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National

Axios AI+

Amazon said Monday it is buying Eero, a San Francisco startup known for its mesh router kit designed to deliver Wi-Fi evenly throughout the home. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Why it matters: Amazon has been expanding its smart-home offerings, and Wi-Fi is central to many of the products it has built or acquired, including Echo and Ring, which it bought last year for an estimated $1 billion.

Amazon buys Wi-Fi router maker Eero

Fast Wi-Fi is increasingly central to many of Amazon's smart home ambitions.

Eero's mesh routers make it easier to spread fast Wi-Fi throughout the home.

Technology

Amazon

Business

Big Tech

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Public health officials on Monday said there's a growing epidemic of tobacco products currently used by children — 4.9 million high school and middle school kids used tobacco products in 2018 up from 3.6 million in 2017 — mainly due to a growth in e-cigarette usage.

What's new: For the fifth year in a row, e-cigs were the most popular product amongst high school students, but in 2018 it reached unprecedented epidemic levels, with the addition of another 1.5 million kids, said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Background: The Food and Drug Administration defines e-cigarettes as a tobacco product, while traditional cigarettes and cigars are combustible tobacco products. "Current users" are defined as people who've used a tobacco product in past 30 days, while "frequent users" are for those who've used the product for more than 20 out of the past 30 days.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the U.S. and nearly all tobacco use begins in adolescence, Schuchat said. 

While e-cigs don't have the heavy carcinogenic toll that traditional cigarettes do, they do have high levels of addictive nicotine. One vaping pod can equal roughly one pack of cigarettes for nicotine.

By the numbers: Public health officials from CDC, the FDA, and Minnesota's health department discussed the findings, which were from the 2011–2018 National Youth Tobacco Surveys and published in Vital Signs.

27.1% of high school students and 7.2% of middle school students used a tobacco product in 2018.

For high school students, e-cigs were the most commonly used tobacco product at 20.8%, followed by cigarettes at 8.1%, cigars at 7.6%, smokeless tobacco at 5.9%, hookah at 4.1%, and pipe tobacco at 1.1%. 

Among middle schoolers, e-cigs were 4.9%, which is also the most commonly used tobacco product, followed by cigarettes at 1.8%, smokeless tobacco at 1.8%, cigars 
 at 1.6%, hookah at 1.2%, and pipe tobacco at 0.3%.

Among youth using tobacco products, 2 in 5 high school students and 1 in 3 middle school students are using 2 or more tobacco products — primarily e-cigs and traditional cigarettes.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told Axios the agency will "have to reconsider our enforcement policy" if these numbers aren't turned around.

While Gottlieb said there are some indications that e-cigs may help people quit from combustible tobacco products that are carcinogenic, it "can't be on the back of the youth."

In this long Twitter thread from Sunday, Gottlieb said, "[W]e could be looking at more kids addicted to nicotine than we've seen in a long time."

Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, agrees. He said e-cigs have created a new generation of tobacco users that's "erased all the progress we made over the years."

These trends are "incredibly disturbing," particularly with the "meteoric rise in the use of e-cigarettes," Myers told Axios.

He said the problem is not just the increased numbers of young people using e-cigs, but that "the data shows almost conclusively that ... roughly 27% of [tobacco-using high school] kids are using e-cigarettes 20 days or more per month, which is a clear sign of addiction."

Editor's note: This piece was updated to add the FDA's definition of tobacco products and to clarify the quote in the last sentence.

Tobacco use is soaring among U.S. kids, driven by e-cigarettes

"Erased all the progress we made over the years."

Illustration of pencil case holding tobacco products

Science

Tobacco

Health Care

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Health

Pro Rata

Axios Pro Rata

Dan and Axios' David McCabe discuss this week's congressional hearings on the proposed $26 billion merger between Sprint and T-Mobile U.S. and how the political landscape has changed since the mobile giants first inked their deal.

Go deeper: The Sprint/T-Mobile fight heats up

Podcast: Mobile mega-merger gets political

Capitol Hill has changed a lot since Sprint and T-Mobile first inked their $26 billion deal.

Pro Rata Podcast

Politics

Axios Re:Cap

Podcasts

When we set out to examine the social media followings of every All-Star starter across the four major sports, we expected the personality-driven NBA to come out ahead — but not by this much.

Data: Twitter, Instagram; Note: Follower counts as of Feb. 6; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

NBA: LeBron James has more followers on Instagram and Twitter (~89 million) than every NFL, MLB and NHL All-Star starter combined. He also has more than twice as many as the next closest NBA All-Star starter (Steph Curry: ~37 million).

NFL: Trench warrior J.J. Watt has the strongest social presence (~8.8 million followers) among Pro-Bowlers. Even if Aaron Rodgers hadn't pulled out of the game, his 5.4 million followers still would have trailed Watt.

MLB/NHL: Mike Trout and Alex Ovechkin have almost the same exact number of followers across both platforms. Same with Matt Kemp and Connor McDavid.

NHL: 15 All-Star starters have either (a) no Twitter account, (b) no Instagram account or (c) neither.

The LeBron effect: NBA stars lap others on social media

LeBron James has more followers on Instagram and Twitter than every NFL, MLB and NHL All-Star starter combined.

Sports

Media

Social Media

Shifts in technology and media are changing the way we play, watch and understand sports. Business models are adapting and social change is forcing those in charge of teams and leagues to reconsider decades-old practices.

New analysis shows that U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods are chipping away at the trade deficit with China. 

But there are other questions to answer when it comes to whether the tariffs are having their desired effect.

Are they reducing the U.S.-China trade imbalance? Yes.

After accounting for frontloading to get out in front of the tariffs early in the year, the rate of tariffed goods exported from China slowed, a new report from the Institute of International Finance shows, and will likely continue to slow without a resolution.

China's reciprocal tariffs on U.S. goods are slowing American exporters' sales, too.

But because the U.S. imports more from China than it exports there, tariffs should continue to lessen the trade deficit.

Are they helping American businesses? No.

Remember, U.S. companies that import Chinese goods pay the tariffs. When the full slate of tariffs went into effect in October, tariff collections topped $5 billion, the highest amount ever recorded. The amount of tariffs paid by these American companies has doubled since May, including an increase of more than 30% from August to October.

Companies as varied as truck manufacturer Cummins, equipment maker Caterpillar, chipmaker Nvidia and washing machine manufacturer Whirlpool have all separately issued lower 2019 guidance citing the tariffs as a direct cause.

Are businesses moving back to the U.S.? No.

CNNBusiness reported in November that a recent survey by 2 American chambers of commerce in China showed a third of the companies surveyed were looking to leave China because of the trade war. However, only 6% said they were considering moving back to the U.S.

IIF's analysis of 7,000 individual products subject to new tariffs shows that there has been a measurable slowdown in purchases from both nations. However, both Chinese and American firms are largely finding substitutes or eating the price increases instead of passing them on to consumers, IIF economists tell Axios.

While economic metrics have fallen, along with the country's stock market, the pullback has been in line with expectations for the country's move from an export- to service-driven economy.

Who is benefiting? India, Brazil, Cambodia and other countries who can offer substitute products and locations.

India's exports to China from June-November 2018 increased by 32% and rose 12% to the U.S.

Brazil, the world's second largest soybean producer, more than doubled its shipments to China, the world's largest soybean importer in October, while China imported just 66,955 tons of American soybeans that month, compared to 1.33 million tons a year earlier.

Data: U.S. Census Bureau; Chart: Naema Ahmed/Axios

Signs point to long haul on Trump's China tariffs

Grading the impact of Trump's China tariffs

And businesses aren't moving back to the U.S.

Trump tariffs

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint executive chairman Marcelo Claure will be pitching their companies' $26 billion merger before Congress this week, hoping to ease lawmaker's concerns about wireless competition while pushing the tie-up as a key part of the nation's 5G quest. 

Why it matters: It's a key test for a deal that would reduce the number of major national wireless carriers from four to three. 

Driving the news: The fierce lobbying battle over the $26 billion deal has divided Democrats.

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and colleagues from both parties circulated a letter supporting the deal.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), part of the class of new progressive members of Congress, is asking colleagues to sign a letter opposing the deal, according to multiple sources. A copy of the letter obtained by Axios says the "sole reason" for the deal appears to be helping "a handful of individuals get significantly wealthier."

Yes, but: The deal doesn't need congressional sign off, but legislators can put pressure on the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice to block it. The companies have aggressively lobbied both agencies.

The deal has been approved by regulators in New York, and it still requires approval in California.

Details: The hearings, of the House Energy and Commerce and Judiciary committees, are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. (The Washington, D.C., funeral for former Rep. John Dingell is also being held Thursday, so plans could shift.)

What to watch: How seriously the FCC and the DOJ take T-Mobile’s argument that the deal will help it bolster its 5G networks to compete with AT&T and Verizon, the linchpin of a major push on the part of the company to get the merger through.

T-Mobile and Sprint also pledged last week not to raise rates for three years, an attempt to mitigate concerns that the merger will lead to higher prices.

The companies are also pledging to open several new service centers that they say would each create 1,000 jobs.

Their lobbying has been up close and personal. Legere has regularly tweeted from his trips to Washington, and the company’s executives have stayed on multiple occasions at the Trump International Hotel, according to the Washington Post.

The coalition opposed to the deal also met with staffers for all five FCC members this past week, according to agency filings.

The big picture: Regulators have been tasked with weighing a series of major mergers in telecom and tech in recent years, including AT&T's blockbuster acquisition of Time Warner, that stand to transform how Americans get information and entertainment.

The FCC and DOJ consider deals in parallel. The former looks at whether a merger is in the public interest, while the latter weighs the impact on competition.

T-Mobile and Sprint have said they think the deal will close "no later than the first half" of this year.

The government shutdown slowed down the regulatory review process. 

History lesson: AT&T's effort to buy T-Mobile was blocked in 2011; Sprint and T-Mobile subsequently discussed a deal during the Obama administration but never moved forward because regulators made clear they would fight any combination among the Big 4 carriers.

The bottom line: The deal's opponents are fighting an uphill battle against a generally business-friendly administration, but the hearings this week will let them air their concerns and turn up the heat.

Fight heats up over T-Mobile's $26 billion deal with Sprint

The two firms' CEOs will testify before Congress this week.

Illustration of two weapons crossed with wireless symbols like axe heads

T-Mobile

Media Trends

Axios Media Trends

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has attracted more online and media attention this year than any Democrat running for president.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the Democrats' Trump

AOC's success comes from the buzz around her policies, videos and viral quips.

Axios

Monday's top stories

Amazon buys Wi-Fi router maker Eero

Tobacco use is soaring among U.S. kids, driven by e-cigarettes

Podcast: Mobile mega-merger gets political

The LeBron effect: NBA stars lap others on social media

Grading the impact of Trump's China tariffs

Fight heats up over T-Mobile's $26 billion deal with Sprint

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the Democrats' Trump

What tackling climate change means, illustrated

Health insurance is as big as Big Tech

Trump to lay out an AI plan

Government funding negotiations fall apart

Behind the scenes: Troubles ahead for Trump's NAFTA replacement