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By Rajesh Kumar Singh and Doyinsola Oladipo NEW YORK (Reuters) -In a fleet optimization move, Spirit Airlines will reject its commitment to buy 52 Airbus planes along with its options for 10 others. The aircraft orders will be taken over by aircraft lessor AerCap. This three-way agreement is part of a dispute settlement between Spirit and AerCap, which was approved on Friday by U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The conflict with the world's largest aircraft leasing company was the trigger for pushing Spirit into its second bankruptcy. In late August, AerCap unexpectedly terminated the lease agreements for 36 new Airbus A320neo family jets that were scheduled for delivery to Spirit between 2027 and 2028. It also claimed default on the leases for 37 aircraft already in the carrier's operational fleet. Spirit disputed the validity of AerCap's claims. But with access to a large portion of its current and future fleet jeopardized, the company was forced to seek bankruptcy protection. As part of the settlement between the two companies, Spirit will reject 27 out of the 37 leases it holds. AerCap, meanwhile, was granted permission to keep and use $9.7 million in cash security deposits that Spirit provided for the canceled aircraft leases. The Irish leasing giant also has been granted permission to file a total unsecured claim of up to $572 million against Spirit. It is not clear yet how much it will be able to collect on that claim. Spirit will give up all its rights to the 36 undelivered jets. Additionally, it will sign new lease agreements with AerCap for 30 new Airbus A320 or A321 airplanes for deliveries spread equally across 2027, 2028 and 2029. As part of the deal, AerCap will make a cash injection of $150 million into the bankrupt airline. Separately, Spirit said the court has also approved a debtor-in-possession ("DIP") financing facility of up to $475 million from its existing bondholders. Of the total financing, $200 million is immediately available to the carrier. In a statement, Spirit said the agreement allows it to reduce operating costs by hundreds of millions of dollars. Spirit plans to shrink its operations to reduce its costs. It has decided to furlough approximately 1,800 flight attendants, about one-third of its cabin crew, effective December 1. The carrier, which currently operates 214 aircraft, also plans to shrink its fleet by nearly 100 aircraft, nearly half of its fleet. (Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in New York and Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; Editing by Diane Craft)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States could impose export controls on Boeing plane parts as part of Washington's response to Chinese export limits on rare earth minerals, President Donald Trump said on Friday. "We have many things, including a big thing is airplane. They (China) have a lot of Boeing planes, and they need parts, and lots of things like that," Trump told reporters at the White House, when asked what items could the U.S. impose export controls on. Chinese airlines have orders for at least 222 Boeing jets, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company. The country has 1,855 Boeing airplanes in service. The vast majority of planes on order and in service are Boeing's popular 737 single-aisle jet. (Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington and Dan Catchpole in Seattle; Writing by Ismail Shakil; Editing by Chris Reese)

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By Trevor Hunnicutt WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump revived the trade war against Beijing on Friday, ending an uneasy truce between the two largest economies with promises to sharply hike tariffs in a reprisal against China curbing its critical mineral exports. The president unveiled additional levies of 100% on China's U.S.-bound exports, along with new export controls on "any and all critical software" by November 1, nine days before existing tariff relief is set to expire. Trump also called into question the prospects for a previously announced meeting set for three weeks from now with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, saying on Truth Social that "now there seems to be no reason to do so." "I haven't canceled," Trump later told reporters at the White House. "I would assume we might have it." Beijing has never confirmed the meeting. The new trade steps were Trump's reaction to China dramatically expanding its rare earth element export controls. China dominates the market for such elements, which are essential to tech manufacturing. "It was shocking," Trump said of China's steps, which did not specifically target Washington. "I thought it was very, very bad." The actions signaled the biggest rupture in relations in six months between Beijing and Washington – the world's biggest factory and its biggest consumer. Many questioned whether an uneasy economic detente reached over the summer can survive. It was a swift and dramatic response by Trump, a Republican who has wielded tariffs paid by U.S. importers against friends and foes. It could escalate a trade war that Washington and Beijing paused earlier this year after painstaking diplomacy. Experts said restrictions on U.S. software shipments to China could be a massive blow to the country's tech industry, including cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Trump also threatened new export controls on airplanes and airplane parts, and a person familiar with the matter said the administration was sketching out other possible targets. Beijing has long called for Washington to abandon unilateral trade restrictions it says undermine global commerce. MARKETS DIVE ON NEW THREATS Trump's trade threats – delivered in a series of social media posts and a public back-and-forth with reporters – sent markets and relations between the world's largest economies into a spiral. China produces over 90% of the world's processed rare earths and rare earth magnets. Many are vital materials in products ranging from electric vehicles to aircraft engines and military radars. Trump's unexpected broadside shook global financial markets, sending the benchmark S&P 500 Index sliding by more than 2%, its biggest one-day drop since April when a steady barrage of tariff announcements by Trump stoked market volatility. Investors fled into the safe haven of gold and U.S. Treasury securities, and the U.S. dollar weakened against a basket of foreign currencies. Tech stocks piled on losses in after-market trading after Trump detailed the tariff and export control measures. "Trump's post could mark the beginning of the end of the tariff truce," said Craig Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Singleton said Washington viewed China's export control steps as a betrayal. "Beijing appears to have overplayed its hand." In his first social media post on Friday, Trump said China has been sending letters to countries worldwide saying it planned to impose export controls on every element of production related to rare earths. The reference to letters was an apparent reference to Beijing's policy papers. Trump said he had been contacted by unnamed countries incensed over Beijing's steps and said he was surprised because of the "very good" recent relationship with China. TRUMP CONDEMNS BEIJING'S 'HOSTILE ORDER' Terming China's actions a "hostile order," Trump said he had been forced "to financially counter their move." "For every Element that they have been able to monopolize, we have two," Trump said. The White House and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the U.S. Trade Representative declined comment on what countermeasures Trump was contemplating while a spokesperson for the U.S. Treasury did not respond to a request for comment. The two offices have led talks with Beijing on trade. Economic tensions had been rising in recent days. On Thursday, the Trump administration proposed banning Chinese airlines from flying over Russia on routes to and from the U.S. On Friday, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on major U.S. online retail websites have removed millions of listings for prohibited Chinese electronics. China's move on Thursday included adding five new elements as well as dozens of pieces of refining technology to its export-restricting control list. It also required foreign rare earth producers that use Chinese materials to comply with its rules. Analysts said the stakes had risen for a positive outcome from a Trump-Xi summit, if it still happens, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum starting October 31 in South Korea. "Things are going to get interesting," said Scott Kennedy, a China business and economics expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. "They both are hoping that amping up pressure will lead the other to make concessions in advance of APEC, or they are now re-escalating assuming a deal at APEC is impossible and are gaining leverage for the next round of the fight." (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Jarrett Renshaw, Steve Holland, David Lawder and Maiya Keidan; Editing by Dan Burns, Deepa Babington and David Gregorio)

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By Lisa Baertlein and David Lawder (Reuters) -The United States Trade Representative's office said on Friday it would modify certain maritime-related fees for foreign-built vehicle carriers and liquefied natural gas vessels ahead of port fees on China-linked ships slated to go into effect next week. USTR said in a statement that fees on operators of foreign-built vehicle carriers would be $46 per net ton, effective on October 14. That is below a fee of $150 per net ton originally proposed in April, seen by the industry as prohibitive, but well above an adjusted fee of $14 per net ton proposed on June 12. USTR also is eliminating, retroactive to April 17, a provision permitting the suspension of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export licenses if certain restrictions on the use of foreign-built vessels were not met. And it added a carve-out from fees for certain ethane and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers under long-term charter arrangements. USTR in February proposed the actions to counter China's rising maritime dominance and to restore American shipbuilding. But its original proposals were largely watered down amid pressure from industry, which called them overly punitive and said they would have stifled a U.S. shipbuilding revival. The move came on the same day as Beijing retaliated against U.S. port fees taking effect on Wednesday for China-built, owned or operated vessels. China said it would impose levies on calls by ships built or flagged in the United States, or owned by companies with at least 25% of their shares or board seats held by U.S. investment funds. CRANE, CARGO EQUIPMENT TARIFFS USTR also said it would impose 100% tariffs on certain ship-to-shore cranes from China and some cargo-handling equipment, including intermodal chassis for trucks hauling containers. The agency reaffirmed it would not impose tariffs on ship-to-shore cranes ordered before April 17. USTR said it has decided not to impose duties on intermodal shipping containers due to the potential impact on domestic carriers. USTR also proposed further modifications to its action taken in April, imposing additional tariffs of up to 150% on certain cargo-handling equipment, including rubber-tire gantry cranes, and components of such equipment. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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By Vallari Srivastava and Curtis Williams (Reuters) -Venture Global shares plunged nearly 25% on Friday to their lowest level in five months after it lost an arbitration case with BP over the U.S. LNG exporter's failure to deliver on a long-term gas supply contract, stoking worries of similar verdicts in disputes with other customers seeking billions of dollars in compensation. The ruling was a surprise after Venture Global's recent arbitration win against Shell. BP is seeking more than $1 billion in damages plus interest and legal costs, with the final amount to be determined in a separate hearing in 2026. Venture Global, the second-largest U.S. liquefied natural gas supplier, is facing other arbitration claims with customers seeking compensation of more than $4 billion linked to the delayed commercial start-up of the Calcasieu Pass project in Louisiana, according to the company's 2024 annual report.  The company previously warned that losing current or future arbitration cases could result in significant financial penalties, the termination of some gas supply contracts, and accelerated repayment of project debt. All of the companies that have filed arbitration are seeking compensation, and none of them have sought to terminate their contracts in their proceedings, Venture Global has said. It is unclear why the result of the BP arbitration was different to the Shell case, and whether the outcome was due to differences in contracts or in the company's legal strategies. PENDING ARBITRATION CASES COULD BRING ADDITIONAL DAMAGES Deutsche Bank said in a note to clients on Friday that the latest outcome pushed it to revise the risk that Venture Global will face negative decisions from the remaining arbitrations to 50%. Venture Global told analysts on Thursday that the BP ruling has no impact on its current sale and purchase agreement with the company, according to two people who recounted the call to Reuters. Gabriel Moreen, a managing director at Mizuho Securities, called the ruling a "negative surprise," saying it introduces uncertainty for the remaining claims. "How two arbitrations over the exact same facts and circumstances led to two different outcomes is perhaps more a comment on the arbitrary nature of unilateral decision-making in arbitration hearings than anything else," J.P. Morgan analysts wrote in a note to clients on Friday. Should the company lose the remaining arbitration cases, it could face damages in the vicinity of $4.8 billion. If it continues to see split results, however, the total damages would be closer to $2.9 billion, the analysts said. The Venture Global share drop looked set to wipe out nearly $8 billion from the company's market valuation, if current losses hold. Since the company's initial public offering in January, its shares have fallen almost 61%.  The stock declines also reflect ongoing investor caution over LNG commissioning risks.  Venture Global is expanding its production amid surging global demand, with the U.S. becoming the world's top LNG supplier in 2023. CALCASIEU PROJECT IN SPOTLIGHT In addition to BP and Shell, Italy's Edison, Portugal's Galp, Spain's Repsol, and Poland's Orlen have filed arbitration claims accusing Venture Global of profiteering by selling LNG cargoes at higher spot market prices, rather than delivering them under long-term contracts. Edison and Repsol told Reuters they were still pursuing their arbitration cases against Venture Global. Orlen declined to comment, but said it remains in arbitration with the U.S. company. Venture Global has argued that the Calcasieu Pass export facility start-up was unavoidably delayed and could not reach the status of commercial operations for almost three years, even though it was exporting the superchilled gas from the plant. Long-term contracts did not take effect until the plant reached commercial operations in April 2025. Citi said the arbitration result was "unexpected," adding that the tighter language in BP's contract likely contributed to the outcome. The International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration found that Venture Global had breached its obligations to declare commercial operations had begun at the Calcasieu Pass plant in a timely manner and act as a "reasonable and prudent operator," the company said on Thursday. Venture Global said it is evaluating all options and will continue to vigorously defend its position. A SEPARATE ARBITRATION DISPUTE WAS SETTLED The settlement of a separate arbitration dispute with Venture Global, meanwhile, involved Unipec, a trading unit of Chinese state-owned oil and gas firm Sinopec, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Venture Global first announced the resolution on Thursday without disclosing the other party involved, adding the agreement would have no material impact on its business. Unipec had previously entered into a fixed-price, three-year take-or-pay sales purchase agreement for one million metric tons per annum from Calcasieu Pass, according to a regulatory filing in March. While it did not name the company, Venture Global also said at the time that a mid-term customer had been seeking damages of around $200 million. The Chinese firm sued for arbitration in late 2023, becoming one of seven Venture Global customers to ultimately do so, claiming the U.S. supplier breached its contract by selling cargoes on the spot market before honoring its long-term purchase agreement. Venture Global declined to comment about Unipec when contacted by Reuters. Unipec did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru and Curtis Williams in Houston; Additional reporting by Marwa Rashan in London, Francesca Landini in Milan and Marek Strzelecki in Warsaw; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Nathan Crooks, Paul and Diane Craft)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Lisa Baertlein and David Lawder (Reuters) -The United States Trade Representative's office said on Friday it would modify certain maritime-related fees for foreign-built vehicle carriers and liquefied natural gas vessels ahead of port fees on China-linked ships slated to go into effect next week. USTR said in a statement that fees on operators of foreign-built vehicle carriers would be $46 per net ton, effective on October 14. That is below a fee of $150 per net ton originally proposed in April, seen by the industry as prohibitive, but well above an adjusted fee of $14 per net ton proposed on June 12. USTR also is eliminating, retroactive to April 17, a provision permitting the suspension of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export licenses if certain restrictions on the use of foreign-built vessels were not met. And it added a carve-out from fees for certain ethane and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers under long-term charter arrangements. USTR in February proposed the actions to counter China's rising maritime dominance and to restore American shipbuilding. But its original proposals were largely watered down amid pressure from industry, which called them overly punitive and said they would have stifled a U.S. shipbuilding revival. The move came on the same day as Beijing retaliated against U.S. port fees taking effect on Wednesday for China-built, owned or operated vessels. China said it would impose levies on calls by ships built or flagged in the United States, or owned by companies with at least 25% of their shares or board seats held by U.S. investment funds. CRANE, CARGO EQUIPMENT TARIFFS USTR also said it would impose 100% tariffs on certain ship-to-shore cranes from China and some cargo-handling equipment, including intermodal chassis for trucks hauling containers. The agency reaffirmed it would not impose tariffs on ship-to-shore cranes ordered before April 17. USTR said it has decided not to impose duties on intermodal shipping containers due to the potential impact on domestic carriers. USTR also proposed further modifications to its action taken in April, imposing additional tariffs of up to 150% on certain cargo-handling equipment, including rubber-tire gantry cranes, and components of such equipment. (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and David Lawder in Washington; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday that air traffic control staffing issues delayed travel for a fifth straight day as major U.S. airlines urged air travelers to be patient during an ongoing government shutdown. More than 6,400 flights were delayed on Friday – and 470 canceled – after 22,000 had been delayed since Monday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Air travel is expected to rise in the United States during the three-day Columbus Day holiday weekend. The FAA said late on Friday it was experiencing staffing issues in Chicago, New York, Newark, San Diego, Dallas, Washington and Phoenix, among other airports. A temporary evacuation of the Atlanta air traffic control tower Friday due to a fire alarm and reports of a strong natural gas odor also snarled flights. Airlines were urging passengers to be patient. "It is safe to fly, but ATC staffing shortages strain the system and cause flights to be spaced out, slowing down everything," said Airlines for America, the trade group representing American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and other major carriers, warning of delays or cancellations. "The bottom line is that anyone heading to the airport right now is encouraged to pack their patience." Air traffic control has become a flashpoint in the debate over the shutdown with both parties blaming the other. The Trump administration on Thursday began airing videos at security checkpoints blaming Democrats. The head of the FAA said earlier the agency is facing continuing air traffic control staffing shortages as a U.S. government shutdown entered its 10th day but emphasized safety would not be compromised. "Staffing shortages have increased across the country," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in an email to employees. "Safety will never be compromised. When staffing constraints occur, we will reduce the flow of air traffic into affected airports and centers to maintain safe operations." Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must still turn up for work during the government shutdown, but they are not being paid. Controllers are set to receive a partial paycheck on October 14 for work performed before the shutdown. In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks, extending checkpoint wait times at some airports. Authorities were forced to slow air traffic in New York, which put pressure on lawmakers to quickly end the standoff. The U.S. has faced an air traffic controller staffing shortage for more than a decade, and many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown. The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Thursday that air traffic controllers who repeatedly fail to show up for work during the government shutdown could be fired. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter, Diane Craft and Tom Hogue)

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