The world’s two largest economies dominated headlines overnight on Wednesday, as Washington officially ended its record-breaking 43-day government shutdown and Beijing intensified tax scrutiny on cross-border e-commerce.
Meanwhile, Microsoft secured deeper technological access to OpenAI’s chip development efforts, and the US House of Representatives moved closer to a long-awaited vote on unsealing the Jeffrey Epstein case files.
White House orders return to work, ending the longest US shutdown
The White House announced on Wednesday that federal employees would return to work on Thursday, officially ending the longest government shutdown in US history after 43 days of closures, furloughs, and service disruptions.
The decision followed President Donald Trump’s signing of a temporary funding bill late Wednesday night, reopening government operations through January 30.
“Agencies should take all necessary steps to ensure that offices open in a prompt and orderly manner on November 13, 2025,” the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in a memo.
“Employees who were on furlough due to the absence of appropriations should be directed to return to work on November 13,” the statement added.
Roughly 600,000 federal employees were furloughed during the shutdown, which began on October 1.
The halt in funding shuttered hundreds of offices, delayed payments, and froze billions of dollars in salaries and government contracts.
The reopening offers a temporary reprieve for agencies and workers, but the short-term funding measure leaves open the possibility of another shutdown early next year unless a longer-term deal is reached.
China demands e-commerce platforms hand over sales data
Chinese tax authorities have reportedly ordered major e-commerce platforms, including Amazon.com Inc., Alibaba’s AliExpress, Temu, and Shein, to submit merchant sales data for the first time, in a rare move to combat widespread underreporting and tax evasion among exporters.
Tax bureaus across China requested third-quarter sales figures from online retailers, aiming to close revenue gaps in cross-border trade, as per a Bloomberg report.
Amazon began sharing the data in mid-October, while Chinese-origin competitors complied earlier after similar directives.
The authorities are not accusing the platforms themselves of wrongdoing. Instead, the goal is to obtain a clearer picture of merchants’ actual sales volumes, which insiders say often far exceed what is reported to tax bureaus.
Merchants who amend their filings to align with platform data could face value-added taxes of up to 13% plus corporate levies, potentially wiping out profit margins, the sources told the publication.
The crackdown signals Beijing’s growing emphasis on tightening oversight of its sprawling e-commerce export ecosystem.
Microsoft deepens partnership with OpenAI for custom AI chips
Microsoft Corp. plans to leverage its partnership with OpenAI to access the startup’s advances in custom artificial intelligence semiconductors, part of an extended collaboration between the two companies.
“As they innovate even at the system level, we get access to all of it,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during a podcast appearance.
“We first want to instantiate what they build for them, but then we’ll extend it.”
The updated agreement grants Microsoft access to OpenAI’s models through 2032 and to its research efforts through 2030, or until a designated expert panel declares that artificial general intelligence (AGI) has been achieved.
The deal excludes consumer hardware, preserving OpenAI’s independent intellectual property in that area.
OpenAI is designing chips and networking hardware in partnership with Broadcom Inc., while Microsoft continues to develop its own AI-focused processors.
However, the company has faced slower progress in its chip division compared with rivals like Alphabet’s Google, which already deploys its proprietary Tensor Processing Units in its data centres.
US House to vote next week on release of Epstein files
US House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Wednesday that he would bring to the floor next week a bill requiring the Justice Department to release files related to deceased financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“We are gonna put that on the floor for [a] full vote next week, [as] soon as we get back,” Johnson told reporters.
The move came hours after Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona was sworn in to Congress, becoming the 218th and final signature on a discharge petition mandating a vote on the legislation.
Grijalva, who succeeded her late father, Representative Raúl Grijalva, said during her remarks: “Justice cannot wait another day. Adelante.”
Under House rules, Johnson was not obligated to hold the vote until early December, making his decision to schedule it for next week earlier than anticipated.
Johnson has voiced opposition to the bill, but the petition process prevents him from indefinitely delaying a floor vote.
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