Tariffs, A Truce, TikTok, & Testing Government AI

March 11, 2025

Hello, readers – happy Tuesday! Today, we’ll be talking about tariffs, Ukraine, a truce, Europe buying American weapons, the Washington Post, TikTok, and a new AI from DOGE. 

Here’s some good news: Michael Sheen used £100,000 ($130,000) of his own money to buy £1 million ($1.2 m) worth of his neighbors’ debts and covered his efforts in a documentary that he hopes will raise awareness about credit card debt. Also, a new report has found that the eastern monarch butterfly population nearly doubled in 2025. 

“You’re in pretty good shape for the shape you are in.” – Dr. Seuss

Readying For The Recession

The U.S. economy is taking a beating right now, and it just got gut-punched two more times yesterday. On Monday, Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods – announced last week – took effect, and Ontario took a swing at the U.S. too. The tariffs were a retaliatory measure against the Trump administration’s ongoing tariff threats against those countries. Mexico, which has also been threatened by the White House, has not levied any duties on U.S. goods as of yet, but the trade war threats have bolstered local support for President Claudia Sheinbaum.

China’s tariffs target U.S. agricultural exports to China, including chicken, pork, soybeans, and beef, but the blow that will immediately hurt Americans more came from Ontario. Ontarian Premier Doug Ford announced a 25% charge on all the electricity it exports to the U.S., which will impact over 1.5 million Americans living in Minnesota, New York, and Michigan – he expects the tariff to add $69 per month to the electricity bills of those affected, though U.S. utility companies claim the charges will be negligible.

Economic warning signals across the U.S. have been turning sour, and analysts have begun throwing around the “R” word. Even Trump himself has warned that the country might be in for a “period of transition” or “disturbance” following his “big moves,” which might spell “big losses” for ordinary Americans.

Keeping Up With The Kyiv-ashians

Things might be looking up for Ukraine after the entire nation was tossed aside by the U.S. Yesterday, Trump said his administration was “just about” ready to lift its freeze on providing U.S. intelligence to the Ukrainian military after a globally broadcast screaming match between Trump and Zelenskyy, marking a massive U-turn in U.S.-Ukraine relations.

Besides the tiny bit of hope inspired by Trump’s lukewarm claim, Ukraine has other things to look forward to. Today, leaders from 30 countries across Europe, Asia, and Oceania are meeting in Paris to discuss the creation of an international peacekeeping force to defend Ukraine against future Russian aggression if a ceasefire deal is reached. 

What ceasefire deal, you ask? The one that might get signed in Saudi Arabia this week. While those world leaders are meeting in Paris, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a team of top Ukrainian diplomats are set to meet in the port city of Jeddah to work out a peace deal. Unfortunately for Ukraine, Rubio has broadcast that there will be “no military solution” to the conflict, meaning it’s likely that Kyiv will have to trade territory for peace. 

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Hammering Out A Deal With Hamas

• According to U.S. hostage affairs envoy Adam Boehler, Hamas has offered a truce with Israel – and for the first time, the militant group has provided a (kind of) solid timetable for the peace deal. On Sunday, Boehler revealed to Israeli state media that Hamas negotiators offered to lay down their weapons and remove themselves from governing Gaza for 5-10 years in exchange for peace. The group also said it would allow the U.S. to prevent further tunnel networks or militant activities from being established in Gaza during that time.
• In a series of public interviews, Boehler gave a few more details about Hamas’ peace offering. “ I believe there is enough there to make a deal between what Hamas wants and what they’ve accepted, and what Israel wants and it’s accepted,” he told CNN, adding that he expects a new ceasefire could be agreed upon within a few weeks. Negotiators from Israel, Hamas, and the U.S. are expected to meet in Qatar later this week.

The Right To Bear American Arms

• A report published yesterday has revealed just how reliant the Western world has become on the U.S. military industrial complex. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), 52% of European NATO members’ defense equipment was provided by the U.S. between 2015 and 2019 – that share increased to 64% between 2020 and 2024.
• While the E.U. has (very recently) shifted its focus on manufacturing its own materiel, “the transatlantic arms-supply relationship has deep roots,” said one researcher. “Imports from the USA have risen and European NATO states have almost 500 combat aircraft and many other weapons still on order from the USA.” E.U. countries are likely to try and procure arms from France, South Korea, Germany, and Israel in the future as Trump’s America shifts towards Russia.

More Mixed Nuts

• Iran Signals Openness to Limited Nuclear Talks With U.S. (NYT, $)
• Hundreds of flights cancelled as strikes hit German airports (BBC)
• ‘Strong eruption’ of volcano in Guatemala forces evacuations (Guardian)
• North Korea fires several ballistic missiles after the US and South Korea began military drills (AP)
• Tanker and cargo vessel in fiery collision off English coast, triggering explosions and fuel leak (NBC)

Democracy Dies When Everyone Resigns

• Washington Post columnist and Associate Editor Ruth Marcus, who has worked at the publication for forty years, resigned yesterday. Marcus said chief executive and publisher Will Lewis killed a piece she had written criticizing the publication’s billionaire owner Jeff Bezos for trying to assert his influence over the opinion pieces that get published. 

• “Jeff’s announcement that the opinion section will henceforth not publish views that deviate from the pillars of individual liberties and free markets threatens to break the trust of readers that columnists are writing what they believe, not what the owner has deemed acceptable,” Marcus wrote in a resignation letter. Opinions Editor David Shipley stepped down shortly after Bezos laid out his new rules as well.

• The publication is already hemorrhaging subscribers in the wake of Bezos’ directive. A staff memo from executive editor Matt Murray was obtained yesterday revealing that the publication is going to do some restructuring and expanding its departments. Broadening coverage will help the Post become less dependent on political news, which can be cyclical in nature, Murray explained.

The Art Of The TikTok Deal

• President Trump has said the U.S. is in talks with four groups interested in acquiring TikTok. “We’re dealing with four different groups. And a lot of people want it, and it’s up to me,” he said onboard Air Force One on Sunday. The U.S. has ordered TikTok to divest from its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance. 
• “All four are good,” he added, without naming the interested parties. There have been rumors about multiple buyers, including an initiative called “The People’s Bid for TikTok” launched by Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative. Everyone from Microsoft, Oracle, Elon Musk (of course), and YouTuber MrBeast have had their names thrown out there. 

More Nuts In America 

• Demonstrators to take over NYC’s Federal Plaza after Mahmoud Khalil is arrested by ICE (NBC)
• A single-engine plane crashes near a Pennsylvania airport, injuring 5 passengers (NPR)
• Doctors “outraged” over lack of pay relief in CR (Axios)
• Lauren Boebert accused of racism and ableism over her criticism of Al Green (Guardian)
• Weather forecasting agency NOAA to cut another 1,000 workers, reports say (USA Today)

Red Tape & Robots, What Could Go Wrong?

• Under the gleeful gaze of Elon Musk, AI is being adopted by the federal government. So far, 1,500 federal workers at the General Services Administration (GSA) have been told to leverage the powers of a DOGE-made AI tool named GSAi. According to the agency, GSAi is similar to civilian AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Grok, but has been specially trained for use in the government.
• “How can I use the AI-powered chat?” one internal memo about the technology reads. “The options are endless, and it will continue to improve as new information is added. You can: draft emails, create talking points, summarize text, write code.” However, the AI is apparently not safe enough to handle important info. “Do not type or paste federal nonpublic information (such as work products, emails, photos, videos, audio, and conversations that are meant to be pre-decisional or internal to GSA) as well as personally identifiable information as inputs,” reads another memo. 
• Despite DOGE’s lofty promises about using AI to make government more efficient, employees are predictably unimpressed with the technology. “It’s about as good as an intern,” said one employee who has used GSAi. “Generic and guessable answers.”

More Loose Nuts

• What to know about March’s full “Blood Worm Moon,” a total lunar eclipse (CBS)
• Amazon to begin streaming Trump’s ‘The Apprentice’ (NBC)
• ‘It’s not because I want people to think I’m great’: Michael Sheen on paying off £1m of his neighbours’ debts (Guardian)
• Elon Musk says X is down due to cyberattacks (TechCrunch)
• Los Angeles DA to withdraw recommendation to reduce Menendez brothers’ prison sentences (NBC)

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Team Thoughts

Kayli – Watching the fall of news organizations is a special kind of torture. 

Marcus – I feel like I’m going insane reading about how AI is going to be the most useful thing ever. It’s been years at this point and we still can’t rely on it to spit out basic truths. Crazy.