🌊 New Day, New Tariffs

Dang, Google Maps got red-pilled…

Google Maps has officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Apple Maps, woke as ever, continues to call it the Gulf of Mexico. Welcome to a new era of geography where half of the country calls it the Gulf of Mexico, and the other half the Gulf of America. Why don’t we just compromise and call it something differing like… the Sea Señor?

As you can see, we’ve stopped caring about unsubscribes…

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Pennies Get Cut

President Trump ordered the Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing the coin’s rising production costs

• The utility of pennies and nickels has been debated for decades, particularly as the cost to produce and distribute them has risen. In 2024, production costs rose to about 3.7 cents per penny and 13.8 cents per nickel, per the US Mint. Rising zinc costs are largely driving rising penny costs

• In announcing the move, Trump said, “Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time”

Dig Deeper

• Penny advocates argue that removing them could add to inflation by forcing consumers to pay a rounded-up price in cash transactions

• Many economists say the impact on inflation would be negligible, though, largely because the share of cash transactions has declined

• Countries that have removed low-denomination coins have generally not experienced inflationary effects

KEY STORY

Trump Imposes Steel Tariffs

President Trump announced that he will impose 25% tariffs on all imported aluminum and steel

• The US imports the most steel from Canada, followed by Brazil, Mexico, and South Korea. Canada also accounted for 79% of US aluminum imports in 2024

• In his first term, Trump imposed broad tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum but rolled them back on Canada and Mexico after reaching a revised trade deal. Biden lifted tariffs on the EU, UK, and Japan

• The EU, which accounts for about 15% of US steel imports, promised to impose retaliatory tariffs if Trump’s take effect

Dig Deeper

• Trump also announced that Japan-based Nippon Steel would be permitted to invest in US Steel, though only with a minority stake

• Nippon Steel had controversially tried to buy US Steel, a move both Biden and Trump opposed and the former blocked. Nippon argues it can provide much-needed investment; the deal’s critics have said it could undermine national security

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KEY STORY

CFPB To Shut Down?

The Trump Administration ordered the shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Monday

• Congress created the CFPB after the 2008 financial crisis to enforce consumer financial laws. It established the CFPB as an independent agency of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), meaning it drew money from the Fed, not Congress

• Democrats claimed that made it independent from political pressure; Republicans claimed the CFPB was accountable to neither Congress nor the president. Many have long sought to eliminate it

• On Monday, the CFPB’s 2,000 employees received a stop-work email, like that received by USAID last week, an apparent precursor to its closure

Dig Deeper 

• The White House said the shutdown would cut unneeded spending and curb the power of a “weaponized” agency

• Democrats said the move was illegal and would leave Americans vulnerable to financial wrongdoing

• Some noted that Elon Musk – who posted “CFPB RIP” on X after the announcement – stands to benefit from the shutdown, as the CFPB would have regulated his proposed “Digital Wallet” venture between X and Visa

• The CFPB employees union immediately launched two lawsuits challenging the shutdown, arguing that Congress, not the president, has authority over the agency

KEY STORY

Hostage Release Postponed

Trump announced that Hamas has until Saturday to free all Israeli hostages, promising to unleash “hell” if the group doesn’t comply

• Early Monday, Hamas announced it would indefinitely delay the release of more Israeli hostages, alleging that Israel blocked Gazans’ access to shelter and ability to return

• Under the ceasefire deal, Hamas is scheduled to release 17 more Israeli hostages or their bodies over several weeks, with the next three due for release this Saturday

• Israel's defense minister said Hamas' postponement violated the ceasefire and ordered troops to prepare for a possible resumption of warfare

• On Monday evening, Trump said, “As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock . . . I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out.” He didn’t specify if that meant noon or midnight

Dig Deeper

• The uncertainty comes after Hamas released three visibly malnourished hostages on Saturday, sparking outrage in Israel. Two of the hostages publicly said they were eager to see their loved ones, only to subsequently learn that their wives and/or children were killed on October 7

• Further complicating matters is Trump’s stated plan for the US to take “ownership” of the Gaza Strip and turn it into a “riviera”

• On Sunday, Trump told Fox News that Gazans – who he has said will be relocated to Jordan or Egypt – would not have the right to return to Gaza

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

💰 French President Emmanuel Macron announced a $112B AI investment in what he described a bid to compete with the US’s $500B "Stargate" AI infrastructure project. EU leaders fear they are falling behind in AI

🇺🇸 Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is pushing for Trump to “get rid of FEMA the way it exists today,” including by delegating federal disaster aid disbursement to local officials

📉 Marriage rates in China hit a record low in 2024, dropping 20% despite heightened government efforts to promote marriage and births

🔪 The trial for Hadi Matar, the man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie in western New York in 2022, began on Monday. On Day one, his mother suggested he had become radicalized after a trip to the Middle East

💲 A judge ordered the Trump administration to unblock frozen federal funds, alleging that the administration wasn’t complying with a previous court order to do so

COMMUNITY
What does Roca Nation think?

🧠 Yesterday’s Question: Reactions to last night’s Super Bowl?

🧐 Today’s Question: If you were in charge of the halftime show and your job was to get the highest TV ratings possible, who would you pick to perform?

Respond to this email with your answer!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🏈 The Name Game: A Native American group stated that the Washington Commanders' new name is actually more offensive than "Redskins," citing military commanders' history of violence against Native tribes

⚖️ UnitedHealth vs The Internet: Two months after CEO Brian Thompson's killing, UnitedHealth is defending its reputation by hiring the defamation lawyer that won Dominion's Fox News case over voter fraud claims

👮 Police Hit the Wrong Notes: Ed Sheeran’s surprise pop-up concert on an Indian street was shut down by local police, who unplugged his guitar and microphone cables and said he he hadn’t received permission

🐒 Monkeying with the Power Grid: A monkey managed to cause a nationwide power outage in Sri Lanka after climbing into a power station

🪙 The New $TRUMP Coin?: The Central African Republic (CAR) – a war-torn African country – launched its own meme coin to "unite people" and raise the country’s profile, according to its president

ROCA WRAP
Unbombable

Beijing, China

A massive military command center ten times larger than the Pentagon is being built near this city.

Beijing – China's capital, a city of 21M people, and the nation’s seat of power for centuries – has been undergoing rapid modernization as the country developed in recent decades. That change is now encompassing the headquarters of the Chinese military – the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The PLA’s current headquarters wasn't designed as a secure combat command center, however, new satellite imagery shows that’s changing. Intelligence has revealed a 1,500-acre construction site 30 kilometers southwest of the city center, featuring deep holes that intelligence analysts believe will house hardened bunkers.

Dubbed "Beijing Military City" by some in the US intelligence community, the complex will be at least ten times larger than the Pentagon – the US’ third largest building.

The project's construction began in mid-2024 and comes as China's military approaches its 2027 centenary, a date by which US intelligence officials have said President Xi Jinping wants the capability to attack Taiwan. The site features unusual security measures, including drone restrictions and photography bans.

The compound appears poised to be the world’s largest military command centre. And while Chinese officials maintain their military policy is "defensive in nature," the way the US and others are keeping a close eye on construction suggests they trust little of what Beijing says.

ROCA VIDEO
How Political Lobbying Caused the DC Plane Crash

Within minutes of an American Airlines flight crashing into a military helicopter at Reagan National Airport on January 29, politicians were pointing figures: At DEI, at budget cuts, at airlines.

Yet our investigation found that it was politicians of both parties who ignored repeated warnings about the airport and continued to expand it, despite dire warnings.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

One reader wrote yesterday that the Super Bowl isn’t news, and that we shouldn’t cover it. As a nonpartisan news company that tries to have slightly more personality than an AI chatbot, we disagree. In a country where so little unites us today, we look for as many commonalities as possible. We can’t lose the Super Bowl at this point. It’s basically one of three things that the entire country still observes: Thanksgiving, the Super Bowl, and Toyotathon. Those are our last three holidays. We’re not giving up one of them.

–Max and Max

P.S. International readers, your frustrations are much more valid. Although now that we’re here, you should really check out Toyotathon.