Is doomscrolling on your phone unhealthy for your brain? Oxford University Presss word of the year, brain rot, seems to suggest so. It defines the condition as the supposed deterioration of a persons mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.
The key word, though, is supposed, as there is there is no such thing as mindless scrolling, says Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, the author of The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience and a Harvard physician who specializes in stress.
Brain rot is not a word or phrase that I would use as a physician, because it connotes that our brains are passively withering away, she says. Scientifically what is happening to your brain when you sit and scroll and scroll is not passive. [Scrolling] has a very active effect on your brain, and it signals all sorts of hormones and chemical cascades and neural circuits.
While thats a relief, we do love our digital devicesmaybe too much. According to a recent survey by Reviews.org, Americans pick up their phones an average of 205 times a day. Eighty percent check their phones within the first 10 minutes of waking up, and 43% consider themselves to be addicted.
Having a true addiction to your phone is rare, says Nerurkar. Whats common, though, is popcorn brain, a term coined by University of Wisconsin researcher David Levy.
Popcorn brain is the sensation of your brain popping when you spend too much time online, explains Nerurkar. Its when you’re chronically online, overconsuming. It has an effect on your sleep, your mood, your emotional reactivity, irritability, fatigue, and in some cases, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
Finding balance
If you feel popcorn-y, finding a sene of balance can help. But where do you start? Howard Lewis, author of Leave Your Phone at the Door: The Joy of OFFLINE, says its not the technology thats the problem, its a growing fear of missing out.
I think there’s a fear of being irrelevant, he says. The advent of social media has made the problem much worse. People used to get their news from newspapers, and the process could take three or four days. Now, if you wait more than three or four hours, there is a sense that youre not very relevant, and I think that’s a big error of judgment.
There’s a fine line between consuming and overconsuming, and the first thing to do is to cut yourself some slack about your phone habit. Doomscrolling is a primal urge, says Nerurkar.
Your brain is governed by the amygdala, and the main purpose of your amygdala is survival and self-preservation, she explains. Back when we were all cave people, there would be a night watchman who would scan for danger while the others slept. In modern times, we are all our own night watchman. The modern equivalent of scanning for danger is scrolling.
To find balance, you need to get your prefrontal cortex online. This is the part of the brain that governs strategic thinking, complex problem-solving, and adulting, says Nerurkar.
Building healthy phone habits intentionally dials it down, she says. The goal is to become more intentional with your media use. The truth is that the environment and big tech and the news is going to continue. Your brain and body is doing exactly what it was intended to do when you’re feeling stressed. Its not about abstinence from our devices. Its about creating some digital boundaries to preserve your mental health while remaining informed to what’s happening in the world.
How to build healthier habits with your phone
Nerurkar teamed up with the mental health app Calm to create a five-part series called Building Healthier Phone Habits. The first step toward becoming more intentional about your media consumption is an awareness of your current state. Start by monitoring a three- to four-hour block of time. Put a pen and paper nearby and every time you have the urge to pick up your phone, create a tally mark. At the end of the time block, identify how many times you felt like reaching for your phone.
Next, address the urge with a three-second brain reset exercise called Stop, Breathe, Be, which helps you strengthen your mind-body connection.
Instead of giving into the impulse to reach for your phone, stop, take a deep breath in and out, and be in the moment, says Nerurkar. What it does over time is it decreases the volume of your amygdala and gets that prefrontal cortex back online.
Another strategy is leveraging the grayscale of your phone. Nerurkar recommends switching your phone off color mode and into black-and-white mode. Go to your Settings page. Tap on Accessibility and then Display and Text Size. Switch your color filters to grayscale. You can easily toggle the grayscale on and off.
What it does is it makes scrolling less addictive, less enticing, says Nerurkar. Good times to use grayscale are when you’re trying to focus on a task at work, but you notice that you keep reaching for your phone and you’re not able to finish that task. It’s a visual boundary that you’re creating.
Building healthier phone habits is a process, so give yourself lots of grace, says Nerurkar. Compassion, and particularly self-compassion, helps rewire the brain and decrease your reliance on your devices, she says. It also decreases the volume of your amygdala.
Why detachment is important
Phones and applications may be enticing, but they offer less value than we think, says Lewis. They do provide a sense of comfort and belonging, which is fine, but the difficult thing is that they become a replacement for adjunct and real-life conversations, he says.
Lewis regularly hosts dinner parties where guests must leave their phones at the door. He recommends breaking the cycle of dependence by putting your phoneaway wherever youre engaging with someone in person. People have certain preconceptions about the way they should look and behave around others, he says. What matters most is that you give people your time and your attention in a meaningful way. By leaving your phone at the door, you are enabled to embrace life.
Give yourself permission to be different by untethering yourself from your device, urges Lewis. Being offline opens the door to randomness and serendipity, he says. Life behind a screen, in my opinion, is not real life.
The Mojave Micro Mill just broke ground in the Mojave Desert about 85 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Itll be the first steel mill to open in California in more than half a century when it begins production in two years.
More notable, itll do so using local sun and wind power, making it the first self-powered, net-zero steel mill in the country.
Mojave Micro will make rebarthe thin rods of steel used to reinforce concrete walls and floorsout of recycled scrap steel using a net-zero manufacturing process. Eric Benson, CEO of Pacific Steel Group, which will operate the plant, said the company had started to strategize about a new facility a few years ago. Since power remains one of the most expensive inputs in the steelmaking process, he wondered whether a mill could be placed right next to one of these solar farms.
Due to its remote location in the high desert, where theres plenty of land, the 174-acre Mojave Micro site will include 63 acres of dedicated solar panels, batteries, and wind turbines that will be able to meet the power needs of the plant. The plant is hooked up to the grid in case it needs backup power, but will also install a carbon capture system for times when it runs on grid power, which Pacific Steel says will net out carbon emissions. Benson estimates the plant will be able to run all of its electric arc furnaces on its own power 85% of the time. The company predicts that when its fully operational in early 2027, the mill will have the ability to produce 450,000 tons of rebar per year.
Mojave Micro saves emissions in other ways, too. Most of Californias 4.3 million tons of scrap metal is shipped out of state to other mills in the Southwest, and then trucked back to big markets like Los Angeles. The transit costs of moving such heavy material can run $100 per ton. Being able to offer scrap dealers a place to recycle steel that’s just a short drive from L.A.accessible by truck instead of trainwill dramatically cut down on transportation emissions.
The steel industry, which has traditionally run on fossil fuels like coal, generates about 7% of global emissions. In recent years, environmental groups and startups have pushed to develop more green methods of making steel, powered by hydropower and renewables. Startup Boston Metals recently figured out a process to make virgin steel using electricity. The Center for American Progress argues that investment in domestic green steel production can help the U.S. industry adapt to the future and grow out the nations industrial base, especially as it looks to build more microchip plants and manufacturing sites.
Mojave Micro also makes a case for more self-contained industrial facilities. With the robust renewable power available in the Mojave (another massive solar farm is located just across the street from the mills future home) companies could set up their own power systems and supply everything their factories need, without worrying about grid connections or local power capacity. The current rush for data centers, for instance, has been hampered by the need to increase local power generation and transmission capacity. A plant like Mojave Micro will have all the power infrastructure it needs.
The effort also shows the value of industrial recycling. With tariffs upending supply chains, a similar kind of factory and process could be used to, say, recycle lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles.
Pacific Steel, which currently supplies a quarter of Californias rebar, believes this new plant will not only enable it to sell greener steel at the same price as competitors but also to steal market share. California state law mandates that state-funded building projects use the greenest possible materials; Pacific Steels net-zero rebar will give it a big advantage, and could drive competitors to match its sustainable process.
William Sonneborn, president of Generate, a green investment fund that provided $200 million to help build the plant, believes Mojave Micro is a model that will be copied. He says that some corporations concerned about their environmental footprints, like Walmart, have been looking for greener building materials, seeking to reduce what are known as Scope 3 emissions. Pacific Steels new mill aims to help them do just that, at a competitive price.
We love the idea, Sonneborn said, because it sets a standard and it creates a market for the United States because of the design of the technology.
The Great Gatsby, 1925
Maintaining relevance after 100 years in the public consciousness is no small feat, but thats exactly what the American novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has managed to do. First published by Charles Scribner’s Sons on April 10, 1925, it initially received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure. As this now-beloved novel celebrates its centennial, how did it finally find an audience and what are its most-enduring themes? Also, here’s to maybe catch a bit of the bash.
From failure to required reading
Fitzgerald died in 1940 from a heart attack thinking he had failed as a writer. What he didn’t know was that Gatsby had been chosen by the Council on Books in Wartime as one of the titles to be distributed to WW II soldiers waiting in army barracks to eventually be shipped overseasand it clearly had a massive trickle-down effect.
The soldiers identified with the character of Jay Gatsby and the themes of disillusionment and loss. This newfound popularity made literary critics take a second look. The book would find its way onto college syllabuses and later become required reading for high schools. It also inspired adaptations in various cultural mediums, such as musicals, movies, ballets, and more.
Enduring themes
The story is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a World War I veteran and Yale graduate, who moves from the Midwest to Long Island where he meets the enigmatic, flashy, “self-made” millionaire Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is famous for throwing extravagant parties at his Long Island mansion, embodying the Jazz Age and raucous Roaring Twenties, in hopes that his ex, Daisy Buchanan, will attend. The fact that she is already married to Tom Buchanan, a violent Yale graduate who comes from old money, doesnt stop Gatsbys obsessive pursuit. But with all that extravagance, illicit alcohol (this was the Prohibition, after all) and unrequited love, tensions are sure to boil over with deadly consequences.This short novel explores themes of class, the dark truth of the American Dream, corruption, and obsession. A hundred years later, the ’20s of a new century dont feel all that different from its predecessor, the 1920s.
Heres how book lovers can celebrate
In Gatsby celebrations (and real estate!), location is the thing. If you find yourself in or near Fitzgeralds birthplace of St. Paul, Minnesota, head over to the Minnesota History Center. On April 10, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time (CT), a live reading of the novel is scheduled, featuring a variety of readers. Also at the Center is an exhibit, Thats My Middle West: F. Scott Fitzgeralds St. Paul, which showcases artifacts from Fitzgeralds early life along with Gatsby memorabilia, and runs through May 31.
Princeton University, Fitzgeralds alma mater, is also celebrating Gatsby’s centennial and its favorite son throughout the month. A special exhibit at the Firestone Library called Living Forever: The Archive of The Great Gatsby opens April 10. A roundtable discussion titled Whats So Great About The Great Gatsby? will be held April 28.
New York City, the setting of much of Gatsby, couldnt let this 100th birthday go without a toast or two. The Empire State Building is turning green in commemoration, a nod to the glowing green light on Daisy’s dock that Gatsby gazes at from his lawn across the bay. Broadway is home to the 2023 Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of the novel. On April 10, the cast will have a special toast with audience members being gifted a special anniversary collector’s item souvenir. Also, the Midtown bar Oscar Wilde is throwing an all-day Gatsby-themed soirée, replicating the Roaring Twenties, with lots of music (DJ, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.) and extravagant cocktails.
If you can’t make it to any of these locations. never fear, old sport. Throw your own Gatsby movie night. Jack Claytons 1974 offering starring Robert Redford in the title role is available to rent on Amazon with the MGM add-on. No add-ons needed to rent the 2013 Baz Luhrmann flick starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Pop some bottles and step into the Jazz Age. Maybe Fitzgerald will feel the long-sought admiration from his grave in Rockville, Maryland.
The price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surged after President Donald Trump said he authorized a 90-day pause on tariffs for countries that havent retaliated against the U.S.
The price of Bitcoin rose about 6% to nearly $82,000, while other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Solana jumped more than 10%. Overall, the $2 trillion-plus global crypto market posted a one-day increase in excess of 7%, according to CoinMarketCap.
Crypto traders, like traders of other financial assets, welcomed the news Wednesday that Trump has backtracked on tariffs for most countries just days after announcing an aggressive agenda that upended global financial markets. Trump hasnt relented on levies on goods imported from China; in the same post on Truth Social, he said hes increasing tariffs on China to 125%.
While the trade war with China is far from over, traders instead celebrated that Trump reduced reciprocal tariffs on other countries to 10% during the pause period after a brutal few days of whipsawed trading. Before announcing the pause, Trump posted on Truth Social urging Americans to be cool and that this is a great time to buy.
The price of cryptocurrencies has provided an interesting read on the pro-crypto Trump administration. While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin rallied in the weeks following his November 2024 election victory, that enthusiasm had already dissipated by mid-January when Trump returned to the White House.
Bitcoin bear market
In March, Bitcoin entered a bear market, defined as a decline of at least 20% from a high. Even with Wednesdays gains, the price of the largest cryptocurrency by market cap is still down more than 22% from an all-time high of more than $109,000 just hours ahead of Trumps second inauguration in January. Since then, global crypto markets have lost nearly $900 billion in value.
Meanwhile, the major U.S. stock indices have thus far not entered bear markets, though they were all in bear market territory in recent days. Trumps announcement Wednesday buoyed stock prices, as the S&P 500 jumped 9.5% and the Nasdaq 100 spiked 12%.
Still, while some sense of euphoria has returned to financial markets, some crypto experts caution that it could be some time before these assets recover their losses as the newest traders are being hit hardest by losses. Ki Young Ju, the CEO of CryptoQuant, has predicted the Bitcoin bear market could last as long as six months, for example.
When Donald Trump announced that Elon Musk would be joining the government as an adviser and head of the quasi-governmental Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), there was skepticism about how long the relationship between the two would last. Experts predicted that the SpaceX founder wouldnt like playing second fiddle to the former Apprentice star.
As Trump himself put it in his 1987 business-advice book The Art of the Deal, One of the problems when you become successful is that jealousy and envy inevitably follow.
But its not success that appears to have driven the most serious wedge between the two businessmen. Its failure, and the catastrophic fallout from Trumps implementation of tariffs that has triggered a global trade wara decision that Trump has hit pause on, temporarily forestalling for 90 days reciprocal tariffs on all countries except China.
Its a trade war that Musk never wanted. The Washington Post reports that Musk lobbied Trump directly, though unsuccessfully, to not levy tariffs. And as those tariffs decimated U.S. stock markets, in a series of gobsmacking posts on X this week Musk has dubbed White House trade tsar Peter Navarro Peter Retarrdo, a moron, and dumber than a sack of bricks. While the name-calling has been limited to Navarro, the criticism is fundamentally pointed at Trumps most signature policy to date.
Musks brother, Kimbal, has quote tweeted Trump while adding negative comments about his tariff decisions. Mmm.. Celebrating causing China’s stock market to go down, by causing our own stock market to go down? Maybe this is why Trump brought back the R word. Its not clear whether he is referring to the risk of a recession, or echoing his brothers comments about Navarro when referring to the president.
Karoline Leavitt, Trumps press secretary, said on April 8 about the Navarro-Musk spat: These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and tariffs. Boys will be boys and we will let their public sparring continue.
A clash of titanic egos
Not everyone is convinced thats all there is to it. It could be the first major public blowup between two titanic egos who were always going to struggle to coexist.
That Musk and Trump would clash on the issue isnt surprising. China was a healthy market for Musks electric vehicle company, Tesla, and Trumps 125% tariffs on goods from China will likely harm that business relationship. Musk has a big financial relationship with China, which is not happy with tariffs, says Steven Hassan, author of The Cult of Trump.
Navarros expertise is more rooted in academia and therefore takes a different approach to Musks, explains Steven Buckley, a lecturer in digital media sociology at City, University of London, who specializes in U.S. politics. Fundamentally I dont believe anyone in Trumps Cabinet actually has a good understanding of the impact of tariffs and how the wider global economy works. However, Musk actually experiences the direct impact of them on his businesses, and so regardless of whatever good trade policy would be, he knows that this isnt itfor him at least.
Trump, for his part, is not exactly jumping to tariff architect Navarros defense. Despite Trumps press secretary saying this spat is just boys being boys, its clear that Trump is fine to let these spats occur out in the open as they serve as a convenient distraction from any disagreement those in the administration may have with [him], Buckley adds. Its notable that Musk has held his tongue publicly about Trump, instead attacking individuals linked to the plan lower down the White House pecking order, while outriders like his brother criticize the presidents tariffs.
Attacks on Navarro can also be excused away by Trump as not targeting him or his decision-makingimportant, given the president can be stuck in his ways and refuses to back down on his decisions, even when presented with evidence that hes wrong, as shown by a vignette in Bob Woodwards recent book about first-term economic adviser Gary Cohn telling Trump Americans dont want to do manual labor. Navarro acts as a useful scapegoat so that when the damage these tariffs cause starts being felt by consumers Trump can blame him for his advice, Buckley says.
In the end, the tempestuous tweets were to be expected. Both Trump and Musk (who, in attacking Navarro, has attacked Trump and his policy by proxy) have built their reputations being abrasive and shooting from the hip on social media. The White House has sought to downplay the spat, releasing a statement about the brouhaha, saying: Whatever. We are the most transparent administration in history, expressing our disagreements in public.
Says Buckley: Its clear that Trump and those in his administration are immune to embarrassment and so these ugly public arguments only serve as a media story about political personalities at war with one another.
Basketball great LeBron James has become the first professional male athlete to have his likeness depicted in a Ken doll.
Mattel Inc. unveiled the LeBron Ken doll on Wednesday to kick off the toy manufacturer’s Kenbassador series. Last year, nine female athlete Barbies, including tennis star Venus Williams, were introduced.
As a young kid, I was fortunate to have role models who not only inspired me but also showed me whats possible through hard work and dedication,” James said. “Now, as an adult, I understand how vital it is for young people to have positive figures to look up to. Thats why partnering with Barbie to release the LeBron James Kenbassadors doll is such an honor. Its an opportunity to recognize the powerful impact of role models who instill confidence, inspire dreams, and show kids that they, too, can achieve greatness.
The LeBron doll wears sunglasses, headphones and a blue-and-white letterman’s jacket with LJ on the left breast, his number 23 on the right sleeve and Ohio and crown patches on the other. His first name is on the back with Just a kid from Akron underneath. His T-shirt says We Are Family, a nod to the LeBron James Family Foundation. His blue shoes, of course, are Nikes.
The doll costs $75 and goes on sale Monday.
In an Associated Press-produced video of James seeing the doll for the first time, the King expressed his approval, repeatedly calling the doll “dope, another word for cool.
While looking it over, he put an I Promise wristband on the doll’s wrist and adjusted the strap on its fanny pack.
OK, now we ready, James said. I mean, he might need to do a little lifting. Legs look a little skinny. Little fraily little fellow. Nah, that’s dope.
Mattel senior vice president Krista Berger noted that Ken is Barbie’s longtime best friend and supporter.
We are excited to bring fans a new presentation of Ken that celebrates LeBron as a role model, his icon status, lasting impact on culture, and dedication to setting a positive example for the next generation to reach their limitless potential, Berger said.
U.S. pediatricians and infectious disease experts say the fight against rising measles cases nationwide is being hampered by a lack of forceful advocacy for vaccination from government health officials and statements on unproven treatments that are confusing parents.
Since January, 505 people have been infected in Texas and more than 90 total in neighboring New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. Two children have died in Texas, including an 8-year-old girl last week, and an adult death in New Mexico is under investigation. The United States has more than 600 known cases and outbreaks in six states, according to HHS.
Dr. Sue Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said leaders need to speak with a consistent science- and fact-based message about measles vaccination, calling that the only way to handle an outbreak like this. “That is the number one message we’re trying to put in front of everyone.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long history of advocating against vaccines, has backed vaccination as the best way to prevent measles from spreading since becoming the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
But unlike previous health secretaries faced with containing outbreaks, his comments are not unequivocal. He has also made misleading claims about nutrition, vitamin A and other treatments, while exaggerating vaccine risks, even as U.S. vaccination rates are falling.
“Our work is becoming harder by the minute,” said Dr. Rana Alissa, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Florida chapter, a state where kindergarten vaccination rates last school year were 81%, far below the 95% needed to establish community protection.
An HHS spokesman in a statement disputed that there was a lack of strong federal messaging, saying Kennedy has repeatedly reinforced the important role of vaccines. The spokesman said HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been monitoring the situation and are collaborating with state and local health authorities, including by providing resources.
“Secretary Kennedy remains committed to ensuring Americans have accurate information on all available treatment options,” the statement said.
In an interview on CBS News on Wednesday, Kennedy repeated that it was his and the government’s position that people should get the measles vaccine.
On Sunday, however, he followed a post on X championing the vaccine with another praising alternative treatments, drawing fresh criticism from disease experts.
The CDC, the nation’s lead agency on infectious disease outbreaks which reports to Kennedy, has made just two official public statements and provided a weekly tally of cases on its website. HHS said the CDC has issued statements and updates as needed.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the CDC needs to conduct frequent press conferences and issue multiple press releases urging Americans to vaccinate their children.
In 2019, when a New York measles outbreak recorded 1,274 cases, CDC officials did just that and New York City made the vaccine mandatory, issuing summonses to families who failed to comply.
That year, Health Secretary Alex Azar forcefully endorsed the measles vaccine, calling it “among the most-studied medical products we have”, and launched a national immunization campaign.
Doctors are looking to fill in the communication void. AAP has produced new website content, several press releases, 20 social media posts and launched a misinformation-fighting initiative, aimed at clarifying the safety of vaccines and the role of Vitamin A, which Kennedy has touted.
There is no treatment for the highly contagious vaccine-preventable disease beyond those to address symptoms and complications, AAP’s Kressly said.
Vitamin A is only recommended when administered by a doctor in specific quantities as too much can cause liver damage. Some pediatricians in Texas have reported cases of liver toxicity among children, Kressly said.
In his Sunday X post, Kennedy promoted the inhaled steroid budesonide, which is used to treat asthma, and the antibiotic clarithromycin.
Antibiotics cannot treat a viral infection and using an inhaled steroid to treat measles-related inflammation is risky because it suppresses the immune system, which could make the infection “significantly worse,” said Dr. Tina Tan, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Northwestern University and president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
“Massive epidemic”
The Texas outbreak likely involves thousands of cases as official case counts only tally laboratory-confirmed cases, Offit said. “This is a massive measles epidemic.”
Measles typically causes one-to-three deaths per 1,000 cases. Three deaths linked with the Texas outbreak suggest there could be as many as 1,000 to 3,000 cases, epidemiologist Dr. Katelyn Jetelina wrote in her Substack blog on Monday.
Rising vaccine skepticism and misinformation have resulted in only 11 U.S. states with vaccination rates of 95% or above – the level needed to protect residents unable to receive the vaccine. The measles vaccine is 97% effective after two doses and 93% after one.
Dr. Michael Donnelly, who crafts messaging for pediatricians across Medstar Health’s 10 hospitals in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore areas, said Kennedy’s comments set this year apart from the concerns raised by parents in prior years.
On one side, you have people panicking when they don’t need to. And then on the other side, you have people who are pretty blase.”
Dr. Alisa Kachikis, who cares for women with high-risk pregnancies at UW Medicine in Seattle, noted that measles can cause miscarriage and birth defects. She recommends pregnant women who are unvaccinated get the shot right after delivery to protect their baby.
The vaccine can’t be given to children younger than six months and is usually not given until a child reaches 12 months.
Dr. Theresa Horton, a pediatrician in Owasso, Oklahoma, said she used to tell parents if they didn’t vaccinate their children, they were relying on others who were vaccinated to protect them.
With vaccination rates among Oklahoma kindergartners hovering around 88%, she now tells them: “We no longer have herd immunity.”
Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters
Trump’s tariffs are currently on hold for all countries with the exception of China. If and when they do go into effect, however, your trip to the supermarket will likely get a whole lot pricier.
The tariffs promise sweeping new taxes on imports from nearly all countries; and if past research tells us anything, the cost of those tariffstaxes paid by businesses on goods from outside the countrywill likely be passed on almost entirely to American consumers.
Coupled with higher inflation and slower U.S. economic growth, these tariffs are expected to raise prices in the U.S., according to the Budget Lab at Yale.
Here’s a look at some of the food items likely to be hit the hardest.
What foods will get more expensive?
Food that isn’t grown locally will take the biggest hit. However, the price of coffee, seafood, fruit, cheese, nuts, candy bars, and other imported foods, are likely to increase the most, according to experts, as reported by CNN. That’s because the U.S. imports approximately 80% of its coffee and seafood, 59% of its fresh fruit, and 35% of its fresh vegetables, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
While these foods are likely to increase the most, the damage isn’t limited to these grocery store items. Phil Lempert, a food trends reporter, known as the Supermarket Guru, told NPR that “probably almost half of the products in a supermarketabout 40,000 productswill be affected by these tariffs, whether it’s the entire product or just an ingredient.”
Other groceries that consumers might want to keep an eye on include: alcohol, beef, and yes, chocolate, per NPR.
Coffee
The U.S. is the world’s second-leading coffee importer (both Arabica and Robusta varieties); and in 2023, about 80% of unroasted coffee imports came from Latin America (valued at $4.8 billion), principally from two countries: Brazil and Colombia, according to USDA.
Seafood
Chile, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam are the largest suppliers of seafood to this country, per the USDA. The U.S. imports about 80% of its seafood, with estimates as high as 85%, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In addition, Vietnam and Indonesia, could see some of the highest “reciprocal” tariffs, pushing prices even higher. (But with the new 90-day pause on tariffs, the short- and long-term effects are yet to be determined.)
Fruit
Costa Rica and Guatemala are the leading exporters of bananas to the U.S. According to the USDA, we also get pineapple, avocados, and mangoes from Costa Rica; and from Guatemala, melons, plantains, and papayas.
Lempert told NPR that because “these products don’t have a long shelf life,” the tariffs will not only cause higher prices but also availability issues.
Cheese
Some of our top cheese imports come from Europeparticularly, Italy, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, according to USDA, which were subject to 20% EU tariffs before the 90-day pause. Gouda, brie, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses are among the cheese that could increase in price, according to NPR.
Nuts
The World Bank reported the U.S. imported a majority of its nuts from Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Brazil and Thailand in 2023. Pecans, cashews, and macadamia nuts could see the greatest price increases due to the tariffs, NPR reported.
Additionally, America also exports nuts. The U.S. tree nut industry itself is now anticipating losses as they wait and see if Canada, China and Mexico will slap retaliatory tariffs in the future. The three are this country’s main trading partners for pistachios, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans and macadamia nuts.
Return-to-office mandates have been unpopular among all kinds of employees, whether they work for the private sector or federal government. Despite vocal discontent, companies have generally pressed on with these policiesoften tasking human resources and people teams with implementing and enforcing them.
It turns out many of the HR leaders who seemingly promote these policies have their misgivings, according to a report from people management platform Leapsome. In a survey of about 1,000 leaderswho oversee HR teams in the U.S. and a handful of European countriesmore than half said they were pressured by their companys CEO to enforce RTO policies that required workers to be in the office for a set number of days. Those pressures were even greater among American companies, with 63% of HR leaders in the U.S. reporting that their CEOs had pushed them to embrace return-to-office mandates.
And yet, an overwhelming majority of those leaders (81%) believe strict RTO policies are ineffective. In fact, 42% of them say flexibility is the most important element of enabling collaboration. That’s contrary to what many CEOs have preached as they brought employees back into the office. Most of the HR leaders surveyed also claim that allowing people to work where they want improves overall productivity.
Employee resistance to RTO
If anything, RTO policies can actually damage trust among workers, according to the report, and make it more difficult for employers to recruit new employees successfullysomething HR leaders already seem to be experiencing. Sixty percent of them say that employees are resisting RTO mandates.
Across private companies and federal agencies, stringent policies that mandate five days a week in the office have led employees to quit or look for new jobs. The Pew Research Center has found that nearly half of remote workers would leave their jobs if they could no longer work from home. Hundreds of Amazon workers who were surveyed in late 2024 said they were looking for other opportunities or planned to quit this year, in anticipation of the company’s new policy taking effect. And over the past two months, about 75,000 federal workers have accepted deferred resignation offers, partly driven by Trump eliminating remote work arrangements for all employees.
Challenges of RTO implementation
As some legal experts have pointed out, these RTO policies can also lead companies to inadvertently discriminate against certain employees, especially if mandates are enforced inconsistently; top performers who are considered more valuable may get more leeway when it comes to office attendance.
The push to get employees back in the office also has an outsize impact on the people who benefited most from flexible working arrangements, from disabled workers to caregivers. It seems many HR leaders are acutely aware of this issue, not to mention what the ripple effects might be on workplace culture. More than half of the leaders surveyed said RTO mandates are detrimental for disabled workers and that those policies were at odds with company efforts to promote inclusion.
The impact of the DEI backlash
As conservative politicians and right-wing activists threaten diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the workforce, about a third of HR leaders are also concerned about broader changes that could undermine DEI work, including budget cuts.
The HR leaders who were surveyed argue that when workers see their employers cutting back on DEI programs, it can compromise performance and satisfaction and drive employees out of the company. (In a recent report from the research insights firm Gravity Research, many companies expressed concerns over how their employees would react to DEI cuts and that they felt pressured to make internal statements reaffirming their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.) Corporate leaders may have their reasons for reevaluating their DEI efforts and embracing RTO mandatesbut there can be real costs to making those changes.
On Wednesday, a week after imposing sweeping reciprocal tariffs, President Trump announced a 90-day pause for dozens of countries, and a raise to 125% on levies to China.
Last week’s “Liberation Day” announcement revealed a 10% global base tariff on all countries, including uninhabited territories, in addition to reciprocal tariffs for countries such as China, India, and Vietnam.
Stock markets across the globe plunged for several days, and Wall Street banks increased recession odds, including JPMorgan raising its estimate to a 60% chance.
Trump’s decision to increase levies on China comes after the second-largest economy responded with an 84% tariff on U.S. goods.
Citing that more than 75 countries are engaging in trade negotiations with the U.S., Trump announced via social media that in addition to the pause on tariffs, there will be a reduced reciprocal tariff of 10% during the pause period.
At the time of publishing, U.S. markets reacted positively, with Dow Jones, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 increasing by 5.5%, 7.08%, and 5.7% respectively.
