The next round of tariffs is just around the corner
The US is planning to impose tariffs of 25% on Canadian and 10% on Mexican products this weekend in retaliation for Canada’s tariff on American steel and aluminium, according to a Reuters report. However, US President Donald Trump has said that the tariff could be increased to 25% if the three countries do not reach an agreement.
Howard Lutnick is Trump’s pick for Commerce Secretary
Lawmakers asked if the cost of doing business in the United States would go up if other countries retaliated with tariffs of their own. US President Donald Trump warned that he was ready to cut off imports from Canada and Mexico, America’s two largest trading partners and closest allies. Trump had earlier threatened to impose tariffs on imports from some countries.
Do you want to give a species the protection it deserves?
A study led by Duke University marine biologist Brian Silliman has claimed that publishing in the kinds of journals that are better at influencing the European Space Agency (ESA) could set conservation researchers back in their career. The team also created an “ESA listing impact factor”, which was based on the fraction of papers that a journal publishes that go on to be cited by ESA.
Trump account suspension lawsuit will be settled by $25 million from Meta
US President Donald Trump has reached a $25-million (over 182 crore) settlement over the lawsuit he filed against Facebook and Chairman Mark Zuckerberg for “impermissible censorship”. Trump had claimed that Facebook suspended his account after it was requested by the government to do so. He also alleged that Meta, a fact-checking website, was acting at the government’s request when it suspended his accounts.
He told friends he was sleeping at the DOGE offices
US President Donald Trump’s administration sent an email to federal employees calling them “a fork in the road” in order to reduce the government workforce. “The federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work,” the email read. Earlier, Twitter CEO Elon Musk had urged government employees to be “extremely hardcore”.
The bond market has a warning about Trump’s plans
The US Federal Reserve’s ( Fed) Governor Chris Waller has said he has seen “nothing in the data or forecasts that suggests the labour market will dramatically weaken” in the coming months. If the labour market were to weaken, more pressure would be placed on the Fed to cut borrowing costs and increase hiring. Waller added that the central bank is in no hurry to make more cuts.
The models that OpenAI has have helped train are the ones that helped train China
US-based Meta Technologies, which has over 800 million downloads on its platform ‘Lam’, said it believes “open source” artificial intelligence (AI) models are driving a significant shift in the industry. “That’s going to bring benefits of AI to everyone faster,” a Meta spokesperson said. Earlier, a research paper by DeepSeek claimed its previous model cost only $5.6 million to build.
It’s likely to be taken to court by the fossil fuel firms
On the first day of his administration, US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order which directs federal agencies to ensure “a sufficient amount of energy supplies” is available. The order also directed officials to work towards “eliminating all fossil fuel and coal-fired power plants within the next five years”. This comes amid rising demand for electricity, according to reports.
TikTok isn’t available in the US from the app stores
The US President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has said it will not enforce a law barring the TikTok app from being available in American apps. “It’s certainly in the interest of these companies to to curry favour with the new administration and I guess it’s conceivable…that even $850 billion of liability exposure and even voluntarily violating…law might be worth it to some companies,” The Information reported.
The TikTok CEO flatters the President before the ban deadline
The US Supreme Court has allowed China’s ByteDance to sell its video-sharing platform TikTok in the country. “Congress has determined… divestiture is necessary to address its…national security concerns regarding TikTok’s…relationship with a foreign adversary,” the court said. The US government told the court that if the ban takes effect, it might just give the US government enough leverage to sell TikTok.