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DealBook Briefing: China’s Ready for a Trade War. Your Move, Mr. Trump.

Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

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President Trump has approved tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, and the list is scheduled to be announced today. (Reuters reports that a second list, with $100 billion worth of additional goods, may be published soon.) When will those levies go into effect? Will they ever go into effect? The answer to those questions is less clear.

If they are enacted, a long-awaited trade battle between Washington and Beijing will begin. China, whose economic growth is slowing, appears ready for a fight, according to Shawn Donnan of the FT:

Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, on Thursday warned Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, not to take a choice that would involve “confrontation and mutual loss.”

So far, markets appear wary, with S.&P. 500 futures down this morning. And one of his former advisers, Gary Cohn, has warned that a trade war would wipe out the benefits of the president’s signature economic accomplishment to date, last year’s tax overhaul.

Elsewhere in trade: Talks to save Nafta aren’t dead, but they will drag on through the summer. And the White House wants to revive the Export-Import Bank (after trying to kill it).

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Credit...Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters

The biggest media takeover since AOL bought Time Warner closed yesterday. It took AT&T just two days to seal the acquisition, after the Justice Department said it wouldn’t seek an injunction. The government could still appeal the court’s clearance of the transaction, but that would most likely fail.

The big question now: How will AT&T treat its newest crown jewel, HBO?

Skeptics worry that a telecom company focused on justifying every penny will impede the creativity of a media darling where producers, writers and actors are sacred. They could be right. But the stakes are high for AT&T, as Netflix continues to close in on HBO’s position as the king of the content hill. It must tread carefully if it wants to make the most of the TV company.

Elsewhere in media news

• Apple is close to buying the rights for its first animated movie.

• Related: Just because tech companies like Amazon and Apple are probably more free to buy media producers doesn’t mean they should.

• Why Comcast and Disney are fighting over 21st Century Fox.

• Spotify once tried to survive by cozying up to record labels. Now it competes with them.

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Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank.Credit...Ints Kalnins/Reuters

In outlining an end to its $2.8 trillion bond-buying program, the E.C.B. is essentially declaring that Europe is healthy enough to wean itself off fiscal stimulus. The decision catches the bank up to the Federal Reserve, which ended its program years ago.

Analysts have largely praised the move as pulling off a tough balancing act. But is the E.C.B.’s timing right? More from Jack Ewing of the NYT:

A trade war with the United States looms. Populists have taken power in Italy, posing a new threat to the euro. Growth is sluggish, and there is even talk of another banking crisis. It would not seem the ideal time to put the brakes on Europe’s economy.

• New York State’s attorney general has sued the Trump Foundation, and the I.R.S. could go after it, too.

• The F.B.I.’s inspector general rebuked James Comey’s stewardship of the organization during the 2016 presidential race, but found no evidence of political bias or interference. (NYT)

• Federal prosecutors are said to be investigating Michael Cohen for illegal lobbying. (WSJ)

• Goldman Sachs made millions in Malaysia. Now Malaysia wants some of it back. (NYT)

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Credit...Mike Blake/Reuters

Bloomberg and the South China Morning Post, citing anonymous sources, reported that Beijing officials had decided to allow the U.S. semiconductor company Qualcomm to acquire the Dutch chip maker NXP Semiconductors for $43 billion. But not so fast, says Reuters, whose sources asserted that there was no such signoff.

The fate of that deal has been hanging in the balance for at least 18 months. Eight other nations have waved it through. But China has held out, using it as a bargaining chip in its trade standoff with the U.S., and particularly to help ensure that the White House relaxes penalties on the Chinese telecom company ZTE.

The Trump administration recently spared ZTE, and a bid by Washington lawmakers to reverse that move looks increasingly doomed. So approval of the Qualcomm deal could be just around the corner — maybe.

• Abraaj, the embattled Middle Eastern financial firm, has filed for the equivalent of bankruptcy protection in the Cayman Islands. (FT)

• Charter Communications’ takeover of Time Warner Cable might be revoked if the company doesn’t comply with new conditions from New York. (Ars Technica)

• Royal Caribbean agreed to buy a 67 percent stake in Silversea, a luxury cruise operator, for about $1 billion. (WSJ)

• UBS’s London headquarters were sold to the Hong Kong property developer founded by Li Ka-shing for about $1.3 billion, in the latest London real estate megadeal. (FT)

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Credit...Tyrone Siu/Reuters

But most initial coin offerings probably are, according to William Hinman, the director of the S.E.C.’s division of corporation finance. In a speech yesterday, he said that Ethereum’s “decentralized structure” means that “current offers and sales of ether are not securities transactions.” That news will ease concerns among those who expected the S.E.C. to apply strict securities regulations to many cryptocurrencies.

But Mr. Hinman added that securities regulations are “important safeguards, and they are appropriate for most I.C.O.s.” What’s the difference? He elaborated:

Central to determining whether a security is being sold is how it is being sold and the reasonable expectations of purchasers … Under certain circumstances, the same asset can be offered and sold in a way that causes investors to have a reasonable expectation of profits based on the efforts of others.

More crypto news: Steve Bannon is buying into Bitcoin. And a new $4 billion crypto-democracy could be the future — or it could be riddled with issues.

• Booz Allen Hamilton’s C.E.O. says that America’s lead over China in A.I. is slim. (Bloomberg)

• Facebook’s relationship with academics? It’s complicated. (Bloomberg)

• Google’s diversity statistics are still surprisingly poor. (The Verge)

• SoftBank wants to invest in the future. Here are some more technologies it might want to bet on. (DealBook)

Megamergers have been this week’s focus. But Tom Braithwaite of the FT points out that we’re in danger of forgetting about younger, smaller companies. In the first quarter of 2018, just 727 “seed stage” companies raised money in the U.S. Mr. Braithwaite parses that number:

That is the lowest number since 2011 and half the level of three years ago ... With such a dramatic decline, the chances of challengers graduating to the next stage and eventually taking on the incumbents is inevitably reduced.

Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s head of communications and policy, is leaving after a decade. He had been the company’s point person on a series of scandals. (NYT)

• Activision Blizzard has hired Kristin Binns, Twitter’s head of corporate communications, as its chief communications officer. (Reuters)

• Amazon has added two veteran executives, Rosanna Godden and Heather Dystrup-Chiang, to the leadership of Whole Foods to help Amazon-ify the grocery chain. (CNBC)

• Why does everyone seem so concerned about privacy now? (New Yorker)

• China’s push to curb its reliance on debt is slowing economic growth. (NYT)

• A recent change to the Volcker rule might be a problem for Wall Street. (Reuters)

• Trump’s prediction of 4 percent G.D.P. growth might come true. (CNBC)

• The E.U. is trying to become a global financial sheriff. (Bloomberg)

We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to bizday@nytimes.com.

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