Good morning.

The latest entrant in America’s food obsessions is ube — the vibrant purple yam that has long been central to Filipino cuisine, now splashed across lattes, ice creams, and pastries.

What began as a niche dessert ingredient has quickly gone mainstream, fueled by its striking color and adaptable flavor.

But prices have more than doubled since 2019, and supply remains uneven as Philippine farmers struggle to scale production. Typhoons, fragmented backyard farming, and rising export demand are turning this viral veggie into a supply chain story.

Let’s dive into today’s edition.

FedEx has sued the U.S. government seeking a full refund of tariffs paid under President Donald Trump’s emergency trade measures, becoming the first major American company to pursue repayment after the Supreme Court ruled the levies unlawful.

Refund Request: The company filed a case with the U.S. Court of International Trade seeking a full refund of duties it paid as the importer of record.

Big List: More than 900 companies have filed lawsuits against the U.S. government after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariff regime, intensifying pressure on Washington to issue refunds that could exceed $160 billion.

Key Details: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump’s tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were unlawful, saying the emergency powers did not authorize sweeping global levies. The decision struck down a key pillar of the administration’s trade strategy but did not clarify whether companies must be refunded the tariffs already paid.

The European Union has paused work on implementing its trade agreement with the United States after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down tariffs introduced by Donald Trump. European lawmakers said the move created uncertainty over the future tariff framework and the practical value of the negotiated deal.

Uncertain Times: The original agreement capped most tariffs at 15%, but the administration quickly introduced new global 15% tariffs under a different legal authority, which, in some cases, stacks on top of existing duties. Products such as European cheeses — including Parmesan and Camembert — could now face combined tariffs approaching 30%, raising concerns for exporters and importers.

What's Next: According to reports, EU officials still support the deal in principle but want clarity before ratification, especially because the new tariff tool is temporary and expires after 150 days without congressional approval.

Meta has struck a long-term AI infrastructure deal with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) worth more than $100 billion, agreeing to buy chips capable of delivering about 6 gigawatts of computing power over the next five years. The agreement could also give Meta Platforms warrants to acquire up to 10% of AMD’s stock

Why does this matter? The partnership marks a major push by AMD to challenge Nvidia in the fast-growing AI GPU market, with Meta expected to deploy AMD’s MI450 chips in data centers starting later this year. Large customers like Meta are increasingly signing multi-year deals — sometimes involving equity incentives — to secure supply amid surging AI demand.

Similar Deal: Last October, AMD and OpenAI signed a similar multi-year deal to deploy 6 gigawatts of AMD Instinct GPUs, a build-out expected to generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue for AMD. The partnership also included share warrants that tied OpenAI’s access to chips to AMD’s performance milestone.

Imports through the Port of Long Beach fell 13% year-on-year in January as last year’s rush to front-load shipments ahead of tariffs faded. Total container volumes declined 11%, though the port still edged past the Port of Los Angeles to remain the busiest U.S. gateway for the month.

Big Drop: Iron and steel volumes were down 32%, toys and sports equipment fell 15%, synthetic fiber imports plunged 43%, and materials such as salt, sulfur, and cement declined 21%. Loaded imports dropped to roughly 409,800 TEUs, while exports stayed largely flat.

Better Performance: Despite an 11% decline in overall container volumes, CEO Noel Hacegaba said the Port of Long Beach remained the busiest U.S. gateway in January, surpassing neighboring Los Angeles.

Shein plans to invest more than 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) to upgrade its supply chain in southern China, focusing on intelligent manufacturing systems in Guangdong, where most of its production network is based.

What’s the deal? Founder Xu Yangtian said the investment will support cross-border e-commerce initiatives and help thousands of small factories scale production, reinforcing Shein’s manufacturing ecosystem that already involves nearly 10,000 suppliers and hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Change of Plans: The pivot marks a shift from earlier efforts to diversify production outside China to avoid tariffs. With Western regulators increasing oversight and U.S. sales momentum slowing, Shein is leaning back into its China supply chain. Additionally, the move signals an effort to strengthen ties with Beijing as the fast-fashion giant seeks approval for a Hong Kong IPO

A U.S. federal judge cleared United Parcel Service (UPS) to move ahead with offering $150,000 buyouts to unionized delivery drivers, rejecting an attempt by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to block the program. The ruling allows UPS to extend the voluntary exit package — including pension and healthcare benefits — to about 105,000 drivers.

Key Details: The buyout initiative is part of UPS’s broader cost-cutting strategy after announcing plans to eliminate up to 30,000 jobs and close 24 facilities while reducing reliance on low-margin deliveries tied to its largest customer, Amazon.

What’s next? Union leaders argue the program violates the 2023 labor contract because it was launched without negotiations, but the court said the union’s interpretation was flawed. UPS expects more than 10,000 drivers to accept the offer, after only about 3,000 workers participated in an earlier, less generous buyout round.

Panama’s government seized control of two major ports at the Pacific and Atlantic entrances of the Panama Canal after the country’s Supreme Court ruled the Hong Kong-linked operator’s concession unconstitutional.

Key Details: Authorities occupied the Balboa and Cristóbal terminals — previously run by a subsidiary of CK Hutchison since 1997 — citing urgent public interest, forcing the company to halt operations and launch arbitration proceedings.

Backstory: The takeover follows a broader geopolitical dispute involving the U.S. and China, after a planned sale of the ports to a consortium including BlackRock drew intervention from Beijing.

Panama said operations and jobs would be maintained, with APM Terminals set to temporarily manage the facilities while a new concession process is arranged.

Suppliers to U.S. aerospace and semiconductor companies are facing worsening shortages of key rare earths even as trade tensions between Washington and Beijing ease ahead of a summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, according to a Reuters report.

Rare Problems: The bottleneck centers on niche materials such as yttrium and scandium — critical inputs for jet engines, defence systems, and advanced chip manufacturing — with global supply still heavily dominated by China.

Chinese export restrictions introduced last April continue to constrain flows, with shipments of yttrium to the U.S. dropping sharply despite a later trade truce.

Export Drop: Yttrium shipments from China to the U.S. — a key material used in aerospace and semiconductor manufacturing — fell sharply after export controls were introduced. Deliveries dropped to 17 tons in the eight months following the restrictions, down from 333 tons in the eight months before.

Apple Inc. is expanding its U.S. manufacturing footprint, announcing that Mac mini will be produced in Houston for the first time later this year. The move will double the campus size and create thousands of jobs, while scaling production of advanced AI servers already assembled at the site.

Homemade Devices: The company will also open a 20,000-sq-ft Advanced Manufacturing Center to train students, suppliers, and businesses in automation, AI-driven production, and advanced assembly. Apple began producing AI servers in Houston in 2025, with onsite logic board manufacturing supporting domestic data-center infrastructure.

Big Picture: The expansion is part of Apple’s $600 billion U.S. investment strategy, which includes sourcing 20 billion+ U.S.-made chips across 24 factories, backing semiconductor projects from partners like TSMC, Broadcom, and Texas Instruments, signaling a broader shift toward domestic electronics and AI supply chains.