Good morning. New York’s top financial regulator has fined financial technology company Block $40 million for alleged anti-money-laundering inadequacies and cryptocurrency compliance failures on its Cash App payment platform.

• The allegations: The New York State Department of Financial Services said Thursday its investigation found Block failed to conduct adequate customer due diligence and to monitor and report suspicious transactions in a timely manner over the past few years. The regulator also said it found Block failed to screen and monitor high-risk bitcoin transactions, especially those that used anonymized services, for illicit activities.
   
• Compliance monitor required: Oakland, Calif.-based Block, led by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and formerly known as Square, agreed to pay the fine and to retain an independent monitor chosen by NYDFS for a year to ensure it remediates its compliance programs.
   
• Deficiencies identified: Among them was Block’s know-your-customer program, according to the consent order. The regulator’s investigation found customers could bypass Block’s transaction limits by opening multiple accounts using different email addresses and phone numbers.
   
• Rapid growth vs. compliance: NYDFS said Block’s rapid growth between 2019 and 2020 was a factor in the firm’s compliance shortfalls. Cash App’s expanding customer base contributed to the company’s severe transaction alert backlog, the regulator said. 

Trump administration wants bank regulators in a ‘cage,’ Treasury Secretary says. 

The Trump administration intends to take a much lighter regulatory approach on banks to encourage growth and reduce compliance costs, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

Bessent on Wednesday outlined a broad deregulatory agenda he said would focus on empowering Main Street and reining in Washington-based regulatory agencies, including by reducing anti-money-laundering requirements and hurdles to cryptocurrencies.

• Alphabet’s Google will change how it offers its Maps and Automotive Services features to car manufacturers in Europe, Germany’s antitrust watchdog said as it wields a relatively new digital competition legal tool against the tech giant.
   
• The Trump administration is revising its plan to impose steep port fees on Chinese-built vessels to lessen the impact on U.S. exports, according to people familiar with the matter.
   
• President Trump took aim at a low-pressure target: wimpy showers.
   
• Singapore has warned companies against using the city-state to circumvent other countries’ export controls on advanced semiconductor and artificial intelligence technologies.

Trump authorizes 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs.

President Trump said he has authorized a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for all trading partners except China, sparking a broad-based market rally due to the temporary reprieve from the trade war.

The president said Wednesday afternoon on his Truth Social platform that reciprocal tariffs will also be lowered to 10%, effective immediately. That won’t be the case for China, which now faces a 125% tariff, Trump said.

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials highlighted the risks of longer-lasting inflationary pressures from tariffs when they agreed to hold interest rates steady at their meeting last month.

“A majority of participants noted the potential for inflationary effects arising from various factors to be more persistent than they projected,” said minutes of the March 18-19 policy meeting, which were released Wednesday.

• Why Trump Blinked on Tariffs Just Hours After They Went Into Effect
• Trump Wants to Rewire Every Other Economy With Trade Onslaught
• An American-Made iPhone: Just Expensive or Completely Impossible

China has readied a trade-war arsenal that takes aim at U.S. companies.

In the years since President Trump’s first trade war with China, Beijing has built an arsenal of tools to hit the U.S. where it hurts. Now, it is getting ready to deploy them in full.

China is increasing tariffs on all U.S. imports to 84%, a response to new U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports of 104% that went into effect at midnight Wednesday. It also added six U.S. companies and imposed export controls on a dozen American companies. 

• Trump Transforms Tariff War Into High-Stakes Showdown With China
• As U.S. Buyers Cancel Orders, Chinese Factories Say No More Discounts
• China Looks to Forge Closer Trade Ties With Neighbors 
• China’s Consumer Prices Continue to Signal Weakness

Ukraine counts more than 150 Chinese citizens fighting for Russia. 

More than 150 Chinese citizens have joined the Russian military to fight against Ukraine, according to Ukrainian intelligence reports viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

• Sanctions Vital to Constraining Russian War Machine, European People’s Party Says
• Report Finds $23.7 Billion in Western Goods Reached Russia Through China Despite Sanctions

• On a rare high-level visit to Panama, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth secured new commitments from the small Central American country but left some Panamanian officials wondering if they were enough to mollify President Trump, who has repeatedly vowed to “take back” the country’s canal.
   
• President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday aimed at reviving America’s flagging maritime industry and countering China’s growing dominance in ocean shipping.
   
• Acting IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause plans to leave the agency soon, said people familiar with her decision, extending an extraordinary period of turmoil at the Internal Revenue Service as the Trump administration shrinks and reshapes the agency.
   
• Russia and the U.S. carried out a prisoner swap early Thursday in Abu Dhabi in a sign of continuing confidence building, as the two sides pursue a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
   
• Prada’s talks to acquire Versace from fashion conglomerate Capri Holdings are at risk of collapsing at the 11th hour with financial markets in historic turmoil, according to people familiar with the matter.

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