Washington Post: “As President Donald Trump’s enormous new tariffs on China rippled through global supply chains, Apple CEO Tim Cook went to work behind the scenes.”

“Cook spoke to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week about the potential impact of the tariffs on iPhone prices… Cook spoke with other senior officials in the White House… And he refrained from publicly criticizing the president or his policies on national television, as many other executives have over the past several weeks.”

“By the end of the week, the Trump administration agreed to exempt from import duties electronic products that Apple produces in China, an action that also granted a reprieve to other large U.S. firms, including HP and Dell. Trump did so despite the recommendations of senior White House aide Peter Navarro, who had wanted the taxes to remain in place.”

John Gruber: “Tim Cook manages this dance with aplomb. This is not a ‘good system’. But given the way Trump operates, what Cook managed here is not merely good for Apple but better policy, period.”

New York Times: “The White House has been hearing out a chorus of ideas in recent weeks for persuading Americans to get married and have more children, an early sign that the Trump administration will embrace a new cultural agenda pushed by many of its allies on the right to reverse declining birthrates and push conservative family values.”

Washington Post: “As the billionaire prepares to exit government later this year and his influence appears to wane, the conflicting messages and confusion have had a predictable result. As of this month, agencies maintain an inconsistent patchwork of policies on the email responses.”

“Some federal agencies have stopped requiring the messages. A shrinking number of departments mandate strict compliance, while others say they are requiring the emails but are not checking for compliance or tracking responses in any way that is detectable to all employees. Many federal workers who still answer the message are either churning out lightly modified versions of the boilerplate each week — or treating the whole thing as a joke, such as by submitting replies in a foreign language.”