Today’s Big Story

The Price Hikes Are Here

The Trump administration’s tariff policy has already begun to impact shoppers across the U.S.

It’s obviously a tough call. Major American brands and retailers are fighting two battles at once: As they grapple with the costly price impact from President Trump’s sweeping tariffs, companies are struggling to talk about that impact publicly without enraging the White House or alienating their customers.

Some large corporations, like Home Depot, have ruled out price hikes for now, saying they have the flexibility to adapt. Others, including Nike and Walmart, plan to raise some prices, while Target this week called doing so a “very last resort.” Many other businesses are trying to hold firm, too, as consumers grow more pessimistic and hunt harder for bargains. The online clothing and home goods seller Quince recently told customers it’s committed to keeping prices steady “for as long as we can,” despite sourcing many items from China.

Although Trump says foreign countries should pay for his tariffs, it’s U.S. businesses that get the tariff bill when they claim their imported goods at the border. Under a current temporary deal, U.S. levies on Chinese imports are 30% instead of the previous 145%. All global imports face a new 10% tariff.

Procter & Gamble, the company behind products like Crest toothpaste, Tide detergent, Tampax feminine care products and Charmin toilet paper, is being forced to raise prices, despite attempting to avoid the tariff’s effects. The company’s CFO Andre Schulten said an April earnings call that shoppers will likely see increased prices by July.

The automobile industry has not been immune, either. Subaru has just raised prices on nearly every model in its lineup, citing “current market conditions” as the reason for the increases. Fellow Japanese automaker Toyota predicted a $1.3 billion loss due to the newly imposed auto tariffs, per the New York Times. Toyota CEO Koji Sato said the impact on vehicle prices is “very difficult to forecast” at this time.

Trump Makes Some Controversial Pardons

Get out of jail cards for loyalists and reality stars

In his second term, President Donald Trump has moved to pardon many who are considered to be loyal to him, from local Republican officials convicted of fraud to Jan. 6 rioters. The New York Times reports that Trump pardoned a Florida businessman convicted of tax evasion after his mother attended a million dollar per-plate fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

Less than three weeks after she attended the dinner, Trump signed a full and unconditional pardon. It came just in the nick of time for the man, Paul Walczak, who was ordered to pay nearly $4.4 million in restitution and report to prison for an 18-month sentence just 12 days earlier. A judge even justified the incarceration by declaring that there “is not a get-out-of-jail-free card” for the rich. But apparently there is.

The president is also issuing pardons for reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, the White House announced on Tuesday. The pair starred on Chrisley Knows Best—the show that documented their lavish lifestyle, but the two were convicted of tax evasion and bank fraud in 2022 for allegedly bilking banks out of tens of millions of dollars. Their daughter was a guest speaker at the Republican National Convention ahead of the 2024 presidential election and recently filmed an episode of “My View with Lara Trump” while seeking a pardon for her parents. This is not at all how pardons normally work. Experts point out that they’re normally reserved for people who show remorse for a crime they have been convicted of and who have actually served at least some—and typically all of—their sentence and have shown personal growth and rehabilitation during that time. However, this administration appears to be using pardons in a completely different and new way—which is to reward people who demonstrate political loyalty to the administration.

Scientists Discover a New, Near Planet

And this could rewrite the solar system’s map

A team of astronomers believe they may have discovered a new dwarf planet—just like Pluto—on the edge of our solar system. The object—which orbits out beyond Neptune—has been named ”2017 OF201” by the team, which was led by Sihao Cheng of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Cheng and colleagues estimate that the body has a diameter of more than 430 miles, which means that it may be large enough to qualify as a dwarf planet.

In recent years, more powerful instruments have emerged that are better at peering into the Kuiper Belt and beyond to identify individual objects there. The astronomers say that the possible dwarf planet—dubbed an “extreme cousin” of Pluto—is only detectable at certain times as it has an incredibly eccentric orbit around the Sun.

Just when you thought you knew all the planets in our solar system … here’s an icy new world to shake things up. What makes 2017 OF201 stand out is its very stretched-out path around the sun, which takes an incredible 25,000 Earth-years to complete. For comparison, Pluto makes a lap around the sun every 248 Earth-years.

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