Thursday 22 March 2018

Trade wars begin, McMaster steps down, “ashtray of Europe”

Good morning, Quartz readers!

What to watch for today and over the weekend

US metal tariffs take effect around the world. The EU, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, and South Korea, however, are exempt from the 25% tariffs on steel and 10% tariffs on aluminum imposed by the US on steel exporters. Japan, one of America's closest allies, was notably absent from the list of exempt countries.

Dropbox starts trading. The data-storage company priced its IPO at the top of a price range (paywall), suggesting strong demand for new tech shares as more startups shun going public and prefer to receive private capital. Dropbox could be valued at over $9 billion.

Britain's investigators will get a warrant to search Cambridge Analytica. A judge had delayed the process for 24 hours for unknown reasons, prompting worries that the hold-up would give the company an opportunity to destroy evidence. Several storage crates have reportedly been picked up from the firm's London office building in the meantime.

Americans march in favor of gun control. A nationwide demonstration called "March for Our Lives," organized by survivors of last month's school shooting in Florida, will take place on Sunday.

Banking is changing for good. Are you ready for the revolution? New open banking regulation that gives customers control of their data, as well as the ability to easily share it, is starting to roll out. With the potential to better serve their customers, a banking revolution could soon be here. Find out what this means for you and how EY's Digital Passport can help you manage the change.Advertisement

While you were sleeping

The US slapped new tariffs on China… Trump described the move as a "reciprocal" response to unfair trade practices such as intellectual property theft. The tariffs target 1,300 products totaling about $50 billion in imports, and won't take effect for a few weeks.

…And China hit back. Beijing said it may impose reciprocal tariffs on a potential list of $3 billion worth of 128 US imports, including steel pipes, pork, fruit, and wine. China's US ambassador earlier said that his nation isn't afraid of a trade war and will retaliate.

White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster quit. Trump replaced him with John Bolton, a national security hawk who has been advocating for a military strike against North Korea. He's the 25th senior official (paywall) to leave the Trump White House.

Tencent took a big hit. It fell almost 8% in Hong Kong after South African telecoms company and major shareholder Naspers said it would sell 2% of its shares in the Chinese internet giant. Naspers invested $32 million in the Shenzhen-based company in 2001, a stake that is now worth $175 billion.

Steve Wynn sold his entire stake in his own company. Following multiple allegations of sexual assault by the casino mogul against female employees, Wynn, who until Wednesday had been the biggest shareholder of Wynn Resorts, sold about $2.1 billion worth (paywall) of shares over two days. He resigned last month as chairman and chief executive of the company.

Quartz obsession interlude

Olivia Goldhill on the surge in sexual identities. "The newly created identities, many of which originated in the past decade, reduce the focus on gender—for either the subject or object of desire—in establishing sexual attraction. 'Demisexual,' for example, is entirely unrelated to gender, while other terms emphasize the gender of the object of attraction, but not the gender of the subject." Read more here.

Matters of debate

NRA boycotts create a precarious tightrope. The speed of social media scares companies into attempts to boost prestige without thinking things through.

Chairs are the new paintings. Wealthy collectors are increasingly putting their money into designer furniture rather than artworks.

Cambridge Analytica isn't the first practitioner of electoral dark arts. As long as there have been elections, there have been shadowy actors looking to fix the results (paywall).

Surprising discoveries

A Mexican cryptocurrency is backed by habanero peppers. A grower of the ultra-spicy pepper created Agrocoin (paywall) to attract smaller investors.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is much bigger than we thought. About 16 times bigger, in actual fact.

American sperm is in high demand in Brazil. Wealthy single women and lesbian couples want sperm that (paywall) will give them children with light-skin and blue eyes.

Austria is the "ashtray of Europe." Members of parliament from the ruling right-wing coalition voted to overturn a smoking ban in bars and restaurants.

South Korea will shut down computers to stop overwork. State employees will have to wrap up by 8pm on Fridays.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, expensive chairs, and spicy crypto to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today's Daily Brief was written and edited by Isabella Steger and Steve Mollman.

No comments:

Post a Comment