The prospect of another trade war emerged Monday after President-elect Trump threatened major tariffs against products from America’s three largest trade partners: Mexico, Canada, and China. If enacted, the tariffs could scramble global supply chains, raise consumer prices in the US, and hammer Mexico’s and Canada’s economies, in particular.

The details:

• Trump said he’ll slap a 25% tariff on all goods from Canada and Mexico if they don’t curb the flow of migrants and illicit drugs across their borders with the US.
• Trump pledged an additional 10% tariff on Chinese products as punishment for not cracking down on fentanyl traffickers.

Trump said the tariffs will remain in place until the countries heed his demands.

What goods will be impacted?

As part of a deeply interconnected trading system among North American countries, 83% of Mexico’s exports went to the US last year, and 75% of Canada’s exports did, per Business Insider. Here are just some goods getting shipped across the US border that would face steep tariffs, costs that American businesses would incur and likely pass along to American consumers.

• Autos: Cars make up a big chunk of the $920 billion worth of goods the US buys yearly from Mexico and Canada, accounting for 26% and 12% of their US exports, respectively.
• Gas: The stuff that fuels cars might also get pricier since Canada is the largest foreign supplier of oil to the US.
• Fruits and veggies: Much produce in American supermarkets comes with a grown-in-Mexico sticker. The country is the No. 1 exporter of raspberries, tomatoes, strawberries, and avocados to the US, according to the University of California, Davis.
• Meat and dairy: Canada sends millions of cows for dairy and beef and hogs across its southern border every year.

The negotiations begin now: Trump has a history of using tough tariff talk as leverage to wring concessions from other countries. In response to the threats, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote a letter to Trump suggesting she would retaliate with tariffs of her own, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Trump to discuss cooperation. China argued that “no one will win a trade war.”—SK

Israel, Hezbollah reach ceasefire deal. Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon agreed to halt a conflict that’s lasted more than a year and become Lebanon’s deadliest war in decades. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said the truce would allow his country to focus on threats from Iran, isolate Hamas in Gaza, and rearm its military. Speaking from the White House, President Biden said that the US-brokered deal was designed to permanently end hostilities and would go into effect at 4am Wednesday local time. He pledged that the US and its partners “will make sure this deal is implemented fully.” As for the separate-but-linked war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, a ceasefire does not appear to be on the horizon, Bloomberg notes.

Walmart rolls back some DEI initiatives. The world’s largest retailer became the latest—and biggest—US corporation to dial back policies related to diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) following conservative pressure. Facing the prospect of a consumer boycott led by anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck, Walmart confirmed a number of reversals, including barring third-party merchants on its website from selling certain LGBQT-themed products marketed to children and stopping the use of the terms “DEI” and “Latinx” in official comms (the company said some of those changes were already in the works). Starbuck’s social media campaigns, along with the Supreme Court decision blocking affirmative action in higher ed, have spurred DEI walk-backs at Tractor Supply, Harley-Davidson, Ford, and other major American companies.

Your Thanksgiving travel could be wet and cold. As a record ~80 million Americans begin their journeys for Thanksgiving, a bout of nasty weather is projected to hit multiple areas of the country over the extended holiday weekend. Today, a storm is forecast to dump heavy snow on mountainous areas of the West, while rain could drench Snoopy at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC on Thursday (the balloons will still fly as long as the wind cooperates). Then, an Arctic blast will hit the Midwest and Eastern US into the weekend with likely the coldest temps of the season so far. If you’re flying home with leftovers, the TSA wants you to know: Turkey and stuffing are OK to carry on a plane, but cranberry sauce and gravy are limited to 3.4 ounces.—NF

Like high school seniors in the spring, the Biden administration wants to make the most of its last few months in power.

The government announced a proposal yesterday to cover popular weight loss drugs under Medicare and Medicaid, which would expand their use to over 7 million more people while setting up a battle royale with the newly nominated Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Currently, Medicare doesn’t cover weight loss drugs like Zepbound and Wegovy unless a patient has an explicit health risk, like diabetes or heart disease, and most Medicaid programs don’t, either. That’s left the “miracle drugs”—which can cost as much as $1,000 a month—out of reach for millions. Under the proposed rules, out-of-pocket costs for the drugs could decrease by as much as 95%.

It’s not a done deal. The Trump administration would need to approve the change, and there are a few reasons it wouldn’t: Kennedy is an avid critic of the drugs, and the plan would cost an estimated ~$36 billion over the next decade, at odds with the administration’s plans to cut federal spending.

Still…Trump may feel pressure to endorse the move from the millions of seniors who could use these drugs. Plus, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the new pick to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services under Kennedy, has praised them.—CC

Do not try to help Daisy set up her printer—she is engineered to frustrate you. Daisy is a new British AI granny released earlier this month by UK-based phone company Virgin Media O2, and her job is to waste phone scammers’ time. In one instance, she kept them on the line for 40 minutes.

How she works: Fraudsters frequently target the elderly for scams, so the company attempted to create the perfect victim. Daisy is simply an AI chatbot with a grandma voice, trained on hours of recorded conversations with one of her creator’s real-life grandmas.

While she doesn’t intercept calls, Daisy has multiple phone numbers that have been pushed out to online lists used by UK scammers. But instead of giving into the con, she rambles about her grandchildren, birds outside, and her cat and gets easily confused about technology. She sometimes gives scammers fake bank info.

AI granny is a drop in the bucket. Making scammers’ days a little harder is a promising start, but phone scams have become so common that someone reading this probably had to pause mid-sentence to silence one. Last year, phone scammers stole over $1 trillion around the world, according to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance.—MM

Your last-minute splurge for a couple extra inches of legroom is making airlines billions of dollars. A Senate investigative panel found that US airlines American, Delta, United, Spirit, and Frontier made $12.4 billion combined from customers choosing seats on planes from 2018 to 2023. The subcommittee chair, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, blasted algorithmic seating fees, saying such dynamic pricing tactics “burden travelers and boost airline revenue.” Recently bankrupt Spirit Airlines shot back, “We are transparent about our products and pricing, our airport policies ensure guests are treated fairly and equally.”

The war over junk fees will come to a head on December 4, when execs from those five airlines will testify at a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Related reading: Why flying has gotten so miserable.—NF