*By Carlo Versano*
U.S. stocks appeared to shrug off an escalating trade war in early trading Tuesday after China said it would slap tariffs on $60 billion of American imports.
The retaliatory move came after the Trump administration said it would go forward with taxes on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports at an initial rate of 10 percent. That will increase to 25 percent next year.
Apple and other tech companies will be somewhat spared from this round. The list of Chinese products to be taxed did not include popular products like its AirPods and smart watches or other fitness trackers.
CEO Tim Cook, speaking Tuesday on ABC's [Good Morning America](https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/video/embed/57901720), struck a conciliatory tone: "Trade is one of those things where it's not a zero-sum game," he said. "I'm optimistic that the two countries will sort this out and life will go on."
The $200 billion is in addition to $50 billion imposed earlier this year, bringing the grant total of Chinese goods to be taxed to nearly half of all imports from the country. Many business leaders, from manufacturing to farming to shipping sectors, warned these tariffs would lead to higher prices for American consumers.
But China, in immediately hitting $60 billion of U.S. goods with its own levies, was tacitly admitting the country is running out of imports to tax, given the trade imbalance between the superpowers. The U.S. currently imports about $505 billion in goods from China.
President Trump showed no signs of backing off in the trade war, [tweeting](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1042033116695670786) Tuesday morning: "China has openly stated that they are actively trying to impact and change our election by attacking our farmers, ranchers and industrial workers because of their loyalty to me....There will be great and fast economic retaliation against China if our farmers, ranchers and/or industrial workers are targeted!"
The Federal Trade Commission has launched an inquiry into several social media and artificial intelligence companies about the potential harms to children and teenagers who use their AI chatbots as companions.
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index as its stock rides higher on a cryptocurrency wave.
Ali Kashani, CEO of Serve Robotics, dives into their $63.3M acquisition of Vayu Robotics and how it's accelerating the future of autonomous delivery systems.
