🌊 Trade Wars V: China Strikes Back

US enters yapping recession.

In a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found that the average number of daily spoken words dropped from 16,000 in 2005 to around 13,000 in 2018. Given that this study predated the pandemic and the rise of TikTok, something tells us we’d be lucky to be in five-digit territory now. America is officially in a yapping recession. Although this study clearly didn’t include the guy who sat next to me on my flight last week.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

US Taking Gaza?

President Trump said the US “will take over the Gaza Strip”

• On Tuesday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu met Trump in Washington DC

• Ahead of the visit, Trump reportedly watched the Israeli government’s 47-minute October 7 video for the first time. Reports said the video left Trump disturbed. He subsequently said, “I’ll never forget it”

• In a press conference alongside Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump called the Gaza strip a “demolition site” and “hell zone” and said, “The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too”

• “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out,” he said

• He added that the US would “create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area”

Dig Deeper

• Trump also said, “If we can find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places with plenty of money in the area . . . I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza, which has had just decades and decades of death”

• The US gives significant aid to Jordan and Egypt and Trump implied this could be used to persuade them to accept migrants

• Many Palestinians and their supporters blasted the statements on social media, where they said it amounted to ethnic cleansing

• Jordan’s king will be visiting Trump next week and is expected to push back on Trump’s statements

• PM Netanyahu called Trump the “greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House” and said that Trump’s actions stand “testament to your friendship and support to the Jewish state and Jewish people”

KEY STORY

UK’s Reform Party Leads

A new poll shows the UK’s anti-immigration Reform Party is the country’s most popular party for the first time

• The Conservative Party – which ruled from 2010 to 2024 – oversaw record levels of immigration, despite promises to curb it. That fueled support for the Reform Party, a further-right alternative led by Trump ally Nigel Farage

• The new poll found that, if an election were held today, 25% of Brits would vote for Reform, 24% for Labour, and 21% for the Conservatives

• Labour’s approval has plummeted after its landslide victory last year amid high costs and slow growth, with recent polling showing that 72% of voters say the UK is going in the “wrong direction”

Dig Deeper

• Nigel Farage – Reform’s leader, a Brexit pioneer, and recent Member of Parliament – has grown in popularity both in the UK and the US

• Farage has regularly visited Trump at Mar a Lago, including on election night. He received public backing and offers of financial support from Elon Musk, however, Musk recently blasted Farage and called for his ouster over disagreements about immigration and free speech

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KEY STORY

China’s Retaliatory Tariffs

Minutes after Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports took effect, China imposed retaliatory tariffs on a range of US goods

• On Saturday, Trump announced 10% tariffs on all Chinese goods. Minutes after they took effect on Tuesday, China levied 15% tariffs on US coal and natural gas imports, and 10% on US crude oil, agricultural equipment, and certain cars

• Analysts estimate that China's new tariffs apply to ~$20B of US goods, while Trump’s 10% tariffs impact $450B in Chinese ones. China’s trade surplus with the US hit $361B in 2024

• Analysts say China’s relatively mild response indicates a desire to ease future negotiations with Trump

Dig Deeper 

• Along with the tariffs, China launched anti-trust investigations into Google and revived investigations into Nvidia, Intel, and other US technology companies

• Google’s search engine is blocked in China and only 1% of global sales come from China, however, China is one of Intel’s largest markets, accounting for 29% of its revenue in 2024

• The US already restricts Nvidia and other advanced technology exports to China

KEY STORY

New DNC Chair

Ken Martin, the longtime leader of Minnesota’s Democratic Party, won election as the DNC chair

• The election was primarily between Martin and Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Ben Wikler, who received the backing of the party’s establishment

• Martin takes over as the Democrats face decades-low numbers, with a recent poll finding that 57% of voters hold an unfavorable view of the party

• After his win, Martin said, “We have one fight. The fight right now is against Donald Trump and the billionaires who bought this country.” He has said that he wants to “take our Minnesota model to the national level”

Dig Deeper

• Martin notably did not promise a major overhaul of the party, saying Democrats already have “the right message” during his campaign

• Yet he added, “This is a new DNC…We’re taking the gloves off”

• The vote also sparked a debate around the DNC’s social future: In a final statement, outgoing chair Jaime Harrison called for diversity and a reserved seat for a non-binary Democrat on its seven-member leadership committee, while skeptics said it’s such identity politics that helped get the Republicans elected

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🪖 The Congolese rebels who invaded a city of 2M in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared a ceasefire for “humanitarian reasons”

🇺🇦 Trump signaled willingness to negotiate a deal with Ukraine to exchange continued US aid for access to rare earth metals

💰 Roughly 20,000 federal workers – 1% of the eligible workforce – accepted the Trump Administration’s “buyout offer,” well short of the White House’s 5-10% target

🇺🇸 Republicans reintroduced a bill to abolish the Department of Education (DoE) by 2026

🇺🇸 RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard both advanced out of their respective Senate committees, boosting their odds of receiving confirmation to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and National Intelligence, respectively

COMMUNITY
What does Roca Nation think?

🧠 Yesterday’s Question: As “biohacking” becomes more popular in tech world, would you want to live past 120? How long do you want to live?

🧐 Today’s Question: Who are you rooting for in the Super Bowl?

Reply to this email with your thoughts!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

💔 Dating App to Diplomatic Incident: A New York woman's Pakistani romance turned into an international spectacle after her 19-year-old online boyfriend rejected her, leading her to demand cash

🎊 Apple Parties: Apple is challenging Partiful in the party planning game with "Apple Invites," which lets iCloud Plus subscribers organize and manage events

👎 Soundtrack to a Trade War: Canadian sports fans have been expressing their displeasure with Trump’s tariff threats by booing the US national anthem at games across the country

🎻 Inflation Hits the Orchestra: A 310-year-old violin is hitting the auction block this week with a potentially record-breaking price tag estimated at $18M

🦈 Shark Miracle?: A baby shark is making waves after being born in a tank with two female sharks who haven't seen a male in over three years

ROCA WRAP
Holy Gathering

Uttar Pradesh, India

The world’s largest gathering is happening in this state.

Uttar Pradesh (UP) is India’s most populous state with 240M people – enough to make it the world’s fifth-most populous country. Several holy Hindu rivers flow through the state, including the Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical, ancient Saraswati Every 12 years, the Kumbh Mela is held where those three rivers meet.

2025 is the twelfth year, which means that up to 400M Hindus are expected to gather at the UP city of Prayagraj. Hindu worshippers believe that the occasion is an auspicious time to bathe in the cities’ confluence and that doing so purifies them from sin.

The 400M attendance make the event the largest gathering of any type in the world. That has led to days-long traffic jams, various shortages, and, last week, a stampede that killed at least 30.

A not-to-be-missed marketing opportunity, the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who has sought to promote Hindu values and culture within India – has been plastered throughout Prayagarj.

On Wednesday, he will visit the festival and take the holy plunge himself, potentially seeking not just a religious benefit, but a political one, too.

ROCA VIDEO
The Anti-Rust Belt State

State after state in the Midwest you see towns and cities with empty lots, abandoned factories, and dilapidated churches. But there’s one state where that isn’t so much the case: Wisconsin. We went there to find out why.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Wisconsin this summer, and it was fun to revisit that period while making this video. Video guy Drew is from Wisconsin, so we got our fair share of Badger State propaganda while there — and, frankly, it worked. In fact, the Maxes haven’t taken off our cheesehead hats once in the last six months.

Ahh, wait that might explain why Max T’s Hinge date abruptly left the date last Thursday night. I just assumed that something was going around given this has happened eleven times in a row.

–Max and Max