The high-stakes game of tariff chicken may have temporarily worked Monday with Mexico and Canada, but China and the US just barreled right on through. In response to President Trump imposing a sweeping 10% duty on all Chinese imports, China announced its own import tax on US goods that is set to go into effect on February 10.

The details: China is preparing to impose a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas and a 10% tariff on about 80 products—including crude oil, ag machinery, and some large vehicles. Some other changes:

• China will tighten export controls on minerals critical to US defense or tech supply chains like tungsten, tellurium, and bismuth.
• Minutes after the tariff announcement, a Chinese government agency said it would investigate Google on anti-monopoly grounds.
• The Chinese Commerce Ministry added two American companies to its “unreliable entities” list: PVH Group, the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and the biotech company Illumina.

The response might seem like a lot, but China’s actions so far have just a fraction of the burn of US-imposed tariffs. China’s proposed tariffs will affect about $14 billion of US imports, while the US’ blanket tariff applies to $525 billion in Chinese exports to the US. Experts say the calculated move was a way for Xi Jinping to flex his trade muscles while still giving him an easier out if Trump is willing to negotiate. Plus, China’s slowing, export-dependent economy is still dealing with its own drama, like a domestic real estate bubble.

The real winner…may be Amazon. Along with the 10% tariff, Trump said the de minimis rule that let some cheap imports come in tax-free, which Chinese e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu relied on to deliver cheap products quickly, would no longer apply.

Is an escalating trade war on the horizon? We’ll have to wait and see. There are still a lot of bargaining chips on the table: Trump wants Xi’s help to stop Russia’s war in Ukraine, and TikTok needs a new owner for US operations. —MM

Trump says US should “own” Gaza. In a joint press conference with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump said he sees “a long-term ownership position” for the US in Gaza, an area devastated by the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas. Trump said the 2 million Palestinians who live there should go to other countries while the area is redeveloped and eventually turned into “the Riviera of the Middle East,” where “the world’s people,” Palestinians included, could live.

Lawsuits filed to challenge Trump’s big swings. President Trump has wasted no time working to implement his agenda since taking office, firing off a flurry of executive orders aimed at reshaping the status quo. But lawyers can work fast, too, and a slew of new lawsuits seeks to challenge many of those moves, as well as Trump’s work with Elon Musk to slim down the government, and his vision of executive power. Among other recent filings, suits from government workers, unions, and liberal advocacy groups are fighting plans to release the identities of FBI agents who worked on Jan. 6-related investigations, Musk’s team’s access to sensitive Treasury information, the removal of data from health agency websites, and executive orders on gender-affirming healthcare.

Google’s cloud revenue growth slows, spooking investors. Google parent Alphabet reported earnings yesterday, and its sales for the last quarter fell short of Wall Street’s expectations as growth in its cloud division slowed from the previous quarter. That smaller growth, coupled with plans to spend $75 billion this year on capital expenditures (up from $52.5 billion last year), including data centers to support the cloud and AI, raised concerns among investors, sending the tech giant’s stock down 9% in after-hours trading.—AR

Americans could maybe deal with pricey eggs for a while, but now those costly yolks have hit a national treasure. Waffle House is adding a $0.50-per-egg surcharge to its menu items as an ongoing avian flu outbreak ravages egg supplies and jacks up prices.

Why now? The outbreak, which started in 2022, is worsening. Roughly 104 million egg-laying birds have been put down over the past two years, with 29 million culled just since October.

These days, every egg is golden. The nationwide average price of a dozen eggs in December was $4.15, but now:

• A dozen eggs in the Midwest cost $7.08 wholesale, as much as seven times the price two years ago, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
• In NYC, a dozen cage-free eggs cost $11.99 at Whole Foods. Some grocery stores in NYC and Chicago have placed limits on how many cartons customers can buy.

The Department of Agriculture predicts no end in sight, forecasting another 20% jump in prices this year.

What it means for your breakfast: Waffle House is watching egg prices and will “adjust or remove the surcharge as market conditions allow.” Other breakfast operators are similarly struggling to afford making omelets en masse, with some switching to liquid egg, which is cheaper.—CC

The most satisfying phrase that can be blurted out to a toxic boss is emanating from fewer cubicles.

The number of jobs ditched by US workers declined 11% last year compared to 2023 and was down 22% compared to 2022’s high, according to government data released yesterday.

It’s rough out there

The secret elixir of employee loyalty is a cooled-down job market, in which finding a new role has gotten harder than it was from 2021 to 2023:

• There were 7.6 million job openings in December, down from 8.16 million the previous month.
• That’s compared to a peak of 12.2 million in early 2022, when everyone was switching employers almost as fast as A-list celebrities switch spouses.

Hiring has slowed most significantly in white-collar fields like finance, tech, and business services, but it’s still robust for healthcare and hospitality. There is a silver lining: Layoff rates remain near historic lows, and the economy continues to add jobs.

But…on Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its monthly jobs report for January, with revised job creation stats for previous months. Some economists believe those could paint a less rosy picture.—SK

More US employees may be staying in their jobs (see above), but there’s one group out there racing for the exits like your airplane seatmate trying to catch a tight connection. At least 20,000 federal employees have heeded the Trump administration’s call to leave their jobs and get paid through September, officials told news outlets yesterday.

That means ~1% of the 2+ million-strong federal workforce is taking the deal first introduced in an email announcing a “Fork in the Road” (the same language Elon Musk used to offer buyouts to non-“hardcore” Twitter employees). This falls short of the White House’s goal of having 5% to 10% of federal staffers turn in their notice to cut down on government spending, but officials say the number continues to climb as tomorrow’s deadline for accepting the offer nears.

Not on board with this are the unions that represent federal workers. They’ve urged their members to spurn the deal, and, along with other critics, including former officials, have questioned whether the offer is legal—and whether the promised pay is really guaranteed.—AR

For a long time, running gels were just sticky, hard-to-swallow substances reserved for endurance athletes with the strongest stomachs. But thanks to the pandemic-induced boom in exercise and wellness, the business of squishy little packets has transformed. Morning Brew’s Cassandra Cassidy surveyed the turf war among companies not just angling for a spot in your shorts pockets but also looking to take on industry giants like Gatorade. Read it here.