The New York Times - 08.10.2019

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2019 B1

N

TECH ECONOMY MEDIA FINANCE

3 MEDIA

Kevin Delaney is stepping

down as editor in chief and

co-chief executive of the

digital publication Quartz.

4HEALTH

A study has found up to 25

percent of health care

spending in the U.S. is

wasteful.

11 SPORTS

A game between Ohio State

and Michigan State brought

a festive atmosphere with an

uncomfortable undercurrent.

WASHINGTON — The Trump ad-

ministration has begun inserting

legal protections into recent trade

agreements that shield online

platforms like Facebook, Twitter

and YouTube from lawsuits, a

move that could help lock in

America’s tech-friendly regula-

tions around the world even as

they are being newly questioned

at home.

The protections, which stem

from a 1990s law, have already

been tucked into the administra-

tion’s two biggest trade deals —

the United States-Mexico-Canada

Agreement and a pact with Japan

that President Trump signed on

Monday. American negotiators

have proposed including the lan-

guage in other prospective deals,

including with the European Un-

ion, Britain and members of the

World Trade Organization.

The administration’s push is the

latest salvo in a global fight over

who sets the rules for the internet.

While the rules for trading goods

have largely been written — often

by the United States — the world

has far fewer standards for digital

products. Countries are rushing

into this vacuum, and in most

U.S. Trade Deals Slip In

Protections for Big Tech

By DAVID MCCABE

and ANA SWANSON

CONTINUED ON PAGE B5

SAN FRANCISCO — California’s big-
gest utility is battling for its fu-
ture. And it’s not a simple fight.
Wildfire victims are joining
forces with bondholders to con-
test its bankruptcy plan. Hedge
funds are arrayed on both sides.
Shareholders could come away
winners or losers — and so could
customers.
The competing interests are
colliding in a San Francisco court-
room where a judge is sorting out
the restructuring of the utility, Pa-
cific Gas & Electric.
PG&E is struggling to control

its destiny, and even to remain in-

tact. On Monday, as others sought

to take the matter out of its hands,

it bought more time. But the big-

gest question came no closer to

resolution: how many billions of

dollars it needs to set aside for

damage, injuries and deaths that

its equipment has caused.

That liability, the biggest vari-

able in PG&E’s financial outlook,

is entangled in a web of legal and

political proceedings.

PG&E’s reorganization plan

calls for a $20.4 billion fund that

would allocate $12 billion for in-

surance claim holders and public

By LAUREN HEPLER

and PETER EAVIS

CONTINUED ON PAGE B6

As Stakeholders Circle,

Utility Fights for Future

After last year’s Paradise fire, Pacific Gas & Electric filed for bankruptcy.

JOSH EDELSON/A.F.P. — GETTY IMAGES

BEIJING — When supplies of China’s fa-

vorite meat run low, Beijing calls upon its

strategic pork reserve, a name that brings

to mind vast piles of sausages, bacon and

spareribs housed in secret underground

vaults across the country.

That’s not quite how it works. But China’s

pork reserve is real, and it is basically a car-

nivore’s version of the Strategic Petroleum

Reserve, which keeps the United States

flush with oil during emergencies. Pork

prices in China today are skyrocketing, the

result of an epidemic that is ravaging the

country’s hogs, and the government has

been drawing upon its reserves to lift sup-

plies for shoppers.

The trade war with the United States

hasn’t helped — China’s retaliatory tariffs

have made imports of American food and

agriculture products more expensive. As

the two countries’ negotiators meet this

week in Washington for another round of

trade talks, ballooning grocery bills are

adding to the pressure on Beijing to reach a

deal.

Last month, 30,000 metric tons of pork

from the national reserve was sold into the

market ahead of Oct. 1, the 70th anniversa-

ry of modern China’s founding. A batch of

9,600 tons was released in January, before

Chinese New Year. Local governments

have also tapped their stores.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY GILLES SABRIÉ FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Stockpiling Hogs for a Rainy Day

China taps into its strategic pork reserve as a ravaging disease and the trade war send prices soaring.

By WANG YIWEI

and RAYMOND ZHONG

CONTINUED ON PAGE B6

Buyers examining the offerings at a wholesale

meat market in Beijing. An epidemic is culling

China’s hogs, and the trade war isn’t helping.