Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Washington cracks down on China trade. The White House will announce tariffs of up to $50 billion to punish China for intellectual property theft. Robert Lighthizer, the US’s top trade official, said the goal is to inflict maximum harm upon China while limiting the effect on American consumers. Beijing on Thursday accused the US of “repeatedly abusing” trade practices.
EU leaders convene in Brussels. The two-day European Council summit will focus on getting the Brexit transition deal approved. The transition is set to start on Mar. 29, 2019, and be completed by the end of 2020. Separately, UK prime minister Theresa May will ask leaders at the summit to expel Russian intelligence agents from their countries.
Nike reports its earnings. The sneaker giant is expected to see the effects (paywall) of US tax law changes and competition from Adidas in its fiscal third quarter.
While you were sleeping
Mark Zuckerberg apologized over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The Facebook CEO appeared on CNN, saying he was “really sorry this happened,” and that Facebook should (maybe) be regulated. Earlier in the day, he issued a statement explaining that the data-mining firm’s misdeeds were the result of flaws in Facebook.
The German government summoned Facebook. German justice minister Katarina Barley wants to hear from Facebook’s European management about the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Barley reportedly also demanded to know whether the personal data of the platform’s 30 million users in Germany were protected from unlawful use by third parties.
Best Buy ended its relationship with Huawei. The largest consumer electronics retailer in the US will stop selling the Chinese tech giant’s smartphones in the next few weeks, CNET reported. The move is a serious blow for Huawei in the US, where it has struggled to establish a presence and encountered roadblocks related to national security concerns.
Nicolas Sarkozy said the Libya probe has made his life a “living hell.” Le Figaro on Thursday published the court declaration by the former French president, who said that accusations he took Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign were lies. Sarkozy was charged on Wednesday with corruption, illegal campaign financing, and concealment of Libyan public money.
Bloomberg and Reuters lost market share to smaller data providers. While spending on financial market data, analysis, and news grew 3.6% to $28.5 billion in 2017, smaller financial data rivals, like FactSet, stole market share from Bloomberg and Reuters (paywall). It highlights a shift away from expensive desktop terminals as banks try to cut costs.
Quartz obsession interlude
Zoë Schlanger on how we can’t engineer ourselves out of a water scarcity epidemic. “A loss of biodiversity of trees and plants make forests less stable and less resilient to storms and disease, which could ultimately threaten the contribution of forests to distributing the water supply and preventing runoff.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Arizona isn’t prioritizing humans over cars. The state is writing off Uber’s recent pedestrian fatality as the victim’s own error.
White people should have a good reason for using brown or black emojis. Stick to the default yellow, or run the risk of trivializing other people’s experiences.
Americans can’t see past Russian citizenship. Not every Russian-born person living in the US is a spy, or even a fan of the Kremlin.
Surprising discoveries
Japanese condom-makers are revving up for the 2020 Olympics. The famously randy Olympic Village could bring global brand awareness to the country’s super-thin prophylactics.
WhatsApp’s co-founders have mixed feelings about Facebook. Brian Acton called for users to delete their accounts, while Jan Koum uses Facebook for pro-Trump posts.
Unisex baby names are on the rise. Parents are becoming more open to the possibility of gender fluidity.
London’s mayor is planning to make the city the next big AI hub. Sadiq Khan has hired a specialist research house to examine AI’s impact on the capital to shape his policy.
Women claim far fewer expenses than men. A UK report showed 58% of employees don’t file expense reports at all.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, taxi receipts, and Japanese prophylactics to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android. Today’s Daily Brief was written by Jill Petzinger and edited by Lianna Brinded.