 115th, said she had no new information late Wednesday afternoon.
Queen's granddaughter expecting
LONDON -- Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter Zara Tindall is pregnant with her third child, her husband announced Wednesday. Former rugby star Mike Tindall, who has two daughters with Zara -- 6-year-old Mia and 2-year-old Lena -- said he wanted their third child to be a boy. "It's been a good week for me, had a little scan last week -- third Tindall on its way," he said on a podcast he co-hosts. "I'd like a boy this time ... I'll love it whether a boy or a girl -- but please be a boy." A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the queen and her husband Philip are "delighted" by the news. Zara Tindall, Princess Anne's only daughter, has spoken about two miscarriages she had in the past. On Wednesday, her husband said she is "always careful because of things that have happened in the past, and really looking forward to it." While he declined to reveal the baby's due date, he joked about naming the child, saying "we're not sure what to do, Covi or Covina." The queen already has eight great-grandchildren.
Boeing 737 Max back in the air
RIO DE JANEIRO-- Commercial flights with Boeing 737 Max jetliners resumed Wednesday for the first time since they were grounded worldwide nearly two years ago following two deadly accidents. Brazil's Gol Airlines became the first in the world to return the planes to its active fleet, using a 737 Max 8 on a flight from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre, according to flightradar24.com. The company own announcement didn't specify the route of the flight. Gol is set to start regular service on Dec. 18, according to aviation data firm Cirium, with several daily flights between Sao Paulo and other major Brazilian cities. Customers will be able to exchange their tickets if they don't want to fly on a 737 Max, a Gol spokesperson told The Associated Press in an email. Several passengers at Sao Paulo's Guarulhos airport were surprised to learn they had traveled on a 737 Max aircraft, though it was marked on their ticket. Others were aware. "I was a bit apprehensive but my husband is a pilot, so I asked him. He said it was fine," said Lucelyn Jockyman, who texted her mother before takeoff. "If anything happens, look after my dogs please!" she joked. Gol, the country's largest airline with 36 million passengers annually, owns seven 737 Max aircraft, according to Cirium. It is the only Brazilian company with the model in its fleet.
OK: Make J&J pay $9.3B
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma has asked the state Supreme Court to order Johnson & Johnson to pay more than $9.3 billion to cover the entire anticipated cost of combatting the state's opioid crisis, arguing in its appeal that a lower court's award wasn't enough. Attorney General Mike Hunter made the request Monday, saying a court order last year that the pharmaceutical giant pay $465 million for its part in the oversupply of highly addictive painkillers would be sufficient to cover only one year of the state's abatement plan. The company appealed Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman's order in December 2019 and the state appealed in January. The company has argued the award should be reduced to offset pretrial settlements between the state and two other drugmakers, while the state has maintained that $465 million isn't enough to abate the crisis. "Nothing less than the fate of Oklahoma hangs in the balance," attorneys for the state told justices in an appeal brief. Hunter contends the judge erred because the "undisputed" evidence showed the crisis would take 20 years to abate, according to The Oklahoman. His team of attorneys is asking the state's high court to require Johnson & Johnson to pay $9,300,534,220 "to provide complete relief."
Neo-Nazi member gets prison
An Arizona man who joined other members of a neo-Nazi group in a coordinated campaign to threaten and harass journalists, activists and other targets on both U.S. coasts was sentenced Wednesday to 16 months in federal prison. Johnny Roman Garza, 21, expressed remorse before a federal judge in Seattle handed down the sentence, which was roughly half the length of the term recommended by prosecutors and a probation officer. Garza pleaded guilty in September to conspiring with other members of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division to deliver threatening messages to journalists' homes and other places in the U.S. On a Jewish journalist's bedroom window, Garza affixed a poster that depicted a man in a skull mask holding a Molotov cocktail in front of a burning home. The poster included the journalist's name and home address.
Band teacher's victim gets $2M
SEATTLE -- A school district in Washington state has agreed to a $2 million settlement after a woman sued over sexual abuse by a band teacher 30 years ago -- a trauma so profound she said it caused her to stop teaching music to children herself decades later. The band teacher, Michael Alstad, acknowledged in response to the lawsuit that he had sexual relations several times a week with student Maria Joyner beginning when he was in his early 30s and she was a high school junior in Aberdeen in 1989. He said he continued to engage in sexual contact with her even after her parents found out and confronted him. The abuse lasted until she left for college. "Music was so important to me and something I saw in my future," Joyner, now 47, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "But having something so traumatic happen to me from a mentor in the field greatly affected my ability to teach in the classroom. Being around 16-year-old girls and seeing how vulnerable and young they are brought back such memories." The settlement will be paid by the district's insurance, said Darrell Cochran, one of Joyner's attorneys. Her lawsuit alleged Alstad had previously abused a student in another school district. In the court document where Alstad, 63, admitted to sexual encounters with Joyner, he declined to address whether he had abused other students. "I decline to answer," he said in response to written questions from Joyner's lawyers. "Assuming for sake of argument that I did have such contact with another student, that student could now have a life that would be badly disrupted by involvement of any sort in this lawsuit. I would rather suffer whatever penalties the court might impose than answer this."
Kennedy: Greed the problem
WASHINGTON -- Retiring Rep. Joe Kennedy III used his farewell speech from Congress on Wednesday to deride the "great lie of our times" that the government lacks the resources and will to help people in need. He said the real problem is greed, not scarcity. Speaking for five minutes on the House floor, Kennedy, D-Mass., called his four terms in Congress an honor and said he was departing "proud and hopeful." But the only remaining member in Congress of the vaunted Kennedy political dynasty also said the U.S. was "a complicated and messy country." He said it had "violated our founding promises before the ink was dry," citing slavery and rights that initially applied largely to "rich, white and Protestant men." Kennedy, 40, said the country was gradually making progress, saying, "Our arc isn't clean, but it is clear." But without mentioning names or political parties, he called that progress "the counterweight to the great lie of our times: that the American pie is finite. That for my family to survive, yours must suffer. That the richest nation on Earth is somehow plagued by scarcity - rather than greed." He added, "Loosening that lie's grip on our country is the work of our generation. For the people who feel unseen, unheard and unpresented. For those most in need of assistance and protection, justice and opportunity, who have been told by their government that there is just no room or money or time or will. And that injustice is a reality etched in stone, rather than a deliberate choice by those in power, about who is worthy and who is not." Kennedy's remarks came three months after many progressives in his party opposed him in a Democratic primary in which he unsuccessfully challenged long-time liberal Sen. Ed Markey, 74. For decades, lawmakers from Kennedy's family have been associated with some of the most progressive causes of their day. Kennedy is the grandson of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, D-N.Y., who was assassinated in 1968. A member of that Kennedy family has been in Congress with little interruption since Robert Kennedy's brother, the future President John F. Kennedy, entered the House from Massachusetts in 1947. Current Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., is not a member of that family.
Pompeo unloads on universities
WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday accused U.S. universities of caving to Chinese pressure to blunt or bar criticism of the Chinese Communist Party. The attack, which included identifying two university administrators by name, comes as the Trump administration seeks to cement its anti-China policies before leaving office in January. Pompeo took aim at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Washington, claiming they refused to address President Donald Trump administration's concerns about China's attempts to influence students and academics. In doing so, he specifically called out the president of MIT and a senior official at the University of Washington for ignoring the matter. Both universities swiftly and emphatically denied the charges. Pompeo defended the Trump administration's tough stance on China in remarks at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Americans must know how the CCP is poisoning the well of our higher education for its own ends, and how those actions degrade our freedoms and our national security. If we don't educate ourselves, we'll get schooled by Beijing," he said. "They know that left-leaning college campuses are rife with anti-Americanism, and present easy target audiences for their anti-American messaging."
'Everything perfect' before crash
HARTFORD, Conn. -- The only surviving crew member of a World War II-era bomber that crashed in Connecticut last year, killing seven people, told investigators that "everything was perfect" before takeoff and he doesn't understand what went wrong, according to federal documents released Wednesday. Mitchell Melton was the mechanic aboard the four-engine, propeller-driven B-17G Flying Fortress bomber that crashed at Bradley International Airport north of Hartford on Oct. 2, 2019. He is a key witness in the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which has not yet determined the cause of the accident. Melton, 35, of Frankston, Texas, did say there were problems trying to start two of the plane's engines on the morning of the crash. But both started after he blew nitrogen into them to get rid of condensation than can build up on humid mornings -- a procedure that representatives of the plane's owner said is frequently used by airplane mechanics, but one an NTSB official said is "not a documented maintenance procedure," according to the documents. The other two engines started without a problem, and the flight was ready for takeoff, he said. Aboard were Melton, the pilot and co-pilot, along with 10 passengers who paid $450 to fly aboard the aircraft. The plane was featured among a traveling vintage airplane show run by the Collings Foundation, based in Stow, Massachusetts. "And that morning, everything was perfect," Melton told NTSB investigators. "I mean, we had no drop, we had no backfire. We had nothing. I mean, there was no reason not to fly, you know." The plane crashed into a maintenance building at the airport while trying to land after the No. 4 engine began losing power shortly after takeoff, the NTSB said. Melton told officials that the No. 4 was the best-running engine of the four.
Chinese Americans honored
WASHINGTON -- Seventy-five years after World War II ended, Congress is honoring thousands of Chinese Americans who served the United States in the war, earning citations for heroism -- including the Medal of Honor -- despite discrimination that included limits on numbers allowed in the U.S. Nearly 20,000 people of Chinese ancestry served in the U.S. military during World War II, including about 40 percent who were not U.S. citizens due to laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act. That law made it illegal for Chinese laborers to immigrate to America and limited the Chinese population in the U.S. for more than 60 years. Chinese Americans served in all major branches of the military, including the so-called Flying Tigers, the 14th Air Service that flew missions in the China-Burma-India Theater. For their service to the nation during the war, Chinese-American veterans were honored at a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony Wednesday. "Despite coming from different backgrounds, Chinese-American service members fought alongside their fellow Americans with a shared love for their country,'' said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Chinese Americans "flew bomber missions over Europe, served on our ships in the Pacific, stormed the beaches of Normandy and fought in the Battle of the Bulge and helped liberate Central Europe,'' Takano said during an online ceremony Wednesday. The ceremony was originally scheduled in April but postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. "With this honor, we are telling a more complete story of the people who fought for the United States during World War II and the personal and systemic challenges they faced.,'' Takano said. Separately, Army Capt. Francis B. Wai had been awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military award given by the United States. He was killed while saving fellow soldiers during an attack in the Philippines.
Biden eyes Tai as top trade envoy
WASHINGTON -- President-elect Joe Biden is set to nominate Katherine Tai to be the top U.S. trade envoy, according to two people familiar with his plans. Tai, who is chief trade counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee, will be tapped as the U.S. Trade Representative, according to the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about it. The role is a Cabinet position, and the Senate will vote on whether to confirm Tai for the position. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Tai earlier oversaw China trade enforcement for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, setting U.S. strategy in trade disputes with China. Biden's trade representative will inherit a trade war with China, put on pause by an interim trade pact in January that left many of the hardest issues unresolved and U.S. taxes remaining on $360 billion in Chinese imports. As the top trade staffer at Ways and Means, Tai handled negotiations last year with the Trump administration over a revamped North American trade deal. Under pressure from congressional Democrats, Trump's trade team agreed to strengthen the pact to make it easier for Mexican workers to form independent unions and demand better pay and benefits -- decreasing the incentives for U.S. firms to move south of the border to take advantage of cheap and compliant labor.