It’s never been easier to get into a relationship-ending fight with your partner while running errands. Best Buy and Target execs warned during earnings calls yesterday that consumers should expect the Trump administration’s tariffs to push prices up this year. In certain categories, like fresh produce, Target CEO Brian Cornell said shoppers could see price jumps as soon as this week.

Best Buy’s earnings and revenue beat Wall Street’s expectations last quarter, but the celebration was muted after CEO Corie Barry told investors that the new duties Trump imposed on the store’s top two supply-chain sources (China and Mexico) would push up prices on a chunk of its products.

The sentiment was echoed in Target’s earnings report: Roughly 75% of the retailer’s sales come from products likely to be jolted by tariffs, like apparel, electronics, and housewares.

What else is affected?

Experts say the tariffs will have a wide-ranging impact, pushing up prices on everything from gas to toys:

• Oil refineries specifically designed to process and transport Canada’s and Mexico’s heavy crude oil—about two-thirds of all crude oil imported to the US—will take a huge hit. The Northeast could see an estimated 20- to 40-cent increase per gallon by mid-March, with pumps on the West Coast and in the Midwest likely to follow, according to GasBuddy.
• Roughly 80% of toys are imported from China. Basic Fun CEO Jay Foreman said the Tonka Mighty Dump Truck, for instance, could increase by as much as $10.
• Because of the auto industry’s complicated supply chain, US car prices are expected to be vulnerable to tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

The international response…is coming in hot in the form of retaliatory tariffs. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed with a Wall Street Journal editorial that the US’ 25% tariff on Canadian imports is “very dumb” and vowed to fight back with 25% duties of his own. China also announced countermeasures, while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she’d reveal a retaliation plan on Sunday.

But wait just a minute. Aware of the blowback, Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested yesterday that Trump could “work something out” with Canada and Mexico as soon as today.—MM

President Trump addressed a joint session of Congress. Trump began his speech, which ran one hour and 40 minutes, by saying, “America is back” and lauding the “swift and unrelenting action” his administration has taken in the first 43 days of his second term. The president reiterated many of his policy positions on culture issues, immigration, tax reduction, foreign policy, bureaucracy, and tariffs. He announced that his admin had “just apprehended the top terrorist responsible” for the suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 13 American military personnel during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. He also revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had sent him an “important” letter just “a little while ago” and went on to say, “If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides.” The president also praised Elon Musk, called Sen. Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas,” blamed former President Biden for the high price of eggs, and urged Congress to repeal the bipartisan CHIPS Act.—HVL

BlackRock bought ports on both sides of the Panama Canal for $23 billion. A consortium of investors led by the US investment giant struck a deal with Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison to acquire the two ports, among others, effectively putting them under US corporate control and fulfilling President Trump’s aim to rid the canal of what he called Chinese influence. Trump has alleged that China operates the critical waterway, which both China and the Panamanian government deny. The transaction is reportedly BlackRock’s biggest infrastructure deal ever.—AE

🪧 Trump threatened to pull federal funding from schools with “illegal” protests. “All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social yesterday. He also said he would imprison “agitators.” Trump did not explain what he meant by “illegal,” though he was likely referencing widespread student protests in support of Palestinians amid the war in Gaza. Legal experts say that punishing schools for allowing lawful demonstrations would violate the First Amendment.—AE

Econ 101 professors might soon be handing students Sharpies to cross out the textbook truism that gross domestic product includes government spending, household consumption, net exports, and investment. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said this week that the statistical agencies he oversees might stop including government dollars spent in the measure of the economy’s size.

Lutnick said the change would make reporting “transparent,” echoing Elon Musk’s earlier point that the government can juice on-paper economic performance through spending that doesn’t improve people’s lives.

But economists say “useful spending” is subjective, and:

• Government spending, which makes up 17% of the US GDP, has implications for economic growth.
• The change could be largely cosmetic, as granular GDP statistics released by the government already allow economy watchers to subtract Uncle Sam’s bills.

Some economists warn that the move threatens the independence of federal statistical agencies and could undermine trust in government data, especially if it’s perceived as an attempt to mask the impacts of Musk’s federal cost-cutting effort.

Either way, the GDP isn’t looking so hot…with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta projecting this week that the economy will shrink by 2.8% in Q1. Harvard economist and former Obama advisor Jason Furman noted that GDP drop would be even bigger without government spending.—SK

In a city ruled by electric scooters, there’s a lot of car talk going on. Uber and Waymo have launched driverless rides in Austin, Texas, as the two former rivals come together in the city that’s home to barbecue, live music, and…Tesla’s HQ.

Now, anyone in Austin who requests an Uber (but not an UberXL) can get matched with a fully autonomous Waymo car—the all-electric Jaguar I-PACE—at no additional cost. Users can opt in to get offered Waymo rides more frequently or if they’re skeeved out by driverless cars, they can opt out.

If you want to go far, go together. Uber and Waymo have taken that platitude to heart: In 2018, the two companies were locked in a legal battle over trade secrets. But now they’re joining forces, with plans to bring their partnership to Atlanta later this year. They first teamed up in Phoenix in 2023 and it seems to be going OK.

Meanwhile…as Waymos weave around Austin during SXSW this week, Tesla is still trying to get in on the action. In January, Musk said that self-driving cars “as a paid service” would launch in Austin this June, and the company is also actively seeking approval to offer ride-hailing in California.—CC

Californians, prepare to take the PCH to the 10, get on the 405, and head toward the office, because starting in July, you’ll have to be there at least four days a week. Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered nearly 100,000 state employees to return to the office for an additional two days per week following the Trump administration’s in-person work mandate for federal workers.

“When we work together, collaboration improves, innovation thrives, and accountability increases,” Newsom said. But enforcing the order could be tricky: Compliance rates are typically between 50% and 70%, Bloomberg reported, while unions are expected to put up a legal fight, arguing the mandate will worsen the state’s already infamous commutes.—AE