Ray Dalio is the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, so when he opens his mouth, people listen. And in the case of Dalio’s recent remarks about China, some people listened...then went, “Well that was weird.”

On Wednesday, Dalio was asked during a CNBC appearance how he could square his firm’s investments in China with the government’s alleged human rights abuses and the sudden disappearances of people from public life. Dalio offered an extremely evasive response, saying he “can’t be an expert in those types of things.” He added, “As a top-down country what they are doing is they behave like a strict parent.”

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who said he was a friend of the “brilliant” Dalio, scolded his pal on Twitter yesterday. Dalio’s “feigned ignorance of China’s horrific abuses and rationalization of complicit investments there is a sad moral lapse,” Romney said.

Some background on Bridgewater’s recent Chinese investments:

• Dalio is a longtime China bull, and Bridgewater just raised $1.25 billion for its third fund in the country, according to the WSJ.
• It’s a tiny amount relative to Bridgewater’s $150 billion in assets, but the fund is one of the biggest from any foreign private-fund manager in China, the Journal wrote.

Of course, Bridgewater is one of many US firms being challenged recently about their business ventures in China, especially with the Beijing Winter Olympics just two months out. Airbnb, a top Olympics sponsor, lists a dozen homes for rent on land owned by a US government-sanctioned organization in the Xinjiang region, Axios found.

• The Women’s Tennis Association has been an outlier in its confrontational response to Chinese government’s actions, announcing this week it’ll suspend tournaments in China following the treatment of star Peng Shuai.

Zoom out: When asked whether the Olympics should be moved out of China, major Olympics sponsors like Coca-Cola, Visa, and Allianz channeled their inner Dalio, saying they’ll continue to support the Games no matter where they’re hosted.

+ While we're here: The Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi said it would delist from the New York Stock Exchange and go public in Hong Kong following a cybersecurity probe by the Chinese government.—NF

To make sure Omicron doesn’t interfere with everyone’s buckwild holiday schedule of cookie exchanges and sitting silently in your grandma’s living room, President Biden revealed a new winter Covid plan yesterday. The goal is to tame the new variant while keeping the country open for business.

Travel: All travelers entering the US will need to show a negative Covid test within 24 hours of their flight, regardless of their vaccination status. American citizens can still fly domestically and internationally without any proof of vaccination.

• The Biden administration also extended the federal mask mandate for airplanes, trains, and buses through March.

At-home tests: To grease the Covid testing wheels, Biden said private insurers must reimburse the costs of at-home tests, which only sounds great if you’ve never tried to navigate a Blue Cross portal. The government will also double the originally pledged number of 25 million free tests to 50 million for community and rural health clinics.

What else? The 9-pronged plan also involves ramping up booster shot access and vaccinating more young people. The president said that as of yesterday more than 4 million 5-to-11 year olds and 15 million adolescents have been vaccinated.—MM

The Federal Trade Commission checked their list and decided Nvidia shouldn't get a present this year. The agency sued to block Nvidia’s $40 billion acquisition of British chip designer Arm from SoftBank on Thursday.

This deal, which would be the largest in semiconductor history, has been heavily scrutinized globally on antitrust grounds since it was first announced in September 2020. The FTC suit is the biggest roadblock so far, and puts the deal in serious jeopardy.

Arm serves as both a supplier and a licenser to semiconductor companies like Nvidia and, according to the FTC, receives access to competitive information by working with them. The FTC voted 4–0 in favor of blocking the merger, with a trial set for August 2022.

Zoom out: This is Biden-appointed FTC Chair Lina Khan’s first attempt to block a major merger, and it likely won’t be her last. Khan, an antitrust scholar, is a longtime critic of large tech mergers, and both Amazon and Facebook were rattled by her appointment. In recent months, the agency, along with regulators in the UK and Australia, have become increasingly hostile toward tech deals like Nvidia’s.—MK

Stat: Ford’s F-Series pickup is the bestselling vehicle in the US for the 40th consecutive year, the company said, chip shortage be darned. But supply chain snags could knock the Chevy Silverado from the No. 2 spot and give it to the Ram pickup truck.

Quote: “The trigger wasn't pulled, I didn't pull the trigger.”

Last night on ABC, Alec Baldwin gave his first interview since the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin said he doesn’t know how live ammunition ended up on the Rust film set, nor how the gun fired as he held it.

Read: The 100 best songs of 2021. (NPR)

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz has been compared to going to the bathroom after holding it in for an uncomfortably long time.

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz.

Follow Friday: You’ve gotta read Elizabeth Holmes’s daily schedule, posted by Internal Tech Emails.

What to read: This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends, an investigation into the cyber weapons arms race, was just selected as the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year.

Without further ado: It’s your creepy robot video of the week.

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