What happened
President Donald Trump yesterday warned China he would slap an extra 50% tariff on top of the 34% import tax he announced last week if Beijing retaliated with its own elevated tariffs. China called Trump's "threat to escalate" a "mistake on top of a mistake" and a form of "blackmail," adding: "China will fight to the end."

Who said what
Trump "appears locked in a high-stakes game of chicken, with the world's economy hanging in the balance," the BBC said. Some nations are "scrambling to make nice with the White House," but China has opted for "retaliation and resistance." 

Trump's tariffs are "increasingly alienating" key "corporate titans, influencers and even Republican lawmakers" who have previously boosted his "shock-and-awe presidency," The Washington Post said. A "false dawn" from a rumor of a 90-day tariff pause "fueled a brief rally" in stocks followed by "wild swings," said The Wall Street Journal, an episode that highlighted the "increasing desperation on Wall Street as the trade-war rout of 2025 extends into a new week."

What next?
Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs start tomorrow, and if he follows through on his threat, "U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would reach a combined 104%," The Associated Press said. That would "increase prices for American consumers" but also "give China an incentive" to "seek deeper relationships with other trading partners, particularly the European Union," which is preparing its own retaliatory tariffs.

What happened
Colossal Biosciences, the "de-extinction" company that gained prominence seeking to revive the woolly mammoth, said yesterday it had genetically engineered three dire wolves — or at least wolf pups with many traits of the extinct species. Dire wolves, popularized in "Game of Thrones" and other fantasy media, ran wild in North America until they went extinct about 13,000 years ago. 

Who said what
The three pups — Romulus and Remus (pictured above) and Khaleesi — were created by modifying 20 genes of the gray wolf, the dire wolf's closest living relative, based on DNA extracted from a dire wolf tooth and skull. The modified DNA was transferred to a domestic dog egg cell then implanted in surrogate dog mothers who gave birth to the pups. 

Colossal said the pups have thick white fur and are 20% bigger than gray wolves their age, among other differences. The company called the project the world's first successful de-extinction effort, but these aren't full dire wolves and won't live and hunt like their extinct ancestors. "They are essentially living the Ritz Carlton lifestyle of a wolf," said Colossal chief scientist Beth Shapiro. With extinct species, University of Buffalo biologist Vincent Lynch told The Associated Press, "all you can do now is make something look superficially like something else."

What next?
Colossal plans to create more dire wolves to study how they act in packs, and observe the three pups to see how big they get and how they change with age. "I'm fascinated to see what happens," Shapiro told The New York Times.