Tuesday was a bad day to be an automaker. Yesterday was still a bad day to be an automaker, but slightly less so: One day after President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico went into effect and turned global markets upside down, he announced a one-month exemption for auto companies.

The administration met with officials from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis on Tuesday, as automakers warned that rising costs from the tariffs would hobble supply chains and cause auto prices to rise by thousands of dollars. The monthlong pause is intended to give the companies time to devise a plan to move more of their factories to the States, satisfying one of Trump’s main priorities.

For Canada, it’s too little too late. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not moved by the delay and said he would not lift Canada’s retaliatory tariffs unless the US removes all tariffs on Canada.

More could still be on the way: Trump has not backed away from plans to announce reciprocal tariffs on all US trading partners on April 2.

Back on stagflation alert

The tariff whiplash has caused investors to raise their bets on a recession and, maybe worse, stagflation—a dreaded combination of slowed or stopped growth and higher prices that has not been seen since the 1980s.

• Yesterday, oil prices fell for the third consecutive day, fueled by fears that slowing economic activity would cut into demand.
• JPMorgan raised its estimation of the risk of an economic downturn to 31% from 17%, while Goldman Sachs upped it to 23% from 14%, according to Bloomberg.

Markets are now anticipating a higher likelihood that the Fed will cut interest rates in June to stave off an economic slowdown. Tariffs can be particularly tough for the central bank to counter because they can serve as an economic supply shock that raises inflation and hurts employment.

Looking ahead…a crucial jobs report comes out tomorrow that could determine whether recession and stagflation fears ramp up or quiet down.—CC

SCOTUS cancels freeze on $2b foreign aid contract payments. In a 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s bid to freeze payments to foreign aid agencies for work they had already completed. In an unsigned, one-paragraph order, the majority—which consisted of Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Amy Coney Barett, and the court’s three liberal justices—reinstated a judge’s order requiring the payments to USAID contractors. But a minority opinion penned by Justice Samuel Alito asked whether “a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction” really has the power to make the government “pay out (and probably lose forever) two billion taxpayer dollars.”

US pauses intelligence sharing with Ukraine. The US has suspended its intelligence sharing with Ukraine, cutting off the flow of information that Ukraine has used to pinpoint the location of Russian troops and targets since the early months of the war. The move comes after the administration recently froze military aid following US peace talks with Russia that excluded Ukraine and an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that devolved into a shouting match. But US officials hinted that the intelligence sharing could resume if Ukraine is willing to go along with the US’ efforts at a peace deal with Russia.

Staff cuts coming for Veterans Affairs, IRS. As part of its cost-cutting efforts, the Trump administration is planning to eliminate 80,000 jobs from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency that provides healthcare to veterans. Meanwhile, the IRS is expected to chop its workforce down to half its size, according to the New York Times, though the timing of those cuts is unclear with Tax Day looming. On the flip side, the CDC invited about 180 recently laid-off employees to come back to work.—AR

For a few hours, someone really thought they might have a shot at buying the J. Edgar Hoover Building. On Tuesday, the General Services Administration (GSA) listed 443 federal buildings online as “non-core” assets that it planned to sell. Just a few hours later, 100 properties were removed from the list, and by Wednesday morning, the website merely said the list would be coming soon.

The original list included properties in 47 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC. Among the notable structures apparently for sale were the American Red Cross building in DC, a massive FDA research lab, 10 courthouses, and giant office buildings that house the Department of Agriculture and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The revised catalog struck some of these buildings, but still included multiple Social Security Administration offices and buildings used by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Big picture: Slashing office space managed by the GSA has been a top priority of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Earlier this week, a report from CoStar found that DOGE had canceled about 1 in 10 federal commercial real estate leases. The GSA says selling properties could save more than $430 million in annual operating costs, but real estate experts warn that the flood of new listings could threaten an already shaky commercial real estate market.—MM

Gen Z is already facing more economic challenges than previous generations—and now, the New York Times is reporting that some young concertgoers are going into debt to see their favorite musicians.

According to the concert trade publication Pollstar, the average cost of a concert ticket for a Top 100 tour in 1996 was $25.81, or ~$52 when adjusted for inflation. Last year, the average ticket price for the Top 100 tours skyrocketed to $135.92.

How did we get to a place where Gen Z fans need a side hustle to see Ed Sheeran live?

• Dynamic pricing has grown popular, allowing ticket sellers to extract every possible dollar from fans maximize revenue.
• The BBC reported that overhead costs in some cases have increased 35% to 40% over the past five years, leaving promoters to recoup the costs via pricier tickets.
• There’s also more demand following Covid lockdowns, high service fees, and—if you believe the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation-Ticketmaster—an alleged monopoly controlling most ticket sales.

But it’s not stopping fans: Two surveys showed Gen Z and millennials are more likely to spend more and travel farther to a live event than today’s older generations. Another survey revealed that 86% of 1,000 Gen Z respondents overspent on live events, citing FOMO as their No. 1 reason.—DL

While it might seem like private equity has dominion over everything from your dog’s vet clinic to your date-night seafood spot, the industry actually got smaller last year for the first time in 20 years. The amount of assets managed by PE firms fell 2% in 2024 to $4.7 trillion—marking the first time assets fell since consulting group Bain & Co. started tracking it in 2005, according to the Financial Times.

So, what’s squeezing private equity like private equity squeezes a mid-sized company it’s just acquired? The industry has a $3 trillion backlog of aging deals it can’t manage to sell off during a slow period for M&A, and investors are taking note and refraining from new investments into the industry. Bain found that PE funds are holding ~2x the assets they had in 2019, while the amount they’re selling is about the same—meaning it could take years to work through their excess holdings.—AR