Tax me once, shame on you…

China strikes back with $34B worth of tariffs on US goods

They said they would, and they did.

Following through on their promise to retaliate against the Trump administration’s 25% tariff on $34B worth of Chinese imports announced last month, China levied — shocker — a 25% tariff on $34B worth of US exports.

The new Chinese tariff affects 545 US exports including pork, bourbon, cotton, tobacco, propane, and soybeans (one US soybean ship on a month-long journey across the Pacific raced to make it to China before the 5pm deadline… but missed it by 30 minutes).

It’s only escalating…

The whole thing feels like a face-off for a UFC fight. Last Thursday, Trump said he planned to roll out an additional tariff on $16B of Chinese goods “within the month,” and China doesn’t appear to be backing down any time soon, either.

China’s Ministry of Commerce has taken the stance that the US has “violated [World Trade Organization] rules,” calling the back-and-forth “the largest trade war in economic history.”

Meanwhile, Trump maintains that these tariffs are simply to even the playing field in a trade relationship that has been “very unfair, for a very long time.”

Businesses are caught in the middle

On the US front, some exports will be canceled immediately, leading to short-term revenue loss those for businesses.

But, it also makes the long-term outlook uncertain. Axios notes that the fluctuating restrictions make it difficult for bourbon makers and soybean farmers who have to plan for demand years in the future.

The effects on consumers may take longer to see

NPR reports that about 60% of US-China trade involves “parts and supplies,” rather than finished products, so businesses making the products will feel the effects before consumers. Harley-Davidson is already moving some of its manufacturing overseas as a result of the US tariffs.

As a result, both US and Chinese consumers may want to anticipate price spikes in the near future.

So much for Kentucky… India is the real whiskey capital of the world

For the 5th year in a row, India-based Officer’s Choice was crowned the world’s largest-selling whiskey with a total of 31.5m cases (1 case = 12 bottles). The company was founded 30 years ago as a mass-market whiskey brand and, boy… did they pick a mass market.

India accounts for nearly half of the world’s whiskey demand thanks to their estimated 1.35B population and general appetite for Hemingway’s lemonade (that’s slang for whiskey).

George Clooney’s tequila may be hot…

But don’t sleep on Asian liquor companies. According to a new report by market research firm IWSR, of the top largest booze brands, the South Korean soju brand Jinro is more than a few shots ahead of the competition.

Last year, Jinro sold 76m cases of alcohol, which is more than double the runner up, Thailand’s Ruang Khao at 31.7m, and nearly 5x more than everyone’s favorite pal, Mr. Jack Daniels.

A rare bright spot in the Alzheimer’s battle sends Biogen’s stock up 23%

Stock of US biotech company Biogen (BIIB), saw its biggest jump in 7 years after one of its Alzheimer drugs in development showed promise in clinical trials.

Bloomberg reports that Alzheimer patients with the highest dose of drug BAN2401 showed slower progression of the disease after 18 months, offering hope to nearly 50m people with dementia worldwide (and over 5.7m Americans with Alzheimer’s).

No one saw this coming

The rare success comes after investors had all but written off the drug when it failed a test back in December, amid a beleaguered search for an Alzheimer’s treatment.

More than 100 experimental Alzheimer’s drugs have already failed where BAN2401 hopes to succeed, and overall dementia drugs have had a 99.6% failure rate (for context, cancer drugs have an 80% failure rate in clinical trials).

But, this light is still a candle in the wind

We’re still only halfway through clinical trials, and analysts aren’t yet counting BAN2401 in their revenue projections for the drugmaker.

Continued setbacks have already caused drug companies like Pfizer to give up their search.

So, while investors may be rushing toward any glint of success in the $30B potential US market, Biogen’s still got a ways to go to prove that this is more than just a flash in the pan.

Yet another study shows that open office plans are terrible

Today, about 70% of all US offices are “open concept” — no cubicles, no partitions, no private desks: just rows of tables and computers, with employees sitting shoulder to shoulder.

This type of work environment is championed for encouraging interaction, collaboration, and openness…

But research tells us otherwise

A recent study out of Harvard Business School that tracked an office redesign from a cubicle to open space found that face-to-face interaction actually decreased by 72%, and workers become far less productive.

Over the years, a number of other studies have found that open plans have similarly detrimental effects, including:

• An average 15% decline in productivity
• A 50% increase in the likelihood of getting sick
• An increase in the number of distractions per hour

In fact, as many as 60% of employees who work in open floor plan spaces report being dissatisfied with them.

So why do employers insist on using them?

It’s simple: Open office spaces are cheaper than traditional office spaces. All that’s really needed are a few long tables and some chairs.

They’re also more flexible for startups that anticipate rapid growth (it’s easier to squeeze a few more people at a table than find more floor space for another cubicle).

And lastly, it makes it a hell of a lot easier to pelt Dave from sales with a Nerf gun dart from across the room.

Announcing… the 2X Woman of the Year Finalists

The Hustle’s events team has been working on something pretty cool over the past few months.

In partnership with Salesforce, 2X Woman of the Year is a program designed to find, celebrate, and promote business leaders who are making a massive impact through their work and the choices they made to get there.

You nominated over 350 women for 2X Woman of the Year, all with one thing in common: they’re changing the world around them in a big way.

Now, we’re excited to announce the top 5 finalists

Drumroll please…

Anastasia Williams: Executive Director at I.D.E.A. Initiative

Jennifer Longnion: Chief People Officer at DollarShaveClub

Kim Perell: CEO of Amobee

Natalia Martinez-Kalinina: General Manager, Latin America Lead of Cambridge Innovation Center – Miami

Nicole Lynn: Sports Agent & Attorney at Young Money APAA Sports & Norton Rose Fulbright

This week, we’re selecting one of these trailblazers to be 2X Woman of the Year (read more about each of the finalists here).

The winner will tell her story at 2X in San Francisco on September 13 and at Dreamforce, Salesforce’s annual +170k-person conference, in September.

Stay tuned and congrats to the finalists!

-- Kera, Head of Events at The Hustle

Old dog, new tricks: Radius Bank’s Hybrid Checking now earns 17x the national average

Remember when your parents told you to put your money in a bank so it would “grow?”

Then 20 years later, you realized that your bank’s interest rate is non-existent and your money hasn’t been doing… well, much of anything?

Same.

But according to Radius Bank, it doesn’t have to be that way -- their Hybrid Checking account has an 0.85% interest rate on balances of $2.5k and up (17x the 0.04% national average).

“Get you a bank that does both”

Essentially, Radius’ Hybrid Checking combines high-interest earning with the flexibility of a checking account.

Plus, that rate doesn’t expire after 6 months like other banks’ flashy introductory interest, and there’s no cap on balances (accounts over $100k actually earn more at 1.2% APY) and you can use ATMs fo’ free worldwide.

Radius has been around since 1987, is FDIC-insured, and has clients nationwide with $1B in assets -- but, they’ve gone through a major glow up.

They’re like your cool, money-savvy uncle, if he upgraded his New Balances to Nikes.

SET UP AN ACCOUNT IN 5 MIN ONLINE →

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