Axios

The Trump administration plans to lift a blockade on exports of Nvidia's H200 chips to China — and the U.S. government will get a 25% cut from future sales, the president said Monday.

Why it matters: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been pressing the White House to allow the U.S. to export advanced chips to China, arguing that it'll help the U.S. win the AI race.

The Department of Homeland Security shared Christmas-themed social media posts promoting its deportation agenda ahead of the holiday season.

Why it matters: The photos demonstrate the Trump administration's continued use of memes that celebrate its immigration crackdown, blending internet culture with government messaging.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said Monday that the company is "super confident" in finalizing its deal to buy studio and streaming assets of Warner Bros. Discovery for nearly $83 billion.

Why it matters: The remarks follow Paramount Skydance launching a hostile takeover bid to buy WBD's assets, after Netflix had bested it and Comcast last week.

The creator of an app designed to track immigration raids sued the Trump administration Monday, saying officials unconstitutionally coerced Apple into removing the tool.

Why it matters: The case marks the latest clash over government pressure on private tech platforms in the second Trump term.

The Supreme Court appeared poised to allow President Trump to fire members of the Federal Trade Commission during oral arguments Monday.

Why it matters: A win for the president in Trump vs. Slaughter would be a major blow to a 90-year-old precedent that has kept the job of independent agency commissioners safe from being fired for political reasons.

Driving the news: Trump teed up the case when he fired Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, Democratic FTC commissioners, earlier this year.

• The case focuses on the precedent of Humphrey's Executor, a 1935 ruling which holds that independent agency commissioners cannot be fired without specific cause.

What they're saying: The conservative majority on the court seemed hesitant to deny presidents the power to fire agency commissioners.

• "Once the power is taken away from the president, it's very hard to get it back in the legislative process," said Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
• Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not appear to support an argument that the protection of independent agency commissioners has gone back to the country's founding. Chief Justice John Roberts said the FTC has a lot more power today than it did in 1935, making the precedent less powerful.
• U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, argued that Humphrey's Executor, which has been weakened but not eliminated in recent years, limits presidential powers in an unconstitutional way. He described some agencies as "headless" and "junior varsity legislatures."

Liberal justices asked why the court would overturn a longstanding precedent and imply the president does not trust Congress to give agencies the right amount of power.

• They also argued that independent agencies have roots in the country's founding, and most are formed just like the FTC.
• "You're asking us to destroy the structure of government," Justice Sonia Sotomayor said to Sauer. "Independent agencies have been around since the Founding.... This is not a modern contrivance."
• "Once you're down this road, it's a little bit hard to see how you stop," said Justice Elena Kagan, arguing that the "real-world consequences" of handing Trump a win here would give presidents too much power.

What to watch: The justices will have to parse this case with upcoming arguments over Trump's attempt to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and determine whether presidential power should be regarded differently when it comes to the nation's central bank.

• The court should rule by the end of June.

Mastercard VP Amber Dawkins was minutes into her presentation about Mastercard's Small Business Community at their Empowering Small Business event when entrepreneur Ruby Ghosh raised her hand to ask about the cost of the program.

• "Zero, it's free," Dawkins, Mastercard's VP of North America Product Management, said. "At Mastercard, we firmly believe in doing well by doing good, so we created this as a resource."

South Carolina's small businesses are booming, driving 70.9% of the state's new job growth in the past year.

What you need to know: Recently Mastercard hosted a Empowering Small Business: Strategies for Success event in Greenville, where local business owners, policymakers and industry leaders came together to discuss the realities of running a business today, the challenges they face and the opportunities they see for growth.

E-commerce platform Whatnot says five cities — Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Miami and Phoenix — are becoming America's live-shopping "trendsetters."

Why it matters: The mashup of QVC-style selling and social media livestreams is helping small businesses grow at a time when tariffs and economic uncertainty threaten to slow retail.

Communicators have become the shock absorbers for three defining forces of the moment — rapid AI disruption, a hyper-charged political environment and a splintered media landscape.

Why it matters: The role is shifting from chief storyteller to chief stability officer as comms teams are tasked with keeping the organization aligned and focused while those external pressures intensify.

IBM on Monday agreed to buy Confluent, a Mountain View, California-based data center infrastructure firm, for $11 billion in cash.

Why it matters: This reflects CEO Arvind Krishna's belief that IBM's path to maintaining relevancy in the AI age is via open-source acquisitions.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday on President Trump's firing of a Democratic Federal Trade Commissioner in a case that could dramatically inflate the president's power to reshape the government.

The big picture: At stake is Humphrey's Executor, the 90-year-old precedent that protects independent agency heads from being fired at will. Ousted FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter warned that overturning it "would profoundly destabilize institutions" key to American governance.

President Trump said Monday he'll sign an executive order this week to promote "one rulebook" for AI, rather than a patchwork of state laws.

Why it matters: It's another sign that Trump wants to promote AI with as little regulation as possible — an approach that could set up a clash with his own MAGA supporters.

President Trump is betting his presidency — and the future of the GOP — on lightly regulated, fast expansion of AI.

Why it matters: Yes, Trump zigs and zags into countless political and diplomatic issues. But none comes close to his sustained, and surging, all-in alliance with tech billionaires and AI companies reshaping the U.S. economy.

He won on the backs of working-class MAGA. But he governs, socializes and surrounds himself with tech swells and moguls.

We may well be in an AI bubble — the money, momentum and magical thinking all point that way.

Why it matters: A financial bubble doesn't mean AI won't transform the way we live and work.

Civil rights groups are increasingly concerned that AI's rapidly spreading physical infrastructure is deepening climate burdens for communities of color.

Why it matters: Massive data centers require vast quantities of water, energy and land. Many of these centers are clustered in regions where marginalized communities already face higher levels of air pollution, industrial zoning and climate vulnerability.

From white noise machines to pink noise playlists and brown noise TikToks, sounds for sleep could be particularly useful right now as we deal with shorter days.

Why it matters: Scientists say these hums can mask environmental distractions and even sync brain activity tied to relaxation — though not all "colors" work the same way for everyone.