World Braces for Trump's Tariffs & Practice Flirting with Tinder’s AI
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Good morning, Brew Daily Show. I'm Neil Freiman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today, we're talking tariffs ahead of President Trump's big Liberation Day announcement this afternoon. Then Hooters filed for bankruptcy but thinks it can stage a comeback with a more family-friendly vibe. It's Wednesday, April 2nd. Let's ride. ♪

Another April Fool's Day, another year of brands making mostly harmless, sometimes clever pranks online. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights from yesterday's shenanigans. The state of New Jersey said it had finalized plans to construct Mount Jonas, a replica of Mount Rushmore with the faces of the New Jersey bred Jonas Brothers, Kevin, Joe and Nick.

Duolingo and that obscene owl announced they were launching a five-year world cruise where you visit 195 countries and learn to speak like a local in all of them. Perhaps the prank that made the most waves, Tiger Woods, who ruptured his left Achilles a few weeks ago, said he had miraculously healed after sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber and would be playing in the Masters next week. None of those

were real sadly, but they put a smile on your face. Toby, did you see any brands that took it a little too far yesterday? Honestly, we did maybe. In case you didn't listen to the show yesterday, Neil and I carried out a little prank ourselves saying we were shifting the show from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. based on listener data and rebranding as Afternoon Brew Daily. And boy, did you guys get on us. YouTube comments were going nuts.

Spotify comment section was in a tizzy and even my mother was confused. She called me yesterday to congratulate Neil and I on the better sleep that we would be getting shifting to this afternoon schedule. And I had to tell her, mom, listen for 15 more seconds. It was a prank, but yes, hope we didn't get you too badly. And if you turned it yesterday show off too early, sorry for the heart palpitations that Neil and I gave you.

Now a word from our sponsor, TaxAct. Neil, I woke up in a cold sweat last night. Oh no, let me guess. Tax anxiety again? It was terrible. I was being chased by a giant angry tax form. You really got to stop taking melatonin before bed. But good news, TaxAct has expert assist. Real live tax experts, 100% credentialed and based in the United States, ready to answer all your tax questions.

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Well, it has finally arrived. Liberation Day, President Trump's name for his announcement of sweeping tariffs on the U.S.'s trading partners. It is a historic inflection point that will reverse a decades long shift toward globalization led by the United States after World War Two. Yes, Trump has imposed tariffs before and so have many other presidents. But the size of the package being discussed is unbelievable.

unlike anything we've seen in modern history, likely raising American trade barriers to their highest levels since the 1930s, 90 years ago. Remember Smoot-Hawley from AP U.S. History? Yeah, that is what this is being compared to. We are entering a new era of

protectionism. Trump and his economic team say the tariffs are necessary in order to rebuild the American manufacturing base, raise loads of money for the government by collecting import taxes, and rebalance American trade deficits with the rest of the world. While tariffs may raise prices in the short term, Trump argues, it'll leave the country better off in the long run.

There has been short-term turmoil already, even before Liberation Day. With all the uncertainty around tariffs, the S&P 500 posted its worst first quarter since 2022, and consumer sentiment has fallen off a cliff. Speaking of uncertainty, the big outstanding question is, what tariffs will Trump announce today? The president initially signaled reciprocal tariffs on other countries, which means, in his words,

Whatever they charge us, we charge them. But earlier this week, reports emerged that Trump was considering another plan, a blanket 20% tariff on virtually all of the $3 trillion in goods the U.S. imports. So, Toby, we don't know exactly what Trump is teeing up, but in either scenario, he's taking out driver. I don't have a crystal ball and we don't know what exactly is coming down the pipeline. But the best thing to do before these are rolled out is look back at

Through history, it's the closest thing we have to a cheat sheet for today. And I'm going to go back even before Smoot-Hawley to the 1800s. And a lot of what happened then is actually resembling what is happening in today's potential trade war. And regardless of the era, it does seem like the consequences of tariffs have been similar. I mean, there's been retaliation. There's been a tough time, especially for agricultural institutions.

interest. There's been higher consumer costs. A lot of the things that we've been talking about happened back in the 1800s. I want to point to the McKinley Tariff that was imposed in 1890. It imposed levies of roughly 50% on almost all imports. It was a policy that was aimed at protecting domestic industry, something we've heard a lot of. We saw several nations, including Canada, retaliate with

tariffs of their own. That resulted in Canada actually creating stronger ties with Britain, which was an unexpected consequence. And then also a lot of economists at the time thought that Canada would be so weakened by these tariffs that they would end up joining the United States, which is obviously a parallel to Trump's 51st state rhetoric. So it has been very interesting to see how this is not a new conversation, a new economic conversation by

any means and that even during the McKinley times, we were having very similar cause and effect scenarios that we're having to this day. And that's something that Trump has not shied away from. He said, actually, I openly admire President McKinley and think that he made the country very rich through tariffs. That's a direct quote from him. So it's just fascinating to see the parallels between modern days and times, you know, over 100 years ago. Yeah. I mean, even go even further back to the founding of the country, Thomas Jefferson, the

And Alexander Hamilton railed against other countries who taxed the United States and they wanted to build up the domestic manufacturing. It wasn't really manufacturing back then, but the domestic industry by putting tariffs. However, since World War Two ended in 1947, the United States led this big effort among all.

of the many countries in the world are trading partners to lower tariffs across the board and spread globalization. The concept was, you know, we do things well here, you do things well there. And because shipping is so cheap now with the rise of container ships, then, you know, this will lead to better prosperity for all. So we signed this general agreement on tariffs and traded with two dozen other countries in 1947.

the war and tariff rate across the world came down. Average tariffs among major economies fall from about 22% in 1947 to 14% in 1964 to just 3% in 1999. So you see countries all over the world lowering their trade barriers in this post-war era. And I mean, this has been generally good for a lot of

industries and companies. Just look at Nike. Nike is a global company that has headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. They don't make their shoes there. They make their shoes in factories that are spread throughout Southeast Asia because in Oregon, you have talent that can do things like marketing and branding and you have the CFO there. And that's where sort of the high level decisions are made. But

it doesn't make economic sense to make actual sneakers in the United States. That is better done where labor and land is cheaper in Southeast Asia. And so that's been the era, Nike just encapsulates the era of globalization that we've been having for the past 30, 40, 50 years with lower tariffs. And that looks like that concept, that general economic philosophy is going to be reversed today. And the one thing that we have to say ahead of this announcement is that it doesn't have to

to end badly. And actually, a bunch of economists recently got together, organized by the Center for a New American Security, and basically did a board game simulation of exactly what would happen if these tariffs were rolled out at the scale that we think they're going to be rolled out as. And despite a lot of people saying that, oh, this is going to cause an all-out trade war, things eventually did settle down. And again, this was basically just like a very big

board game of Catan, essentially. Like, I trade with you, you trade with me. Like, how do we react to each other? And through multiple scenarios, it actually did end up simmering down and there was a favorable path for it. So that is just one thing to keep in mind that even as these are rolling out, there is a pathway towards, you know, a...

not an all-out trade war and not something that tanks the entire global economy. Pour one out for another classic American restaurant chain. This time, it's Hooters of America, the owner of the iconic restaurant chain known for its wings that is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Like many fast cash flow chains, Hooters has been struggling with falling foot traffic and financial shortfalls in recent years. But its bankruptcy isn't goodbye, and it

isn't even really a see you later either. The company has no plans to close any locations and is using the filing to restructure how they operate. The big change is transitioning from a company owned chain into a franchisee owned one where the original founders of the business can insert more control over the direction of the brand.

For many years now, the Hooters brand has been owned by private equity firms and other groups with no history or experience with the Hooters brand. Neil Kiefer, CEO of the franchisee group Hooters Inc., said in a statement, and Kiefer thinks that those PE guys led the company down the wrong scantily clad path.

Instead, Kiefer and co. want to take Hooters in a more PG direction, which includes ending bikini nights at the restaurant and working to make it a more welcoming destination for a family night out. Neil, this new group is calling it a re-Hooterization. Is there anything left here to re-Hooterize? I think there might be. I mean, if you look at

the way Hooters operates now, it's kind of two separate companies. There's the PE-owned restaurants, and then there are the founder-owned restaurants. They own not many of the global footprint, but they own a little more than 20 in Florida and Illinois. And they say that they're running the restaurants worldwide.

really well. And they have criticized the PE guys for running their restaurants into the ground. So they are going to buy over 100 stores through this bankruptcy deal and think that they can put their secret founder sauce back on Hooters, which made it a massive chain back in the 1980s when it started.

Right. The roots of Hooters to them is this beachy destination that offers really quality food, really quality service. And they think the PE companies kind of took it in a much different direction from what it was originally founded as. And so some of the changes that they want to institute that they actually use on their own restaurants is, one, ensuring that all Hooters use fresh ingredients. That means using real butter for their buffalo sauce, et cetera. But then also they want to train their staff in a different serving method, which includes cheese.

how to basically approach a table. One, they say, greet women first, always. That's a non-negotiable. And then two, attend to tables within 60 seconds of a party seating. And they think it's just these small details that will help reshape the perception of Hooters because Kiefer said that, this is a quote from him. He says, you go to some parts of the country and people say, oh, I could never go to Hooters. My wife would kill me. That's depressing to us. We're

We want to change that. So they are just trying to reframe how it's viewed in kind of American culture, which might be tough because it's pretty ingrained how it's currently viewed. I mean, you know, he could also look at himself and say, I created a restaurant named Hooters. So, you know, he is maybe partially to blame, but...

You know, this is a major uphill climb for a company in a restaurant chain like Cooters because all of the trends are pointing in the opposite direction. Chipotle, Fast Casual and Quick Service Casual are hammering these casual restaurant chains. I mean, you could go down the list of all these companies that filed for bankruptcy. TGI Friday's Red Lobster, Rubio's Coastal Grill on the border. They all filed for bankruptcy because people just

aren't sitting down at these chains anymore. The only one that is doing okay is Chile. So they are facing headwinds more generally. They're facing inflation, higher labor costs. Restaurant prices are up 30% in the last five years, which is way more than already soaring inflation. They are seem to be adopting a very similar playbook to the new CEO of Red Lobster, which is focusing

on fresh ingredients, better service, investing in stores. So yes, Hooters filed for bankruptcy. It's not going away. We'll see if this turnaround plan works.

Here's a wild story involving a vindictive NBA owner, cutting-edge technology, and a t-shirt. Last week, a man named Frank Miller was going through security at New York's Radio City Music Hall for a concert with his parents when he was stopped by security guards who whisked him to a separate part of the venue where he was handed a piece of paper titled Trespass Notice. The letter explained that Miller had been banned from every venue owned by Madison Square Garden Entertainment, which includes Radio City Music Hall. But

But why was he banned and how did security at Radio City even identify him as he was in line? Miller thinks the venue ban likely stems from an incident in 2021 when one of his friends went viral for wearing a shirt to a Knicks game that said ban Dolan, a not so nice message referring to James Dolan, the owner of the team and the CEO of Madison Square Garden Entertainment.

Miller, a graphic designer, was the person who created that shirt. And even though he wasn't at the game that day four years ago, he believed that Dolan's team identified him in social media posts surrounding the incident. And get this, use facial recognition technology deployed at MSG venues to pick him out of the crowd at Radio City and block him from entering. Toby, there's good reason to think that is exactly how it went down.

Yeah, Miller said that originally he found it comical that this happened, but then he realized that his mom was crying in the lobby and it was a bigger deal than he originally expected. It was their anniversary that they were going to it for. But he said, one, it just shows how powerful...

memes are because of like this shirt was affecting his life all these years later. But then two talked about the surveillance state as well, which is something that MSG has definitely come under fire for in recent years. One of the other instances that this reminded me of is that

At a time when James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks, was kind of locked up in some lawsuits with some different law firms, he basically put every single attorney from a particular law firm on a ban list, not even the people that were actively engaged in litigation against MSG and himself. So he had this full attorney exclusion list, and this mom was on a Girl Scouts trip with her daughter, and James

It wasn't even working on any case and also was thrown out of MSG. And that set off a firestorm back when that happened a few years ago, talking about this facial recognition technology that you don't necessarily think that you're consenting to when you're just going to catch a show at one of these properties. But it's just very much a part of the surveillance state that has emerged around basically modern technology.

times, but also specifically MSG properties. Yeah. So is this legal in New York city? It is New York city law allows companies to use biometric technology as long as they notify customers. So if you're going to a Madison square garden entertainment venue, Matt MSG beacon theater radio city, uh, you will, you probably will see signs posted that, you know, like we are monitoring you for your safety, et cetera. Uh,

If you go to another MSG property in Chicago, the Chicago Theater, you actually won't be surveilled by facial technology. So they might nab you another way if you are involved in litigation against James Dolan or have hurt him in any way, hurt his feelings in any way in the past. They also own the Sphere in Las Vegas. So they own this sprawling entertainment space.

you know, empire. And, you know, James Dolan is out for his enemies. I know. And Miller had kind of taken it in stride saying like, yeah, it's probably not going to affect my life too much, but I will say not being able to attend an event at the sphere does seem like a little bit of a loss. And that would honestly make me a little sad because I still want to catch, you know, just the absolute spectacle that the sphere is in Vegas up next. We're talking Tinder.

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Visit wise.com slash business. That's W-I-S-E dot com slash business. If you think you have no game when it comes to relationships, maybe you need to try out Tinder's new game called The Game. It's a free in-app voice-based role-playing simulation that coaxes users along as they flirt with an AI-powered chatbot. The idea is to boost user engagement and hopefully teach people to avoid starting off correspondences with, hey,

anymore. It's still a proof of concept and as much a marketing stunt as it is a useful training aid, but still, the romantic scenarios the game puts users through are powered by OpenAI's GPT-40 model, so they're realistic if a little over the top. In one scenario, you have to play act through a scene where you and your future paramour accidentally switch luggage at the airport. If this all sounds a bit campy, you might be questioning the release date, April 1st,

Executives at both OpenAI and Tinder said it wasn't a mistake that the game launched on April Fool's Day, but clarified that while lighthearted, it is designed to help you practice those cringe-worthy moments. Neil, the intersection of AI and dating is one of the more hotly debated implementations of this new tech.

But this angle of having AI usher you through a dating game is pretty unique. It is. I think Tinder is telling its users and everyone saying, ha ha, this is kind of a joke. Like we're taking you through rom-com scenarios. But underneath it all,

you know, AI is infusing dating apps and these companies match group, uh, have been completely forward about this saying that we think AI is a way to make dating better. And underneath that surface is that they are hemorrhaging users match, uh, lost, uh,

for nine straight quarters match group, which owns Tinder and hinge has lost users. It used to have a market cap of $50 billion in late 2021. That is under $8 billion today. It doesn't expect revenue to start growing again until 2027. So it's losing users. And it thinks that AI is a way to get people back.

and having better outcomes on their apps. And they're looking to the surging AI companion industry, which has been one of the most popular use cases. I know. And so that's what Tinder was kind of trying to shy away from here is that they don't want this to replace applications.

Because that's actually bad for their business model if they're not setting real life people up. So they're trying to show that it can be a companion that can help you learn and help you grow and execute your flirting more properly. So this was a little bit of a novel angle to it. And I do have to mention too that this isn't just something that Tinder wants to put forward. It's also been very helpful for open AI because this is...

really one of the first times that they're putting their real-time API, as they call it, through the ringer. And think about all the data and all the testing that their voice-activated chatbots are going to go through, that their voice tool. It's getting very valuable training time as you kind of stumble through these chance encounters at the airport. And I do just want to drill in on this game a little bit more because apparently it was not so easy to actually win an Ink Rider match

talked to a lot of the bots, went through a lot of the scenarios and got rejected like four consecutive times saying I would talk to them and then time would start to run out. So I started throwing these one-liners just desperately trying to get a date and they would all politely decline until finally at the end, I think the app like threw him a bone. So it was interesting that this wasn't necessarily like a layup where they're super easy to please. Like they did want you to actively try to, you know, spit some game and-

Now let's sprint to the finish with some final headlines. Well, the cuts keep coming and they don't stop coming. This time it's U.S. health agencies that are going under the scalpel with around 10,000 full-time positions being eliminated as part of a major restructuring effort.

The layoffs are set to affect key agencies like the CDC, FDA, and NIH, targeting roles in disease prevention and public health initiatives while consolidating several divisions into a new entity called the Administration for a Healthy America. Employees were notified through emails or in some cases discovered they were let go upon arriving to work, leading to lots of confusion and lots of concern about what impact the sudden reduction in headcount would have on public health services.

Among those removed were the FDA's chief tobacco regulator, its top veterinarian, and medical officials in charge of new drug approvals. So some major upheavals, Neil, at the very tops of these organizations. Yeah, RFK Jr., who leads the HHS, said you signaled these cuts were coming last week, but...

But as they happened yesterday and these top leaders of the FDA, CDC, tobacco regulators were fired, it became a huge global economy story, too, because former FDA officials warned that if you –

remove these people at the top, then this will slow down drug approvals. So that's why the S&P biotech ETF fell as much as 2.4% on Tuesday. It fell 3.9% on Monday after top vaccine official was fired. Moderna dropped like 8%. It was an absolute bloodbath in the biotech sector.

And you had former FDA officials saying that the FDA, as we've known it, is finished. A lot of people with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety are no longer employed. The FDA commissioner during Trump's first administration said it threatens to slow down drugs discovery. So that is sort of what the what we're dealing with at the FDA and the CDC yesterday from these massive cuts.

OpenAI has officially closed the largest private tech funding round on record, and it's almost an incomprehensible amount of money. The chat GPT maker raised $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation, making it the second most valuable private company in the world, tied with TikTok owner ByteDance and just behind SpaceX.

The round was led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, who will pour in $30 billion, and joined by a group of other backers, including Microsoft. OpenAI said it will use the money to, quote, push the frontiers of AI research even further and boost its computing infrastructure. Tell me, nothing for podcast ads? I know. This...

It feels like it should be a bigger story because this is a gigantic funding round. We've never seen anything close to around this size. There is a catch to it, though. OpenAI must shed its non-profit status and transition to a fully for-profit company by the end of 2025 if it wants to actually unlock

and receive all of the money that it is promised. And then the other storyline to look out for here too is that OpenAI has a new BFF, a new buddy here. It used to be Microsoft. Microsoft was kind of there in the early funding rounds and has been a very integral partner with OpenAI, but those two have kind of grown apart lately.

And SoftBank and Masa-san have stepped in and said, hey, we're going to be the ones to usher you forward. We're going to provide the unending capital you guys need to train your model. So I think that it is fascinating to see basically the decoupling of Microsoft and OpenAI and the recoupling of SoftBank and OpenAI. Up next, there are a couple of Beatles biopics in the work that are set to rival the MCU in size and number of episodes.

films. Sam Mendes is gearing up to direct four separate feature length films, telling the story of the Beatles through each one of its members perspectives. And as of yesterday, we know who is going to play John Paul Ringo in George. Paul Mescal is keeping his first name and playing Paul McCartney. Harris Dickinson, who was recently in baby girl alongside Nicole Kidman is taking up John Lennon's mantle. Barry Keoghan is holding things together as Ringo star and Joseph

Quinn, who is one of the Freaky Little Emperors in Gladiator 2, is playing George Harrison. Neil, these films are expected to be released in proximity to each other in April 2028 for what Sony execs call the first bingeable theatrical experience. Are the Fab Four in good hands with these actors? I mean, if you're looking at the Mount Rushmore of young UK actors, I mean, these four are it. Harris Dickinson, who was...

played Kidman's love interest in baby girl is one of the favorites to be the next James Bond. Paul Mezcal has become a household name. So has Barry. And this is the first time that all four Beatles members and their estates have granted full life story and music rights for a film. Peter Jackson's documentary of get back was really big during COVID when he unearthed a lot

of footage of the Beatles recording, and I am just very excited for this. Cory Booker just set the record for the longest Senate speech in history. The New Jersey senator spoke on the floor of the chamber from 7 p.m. Monday to 8.05 p.m. Tuesday, a duration of 25 hours and 5 minutes, 46 minutes longer than the previous record holder, Strom Thurmond, in 1957. Framed as an emergency call to action against the Trump administration, Booker took a

zero bathroom breaks and only paused his talking when taking questions from fellow Democrats. Toby, I know Jokic posted a 60 point triple double last night, but this might be an even more impressive athletic achievement. Absolutely. When he reached 24 hours, he had spoken for 144 all two wells, Taylor's version. It was 265 times longer than Adrian Brody's record setting speech at the Oscars.

And also I just have to put the bathroom breaks into perspective. The typical human uses the bathroom four to 10 times in a 24 hour period. So he skipped all of those during his marathon effort. Also speaking of marathons, you could have run a Boston marathon at the pace of six minutes and 40 seconds per mile, eight and a half times before he stopped talking and qualified for the Boston marathon each time. So needless to say.

This was a very long time to talk. Let's wrap it up there. Thanks so much for starting your morning with us and have a wonderful Wednesday. For any questions, comments, or feedback, send an email to morningbrewdaily at morningbrew.com. Let's roll the credits. Emily Milliron is our executive producer. Raymond Lute is our producer. Olivia Graham and Olivia Lake are our associate producers.

Uchenna Waogu is our technical director. Scoops Dardaris is on audio. Hair and makeup is going to be insufferable talking about Smoot Holly today. Devin Emery is our chief content officer and our show is a production of Morning Brew. Great show today, Neil. Let's run it back tomorrow.