🌏 Talking tariffs and inflation

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ByQuartz Staff

PublishedApril 17, 2025

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Image for article titled 🌏 Talking tariffs and inflation — Photo: Vincent Alban (Getty Images)

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Here’s what you need to know

Global powers playing phone tag? JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is worried that the U.S. and China aren’t actually talking as the trade war wages on.

Fed up with tariffs?

Jerome and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Inflationary Day.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that President Trump’s sweeping tariffs are “highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation.” He added that the Fed was caught off guard by the size of the president’s tariff hikes (they were “significantly larger than anticipated”) — and warned that their impact on prices could be more than just temporary.

At an event at the Economic Club of Chicago, Powell said that because the Trump administration’s economic policies are still evolving, it’s hard to know what kind of effect they’ll have on the economy.

But the Fed will work to balance maximum employment and price stability because, “without price stability, we cannot achieve the long periods of strong labor market conditions that benefit all Americans.” Quartz’s Kevin Ryan has more on Powell’s tightrope walk.

Monopoly money: What Meta stands to lose in FTC trial

Do not pass go, do not collect $200 — but do brace for a blockbuster legal showdown that could break up one of the world’s biggest tech companies.

Meta is facing what experts are calling one of the biggest monopoly cases in decades, with the Federal Trade Commission arguing that the company used a “buy or bury” strategy to smother its competition. The case could force Meta to spin off Instagram and/or WhatsApp — and could upend the social media landscape in the process.

The case raises several key questions.

In a TikTok world, is Meta actually as dominant as regulators say? And are social media users actually worse off today because of Facebook’s dealings? Whatever the case may be, there’s a lot at stake: Meta’s market cap is now roughly $1.3 trillion. Quartz’s Harri Weber has more on whether Meta’s trial could end with a get-out-of-jail-free card.