The sweeping reciprocal tariffs are here…well, they might be in April. President Trump announced yesterday that federal agencies will first conduct studies on how to best update tariffs on other countries to match the rates imposed on the US, before implementing them in April. It’s the president’s largest proposed overhaul of the delicate global trade network since he took office.

Trump has long promised to put reciprocal tariffs into action, reiterating yesterday, “They charge us a tax or tariff and we charge them the exact same.” The president argues current trade deals—especially ones with South Korea, India, and the EU—are unfair to the US:

• The average US tariff rate is around 3%, which aligns with other wealthy nations like Canada, Japan, and the UK but much lower than countries like India (17%).
• Some countries have higher tariff rates to protect certain industries. This is especially true in low-income countries in South America and Africa.
• Trump specifically named the EU because of the bloc’s Value Added Tax (VAT) and also called out France and Canada for slapping American companies with digital service taxes.

How we got here: Following World War II, 23 of the most powerful economies in the world signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), hoping to supercharge economic activity through international trade. This agreement ushered in an era of “we’re all friends here” cooperation in global trade and was eventually absorbed into the World Trade Organization. For decades, the word “tariff” made economists and politicians bristle.

But…now the Trump administration thinks higher tariffs could bring manufacturing back to the US and pay for his proposed tax cuts. Many economists have criticized the plan, saying it will likely push costs onto consumers and cause retaliatory tariffs from other countries.

Big picture: Trump’s order for a new tariff code is a massive undertaking that will require reevaluating hundreds of countries’ current policies in less than two months. The delay in instituting the new tariffs also signals that he may be open to negotiating.—MM

RFK Jr. confirmed as health secretary. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist and environmental lawyer, was confirmed by a 52–48 vote, mostly along party lines. Senator Mitch McConnell, a childhood survivor of polio and the only Republican to vote against Kennedy, said he “will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures.” In his new role as the head of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy will oversee the CDC, FDA, and other key health agencies. Kennedy’s confirmation was being closely watched by pharma giants and ultra-processed food-makers, with whom Kennedy has long had an adversarial relationship. Kennedy, whose mission statement is to “Make America Healthy Again,” said he will no longer keep referral fees he collected from a law firm that sued Merck over its HPV vaccine.

Zelensky says no peace deal without Ukraine’s involvement. A day after President Trump said he would soon meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters that the country will not accept any deal that’s negotiated without its participation. Trump suggested yesterday that Ukraine’s borders could be redrawn and its entry into NATO barred as part of the peace talks. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, seeking to stop Ukraine’s admission to NATO, challenging Ukraine’s legitimacy as a state, and making claims of territorial rights to Ukraine that were denounced by the West.

Apple teased a big product announcement. In a cryptic post on X, CEO Tim Cook revealed that the iPhone-maker will launch the “newest member of the family” on Feb. 19. Observers widely expect the mystery product to be a new version of its lower-end iPhone SE, with updates like a bigger screen and Face ID. It’s also likely to be the first Apple device with an in-house cellular modem chip, which replaced parts the company used to get from Qualcomm. Apple has made several other announcements this week, including the new Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds and the launch of Apple TV+ on Android.—AE

Robinhood is no longer an app hidden in the untouched “Finances” folder on your phone’s home screen. The company wildly outperformed analyst expectations in the fourth quarter, proving that it’s more than a meme stock machine.

The online brokerage reported Q4 2024 revenue of ~$1 billion, up 115% year over year and well past estimates of $946 million, driven primarily by a 700% increase in its revenue from crypto trading. The stock rose nearly 14% yesterday to its highest level since 2021.

People want the tokens. Robinhood earned $358 million from crypto last quarter, riding the tailwinds of a bullish cryptocurrency market and a pro-crypto president. Though Robinhood’s crypto offerings are still basic (it offers 22 tokens vs. Coinbase’s 200+), analysts see the platform’s recent success as a sign that it’s starting to mature. Coinbase reported its highest quarterly revenue in three years yesterday, beating expectations with ~$2.3 billion.

Zoom out: With $195 billion of assets under custody, Robinhood still has a long way to go before it can fully compete with big-name brokerages like Fidelity and Schwab, which have tens of trillions under their belts.—CC

Almost all of the bouquets put in water or stomped on in the US today came through the same place: Miami International Airport (MIA). And the hub says it’s handling its largest-ever haul of stems this season as Valentine’s Day spending grows.

Lovebirds in the US are projected to splurge on a record $2.9 billion in V-Day flowers, according to the National Retail Federation. If the customs inspectors at MIA went M.I.A., almost nobody would get their roses:

• Nearly 80% of the fresh-cut flowers in florists’ shops, supermarkets, and even sold online in the US are imported, mainly from Colombia and Ecuador.
• About 90% of these airborne imports enter the US through MIA, where customs agents specializing in agriculture have already inspected and cleared ~1 billion flowers this year.
• MIA is the biggest flower cargo depot in the US, with more than 450,000 square-feet of refrigerated warehouse space, according to MIA marketing head Dimitrios Nares.

Your romance is not the only thing at stake here. Nares said MIA has “the highest presence of federal inspectors of flowers” in the country. They shake out samples from each shipment of flowers to stop the entry of invasive pests and diseases, which cause $120 billion in annual economic and environmental losses in the US, according to MIA’s port director, Daniel Alonso.—ML

Amazon workers are back in the office, but some of their desks still aren’t, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal this week. The company is reportedly short at least 800 desks in the San Francisco area, where it has 18 offices. And it’s not just desks: One employee at the Austin, Texas, location posted on X that a security guard said there were 2,000 people vying for 900 parking spots.

The distinct lack of places for some Amazon employees to park their cars and butts comes after the e-commerce giant ordered them back to the office five days a week starting in January. But the dearth of workstations has forced the company to postpone its RTO mandate at several offices, including NYC. An Amazon spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that reports of tabletop insufficiencies “don’t reflect the sentiment we’re hearing from most of our teammates.”

Another bummer for Amazon workers forced off their couches: Many do not have direct teammates at their offices, meaning they are still conducting their business virtually…just from a different building.—AE

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