The pandemic upended America's housing market, delivering wins for homeowners and roadblocks for those still dreaming.

Why it matters: Sky-high home prices, elevated mortgage rates and a shortage of houses for sale are pushing homeownership out of reach for many.

In the past five years, here are five ways the market transformed and what could come next.

1. Home prices skyrocketed

Cheap borrowing costs and remote work unleashed a homebuying frenzy early in the pandemic — and sent prices soaring.

By the numbers: The median U.S. home price in January was $418,000, up around 45% from $289,000 five years ago, according to Redfin.

• Those who own their houses sit on a mountain of wealth.

The big picture: A stubborn housing shortfall is keeping prices high, even as buyers have retreated, with 2024 sales hitting a nearly 30-year low.

2. Rates surged, buyers stalled

Mortgage rates surged after falling to the lowest levels on record in 2021.

• Higher monthly payments are sidelining many home shoppers, especially first-timers.

What we're hearing: "It's very sad to be priced out of our communities," says Kylie Carpenter, a Seattle teacher who tells Axios it feels almost impossible to buy a house nearby.

Between the lines: Rates are now hovering near 7% and are unlikely to drop much soon, experts say.

In pricey Portland, Oregon, aspiring homebuyer Jake Turner tells Axios this year actually feels like a good time to jump in since there's less competition.

• "My wife and I will just buy less of a home with 20% down and work responsibly with the expensive housing payment."

3. Inventory dried up

Those who scored ultra-low mortgage rates during the pandemic are hesitant to sell, locking up supply.

Yes, but: That's starting to change as homebuyers adjust to higher rates.

• Roughly 83% of U.S. homeowners with mortgages have a rate below 6%, down from around 88% a year ago, according to a recent Redfin analysis.
• And in 15 of the 50 largest metro areas, including Denver, San Antonio and Dallas, inventory in February topped pre-pandemic norms, per Realtor.com.

What they're saying: "This is my forever home," says Ben Kolb, one of many homeowners who refinanced when rates dropped.

• A retired veteran with a disability, Kolb tells Axios he "would never be able to afford" the mortgage on his Columbia, Missouri, house if he bought it now.
• In suburban Minneapolis, Mark and Joann Shockey say they're glad they sold when the market was hot, downsizing to a townhouse and nabbing "a very small 10-year mortgage at a low rate."

Others feel stuck. The benefit "of having an affordable mortgage has locked us out of even considering selling and moving closer to where we both work" in Seattle, says Sean Bucknam, who moved to Tacoma with his wife as remote setups took off.

• Now, she's being called back into the office.

4. Builders ramped up, then pulled back

Buyers flocked to newly built homes, searching for options and deals, too.

• Construction boomed in parts of the South and Sunbelt, helping to cool competition and runaway prices.

Reality check: Homebuilding has slowed since then, partly due to elevated interest rates and steep construction costs.

What we're watching: Builders have warned that President Trump's pledged tariffs (some that have since been paused) on imports could make construction more expensive and drive up home prices.

Meanwhile, mayors across the country are sounding the alarm about the housing crunch.

• Several have pushed to loosen construction restrictions, despite some proposals sparking local backlash.

What we're hearing: "The big concern in the housing market today is cooling new construction," Zillow senior economist Orphe Divounguy tells Axios.

5. Cash-rich people jumped in

Cash buyers, many of them investors, snapped up homes at record speeds during the pandemic.

The latest: They've taken a step back, though the share of purchases made in cash remains historically high.

• It fell to just under one-third in 2024, the lowest since 2021, Redfin research shows.

The bottom line: Wealthier people are those most likely to buy homes in this expensive housing market.

Anyone who thinks President Trump's mesmerizing hold over the GOP will slip if his poll numbers slide is missing one of his biggest innovations in American politics:

• The creation of a cash-flush political operation that has raked in around a half-billion dollars — about the same amount the GOP's House and Senate campaign arms spent during the entirety of the last midterm campaign.

Why it matters: It's unheard of for a president not running for reelection to raise that kind of money. But the cash is just one piece of a bigger power play that's arguably the most powerful, well-funded political apparatus ever.

• The day after Election Day, Trump — at a time most presidents-elect are scrambling to get their transitions rolling — started calling major donors to start building an enforcement machine for his agenda.
• "Right now, there's a huge price to pay by crossing Donald Trump," said Republican strategist Corry Bliss, who formerly led the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC. "When you combine a 92% approval rating among Republican voters with unlimited money, that equals: 'Yes, sir.' "

Zoom in: Two Trump-aligned outside groups, MAGA Inc. and Securing American Greatness, are poised to play big in 2026, including by helping Republicans expand their congressional majorities. The groups also have another focus: Reward Republicans who support Trump — and punish those who don't.

• Elon Musk has his own super PAC, America PAC, which he can use to target Republicans who cross Trump.

The big picture: Trump lacked a well-funded political operation after the 2016 election, hampering his ability to put pressure on Republicans who waffled over backing his agenda and to support or oppose candidates of his choosing. Trump advisers say that won't be the case this time.

• Now, combine Trump's super PACs with Musk's resources, then toss in Musk's control of X plus Trump's control of Truth Social. Any GOP skeptics or critics could instantly face a dangerous primary challenge — and unending waves of critical messaging.

How it works: Chris LaCivita and pollster Tony Fabrizio, who held top roles in Trump's '24 campaign, are spearheading the effort.

• MAGA Inc. and Securing American Greatness are closely aligned with the White House political team, which is led by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair. The groups were founded during the campaign by Taylor Budowich, now a White House deputy chief of staff.
• Trump team hasn't dipped into its war chest yet, but it's prepared to. It cut ads aimed at pressuring Republican senators to confirm Pete Hegseth, Trump's then-nominee for secretary of defense. But once it became clear Hegseth had the support he needed, the ads were sidelined.

Behind the scenes: Trump made his first fundraising call the day after he won the election — and directed his team to ask donors to his 2024 campaign for another round of checks, according to a person with knowledge of the conversations.

• Two weekends ago, Trump hosted a dinner for major contributors at Mar-a-Lago. Minimum cost of entrance: $1 million. The dinner was attended by Republican mega-donor Miriam Adelson, who spent more than $100 million to bolster Trump last year.
• Trump had to woo donors during the 2024 campaign, but now many are flocking to him in hopes of winning access.

Musk's political operation functions independently of Trump's, but is expected to work aggressively to bolster the president's agenda.

• America PAC, a super PAC that Musk loaded with more than $250 million in 2024, last week ran a TV ad praising Trump for "saving the American dream."

The bottom line: Jason Thielman, a former National Republican Senatorial Committee executive director, said Trump's outside political operation "is a juggernaut that will be one of the most dominant forces in modern elections."

Some Democrats are starting to publicly second-guess the party's stances on transgender rights and DEI programs — positions they've long embraced on principle, but now see as potential political liabilities.

Why it matters: The issues are creating a divide among some of the most powerful people in the party, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and a few others widely seen as potential 2028 candidates for president.

• Newsom sent ripples through the party last week during a podcast interview with MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk. Echoing a GOP talking point, Newsom said he believed transgender women and girls playing in women's sports was "deeply unfair."

The big picture: The remark by Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor and longtime supporter of LGBTQ causes, stung many progressives as a betrayal.

• Whether it represented a true shift in belief or a move of political convenience, it reflected a growing argument between Democrats — whether they should be more pragmatic on some social issues, or stand on principle at a critical moment.
• The backdrop for the debate is how Democrats — namely presidential nominee Kamala Harris — struggled last year to respond as Republicans spent tens of millions on ads bashing transgender women and girls in sports, and declaring that "Kamala is for they/them, Donald Trump is for you."

Some Democrats quietly agree with Newsom. Others say emphatically that the party should support transgender people and others now targeted by Trump administration policies.

• The Human Rights Campaign, a prominent LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said in a statement: "Our message to Gov. Newsom and leaders across the country is simple: The path to 2028 isn't paved with the betrayal of vulnerable communities. It's built on the courage to stand up for what's right, and do the hard work to actually help the American people."

Asked if Newsom supports any changes in the law to address fairness in women's sports, the governor's office declined to specify any.

• On his podcast, Newsom also criticized how some Democrats introduce themselves with their pronouns. "I had one meeting where people started going around the table with the pronouns," he said. "I'm like: 'What the hell? Why is this the biggest issue?'"

Rahm Emanuel — former Chicago mayor and U.S. ambassador to Japan, who has played coy about a 2028 White House run — told Axios: "Some kids in the classroom are debating which pronouns apply, and the rest of the class doesn't know what a pronoun is. That's a crisis."

• Emanuel has said Democrats in power should focus on the historic decline in children's reading abilities in the aftermath of the pandemic.
• Democrats "can't be a party that believes in equity and allows two-thirds of your kids who can't read," he said last week in a speech at the Economic Club of Chicago.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a 2028 presidential contender who's openly gay, removed his pronouns from his profile on X in recent months, according to the Internet Archive.

• A Buttigieg spokesperson didn't respond to Axios' request for comment.

Zoom in: Democratic lawmakers also are fracturing about their positions on DEI programs and how to talk about race.

• Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Service Committee, told The New Yorker that some DEI programs go "off the beam, to my mind, when they imply that racism, bigotry and settler colonialism is the unique purview of white people. ... You don't need to imply that all white people are racists, and that all white people are oppressors."
• Newsom told Kirk that "not one person ever in my office has ever used the word LatinX."

Between the lines: The term "woke" went mainstream during Black Lives Matter protests in 2014 and through Trump's first term, signifying a person who was alert to prejudice and discrimination that much of society didn't acknowledge.

• For millions of Americans, Trump and Republicans have turned "woke" into an insult — and a political dog whistle.
• "Our country will be woke no longer," Trump said in his address to Congress.

Zoom out: Trump has tried to put Democrats on the defensive on these issues in his first weeks in office.

• He signed several executive orders aimed at transgender and DEI policies implemented by President Biden, schools and businesses.
• One order banned transgender women and girls from competing in girls' and women's sports, prompting the NCAA to change its policy on transgender athletes.

During last week's address, Trump highlighted the story of a high school volleyball player who suffered brain damage when a transgender girl hit the ball hard onto her head.

• "From now on, schools will kick the men off the girls' team or they will lose all federal funding," Trump said. "We've ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government."

Republicans in Congress have been forcing Democrats to take votes on legislation focused on transgender people.

• Republicans last week brought up legislation to prohibit schools receiving government funding from allowing transgender women and girls to participate in women's sports.

Democrats unanimously opposed the measure in the Senate. But privately, they're workshopping their future responses to GOP attacks on transgender rights, Axios' Stephen Neukam and Hans Nichols report.

• Some Democratic lawmakers have disagreed with the GOP-led legislation, but not the issue.

"I support fair play and safety and do not support transgender athletes competing in girls' and women's sports when it compromises those principles," Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) said in a statement after the vote.

• But Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who has voted against his party on various issues, voted no and wrote on X: "The small handful of trans athletes in PA in a political maelstrom deserve an ally, and I am one."

Hundreds of people rallied at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to mark 60 years since "Bloody Sunday," when authorities beat peaceful protesters who were marching against race discrimination in voting.

The big picture: The anniversary follows President Trump's moves to ax federal affirmative action programs and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and many of Sunday's marchers displayed protest signs warning civil rights remain under threat.

Go deeper: Civil rights questions cloud "Bloody Sunday" anniversary in Selma

President Trump told reporters on Air Force 1 on Sunday that the U.S. is close to lifting the pause on intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Why it matters: The pause that mostly focused on intelligence sharing regarding offensive operations against Russia created significant difficulties for the Ukrainian military.

• It was a key factor in Ukrainian President Zelensky's decision to publish a statement expressing regret for his public spat with Trump at the White House and stressing his willingness to engage in peace talks with Russia.

Driving the news: A reporter aboard Air Force One on Sunday asked the president if he would consider lifting the intel block on Ukraine.

• "We just about have, we really just about have," Trump replied.

What to watch: Trump said he thinks Ukraine will sign a minerals deal with the U.S., but stressed he wants Ukraine "to want peace … and right now they haven't shown it to the extent that they should. But I think they will be, and I think it's going to become evident over the next two or three days."

• Trump's remarks came ahead of a key meeting between senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday that will focus on a possible ceasefire in the three-year war.
• Trump said on Sunday he hopes to make progress this week on the issue and stressed he think the meeting in Saudi Arabia will produce good results.

Yes, but: Trump didn't say whether the U.S. will lift the suspension on weapons shipments to Ukraine, which was imposed a week ago.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with further comment from President Trump.

Canada's ruling Liberals elected a new party leader in Ottawa, Ontario, on Sunday who will serve as the nation's next prime minister, replacing outgoing premier Justin Trudeau.

Why it matters: Liberal Party members' vote for Mark Carney, former governor of the Banks of Canada and England, comes as the Liberals are experiencing a polling boost amid widespread opposition to President Trump's U.S. policies targeting its northern neighbor.

• Little more than 150,000 Canadians chose who the country's new leader would be as the leadership was decided in a vote by Liberal Party members who registered and were verified to vote.

What they're saying: "These are dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust," Carney said, in reference to U.S. tariffs after the 59-year-old won 85.9% of the vote to be elected Liberal Party leader.

• Carney vowed to stand up to Trump over the tariffs. "America is not Canada. And Canada never, ever, will be part of America in any way, shape or form," Carney said.
• "We didn't ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves."

State of play: The election of Carney marks a new era for Canadian politics.

• Trudeau served as the leader of Canada's Liberal Party for 11 years and the country's prime minister for nine.
• Trudeau told the Liberal crowd in his farewell speech that their country "needs you, maybe more than ever," adding: "Democracy is not a given. Freedom is not a given."

The big picture: Trudeau resigned as Liberal Party leader in January amid deep unpopularity, as polls showed the Conservative Party was set to trounce the Liberals in the upcoming federal election.

• Trudeau said he would remain prime minister until a new party leader was chosen.
• Yet anti-Trump sentiment, spurred by Trump's tariffs and boasts about making Canada the 51st state, have raised the party's fortunes, with one poll giving the Liberal Party its first lead since 2021.

Zoom in: Trudeau's resignation triggered a race in the Liberal Party to choose his successor, with the winner becoming the country's next prime minister for the duration of the party's ruling term.

• Liberal Party members cast ballots in the ranked choice election until the winner was declared after a candidate garnered over 50% of the votes.
• Trudeau's successor will serve as prime minister until at least the election, which us due to take place by Oct. 20. However, Canadian Global Television Network notes the new PM could call for elections at anytime, even before Parliament resumes on March 24.

What's next: Carney is set to be sworn in as prime minister in the coming days.

Flashback: Carney helped guide Canada through the 2008-09 global financial crisis before going on to become the first non-British Bank of England governor in 2013, a position he held until 2020.

• In this role, he helped the Bank of England respond to Brexit turbulence after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union.

Thought bubble, via Axios' Felix Salmon: It's vanishingly rare for central bankers to enter electoral politics, but Carney's thumping win shows that in Canada, at least, there's a real desire for competence rather than rhetoric.

What we're watching: Carney's election could further reenergize the Liberals' base as they prepare to square off in the election against the Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, whom Liberals have sought to compare to Trump.

• If so, Canada could provide a blueprint for liberal parties looking to stave off the global populist surge that ushered Trump into office.

Go deeper: Trump turns Canadian politics upside down

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

U.S. Air Force fighter jets intercepted an aircraft that flew over President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in violation of a temporary flight restriction on Sunday, NORAD said.

The big picture: It was the second time in 48 hours F-16s from the Continental U.S. NORAD region had responded to such aircraft violations over Palm Beach, Fla., per a statement from the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

• "NORAD has responded to over 20 tracks of interest entering the Palm Beach, Florida TFR area" since Trump's presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, according to the statement.

Zoom in: The jets fired flares that may have been visible to members of the public during the intercept "to draw attention from or communicate with the pilot" of the civilian aircraft, NORAD said.

• Flares "burn out quickly and completely, and pose no danger to people on the ground," the statement added.
• Sunday's incident occurred while Trump was at his West Palm Beach golf course, according to a White House pool report.
• Representative for the White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.

Editor's note: This a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

Pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University alumnus Mahmoud Khalil was arrested Saturday by immigration authorities, his lawyer confirmed to Axios.

The big picture: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents told Khalil that his student visa had been revoked before his arrest.

• However, Khalil is a legal permanent resident and not in the U.S. on a student visa, attorney Amy Greer said in a statement.

• Greer told AP that an agent informed her in a phone call that they were executing an order from the State Department to revoke Khalil's student visa. Upon being informed he was a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were pulling his green card too.
• Greer said in a statement to Axios that Khalil's legal team was informed Sunday morning he had been transferred to an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. But when his pregnant wife, a U.S. citizen who was also threatened with arrest by ICE, went to visit him, she was told he was not there.

What they're saying: Columbia University said in a Sunday statement about reports of ICE on campus that law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter university buildings.

• ICE arrested Khalil at his university-owned apartment, Greer told AP.
• A State Department spokesperson told Axios that the department has broad authority to revoke visas but said they could not comment on individual cases.
• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) referred Axios to the White House when asked for comment. The White House did not respond to Axios' request.

A petition calling for Khalil's immediate release said he has been the target of "various zionist harassment campaigns" that serve to "instill fear in pro-Palestine activists as well as a warning to others."

• It had been signed by more than 450,000 people by 8:30pm Sunday ET.
• Khalil told AP before his arrest that the university accused him of misconduct weeks before his December 2024 graduation, adding that most of the allegations concerned social media posts he had "nothing to do with."
• Khalil became one of the most well-known student activists during the Columbia encampment and protest last spring, giving interviews and engaging in negotiations with the university about the protesters' demands.

Friction point: Khalil's detainment comes as the Trump administration has called for revoking student visas for foreign nationals it deems to be "Hamas sympathizers" — a process Axios reported would involve AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders' social media accounts.

• Columbia also remains in the crosshairs of the White House, which announced Friday it would yank some $400 million in federal grants and contracts from the university. The school became the epicenter of nationwide protests last spring over Israel's handling of the war in Gaza.
• The Trump Education Department cited alleged inaction in the face of "persistent harassment of Jewish students" in announcing it would slash funding, saying additional cancelations are expected to follow.
• Days before, President Trump threatened to halt federal funding for schools and universities that allow "illegal protests."

What we're watching: "We will vigorously be pursuing Mahmoud's rights in court, and will continue our efforts to right this terrible and inexcusable – and calculated – wrong committed against him," Greer said.

• His arrest follows what she described as the government's "open repression of student activism and political speech," targeting Columbia students protesting the Israel-Hamas war, in particular.
• "The U.S. government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech," she said.

Go deeper: ICE fears prompt foreign workers and students to keep visas close

Editor's note: This article has been updated with details of petition signatures.

Several Democrats echoed a leave-it-to-localities stance Sunday when asked their take on transgender athletes competing in girls' and women's sports.

The big picture: Sports participation has become a major flashpoint in the Trump administration's restrictions on the transgender community — one on which some Democrats, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), appear to be tilting right.

• In a conversation with right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk on Newsom's podcast, "This is Gavin Newsom," the California governor contended that trans athletes competing in girls' and women's sports was "deeply unfair."
• But Senate Democrats voted unanimously Monday to block a GOP bill that would have banned trans athletes from women's sports in schools.
• Arguing that trans sports participation should be a state- or local-level decision is an emerging Democratic strategy to counter Republican attacks on their support for trans rights, Axios' Stephen Neukam and Hans Nichols report.

Driving the news: Several Democrats, presented with Newsom's comments, said Sunday that rules of sports participation should be determined by local communities and leagues rather than by the federal government.

• "We want to make sure that these decisions are made by the communities ... by the schools and others that are the ones closest," Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) said on CNN's "State of the Union," adding, "We're talking about a handful ... of athletes around the country."
• Kim disputed the GOP's attempts to characterize transgender athletes participating in women's and girls' sports as an issue of safety, saying, "It's not about safety and security; it's about politics."

Zoom out: Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said that her state has a process by which transgender girls can obtain waivers to participate on girls' sports teams.

• That's only happened twice, she said.
• "So let the local communities, just like everything with school, handle that issue," she said on NBC News' "Meet the Press." She added that "this issue is being sort of brought up in order to make sparks and see sparks fly."

"I want all young people to have the experience of playing in sports," Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said on ABC's "This Week." "And I want those sports to be fair."

• He said he's confident that local schools and communities "can make those decisions without the federal government making them for them."

Yes, but: Most Democrats stopped short of directly criticizing Newsom or raising an issue with his argument.

• However, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said he was "perplexed" by Newsom's stance, noting a decade-old California law that allows trans kids to participate in sex-segregated school activities, like sports, based on their gender identity.
• "I believe that that law has worked in California, and I don't think there should be a federal ban, and we should have the state athletic associations ... set the standard so that you balance inclusion with fairness and safety," Khanna said.

LGBTQ+ rights and other advocacy groups were quick to strike back against Newsom's comments, with Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson writing in a statement, "When LGBTQ+ lives are under attack, real leaders don't hedge — they fight."

• Newsom is not the first Democrat to spark concerns from the LGBTQ+ community over his stance on trans athletes' sports participation — during the 2024 campaign cycle, some Dems earned rebuke from advocates over their weak defense of the community on the topic.

Catch up quick: Trump signed an executive order last month denying federal funds for schools that allow trans women or girls to compete in athletics based on their gender identity.

• The NCAA revised its participation policy shortly after to limit competition in women's sports to athletes assigned female at birth only.
• Trump's order on trans athletes was just one of several sweeping anti-trans actions the administration has taken since Jan. 20 — many of which were promises central to Trump's 2024 campaign.
• Those actions — such as orders defining "two sexes," threatening funding for youth gender-affirming care and moving to remove trans service members from the military — have sent shockwaves through an already vulnerable community.

Go deeper: "See you in court," Maine governor tells Trump after transgender athlete threats

The U.S. economy will experience a "period of transition" as new trade and other policies take effect, President Trump said Sunday, though he hesitated to predict a full-blown recession.

Why it matters: While the president may not be forecasting it, markets suggest a recession is at least more possible now than it was even a few weeks ago.

What they're saying: Trump was asked about recession risks in an interview with Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

• "I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big, we're bringing wealth back to America, that's a big thing," Trump said.
• "There are always periods of ... it takes a little time, it takes a little time, but I think it should be great for us, I mean I think it should be great."

Between the lines: As Axios' Neil Irwin writes, the administration appears to be shrugging off the specter of inflation or recession in pursuit of its long-term goals.

• That has, itself, emerged as the economy's biggest near-term risk.

The intrigue: The administration has delivered mixed messaging on whether there's been a recession, or if one is coming.

• In late February, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the private sector has already been in a recession, with government spending keeping the economy as a whole from tipping over.
• But on "Meet the Press" Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick argued against a pullback.
• "There's going to be no recession in America," Lutnick said, later adding "I would never bet on recession. No chance."

Corporate CEOs have "plenty of clarity" on U.S. tariff policy, despite all the on-off-on changes of recent weeks, President Trump said Sunday.

Why it matters: Markets are falling, consumer confidence is declining, and executives say the uncertainty about tariffs is freezing up their businesses.

What they're saying: Trump, in an interview with Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," was asked if CEOs will get clarity on tariffs in coming weeks, especially with an April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline looming.

• "You'll have a lot, but we may go up with some tariffs, it depends, we may go up — I don't think we'll go down, but we may go up," he said.
• "They have plenty of clarity, they just use that, that's like almost a soundbite, they always say that, 'we want clarity.'"

Catch up quick: Over the last five weeks Trump said he'd impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico, then paused them for a month, then put them into effect, then exempted cars, then exempted almost all other imports (but only until early April), then threatened new tariffs against Canada on dairy and lumber.

• He's also imposed new tariffs on China, launched tariff investigations into copper and lumber, and promised to go ahead this week with fresh levies on steel and aluminum.
• U.S. stocks have underperformed almost all the other large global markets during that time. (The administration has made clear, however, that stock market performance is not its primary focus.)

What to watch: What actually gets imposed, or not, in the coming weeks, and for how long.

• Trump, Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, and others have all insisted the April 2 reciprocal tariffs will be the most important — and lasting— ones yet.

Go deeper: How American CEOs are reacting to Trump tariffs

U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler said Sunday that while he understands Israel's concerns over direct talks with Hamas, the U.S. is "not an agent of Israel."

The big picture: Hours after Boehler met with a senior Hamas political official, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-hand man Ron Dermer condemned the U.S. making proposals without Israel's consent in an intense call last week, Axios' Barak Ravid scooped.

• Boehler assured that he was not close to a deal with Hamas after the meetings in Doha, which were largely centered around securing the release of American hostage Edan Alexander and the bodies of four deceased American hostages, sources told Axios.

Driving the news: But on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, Boehler described the conversations with Hamas as "very helpful," later saying he thinks "something could come together within weeks."

• He added, "I think there is a deal where they can get all of the prisoners out, not just the Americans."

Friction point: Boehler said he's "sympathetic" to top Israeli leaders' disapproval of his meetings, but he emphasized the U.S. is "not an agent of Israel" with "specific interests at play."

• Boehler said he wanted to ascertain the vision of a "realistic" end-game for Hamas during the talks.
• "The reality is what I wanted to do is jump start some negotiations that were in a very fragile place," he said.
• On "Fox News Sunday," Boehler emphasized that dialogue "does not mean giving things." He continued, "Dialogue ... means sitting -- hearing what someone wants and then identifying, does it fit with what we want or not and then how can you get somewhere in the middle and not have a war?"

Zoom out: The 42-day ceasefire that was part of the first phase of the Gaza deal expired just over a week ago after the parties could not agree on an extension.

• A day after the agreement ended, Israel announced it would halt all humanitarian aid and fuel deliveries into Gaza, where some 90% of the population has been displaced amid war.
• Hamas is still holding 59 hostages, 35 of whom the Israel Defense Forces have confirmed are dead.

What's next: White House envoy Steve Witkoff is now expected to travel to Doha Tuesday to push for a new hostage-release and ceasefire deal.

• The administration is advocating for a deal that would see all remaining hostages released, extend the ceasefire until after the holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover and possibly lead to a long-term truce, Axios previously reported.

Go deeper: Trump issues new ultimatum for Hamas to release Israeli hostages

President Trump believes it's worth risking pain to achieve his medium-term goal of rewiring the U.S. economy. He is attempting a form of economic shock therapy, while accepting there could be collateral damage.

Why it matters: That willingness to shrug off risks of inflation or recession is now rattling financial markets and confidence — and has itself emerged as the biggest near-term economic risk.

The administration has embraced that the economic disruption it envisions could be painful.

• That adds to the risk that if the economy starts to falter — and it hasn't so far, at least according to the high-level data — no cavalry will be coming from Washington to contain the damage.

The big picture: Trump is seeking to rapidly undo a global economic order that has been decades in the making. Americans enjoyed the fruits of cheap goods made around the world, at the cost of a diminished domestic manufacturing base.

• He envisions an economy with many fewer bureaucratic paper-pushers and much more factory work.
• He seeks to bring down the deficit while keeping taxes low — which only pencils out if there are major cuts to America's social welfare programs.

Coming "detox": "Could we be seeing this economy that we inherited starting to roll a bit? Sure," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

• "There's going to be a natural adjustment as we move away from public spending," Bessent added. "The market and the economy have just become hooked ... We've become addicted to this government spending and there's going to be a detox period."

Context: The mainstream view among Wall Street economists and Fed officials is that Trump inherited an economy that was in basically sound shape.

• The unemployment rate was low (4% in January). Inflation was far below its recent highs (2.5% for the 12 months ended January).

The Trump team rejects that view completely, arguing that Biden handed over an economy so terrible that it demands a wholesale rebuild. "Biden left him a pile of poop," as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick put it on Bloomberg TV last week.

• Trump, in this view, inherited an economy in which a seemingly healthy job market is, in fact, illusory.
• It's true that the federal government has been running budget deficits that are higher — 6 to 7% of GDP — than ever before seen outside of wars or economic crises.
• And job growth in recent months has indeed been fueled by hiring in state government employment and health care. The private sector has been in "recession," Bessent has argued.

State of play: Administration officials are increasingly acknowledging the potential costs of the adjustment.

• If trade wars mean U.S. farmers get shut out of foreign markets they've spent decades building, well, there "may be a little bit of an adjustment period" as Trump said this in this week's Congressional address.
• What if the stock market drops, hitting Americans' retirement accounts? "I'm not even looking at the market, because long term the United States will be very strong," Trump said this week.

Reality check: Economic change is often painful; just ask the U.S. manufacturing workers who lost their livelihoods amid the China shock of the early 2000s. Trump wants to make changes to the fabric of the global economy at hyperspeed — which comes with political peril.

• Americans really like cheap stuff (though Bessent says that's not the American Dream). Witness the outpour of anger at the inflation and shortages that erupted in the aftermath of the pandemic.
• It will likely take time for laid off government workers to find their way into new work in growing sector, during which time they are on the jobless rolls.

The bottom line: Americans who voted for Trump seeking a return to the low-inflation, steady-eddy conditions the prevailed in 2019 may be in for a rude awakening.

• But the president and his advisers believe they have a mandate for big-time change, whatever the costs.

One of the biggest forces that contributed to President Trump's defeat in 2020 also helped propel him to the White House in 2024.

Why it matters: The pandemic pushed voters — from young men to suburban parents — to the right, fueling Trump's decisive victory and raising questions about Democrats' ability to hold onto once-reliable blocs.

Catch up quick: Covid was a top issue in 2020 exit polls, with 52% of voters saying controlling the virus itself was more important than rebuilding the post-pandemic economy.

• That mindset shifted over the next four years, as closed schools, inflation and isolation frustrated voters — and changed many of their votes.

"Younger voters are in the process of understanding who they are and what their values are, and that was disproportionately shaped by Covid," says John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. "It intensified economic anxiety and created this survivalist mindset."

• "Democrats helped create this vacuum, which was filled by Trump and Trump-aligned podcasters and influencers."

Case in point: In 2020, voters under 30 broke for Joe Biden by 24 points, but in 2020, Kamala Harris only won the youth vote by 4 points, The Atlantic reports.

And many parents in deep blue cities and towns flipped their politics after seeing the effect of school closures and Covid isolation on their kids.

• When schools shut down, "I was always deeply concerned that the tradeoff for children would be grave," says Natalya Murakhver, a Manhattan mom, who organized the parent-led lawsuit to fully reopen New York City schools. "You cannot stop growing up, and growing up entails the social relationships that can only be had in a physical space."
• Murakhver says she voted for Democrats her entire adult life, including for President Biden in 2020, but cast her ballot for Trump in 2024. For her, the turning point was when the Biden administration started walking back its pledge to reopen schools within its first 100 days.

Zoom out: Some experts saw this coming. Pandemics corrode citizens' faith in government — especially, and not surprisingly, among impressionable young people.

• Those who experience these events from the ages of 18 to 25 are more likely to develop a lasting lack of trust in political institutions and leaders, according to a study from the Systemic Risk Center at the London School of Economics.
• "You can think of epidemics as somewhat of a stress test for governments. Leaders have to respond fast and with the right policies," says Orkun Saka, the study's author. "There is almost no way to get it completely right. When you get it especially wrong, there is a deep scar in the eyes of the young generation."

The bottom line: Five years on, pandemic-era policies have ended, but the economic pain and divisions triggered by Covid linger and continue to influence politics.

• "I'm still a registered Democrat," Murakhver says. "But I feel party-less, which probably is a healthy place to be."

Gen Z workers are approaching generative AI with a mix of caution and optimism.

Why it matters: Today's young workers are starting their careers during a massive technological revolution.

The big picture: Employers and HR pros say they're willing to take chances on otherwise less qualified candidates if they have AI experience, Christine Cruzvergara, chief education strategy officer at entry-level job platform Handshake, tells Axios.

• Gen Z "is likely to be the generation that is going to help teach the rest of the workforce GenAI," Cruzvergara adds. "They're more comfortable with it, they don't mind experimenting with it."
• The share of job descriptions on Handshake mentioning generative AI more than tripled from 2023 to 2024 — but still represented fewer than 1% of listings in April 2024.

Case in point: Avalon Fenster, 23, taught herself how to use AI in her personal and professional life — then wound up showing her older coworkers the lay of the land during internships.

• Fenster now runs a platform called Internship Girl, which uses AI to help provide career resources to about 350,000 young women from more than 100 countries.
• She promotes AI to level the professional playing field, especially for first-generation college students or non-native English speakers.

Threat level: Fenster, now a law student, is concerned about AI's impact on critical thinking skills, and wants companies and schools to provide AI literacy training.

• "Even as a young person who is native to these tools, even as someone who advocates for them, I do have concerns over the way that it impacts our ability to think independently, formulate ideas, communicate ideas," she says.

AI's environmental toll is a turnoff for other young people.

• "I personally took a stand to not use AI because of the climate impact," says Katya Danziger, a 25-year-old computer science student and research assistant at Parsons, who stopped using AI chatbots about six months ago.
• Each time you ask ChatGPT a question Axios' Scott Rosenberg reports, you're using much more energy than you would for a Google query.

Career impact is also a Gen Z concern.

• In a recent Pew survey, 35% of U.S. workers between 18 and 29 said they think AI will lead to fewer job opportunities.

Yes, but: "Sometimes having a little bit of nervousness around the fact that it might impact your career is not a bad thing," Cruzvergara says.

• "It keeps you on your toes a little bit, and makes it so that you're ready and nimble."

Go deeper: AI jobs on the rise, new LinkedIn report finds

Five years after COVID shook the world, doctors and other health providers continue to suffer from burnout that the pandemic highlighted and exacerbated.

Why it matters: Provider burnout — an ongoing state of significant stress — takes a toll on patients, too.

• A pre-COVID study found burnout costs the health system about $4.6 billion a year due to physicians leaving the field or cutting back on hours. Another study linked doctor burnout with a doubled risk for patient safety issues.

The big picture: There's been significant progress to reduce the stigma around doctors seeking mental health treatment since the pandemic, but physicians say systemic change to payment and administrative workloads are needed to really improve their wellbeing.

• "We need to address the root causes of the problem, all the failures in our health care system right now that are causing challenges for physicians," American Medical Association President Bruce Scott told Axios.

Where it stands: Nearly half of physicians (48%) say they feel burned out, according to the AMA's most recent poll, published in July. Women physicians face higher levels of burnout and risk of suicide than their male counterparts.

• The overall burnout rate is down from 2021's high of 63%, when the Delta coronavirus variant raged.
• Still, "the fact that one in two physicians in America are showing signs of burnout is an unacceptable number," Scott told Axios.
• Burnout among nurses and other health providers also worsened during the pandemic.

Flashback: Providers' poor mental health and burnout has been a problem for years. The pandemic supercharged it, as doctors, nurses and other medical providers worked long hours with less equipment and often in isolation to save the first COVID-19 patients.

• Health providers were lauded as heroes at the start of the pandemic, and some even reported improved wellbeing at work, citing more time spent with patients and less spent on paperwork.
• But that didn't last. "Five minutes later, it felt like those same workers were being questioned about the science, getting spit on, threatened," said Corey Feist, CEO of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation.
• Feist started the advocacy group in memory of his sister-in-law, an emergency room physician who took her own life in 2020.

State of play: There's growing awareness of the stresses on health providers.

• More than half of states and hundreds of individual hospitals have now changed their licensure requirements to remove questions that ask whether a doctor has received mental health treatment or diagnoses. Those questions have historically deterred doctors from seeking needed help.
• The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation coordinates learning collaboratives for hospitals and medical groups to work together on implementing operational changes that support provider wellbeing.
• Congress also passed a law in 2022 that opened federal grants for training health providers on strategies to reduce and prevent burnout and other issues. The funding authorizations expired last year, but lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill to extend them.

Yes, but: Real improvement requires tackling structural issues, like decreasing Medicare payment rates that make it harder to operate a practice and rising administrative burden associated with insurance claims, doctors and experts say.

Zoom in: The primary driver of health care provider burnout is too much work for too few people, said Srijan Sen, a psychiatrist who researches physician well-being at the University of Michigan.

• "Increasing the number of people working, and, even more long term, helping people stay healthier, so less people need health care — those sorts of things will be a big part of the solution," he said.

What to watch: Scores of health tech companies now advertise tools, often driven by artificial intelligence, aimed at cutting down provider workload by automating administrative tasks.

• It's not yet clear if they'll deliver, Sen said. The electronic health record once promised to make a physician's job easier, and research now shows it has directly contributed to increased burnout.
• Despite the stressors and predicted workforce shortages, health care still is projected to add the most jobs in the U.S. of any sector over the next decade, and medical schools are seeing more interest than ever.
• Today's students are more attuned to their mental health than in the past, and they're asking what can be done to make the field one they want to continue working in, said Kelly Holder, chief well-being officer at Brown University's medical school.

White House envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Doha on Tuesday evening in an effort to broker a new hostage-release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, two U.S. officials said.

Why it matters: The talks would be the first since President Trump took office and since the original agreement between Israel and Hamas that established a 42-day ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of 33 hostages in its first phase, which ended one week ago.

• Witkoff is expected to join Qatari and Egyptian mediators and negotiators from Israel and Hamas who will begin talks on Monday.
• The Trump administration is pushing for a deal that would lead to the release of all remaining hostages, extend the ceasefire until after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover and possibly lead to a long-term truce that would end the war.
• Hamas is still holding 59 hostages in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces have confirmed 35 are dead. Israeli intelligence believes 22 are still alive and the status of two others is unknown.
• Among the remaining hostages are five Americans, including 21-year-old Edan Alexander who is believed to be alive.

Driving the news: Axios reported earlier this week that Trump's envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler has been holding direct talks with Hamas officials. Their last meeting took place last Tuesday.

• During the talks, Boehler discussed the possible release of Alexander and the remains of four other American hostages as a way to launch a broader deal on the release of all remaining hostages and a long term truce.

State of play: Witkoff is expected to travel to Doha after participating in a meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

• It is unclear if he is going to meet with Hamas officials or only with Israeli negotiators and Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
• A senior Israeli official said Witkoff wanted to get all the parties in one place for several days of intense negotiations in an effort to reach a deal.

A Hamas delegation held talks in Cairo on Saturday with the director of the Egyptian intelligence service about the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal.

• Hamas said in a statement it urges all parties to implement their commitment to the original deal and begin negotiations over its second phase immediately. Israel has so far refused to seriously discuss the second phase of the deal.
• Hamas also said it stressed to the Egyptian officials that it is ready to form a committee of "national independent personalities" to govern Gaza until elections are held. Such a step would mean Hamas would give up its control over the civilian governance in Gaza.

What to watch: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting with a group of senior ministers and the heads of the security services on Saturday to discuss the next steps in the Gaza deal.

• "Israel has accepted the invitation of the mediators backed by the U.S., and will send a delegation to Doha on Monday in an effort to advance the negotiations," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement at the end of the meeting.

Some Trump administration officials citing health concerns are looking to remove "junk food" from a federal food assistance program serving more than 41 million Americans.

The big picture: A ban on any foods in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could be particularly paramount for recipients living in food deserts who don't have access to nutritious foods nearby.

• A ban would require action through Congress.
• Late last month, House Republicans voted to pass a budget resolution that sets the stage for $230 billion or more in cuts to agriculture programs, with a large chunk expected to come from SNAP.

State of play: The Food and Nutrition Act defines food for SNAP purposes as any food or food product for home consumption, with some limited exceptions like alcoholic beverages or hot foods for immediate consumption.

• In order to narrow that definition, either Congress would need to change the law or a state would need to propose and get approval for a demonstration project to test that, Katie Bergh, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told Axios.
• "This is something that we've seen a handful of states request in the past, where they essentially are asking the Department of Agriculture to approve a request to restrict the foods that SNAP participants within their state can purchase in some form," she said.
• But no such requests has ever been approved under either Republican or Democratic presidents, including under the first Trump administration.

Catch up quick: Newly-confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have indicated they're in favor of removing sugary drinks and processed foods from SNAP.

• "The one place that I would say that we need to really change policy is the SNAP program and food stamps and in school lunches," Kennedy said on Fox News last month. "There, the federal government in many cases is paying for it. And we shouldn't be subsidizing people to eat poison."
• Rollins echoed the sentiment, telling reporters at the White House, "When a taxpayer is putting money into SNAP, are they OK with us using their tax dollars to feed really bad food and sugary drinks to children who perhaps need something more nutritious?"

By the numbers: More than 41 million people in the U.S. received SNAP benefits in 2024.

• The average SNAP benefit per person in fiscal year 2025 is $6.16 per day, according to estimates from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Zoom in: There are a number of risks with the proposal to cut foods from SNAP, including logistical and cost concerns, access in food desserts, equity issues and questions over how to measure success and behavioral changes among consumers.

• Anything that increases administrative burden affects other parts of the program at the state level, Gina Plata-Nino, SNAP Deputy Director at the Food Research & Action Center, told Axios.

Case in point: There would be a large impact on retailers. Those that are not large scale like Walmart, with resources to change markings on SNAP-approved foods, could decide not to operate the program at their stores at all.

• Deciding which foods to cut also presents questions on how to define and measure junk foods, Plata-Nino said, questioning whether it'll be through sodium or sugar content.
• Orange juice, for example, has a lot of sugar but is important for diabetics having medical issues, she noted. Cheese has a higher content of sodium than some chips, and milk has a higher fat content than other drinks.
• "Are we going to ban milk and cheese?" she questioned.

Food deserts are areas where residents have limited access to affordable and healthy food, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables.

• In such areas, individuals may be driving two hours each way to a grocery store and so they're unable to go as often, Gina Plata-Nino said.
• Because fresh produce doesn't last a month until they're able to go again, people there may buy food in bulk, processed items that last longer or opt for frozen options — foods that could potentially be cut under the proposal.

Between the lines: The diets of Americans across income levels are falling short of what experts recommend.

• Bergh said aside from feasibility and cost concerns, the premise of the junk food cutting effort is "fundamentally misguided."
• "Contrary to some of the claims that proponents of these efforts have been making, there's actually pretty extensive research linking SNAP participation to better health outcomes and lower medical costs," Bergh said, noting limited data on what SNAP participants buy.

What she's saying: The data available shows there's no meaningful difference in the types of foods people are purchasing with SNAP versus other payment methods.

• "So it's pretty troubling that the solutions being proposed here are ones that really only single out the lowest income Americans in a way that's really stigmatizing and burdensome for them," Bergh said.
• "Just as a basic principle, everyone should have the same ability to choose the foods that best meet their needs regardless of how I'm paying at the checkout line."

Go deeper: America's food aid gap, mapped

Tennessee was a crucial battleground in the early civil rights movement, influencing the late John Lewis' fight against Jim Crow before he helped lead the march in Selma.

Why it matters: Decades later, Tennessee is again at the center of a civil rights fight. Organizers and lawmakers warn that Tennessee is becoming a "testing ground for voter suppression" and that policies there could spread across the country.

Driving the news: Three Black women — state Sen. Charlane Oliver, Stand Up Nashville's Odessa Kelly and The Equity Alliance's Tequila Johnson — are helping lead the fight in Tennessee. They spoke with Axios before the 60th anniversary of the Selma march, a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

This year, there is a looming fear of a rollback on voting and civil rights. Civil rights leaders say the march should act as a renewed call to action.

Flashback: Before becoming a civil rights icon, Lewis trained in Nashville, where early sit-ins shaped his philosophy of nonviolent resistance.

• That foundation carried him through Selma and, ultimately, to Atlanta, where he spent decades fighting for voting rights in Congress.

"Tennessee is where John Lewis cut his teeth," Oliver said. "And now we're watching it become a testing ground for voter suppression."

The big picture: Oliver says that since the Supreme Court's 2013 Shelby County v. Holder ruling weakened the Voting Rights Act, Tennessee has seen a surge in restrictive voting laws.

• Laws like Tennessee's strict voter ID requirements, bans on college student IDs for voting, and polling place reductions in growing Black communities reflect a broader strategy to limit ballot access.
• The state ranks among the lowest in voter turnout and has some of the strictest disenfranchisement laws for formerly incarcerated individuals.
• Tennessee is the only state that requires child support payments before restoring voting rights. Oliver says she considers that a modern-day poll tax.

What they're saying: Johnson sees history repeating. She says these modern measures reflect Black voters' obstacles when trying to vote — counting bubbles in soap, guessing how many jellybeans are in a jar, or reciting the Constitution from memory.

State of play: The Trump administration's work to unravel successful diversity efforts adds gasoline to the fire, Johnson says.

• "This moment feels both familiar and unfamiliar," Oliver said. "The threats we face today are even more dire because of who is in the White House."
• "When John Lewis marched in Selma, they could at least pressure the administration to act. Now, we have leaders trying to take us back — not just pre-Civil Rights Movement, but to an era where Jim Crow was law."

Kelly shares that frustration.

• "I'm enraged," she said. "My parents were born in the '40s during Jim Crow, and to see the civil rights bill being torn apart bit by bit, it's heartbreaking. We have to rethink how we build and protect the community."
• "The policies that alarm people nationally? They were tested in Tennessee first," Kelly said. "We're seeing voter suppression laws, attacks on public education and corporate influence shaping policy in ways that harm marginalized communities."

Zoom out: The Supreme Court's weakening of voter protections makes it tougher to challenge suppression laws.

• "These laws aren't just happening in a vacuum," National Urban League president Marc Morial said. "Since Shelby, we've seen a flood of voter suppression bills designed to make it harder for people to vote."

Zoom in: Morial says the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is "essential to restoring the protections we lost and ensuring every American has the right to vote without obstruction."

The bottom line: Civil rights leaders say a new fight is beginning.

• "We are not backing down," Morial said. "We will challenge these policies in the courts, at the ballot box, and in the streets."
• "We can't wait until laws pass to fight back. We must anticipate these attacks and organize now," Johnson said.

Oliver agrees: "John Lewis showed us the way. Now it's on us to keep marching."

All week the crypto world was abuzz about who was and who wasn't going to be at the first Digital Asset Summit at the White House on Friday.

• Crypto and AI czar David Sacks and President Trump dropped their biggest announcement the night before, unveiling the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve by executive order, positioning bitcoin alongside classic reserves like gold.

Why it matters: Trump has vowed to be America's "first crypto president" and pledged to make the U.S. the "crypto capital."

• The executive order acknowledges bitcoin's "fixed supply" and maintains "there is a strategic advantage to being among the first nations to create a strategic bitcoin reserve."

By the numbers: Bitcoin began the week midway between $80,000 and $90,000, and for all the drama, that's where it ended too.

Zoom in: A still-unknown number of leaders in the crypto industry spent half the day at the White House Friday, followed by a reception hosted by Coinbase, the leading U.S. crypto exchange.

• During the public portion of the summit, the main thing attendees did was thank the president.

What they're saying: "The U.S. won the internet, and the U.S. should win crypto. So thank you for your leadership on this," Tyler Winklevoss, a co-founder of the crypto exchange Gemini, said at the summit.

• The president told his guests at the end of the meeting: "This is a very important day in your lives. I know you worked some of you very long, long before people really understood what was happening. And so I congratulate you.
• "Being in the White House is a big deal."

The bottom line: As the summit ended, the administration took a material step to roll back what's been referred to as Operation Chokepoint 2.0, with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ending the requirement that its banks seek permission to engage in common crypto activities.