Just In: The Justice Department has agreed to temporarily restrict workers from gaining access to information through the Treasury payment system.
This news comes as Washington is working on a big debate. Can President Trump unilaterally decide to spend less locally than Congress approved? It took more importance in the torrent of headlines about mask panels discovering where taxpayer money was heading.
This question could determine how successful Musk will be in reducing government spending. The Water Storage Management Act, passed in 1974, appears to limit the president's ability to freeze funds allocated by Congress, but the Trump administration appears to be ready to challenge it. This is where the background to the successful progression of a battle that is likely to unfold.
Continuing on Deepseek's Tiktok Playbook
The emergence of Deepshek in recent weeks as an artificial intelligence force has surprised Silicon Valley and Washington, forcing high-tech leaders and policymakers to tackle Chinese geniuses. (President Trump said the app is a “wake-up call.”
The American tech giant had to respond to Deepseek's technical breakthrough. Lawmakers will try to set limits on apps on security concerns, according to the Wall Street Journal. This is a similar step I did to Tiktok a few years ago.
Lawmakers want to ban DeepSeek from government-owned devices, citing concerns that user information could be sent to Beijing. The authors of the upcoming House bill cited an analysis by cybersecurity company Feroot Security. This found intentionally hidden code that allowed users to send user login details to China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company.
“This should be easy in terms of actions that should be taken immediately to prevent the enemy from getting information from the government,” said Josh, a New Jersey Democrat and one of the legislative sponsors. – Deputy Gottimer told the Journal.
The bill reflects procedures others have taken. Australia and South Korea have blocked Deepshek from several government equipment, but Italy and Taiwan have also imposed restrictions. Some US government agencies, including the Navy and NASA, have banned chatbots.
Several cybersecurity companies also said that corporate client scores are asking for apps to be blocked from the system.
Washington was worried about DeepSeek for a while. Especially after saying that the performance of AI models is challenging the performance of AI models with only a small portion of their resources. (It remains heatedly debated whether or not it is true.)
Tech companies have barely publicly stated existential concerns about Deepseek, but in fact, they continue to spend large amounts of money on AI infrastructure despite claiming that China's rivals are less. As announced, US policymakers face multiple concerns.
One is that China has eliminated the US technical lead with AI, while the other is that Deepseek could be another way for Beijing to suck up American personal information.
Bill reflects Washington's Tiktoc Playbook. A law passed in 2022 banning video apps from government devices after concerns about the impact of lawmakers, Trump and former President Joe Biden on national security.
I remember what happened next. Washington then passed and enacted a law banning Tiktok from the United States. It is not clear whether Deepseek will meet the same fate.
However, a key step to confirming Deepseek's rise may meet blowbacks from China. According to the Washington Post, Tiktok's parent company, bytedance, is said to be a slow effort to reach deals over the app as it strengthens its resistance to such a move by Beijing.
This is what's going on
Trump administration officials are trying to return the president's comments in Gaza. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkoff. And White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt has taken over the territory and made elements of the rushed plan to create the “Middle Eastern Riviera.” I tried to play it. But Trump reiterated his commitment to Gaza's US acquisition on social media today.
Google cites Trump's anti-DEI mission to discard diversity goals. Tech Giant's decision to eliminate employee diversity goals is linked to its position as a government contractor subject to executive orders, excluding diversity, equity and comprehensive policies in such companies. He said he was there. Google is the latest company to rewind the DEI program since Trump's victory, following something like meta.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the bank ultimately sold $5.5 billion worth of loans to X. lenders. It highlighted the increasing fate of X, especially after winning Trump's election. And they injected cash into the company from Xai, a startup in mask artificial intelligence.
Friday's employment report is going to be confusing, well.
Forecasters believe that employers added about 170,000 jobs in January, up from 256,000 in December, but that's not the troubling part.
That will be all revisions.
Veteran Job Report Watchers know that February is when employment data goes through major annual revisions. It can make parsing numbers difficult in the best times. However, this year's revisions have grown extraordinarily and are already taking place in a difficult political environment. Democrats are worried that the Trump administration is plagued by economic data. Republicans are distrustful of the numbers released under President Biden's term.
This is a confusing recipe, and even worse, the Times' Benkasselman is a dealbook report. (Several economists described the report using words that start with “cluster” and end with the rhyme of “duck.”)
Here's what you need to know:
The salary number will be revised. This should not be a surprise. In August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a “preliminary benchmark revision,” estimated that employers added about 800,000 jobs than initially reported in 2023 and early 2024. On Friday, these revisions will be incorporated into the official numbers.
The final revision will almost certainly be the biggest of the year. This is because the bureau's “birth-death model” (not caught in monthly investigations as it was trying to explain opening or closing) exaggerated the number of jobs being created. This model will now be updated based on the new numbers. In other words, we should not overstate employment growth that much from now on.
The number of households will be revised. This is where things get really bothering. Monthly household surveys that provide data on unemployment and other things are weighted to match Census Bureau population estimates. At the beginning of each year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics updates employment numbers to reflect the latest estimates from the Census Bureau.
The population renewal will be enormous this year. That's because the Census Bureau recently revised its methodology to more accurately capture a wave of immigration over the past few years.
However, unlike pay numbers, BLS does not modify historic household survey figures. This means that it appears that the population suddenly added 3 million in January. Estimates of employment, unemployment and labor all jump.
Fortunately, indicators based on ratios such as unemployment and labor participation should be affected by most of the population updates. But keep an eye on anyone who advocates for changes in employment levels and other measures. These numbers cannot be compared over time.
Conclusion. This should not change the whole picture. The job market was strong in 2024 by almost any measure.
And, as these revisions can be confusing, they are indications of a working statistical system. The update was announced much earlier and is based on a clear and transparent methodology aimed at aligning high-frequency data with a more authoritative source.
“It's no doubt that the president seems to have empowered Elon Musk more than I think is appropriate.”
– Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine, and chairman of the Senate Approval Committee. Related Musk News: The White House said Musk would police a potential conflict of interest between his government work and his business.
Paper tracking
Industry-wide executives are urgently seeing President Trump's sudden 30-day tariff delays on goods from Mexico and Canada. If the tariffs are ultimately in effect, the effects will be removed.
The most visible effects of tariffs may appear in larger ticket items, such as new cars, but they also have a more subtle and broader impact on the small components used throughout the economy. Sarah Kessler of DealBook reports.
It employs the paper industry, which plays a role in packaging products from orange juice to iPhones, and e-commerce giants like Amazon Pile at the entrance are making e-commerce giants.
Canada and Mexico are the closest trading partners in the paper industry. Last year, the US and Canada traded more than $14 billion in pulp and paper products between them, while the US and Mexico traded more than $5 billion, according to the American Forest and Paper Association, the Industry Forest Association.
Paper products may cross the boundary multiple times. The paper and cardboard manufacturing process involves many stages that each can occur at different facilities. The steps to convert wood chips into pulp. It turns that pulp into a “base stock” like a huge roll of container boards or paperboard. Turn the ingredients into boxes. And finally, if you put a product like orange juice in that box, each one may be done elsewhere.
“At many stages of its manufacturing process, products can cross borders,” Terry Webber, vice president of industry at the American Forest and Paper Association, told DealBook. That could mean multiple taxation on a single product.
“People are concerned,” Weber said of how the paper company thinks the tariffs could ultimately be imposed. “It has had a fairly widespread impact on our industry,” he said.
The same story is being played out in countless industries. Because supply chains are so complicated, many products, such as automotive parts (also packaged in cardboard boxes), can cross borders several times during and after the manufacturing process.
“I think we're probably just one of many examples,” Weber said.
Speed is read
transaction
Politics and Policy
House Republicans are said to have extended Trump's 2017 tax cuts for just five years, contrary to what the Treasury and Senate counterparts want. (WSJ)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who has long been opposed to many Trump policies, called on the president to cooperate on his pet issue: “debanking.” (Bloomberg)
Best remaining
Insurance company Allstate expects a California wildfire to cost $1.1 billion. (WSJ)
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has long complained about Meta copying the company's features, but took a jab with LinkedIn Bio rivals. (LinkedIn)
I want feedback! Please email your thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com.
