The stocks of American drone companies got a sudden lift today after President Trump announced plans to impose tariffs on imported drones.

• Unusual Machines, which was backed by Donald Trump Jr. in 2024 when he joined its advisory board, closed up 24%.
• Red Cat Holdings, which pivoted from hobby drones to military ones, finished up nearly 9%.
• Ondas, AeroVironment and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions gained 3.7%, 1.8% and 2.9%, respectively.

The big picture: National security experts have long bemoaned the American reliance on foreign sources for drone production, particularly China.

• "President Trump's drone tariff program will protect the national security of the United States and its defense and defense-adjacent industrial base, supporting and creating American jobs," the White House said.

Zoom in: Trump announced multiple different buckets of drone tariffs:

• 100% on large drones with "capabilities that are particularly sensitive for national security purposes," including thermal imaging.
• 25% on drone parts and smaller drones "that lack certain capabilities that particularly implicate national security."
• 15% on drones and parts from the European Union and several other key allies; and 10% on units from the U.K.

💭 Our thought bubble via Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest: This deepens the U.S.-China rivalry at a time when sketchy weapon parts and complicated supply chains are top of mind.

Go deeper

Tesla applied for a permit to deploy up to 5,000 robotaxis in Clark County, Nevada. It got approval from the state for just 10, Axios' Joann Muller writes.

🚕 Zoom in: The Nevada Transportation Authority granted Tesla's application for a robotaxi permit, but capped the size of the fleet and ordered other restrictions, including:

• The company's robotaxis can't exceed 45 miles per hour and are confined to the Las Vegas Strip corridor
• They're prohibited from picking up passengers at Harry Reid International Airport

Reality check: While 10 robotaxis is a far cry from the 5,000 Tesla sought in Vegas, it's consistent with the limited initial rollout it has had in other markets such as Austin, Dallas and Houston.

🚦 The big picture: CEO Elon Musk has bet the company on autonomy, robots and AI, but state and federal regulators will have the final say on how quickly those ambitions are realized.

🗣️ The CFTC launched a review of "mention markets," which allow people to trade on what they believe someone will say in a public appearance. Critics say mention markets are easy to manipulate. (NPR)

🔭 SpaceX closed its $60 billion acquisition of AI coding tool Cursor. (Business Insider)

📈 Joshua Kushner's Thrive Capital — which famously backed SpaceX and OpenAI — has acquired about $215 million in Amazon shares. Earlier this week Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger agreed to buy the Los Angeles Lakers. (Bloomberg)

Pokémon is not just good for the trading card business — it's also good for video games.

📈 State of play: Nintendo shares rose 7% today in Japan on news that sales of the "Pokémon Pokopia" game for the Switch 2 console topped 5 million since it launched in early March, CNBC reports.

• That would make it the second-best selling game for the console, behind only "Mario Kart World."

🤷 Fun fact: When announced in September, "the game wasn't seen as a huge blockbuster, given it is a spin-off from the main Pokémon franchise," CNBC says. "Its gameplay has elements of 'Animal Crossing,' one of Nintendo's most popular games on the original Switch."