Friday, June 7, 2019 | View in browser

Good morning,

We’re covering negotiations to avert U.S. tariffs against Mexico, the end of the Fiat-Renault merger and the Women’s World Cup.

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

A migrant being detained at a checkpoint in Mexico. Daniele Volpe for The New York Times

Deadline for Mexico tariffs nears

Talks between the U.S. and Mexico appeared to be making progress toward averting a sharp tax increase on Mexican goods starting Monday.

Any final decision would await the return of President Trump from Europe. He has threatened to use emergency powers to impose the tariffs — an atypical use of the law that goes beyond his predecessors.

Details: The arrangement being discussed would require migrants to seek asylum in the first safe country they enter.

Mexico has pledged to send thousands of troops to the border, if a deal is reached.

Analysis: Diplomats on both sides of the border and immigration experts say that Mexico could step up enforcement at the border and provide more humanitarian relief to migrants, but that completely stemming the flow of migrants would be nearly impossible.

Impact: Consumers across the U.S. would be affected if the tariffs were imposed. These are the states that would be hardest hit.

Huawei makes a deal in Russia

The Chinese telecommunications giant signed a memorandum of understanding to build part of Russia’s high-speed 5G wireless network on Thursday, the first day of a three-day visit by President Xi Jinping of China.

The Trump administration continues to view Huawei with skepticism and has been trying to convince its allies that the company could enable Chinese espionage, turning the company into a flash point in the wider U.S.-China trade war.

Huawei has long denied the allegations and is suing the U.S. government over what it calls an unfair ban.

Escalation: On Thursday, China’s commerce ministry said it planned to draw up its own list of “unreliable” foreign companies soon, a move that is widely seen as retaliation against the U.S.

Impact: The U.S. campaign to shut out Huawei raises the possibility that the world would be divided, country by country, as the new wireless network develops.

A potential auto merger crumbles

Fiat Chrysler abruptly withdrew its offer to merge with Renault, abandoning a deal that would have created the third-largest automaker and fundamentally reshaped the industry.

Shares of both companies were down on the news.

Details: The sudden collapse occurred because the French government — Renault’s largest shareholder — wanted to protect jobs in France, according to one person involved.

Go deeper: The bid underscored the urgency that global automakers face as the industry transitions to electric vehicles and self-driving cars.

Jialun Deng

#NoPerfectVictim challenges rape culture in China

A heavily edited surveillance video that shows a young woman inviting Richard Liu, the Chinese e-commerce billionaire, into her apartment is being used as proof to cast her as a “gold digger” and undermine her rape allegations against him.

But some are pushing back, our New New World columnist Li Yuan found, using hashtags like #NoPerfectVictim to fuel an intense, often vicious debate about consent in a country where discussion of gender issues and rape has been muted — and sometimes suppressed by the government.

Reminder: Mr. Liu, the founder of JD.com, was arrested last year in Minneapolis after the young woman accused him of raping her after a business dinner. The prosecutors in Minnesota declined to charge Mr. Liu. His accuser, a 21-year-old student at the University of Minnesota, is seeking damages of more than $50,000.

If you have 7 minutes, this is worth it

Fears for Japan’s recluses

Carl Court/Getty Images

In Japan, 1.2 million people identify as hikikomori — extreme recluses who hole up in their parents’ or relatives’ homes, rarely engaging with the outside world for months at a time.

They have long been stigmatized in a country where acknowledging mental illness is a strong taboo. But psychiatrists and advocates worry that two recent outbreaks of violence connected to hikikomori may leave them even more vilified.

Here’s what else is happening

D-Day: President Trump, President Emmanuel Macron of France and dozens of World War II veterans commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion, reflecting on the lives lost then and the strength of partnerships between Allied nations since. (We also collected photos from the invasion.)

Hong Kong: A gay civil servant and his husband are entitled to spousal benefits and a joint tax return, Hong Kong’s top court has ruled. It’s the latest example of an Asian government expanding rights for same-sex couples.

Taiwan: Han Kuo-yu, a member of the opposition Kuomintang party who wants friendlier ties with China, announced he was running for president in the election next year against the incumbent, Tsai Ing-wen, who rejects Beijing’s claims over Taiwan. The party’s primary is next month.

Australia: A doctor invented a device that blocks physical cravings and implanted it into thousands of Australians as a way to combat opioid abuse, which American researchers are now examining as a potential answer to the opioid crisis in the U.S.

U.S.: A doctor has been charged with killing 25 patients over four years by prescribing fatal doses of fentanyl, a powerful opioid, to critical-care patients at hospitals in and around Columbus, Ohio.

Germany: A former nurse was convicted of murdering 85 patients and given a life sentence. The authorities said he may have killed up to 300 between 2000 and 2005 and is believed to be the most prolific serial killer in peacetime Germany.

Matthew Abbott for The New York Times

Snapshot: Above, a crocodile in Lospalos, East Timor. Crocodile attacks have increased 20-fold in the past decade, numbering at least one death a month in a country of 1.2 million people. Scientists are trying to determine why.

Stonewall: New York City’s police commissioner apologized for the actions of his department during the Stonewall Riots in 1969, when officers raided a gay club, the Stonewall Inn, setting off clashes widely regarded as a turning point for the gay rights movement.

Women’s World Cup: A year after France’s men’s team won soccer’s World Cup, the women’s team is looking for similar success, starting with its first match today against South Korea.

French Open: Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem sailed through the quarterfinals at Roland Garros on Thursday, joining Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for the semifinals on Friday. In the women’s tournament, an unseeded, 17-year-old American, Amanda Anisimova, upset Simone Halep, the defending French Open champion, in the quarterfinals.

What we’re reading: This sobriety guide from Vice. Jenna Wortham, a writer on The Times Magazine, says it offers “a super helpful toolkit for maintaining intentions and boundaries during one of the most celebratory and liberating times of the year — Pride!”

Now, a break from the news

Craig Lee for The New York Times

Cook: Fresh cinnamon makes a big difference for snickerdoodles.

Go: There’s a quieter side to Majorca, the breezy island off the coast of mainland Spain. We have recommendations for a weekend there.

Watch: Twenty-five years after causing a sensation with its frank depictions of sex, drugs and L.G.B.T. lives, “Tales of the City” is being revived by Netflix. Here’s a refresher on where things left off.

Read: Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark share practical wisdom in “Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered,” which is a No. 1 debut on our advice, how-to and miscellaneous best-seller list.

Smarter Living: In the age of global warming, traveling is a fraught choice. Our reporter ventured to calculate the carbon footprint of his own family’s vacation, and found emissions that could melt about 90 square feet of Arctic ice, an area about the size of a pickup truck. He was surprised to find that cruise ships emit more carbon dioxide than jets. He’s still going to travel, but judiciously — and after buying carbon offsets.

And the Wirecutter team found only a few cases when single-use batteries beat rechargeables.

And now for the Back Story on …

The endurance of Goth

Goths haven’t disappeared. They’ve just gone to Leipzig.

About 20,000 black-clad music fans are expected in this eastern German city for the 28th annual Wave-Gotik-Treffen, opening today.

We’re not talking gothic architecture (think Notre-Dame) or gothic literature (think “Wuthering Heights”), or even, really, the Teutonic tribes of the third century.

Participants of the Wave and Goth festival last year in Leipzig, Germany. Axel Schmidt/Reuters

These goths hark back to the youth subculture that branched out of early 1980s punk music, particularly two bands: The Cure and Bauhaus.

This year’s festival has more than 200 artists performing over four days, in addition to Renaissance fairs, Viking shops, film premieres and literary readings.

Goth is as much a fashion aesthetic as a musical one, and Leipzig will be awash in heavily made-up vampires, pagans, Victorians and pretty much anything to do with horror, decadence and the dark side.

Germany is “almost single-handedly keeping goth alive,” wrote Alice Pattillo last month in “20 Reasons Why Goth Will Never Die.”

Yesterday, our “What we’re reading” incorrectly identified David Young as a talent agency head. He is the head of the union representing Hollywood writers.

And my colleagues will be filling in on the briefing next week while I take a vacation.

— Alisha

Thank you
To Mark Josephson, Eleanor Stanford and Kenneth R. Rosen for the break from the news. Victoria Shannon, on the briefings team, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is Part 1 of a two-part series about a genetic database that is transforming law enforcement and testing the limits of privacy.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: What the abbreviation “i.e.” stands for (5 letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• The New York Times pop music critic Jon Caramanica hosts a weekly podcast, “Popcast,” which discusses the latest in music, from conversations about the biggest albums and songs to breaking news analysis