Axios

On Wednesday, Howard University students spent their snow day getting smarter faster with Axios and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Axios' Mike Allen explored how diversity & inclusion, tech & innovation, media, and privacy will affect the future of work for soon-to-be college graduates. He dove in with:

• Mr. Ali Velshi, Co-Host "Velshi & Ruhle", MSNBC
• Mr. Steve Case, Chairman and CEO, Revolution/Co-Founder, America Online
• Mr. Baratunde Thurston, Futurist comedian, Writer & Activist
• Mr. Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Diversity & Inclusion

The importance of inclusive innovation, according to Case: ""Even though this is a great entrepreneurial nation, it does matter where you live, what you look like, who you know...we’re trying to figure out ways to level that playing field."

Dimon on JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s inclusion efforts: "We started entrepreneurs of color funds based on the fact that people of color aren't afforded the same amount of opportunities. We're looking to make a difference."

Tech & Innovation

What Baratunde Thurston learned during his social media cleanse: “We have made a linguistic choice to describe what we do with technology as ‘connectivity,’ but we have lost so much human connection."

We should focus on pushing innovation in cities that tend to be left behind [like] DC, Detroit, New Orleans.

The Media

"It used to be that there was shame preventing you from lying to a reporter...it doesn’t matter that you’ll be found out now, what matters is that you get to tell people that you fought the good fight. Everyone has their own truth.

On privacy

Jamie Dimon's thought bubble: "This privacy issue is a a big deal. I don’t buy this idea that millennials don’t care. Millennials don’t know. We took out all the contracts, laid them out…every time you push that 'I agree,' you have know idea what you agree to."

“We co-signed to the largest information gathering system in exchange for birthday reminders."

Why it matters: Dimon and Thurston's comments came on the heels of the Facebook data scandal that revealed Cambridge Analytica, which did work for the Trump campaign, gathered the data on millions of Facebook users.

Other Highlights

Jazmin Goodwin, who is the Editor-in-Chief of Howard University's student newspaper (and an Axios intern!), discusses her career ambitions and what Howard has meant to her. "Howard chose me, and the great gift that it has given me is identity," she said.

Two more pieces of inspiration/advice from our Smarter Faster thought leaders:

“It always seems impossible until it happens. For me it was the internet. For you, it could be healthcare. If you do persevere, you have the opportunity to change the world.

"Take care of yourself. Your mind, body, spirit and soul. Take care of your friends and your family because companies cannot do that for you."

Thank you to the Howard students who joined us!

Our next stop is the Ohio State University, with Mark Cuban and Governor John Kasich. See you there.

Stock shares in Target and Kroger surged on Friday morning, after Fast Company reported that the two companies were in talks about a possible merger. But then they pulled back, after CNBC reported that the discussions only were about a strategic partnership with Shipt, the same-day delivery service Target recently bought for $500 million.

Why it matters: Investors got excited by the idea of Target and Kroger joining forces, because that could give both companies a better shot of competing with giants like Amazon and Wal-Mart.

The Trump administration has begun imposing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, but several countries are exempted temporarily until May 1, as shown in the chart above. The administration may still apply quotas on exempted countries to prevent a flood of foreign steel and aluminum in the U.S. market, per the White House.

Why it matters: After railroading past a number of his advisors, Trump announced the tariffs on imports of steel (at 25%) and aluminum (at 10%) earlier this month, citing national security concerns. But with the exemption noted above, the tariffs won't carry major bite, at least to start.

Pivotal Software on Friday filed for an IPO, reporting a $164 million net loss on $504 million in revenue for its most recent fiscal year.

Bottom line: Pivotal is majority owned by Dell Technologies, and this is Dell's first big step toward reducing its massive debt-load. Subsequent steps may include buying the rest of VMWare and/or Dell itself filing to go public.

File storage and sharing company Dropbox went public earlier today, and has seen its shares pop more than 40%.

Axios spoke to company co-founder and CEO Drew Houston about why Dropbox went public now ("we were ready"), his message to employees ("enjoy it") and if he sweated yesterday's market drop ("you don't like to see giant blinking red anything").

Dropbox raised $756 million in its IPO, pricing shares at $21. That's above its already-increased offering range, and indications are that it will open trading today much higher.

But most of the attention so far is on a fully-diluted IPO valuation ($9.23 billion) that falls a little short of Dropbox's last private-market valuation.

The Trump administration announced yesterday new trade and investment restrictions on China, the latest shot in a possible trade war, fired in retaliation against theft of U.S. intellectual property. Together with steel and aluminum import tariffs, these measures represent a further isolationist turn for American policy, following years of attacks from President Trump on economic engagement, alliances, legal immigration and anything else that smacks of internationalism.

The problem: From NAFTA to NATO, Trump has disregarded bipartisan consensus on America’s role in the world. Yet no constituency has arisen to defend the internationalist foreign policy that his critics yearn for.

Stocks in Europe fell for the 3rd day and Asian markets are down more than 3% after China announced retaliation to President Trump's tariffs, Bloomberg reported. The S&P 500 yesterday fell the most in six weeks.

Bottom line: Markets don't like the uncertainty of a multi-front trade war (or the hawkish tone of the new national security advisor).

Dropbox on Thursday night raised $756 million in its IPO, pricing shares at $21 (above its upwardly-revised range). This would give the file storage and sharing company a fully-diluted market value of around $9.23 billion, which is lower than where it was last valued by private-market investors.

• Dropbox will begin trading on the NASDAQ tomorrow under ticker symbol DBX.

Why it matters: This is the highest-profile consumer tech listing since Snap early last year, although we'll also be getting Spotify in early April.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross today spoke to CNBC about the anti-China tariffs introduced today by President Trump, and the negative stock market reaction. His primary message:

Trade war is a matter of definition. You could argue that there has been a trade war underway for decades.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer gave rare praise to the president on Thursday, saying he is "doing the right thing" with his proposed tariffs on China.

"I don't agree with President Trump on a whole lot, but today I want to give him a big pat on the back...I have called for such action for years and been disappointed by the inactions of both President Bush and Obama. I'm very pleased that this administration is taking strong action to get a better deal on China."

Go deeper on Trump's China tariffs.

CNN president Jeff Zucker said on Thursday that while Fox News has done "incredibly well" at owning the conservative media space, it's a "pure propaganda machine," per the Hollywood Reporter.

Why it matters: Zucker acknowledged that the station has "a handful of good journalists," but said they're lost to the opinion side of the network. This is a point one of Fox's star anchors, Shepard Smith, has repeatedly made. Fox News is also President Trump's favorite network, who regularly watches the morning show, Fox & Friends, and Sean Hannity's evening program.

Trump's anti-China tariffs, which push back at the country's intellectual property practices, will include a potential list of 1,300 products and a hopeful tag of $60 billion, the president said today. Trump said he's asked China to immediately reduce the trade deficit by $100 billion. The tariffs include a 30-day public comment period before taking effect.

Go deeper: Jonathan Swan explains the coming trade war.

African countries launched a historic free trade agreement at the African Union Summit in Rwanda on Wednesday, establishing the largest free trade market since the formation of the World Trade Organization.

Why it matters: Encompassing 1.2 billion people and a GDP of more than $2 trillion, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) promises to increase intraregional commerce and attract new investors to a single African market.

The Dow is down more than 400 points, as the tech sector continues to struggle and investors gear up for what is expected to be an aggressive tariff package to be unveiled by President Trump today.

Why it matters: Per CNBC's Patti Domm, financial markets are not prepared for a "dangerous trade war."

Judy Woodruff will remain as the sole anchor on "PBS NewsHour" broadcast, reports CNN. She was formally granted the title more than a year and a half after the death of her co-anchor, Gwen Ifill — together, the first all-female team on a major nightly news broadcast.

The big picture: Woodruff officially securing the top spot at "NewsHour" follows a television news industry trend of granting more high-visibility positions to women in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which saw a number of prominent men in the industry fall from grace after allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.