Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
US metal tariffs take effect. Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, and the EU, however, are exempt from the 25% tariff on steel and 10% tariff on aluminum. Japan, one of America’s closest allies, is notably absent from the list of exemptions.
Dropbox starts trading. The data-storage company priced its IPO at the top of an anticipated range (paywall), suggesting strong demand for new tech shares as many startups have shunned going public. Dropbox could be valued at over $9 billion.
British investigators get a warrant to search Cambridge Analytica. A judge had delayed the process for 24 hours for unknown reasons, prompting some to worry about the integrity of evidence.
Americans march for gun control. A nationwide demonstration called “March for Our Lives,” organized by survivors of last month’s school shooting in Florida, will take place on Sunday.
The first commercial non-stop flight from Australia to Britain takes off. Qantas’ new kangaroo route will fly from Perth to London in 17 hours. The airline’s first flights to London in the 1940s took four days with seven stops.
While you were sleeping
The US-China trade war kicked off… After Donald Trump announced tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports, Beijing said it may it may impose reciprocal tariffs on a potential list of $3 billion worth of 128 US products, including pork and steel pipes. China’s US ambassador said that his country isn’t afraid of a trade war.
… and markets shuddered. Markets across Europe and Asia plunged, and other exposed assets took a hit, like the Turkish lira, which dropped to a record low. China-listed pork producers saw shares jump; the opposite happened at internationally focused WH Group (paywall), the world’s largest pork producer.
Trump got a new national security adviser. After H.R. McMaster quit, Trump replaced him with John Bolton, a national security hawk who has been advocating for a military strike against North Korea. McMaster is the 25th senior official (paywall) to leave Trump’s White House since the president’s inauguration.
The US Senate okayed a $1.3 trillion government spending bill. The upper chamber approved the bill early Friday, heading off a government shutdown and keeping agencies running until the end of September. The bill, which includes big increases in both military and non-defense spending, now goes to Trump for sign-off.
Tencent took a big hit. The company’s shares fell almost 8% in Hong Kong after South African telecoms company and major shareholder Naspers said it would sell 2% of its stake in the Chinese internet giant. Naspers invested $32 million in the Shenzhen-based company in 2001, a stake that is now worth $175 billion.
Quartz obsession interlude
Olivia Goldhill on the surge in sexual identities. “The newly created identities, many of which originated in the past decade, reduce the focus on gender—for either the subject or object of desire—in establishing sexual attraction. ‘Demisexual,’ for example, is entirely unrelated to gender, while other terms emphasize the gender of the object of attraction, but not the gender of the subject.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
NRA boycotts force companies to walk a precarious tightrope. The speed of social media scares firms into attempts to boost prestige without thinking things through.
Chairs are the new paintings. Wealthy collectors are increasingly putting their money into designer furniture rather than wall hangings.
Cambridge Analytica isn’t the first practitioner of electoral dark arts. As long as there have been elections, there have been shadowy actors looking to fix the results (paywall).
Surprising discoveries
A Mexican cryptocurrency is backed by habanero peppers. A grower of the ultra-spicy pepper created Agrocoin (paywall) to attract smaller investors.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is much bigger than we thought. About 16 times bigger, in fact.
American sperm is in high demand in Brazil. Wealthy single women and lesbian couples want sperm that will give them children with light skin and blue eyes (paywall).
Austria is the “ashtray of Europe.” Members of parliament from the ruling right-wing coalition voted to overturn a smoking ban in bars and restaurants.
South Korea will shut down computers to stop overwork. State employees will have to wrap up by 8pm on Fridays.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, expensive chairs, and spicy crypto 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 Jason Karaian.