Earlier this year, the Trump administration

such as wheat, barley and maize and rice — it inflicts $1 billion in losses annually on U.S. wheat and barley crops, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.It isn’t the only fungus to cause Fusarium head blight, but it’s the most common culprit in the U.S. The fungus infects plants early in the growing season, shriveling wheat grains and blanching crop heads a whitish-tan color. It also causes a toxin to accumulate in wheat kernels that can make them unsafe for people and livestock to eat.

Nicknamed “vomitoxin” because it’s most known for causing livestock to throw up, it can also cause diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache and fever in animals and people.Wheat and other grain crops are screened for various toxins, including Fusarium graminearum, before they can be used to feed animals and humans. Farmers have to throw out any infected grains, which can cause devastating losses.“It’s one of the many problems that farmers have to deal with that risks their livelihood,” said David Geiser, a Fusarium expert at Penn State.

Although Jian and Liu are accused of smuggling Fusarium graminearum into the country, the fungus is already prevalent in the U.S. — particularly in the east and Upper Midwest — and scientists have been studying it for decades.Researchers often bring foreign plants, animals and even strains of fungi to the U.S. to study them, but they must file certain permits before moving anything across state or national borders. Studying the genes of a foreign fungus strain, for example, can help scientists learn how it tolerates heat, resists pesticides or mutates.

“We look at variations among individuals just like we do humans,” said Nicole Gauthier, a plant pathologist at the University of Kentucky who studies Fusarium.

That said, it’s unclear why the Chinese researchers might have wanted to bring that strain of Fusarium graminearum into the U.S. and why they didn’t fill out the proper paperwork to do so.“On the political turmoil that happened in the late 1980s, the Chinese government has already reached a clear conclusion,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Wednesday. He added that China would continue along its current path of what it calls “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

Tiananmen Mothers, a group formed by relatives of the victims, made an annual online appeal to the government. Signed by 108 members, it called for an independent investigation into what happened on June 4, 1989, including a list of all who died. The group also demanded compensation for the families and a legal case against those responsible for the deaths.The British and German Embassies in Beijing posted videos commemorating the anniversary on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, but they were later taken down, presumably by censors. The Canadian and German Embassies displayed images of a single lit candle on large screens facing the main street.

Police officers stand guard in the Causeway Bay area on the 36th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, in Hong Kong, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)Police officers stand guard in the Causeway Bay area on the 36th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, in Hong Kong, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)