Category: Business

• Trump's plans for a universal tariff on all US imports could set off a global trade war, a Peterson Institute fellow said.
• Such a conflict erupted the last time the US applied blanket protectionism in the 1930s.
• Others have warned that a trade war with China could be coming regardless, no matter who is president.

Donald Trump says his trade policy would be a way to protect the US from exploitation. 

Yet, by applying a base tariff on virtually all foreign goods, he's starting a "war against trade itself," Alan Wm. Wolff wrote for the Peterson Institute for International Economics. 

The Republican candidate has made tariffs a cornerstone of his prospective trade policy, proposing a universal 10% duty on all imports heading into the US. As for Chinese goods, Trump has touted tariffs as high as 60%.

Still, before the US embraces this level of protectionism, it might be better to dust off some history, the left-leaning think tank said — blanket tariffs aren't an entirely untested phenomenon.

Something similar to this last happened at the onset of the Great Depression, when struggling US farmers asked that foreign imports be taxed. 

That spawned the 1930 Tariff Act, but the legislation was far more ambitious than first conceived. Aside from just agriculture, a wide swath of industries notched new protections, and import tariffs rose an average 47%.

World economies fired back almost immediately. Even before the bill went into effect, about a dozen countries retaliated with their own restrictions. Great Britain followed a year on, imposing tariffs of up to 50%, Wolff said.

"Economists agree that high tariffs broadened and deepened the Great Depression, when US unemployment reached 25 percent and we nearly lost our democracy," the distinguished visiting fellow wrote.

Today, the US tariff averages 3%, a safe distance away from the extremes nearly a century ago. But if Trump wins back the presidency, his experiments with blanket protectionism could change this.

On its own, that might not mean much to consumers, who are likely growing desensitized high tariff talk and warnings about trade standoffs, he added, but if tariffs do jump sharply, there will be real consequences for the public.

According to separate research from the Peterson Institute, Trump's proposed taxes could cost consumers 2% of US GDP, totalling $500 billion a year. By another estimate, households would pay an extra $1,500 per year from these tariffs.

And other academics, such as Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, have warned of inflationary implications.

Meanwhile, trade war warnings aren't limited to just Wolff. However, other experts have noted that such conflicts could be in store, irrelevant of who is president. 

That at least seems likely between the US and China, after the country's advanced manufacturing was significantly sped up. Although higher production was meant to help stimulate China's economy, Beijing is now sitting with a glut of products it needed to unload. 

"They need to get that export engine up," China Beige Book CEO Leland Miller said in March. "That's going to cause a lot of problems globally, politically. That's why I think we're going to be entering into a trade war next year."

In fact, the US appears to already be responding, after President Biden announced a spree of tariffs on China's tech exports earlier this month. 

But while Biden's fresh restrictions may seem high, Waller noted that they're still not comparable to Trump's proposal. 

For instance, the new 50% tariffs on Chinese semiconductors may seem extreme, but they target a trade that's just below $1 billion a year, he said. Compared to that, the US imports six times that amount each month.

"Unlike the Biden tariffs, the Trump plan is for increased tariffs on all products from all countries. It is not just America First; it is America Alone," Wolff wrote. 

• A millennial couple won the New York City affordable-housing lottery after applying about 25 times.
• Brynne McManimie, 35, and Peter Romano, 34, now live in a $2,800-a-month apartment in Brooklyn.
• "It was unusually fast. I don't think that's the case for most people, but we got very lucky," McManimie told BI.

In 2021, Brynne McManimie and Peter Romano lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Due to the pandemic, they had gotten a good deal on their lease and paid $2,600 in rent each month. But that didn't last long.

"After a year, our landlord raised our rent by like 25% and it made us very nervous about staying in that apartment," McManimie, an actor and teacher, told Business Insider. Their new rent was $3,300 a month.

"That's when we were like, 'OK, let's just try the housing lottery,'" McManimie added.

For Romano, a New Yorker, and McManimie, a West Coast transplant who has been living in New York for 13 years, the affordable-housing lottery was one of those things they had always heard about.

"It's one of those things that was always talked about in our circle of friends because, as artists, there's also artist housing in New York and we know many people who have lived in those," McManimie said.

The decision to apply for the affordable-housing lottery was also sparked by their desire not to give up some of the perks they were already used to in Greenpoint — such as having a washer and dryer in their unit.

"A lot of these new buildings with the housing lottery are nice and have a lot of good amenities, but they're a lot more affordable and in our price range," McManimie said. "So that prompted us to go for it."

A pipe dream for most

The affordable-housing lotteries are run by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, or HPD, and the Housing Development Corporation.

Although applying is free, each household must meet specific income requirements to qualify for a lottery apartment. These vary across developments depending on unit size and location.

But winning the housing lottery is a pipe dream for most applicants: In 2018, The New York Times reported that the odds of winning were 1 in 592.

But luck was on the couple's side.

"This actually happened very fast for us," McManimie, 35, said. "I think we applied to this building in April 2023. We were contacted in May to submit documents but didn't hear from them until September."

By early October, they had already signed the lease and moved in.

"It was unusually fast. I don't think that's the case for most people, but we got very lucky," McManimie said, adding that they had applied to about 25 different buildings.

$2,800 a month

The couple's one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in Clinton Hill came with a balcony. It's a corner unit, so they have neighbors on only one side.

According to the latest May data from RentHop.com, the median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Clinton Hill is $3,750.

"It's definitely smaller than our old apartment," McManimie said. "The kitchen and the living room are all one big room, but everything is brand new. We're the first people to live in this unit."

It also had all the amenities they wanted: a dishwasher, a washer-dryer, central AC, and heating.

The couple signed a two-year lease on the apartment and now pay $2,800 monthly rent.

"Since it's rent-stabilized, they can't raise it like a ton," Romano, an actor and professor, told BI. "Which is honestly really attractive to us, given what happened with our last landlord."

Every year, the Rent Guidelines Board decides the percentages by which landlords can legally increase rents for rent-stabilized apartments. In 2023, the board voted to raise rents on one-year leases by 3%, and on two-year leases by 2.75% for the first year and 3.2% for the second year, per The New York Times.

The day they moved in, it felt like a weight off their shoulders.

"I felt relieved, honestly," Romano, 34, added. "Our financial situation — with this rent amount — was going to feel very good. And I remember when we sat down on the couch after the day, it was like, 'Okay, I can breathe a little bit.'"

McManimie felt the same.

"I was a little nervous about downsizing even more. But after a couple of days, I didn't really notice," McManimie said. "Our building has a rooftop deck; we have a lounge upstairs to work in with a beautiful view of the city. We have a gym and a giant lobby."

Although the apartment is small — about 550 square feet — it still feels like they have a lot of space, she added.

A work in progress

Design-wise, the couple's apartment is bright and colorful with midcentury influences.

McManimie is behind the decor, while Romano is the one who's responsible for building their furniture.

"Since our space is so small, we looked for furniture with storage. Our coffee table, one of our stools, and our bed has additional storage," McManimie said. "We also store things under our couch and above our cabinets."

Other furniture pieces are from a vacation home they previously owned in Poconos with McManimie's father.

"We sold it before we even applied for this apartment since it made us a little ineligible for a while," Romano said. Those applying for rental units through the housing lottery aren't allowed to own residential property in or within 100 miles of New York City limits.

Although they were sad to see it go, it's been nice not to have to manage a property, McManimie added: "I think people don't always realize how hard it is to be a homeowner."

Even now, they aren't done decorating their apartment.

"Our bedroom is definitely still a work in progress," McManimie said, adding that she's looking for an antique mirror for the space. She also shared that she has an antique desk in storage that she's planning to use as a vanity.

A 'life-changing' opportunity

Their biggest tip for anyone who wants to apply for the housing lottery is to have all the financial paperwork on hand during the application process.

"Your tax returns, your pay stubs — they asked for all of that information in quite a quick amount of time to turn around," Romano said.

There's also no point in applying for apartments that fall outside your income range since "they're going to weed you out immediately," McManimie said.

Applying for the housing lottery requires a lot of paperwork and many people end up unsuccessful in their bids, but it's still worth a shot, she added.

"If you're unhappy with your situation or your rent is too high, you might as well try," McManimie said. "You have to decide what your priorities are."

Ultimately, the apartment situation worked ouy well for them, she added.

"We're really happy and very thankful that New York City has an affordable housing lottery. It's definitely been life-changing," she said.

Have you recently built or renovated your dream home? If you have a story to share, get in touch with me at agoh@businessinsider.com.

• Boeing has been involved in a string of high-profile safety incidents over the last six months.
• One mechanic told The Guardian that the firm's largest factory is now in "panic mode."
• They also accused managers of trying to keep staff quiet about safety concerns.

Managers at Boeing's largest factory in Everett, Washington, "will hound mechanics" to keep quiet about safety and quality assurance concerns, a mechanic who has worked for the company for more than three decades told The Guardian.

Boeing's Everett site, one of the world's largest manufacturing buildings, produces the 747, 767, 777, and 787 airplanes.

The factory is also responsible for fixing the 787 Dreamliner, and the unnamed mechanic told the Guardian that it was "full of" faulty 787 jets waiting to be mended.

Many of the planes arriving at Everett come from Boeing's 787 Dreamliner Final Assembly building in South Carolina, which it opened in 2011.

The mechanic added that people at the Everett site were "in panic mode," saying that Boeing managers "finally figured out that they got more people that have no idea what's going on, than people that do."

The Guardian reported that Boeing "did not comment on claims that staff have been pressured not to raise concerns about quality" but said that work on the 787s at the Everett factory was part of an "established verification program."

Business Insider has contacted Boeing for comment.

The aerospace manufacturer has faced increased scrutiny following a string of safety issues over the last six months, beginning with the Alaska Airlines blowout in January, which led to the grounding of 171 Max 9 planes in the US.

In April, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) opened an investigation into claims made by a Boeing quality engineer who alleged that he had observed the company start taking "shortcuts" while working on the 787 in late 2020.

Sam Salehpour said he believed the company had failed to adequately shim — or fill tiny gaps with a thin piece of material — parts affecting more than 1,000 787s in service, which was "likely to cause premature fatigue failure over time in two major airplane joints."

He said that the shortcuts had been taken to "reduce bottlenecks in production and speed up production and delivery of 787s."

Boeing has pushed back at the claims on its website, saying that it has full confidence in the 787 Dreamliner due to the "comprehensive work done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft."

"Claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate," it adds.

But the FAA ordered another investigation into the manufacturer in May after the company said it may not have properly inspected its 787 Dreamliner planes.

"The FAA is investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records," the agency said in a statement.

It added that Boeing was re-inspecting all 787 jets in production.

Following the Alaska blowout incident, the FAA ordered Boeing to produce an action plan to address its safety issues.

The FAA said this week that it was continuing "to hold Boeing accountable" after it conducted a review of that plan.

FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker said: "This does not mark the end of our increased oversight of Boeing and its suppliers, but it sets a new standard of how Boeing does business."

Boeing's issues have also seen it hit with criticism from one of its biggest customers, Emirates CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

He told the planemaker to "get your act together" in an interview with CNBC in May.

• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories. Pet owners spent an estimated $3.9 billion on pet insurance in 2023. You'll want to read this before buying it for Kitty and Flopsy.

On the agenda:

• Amazon wants to crack Nvidia's AI chip dominance. It's not going well.
• Seven Wall Street heavyweights reveal the single best trades of their careers.
• A bizarre government rule is preventing young men from getting a job.
• Denmark made homebuying easier. America should follow its lead.

But first: Searching for answers at Google.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

Searching for answers

Hundreds of millions of people turn to Google each day to get their questions answered.

How Google finds, categorizes, and ranks that information is constantly evolving. An entire industry has developed to help those who want to show up on the first page of search results.

In the past, some users might have noticed subtle changes from time to time: a result seems better tailored to their needs, or is delivered that little bit quicker. For most, these tweaks might pass them by.

Not anymore.

From the sharp shift towards showcasing Reddit and similar platforms to the bumpy rollout out of the generative search experience, Google is transforming itself before our eyes.

Those who rely on Google for referrals are freaking out. There have been embarrassing edge cases (no, you shouldn't put glue in your pizza). There will be lessons learned and updates implemented.

What's clear: Google's efforts to disrupt itself are already having a profound impact on the information ecosystem. We're all in on the ride.

Amazon's chip ambitions

Amazon is struggling to compete with Nvidia's dominance over AI chips — and it's another sign of how far behind it is in the generative-AI race.

Low usage, "compatibility gaps," and project-migration issues are putting millions of dollars in cloud revenue at risk, according to confidential internal documents and people familiar with the situation.

More on that here.

Also read:

• A single customer made up 19% of Nvidia's revenue last year. UBS thinks it's Microsoft.

The best investments ever

BI asked seven heavyweight investors, including Rob Arnott and Bob Elliott, to identify the best trades of their careers.

Each shared the top investments they've made, and explained how the lessons from those decisions still apply today.

See their best-ever trades.

America's ridiculous hiring hurdle

Fewer American men than ever are working right now, and unemployment insurance may be at least partially to blame.

The way firings are handled might affect whether guys get hired in the first place. If you are going to get taxed for employees that get laid off, you're going to be a lot more hesitant about hiring.

Why employers are reluctant to hire young men.

A better way to sell homes

Fixed-rate mortgages guarantee homeowners will pay the same amount each month for decades. But when mortgage rates shoot up, they can also prevent homeowners from selling.

In Denmark, sellers are able to earn a profit when they trade in their low mortgage rates for more expensive ones, making it easier to move even when rates rise. This helps keep the housing market from locking up — and is something America can learn from.

Inside Denmark's genius housing fix.

This week's quote:

"We're not writing a blank check."

Andrea Mac, a business owner who made $550,000 last year, on why she and her husband decided not to pay their daughter's college tuition.

More of this week's top reads:

• First came cellphones, then came smartphones. Now, "IntelliPhones" are coming.
• Laid-off TikTokers reflect on the "abrupt end to a very chaotic ride."
• Here's how much hedge funds and prop-trading firms pay AI workers.
• Google announced a smartwatch for kids — and it looks pretty good.
• Fisker cuts deeper with a new wave of summer layoffs.
• Loyalty at work no longer pays — and it's employers who are to blame.
• Early retirees share three IRS rules they've used to avoid taxes.

• Vivek Ramaswamy has a plan for BuzzFeed. There's just one problem.

  ---

  The Insider Today team: Matt Turner, deputy editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.

• North Korea floated another 720 trash-filled balloons into South Korea, local reports said.
• Pyongyang says it is retaliation for activists sending anti-North Korean leaflets across the border.
•  Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called the balloons "sincere presents."

North Korea launched another 720 balloons across its border with South Korea Saturday night, carrying plastic bags full of cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, and waste paper.

Pyongyang says it was retaliation for activists sending anti-North Korean leaflets and USB drives containing K-pop music across the border.

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said 720 balloons carrying trash were floated into the country, while Reuters quoted a figure of 600.

Since last Tuesday, North Korea has sent up between 850 and almost 1,000 balloons across the demilitarized zone, spreading trash in the capital Seoul and other parts of the country.

The trash balloons adds to a recent series of provocative steps by North Korea, including its failed spy satellite launch on Monday and a barrage of short-range missile launches on Thursday seen as an attempt to demonstrate the country's ability to preemptively strike its neighbor.

The South Korean military advised citizens not to touch the balloons, warning of possible danger, said the Yonhap News Agency.

The government in Seoul sent text alerts informing the public that unidentified objects from North Korea had been detected in the skies above the city and that the military was responding to them, per the Associated Press.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Sunday denounced North Korea's launch of trash balloons as a "depraved provocation," adding that such actions were "unacceptable to the international community," said the Yonhap News Agency.

"The government will deal with them calmly, focusing on securing national safety," Han said.

Sung Tae-yoon, director of national policy in the presidential office, said, "North Korea's ballistic missile provocations, GPS jamming, and trash balloons harm our people and threaten our security."

South Korea's military deployed chemical rapid response and explosive clearance teams to recover debris from approximately 260 North Korean balloons discovered across the country on Tuesday night.

According to the military, this first barrage of balloons contained manure but no hazardous substances such as chemical, biological, or radioactive materials.

South Korea's defense ministry confirmed the presence of fertilizer to NBC News, not human excrement, which earlier reports had speculated — though the outlet said human feces were sent by North Korea in 2016.

Some of the balloons were equipped with timers, suggesting that they were intended to release the trash in midair, AP reported.

In a statement on Wednesday, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called the balloons "sincere presents" for South Korean "goblins of democracy who are crying for the guarantee of freedom of expression," according to a statement by state-run Korean Central News Agency on Wednesday.

• Libby Brooks wanted to move out of her parents' house, so she started budgeting. 
• The 50/30/20 method worked for a while, but she found it didn't allow her to pay off her debts. 
• Switching to the 50/20/20/10 method gave her more ability to work toward financial goals.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Libby Brooks, 27, who lives in Wisconsin, about her budgeting journey. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I began to budget after college when I had a significant amount of zeros in my bank account I hadn't had before.

I started my first post-college job in January 2020 as a project manager in the power generation industry. The starting salary was $65,000. I previously worked as a bartender and waitress during college, so it was a salary jump.

When I started the role, I lived at home with my parents, so my expenses were low, and my disposable income was high. When COVID hit, I tended to shop online, overspending on clothes. I wasn't taking inventory of the things I was buying or thinking about whether I actually needed them.

My behavior started to change around August 2020 because I wanted to move out of my parent's house. Realizing how much I'd need for a security deposit and furniture made me want to get my finances under control.

My budgeting journey has evolved since I first started saving to move out. Four years later, I've been able to personalize my budget system to my financial goals and feel more in control of my debt and spending habits.

The 50/30/20 rule was an easy introduction to budgeting

When I first started to think about budgeting, I used a spreadsheet to keep track of what I was spending my money on and the amount. I read some personal finance books, which is how I came across the 50/30/20 rule.

The rule was very simple and easy for me to understand, like an equation. I could simply take the income that hit my bank account and divide it out into those different percentages. 50% of my income goes to needs, 30% on wants and 20% on savings.

Under my necessary expenses, I had $100 set aside every month for my dog's expenses, including food and grooming. And later when I moved into an apartment with my boyfriend, I spent around $800 a month on rent. I commuted to work in my car and gas cost between $300 and $400 a month, I was also spending money on groceries and medical expenses.

Under non-essential expenses, I'd budget around $200 a month for dining out with friends and between $300 and $500 for shopping.

Within the 20% put toward savings, I typically contributed around $200 to my 401(k) and $100 to my emergency fund with every paycheck, so roughly twice a month.

I was able to move out of my parent's house and into an apartment with my partner in January 2021. We split the security deposit and the first and last month's rent equally between us. I saved 20% of my paycheck between August and December to afford to move.

I switched to the 50/20/20/10 rule to make room for my financial goals

I used the 50/30/20 rule until the end of 2021, but I started feeling frustrated because it seemed like I was running out of money every month.

I had been putting 20% into savings, but after learning more about personal finance, I wanted to spend more on my financial goals. I want to become debt-free by the time I'm 30, which means contributing more than my minimum monthly payment toward my car and student debt and putting more money into my emergency fund.

However, whenever I contributed over $100 to my emergency fund or any other financial goal in a month, I felt I was running out of money. I was putting all of my expenses, necessary and non-essential, on a credit card to gain the benefits of credit card points, but I would then have to pull money from my emergency fund for some months to cover this credit card bill.

I tweaked the rule to pay off my debt faster

I realized that the 50/30/20 rule didn't really account for my financial goals of paying off debt.

I came across a TikTok creator talking about the 50/20/20/10 budgeting rule. For them, that meant allocating 50% to necessities, 20% to non-essentials, 20% to savings and 10% to investments. At the beginning of 2022, I decided to put my own spin on this method and use that final 10% for my financial goals, like saving and paying off my debts.

I switched jobs in April 2022, and my current salary is $109,000. Per month, I take home around $5,800. I budget $3,100 for necessities, $1,075 for non-essentials, $650 for savings, and around $960 for my financial goals bucket. That doesn't break down exactly into a 50/20/20/10 framework, but I see the rule as more of a guideline.

I got engaged in February 2023, so I decided to use the 10% financial goals bucket on saving for my wedding instead of paying off debt. After my wedding, the breakdown may change.

I think it's important to be flexible with your budgeting.

I've had to cut spending on shopping, but I feel better about my financial goals

Since switching to the 50/20/20/10 rule, I've felt less stressed. Previously, it was more challenging to prioritize financial goals, and it felt like I was going over budget, even though I could usually cover my expenses in the end.

Now I've increased my savings budget and decreased my unnecessary spending, I feel more confident in my finances. I set up an auto-deposit into multiple savings accounts, so it runs on autopilot, and I don't have to think about it.

Right now, the focus is saving for my wedding, but with this budgeting system, I plan to pay off my student loan and car payments by 2027 and 2029. I have a full picture of where my money goes each month, so I know how much I can afford to throw at my debts to work toward a $0 balance.

I spent more on new clothes as my salary increased — around $800 to $1,000 monthly. Because I was factoring this into my 50/30/20 budget, I could afford it. Nowadays, I'm allocating $100 to $200 for shopping and using clothing rental services to save money.

Renting clothes gives me a similar feeling from shopping but it's more sustainable and doesn't crowd up my closet.

The great thing about personal finance is you can always make changes according to what fits best with your lifestyle.

• Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications company, has become one of the world's biggest tech names.
• It started off manufacturing equipment before venturing into smartphones and more.
• Here's how it rose to compete with tech titans like Apple.

Huawei has become one of the world's biggest, most controversial tech companies over nearly 40 years.

The Chinese tech giant started as one of the world's leading networking equipment producers, making items such as base stations, routers, modems, and switches that provide phone service and internet access worldwide.

It has expanded its product line to include wearable devices and, most notably, smartphones, which have become a major competitor to Apple's iPhone in China.

The company had about 207,000 employees as of 2023 and operates in over 170 countries and regions. In the same year, Huawei hit nearly $100 billion in revenue and more than $12 billion in profit.

Ren Zhengfei, the CEO and founder of Huawei, came from humble beginnings but was worth $1 billion as of 2022, according to Forbes.

Still, the company has been mired in controversy, with the US accusing the Chinese company of stealing trade secrets.

Here's how a tiny IT technology firm in China became a rival to Apple — and became seen as a national security threat in parts of the world.

Ren Zhengfei founded Huawei in 1987 when he was 44 years old in an apartment in Shenzhen, China.

Ren said Huawei's registered capital was roughly 21,000 yuan, or just under $3,000 as of May 2024. He said he didn't receive "a single penny" from the Chinese government and pooled funds from outside investors.

The CEO said he had no experience building a company.

Huawei started as a reseller of telephone switch equipment made by a Hong Kong manufacturer.

"We worked very hard and made our first money during those early years," Ren said in Huawei's docu-series.

When Huawei's business boomed, the Hong Kong company stopped supplying Huawei with routers, forcing the startup to develop its own telecommunication products.

Huawei focused on research and development for its initial telecom products during the 90s.

Since major cities in China were dominated by big players, Huawei sold telecom equipment to rural areas that could withstand harsh weather conditions.

By 1995, the company generated nearly $220 million in sales, according to the BBC.

Lyu Ke, a member of Huawei's supervisory board, said in the company's docu-series that during its early days, employees worked day and night without leaving the building for almost a month.

"If you feel tired, you go for sleep, take a shower, and go back to work," Lyu said.

In the 2000s, Huawei decided to expand its operations beyond China.

The first few years in the overseas market were rough as they struggled to sell their equipment to customers.

"After I started Huawei, it was very difficult to ensure the company's survival," Ren said in a 2019 interview with CBS.

By 2000, its international sales reached US$100 million, and by 2005, international contract orders exceeded domestic sales for the first time.

During its foray beyond China, Huawei started to enter the consumer device market.

In 2004, the company shipped its first phone, the C300, with features like basic voice calls and SMS, a text messaging service.

Two years later, the company released the Huawei U626 — its first 3G phone — with a color screen, camera, and faster data connectivity, an effort to enter the advanced phone market.

The company released a USB modem in 2006, which could be plugged into computers to access the internet.

By the late 2000s, Huawei reached a series of financial milestones.

Between 2008 and 2009, contract sales increased by 46% — most of which came from overseas — and generated close to $23.3 billion in revenue, according to Reuters. The company was also seeking to expand in the US.

Following the success of its smartphones, Huawei expanded into wearable devices

In 2015, the company released the Huawei watch, which combined typical watch functions with modern smartwatch features.

By 2019, the telecom giant seemed to be leading the 5G revolution for faster wireless connection globally

As of February 2019, the company had more than 30 contracts for 5G and deployed more than 40,000 5G stations globally, the LA Times reported, demonstrating its global influence. Huawei execs claimed that the company was ahead of America's most advanced providers in developing the technology.

Huawei employees reportedly say the pay is stellar despite the tough work environment.

One former employee said workers get juicy bonuses that "usually exceed our base salary" for finishing projects.

"It's just obscene amounts," the employee told the LA Times in 2019.

Another employee told the outlet that Huawei gives employees the option to buy company shares if they hit performance goals.

The compensation for workers seemed to have offset the company's so-called "wolf culture," where some were expected to take on the work of three people, sources told the LA Times.

In performance reviews, Chinese staff are reportedly ranked A, B, C, or D, where workers are pitted against one another to succeed.

Workers who received a score of A got double the bonuses employees who scored B got, a Shenzhen-based employee told the Times. Those who scored C — which 10% of staff must get — for two consecutive years were fired.

Huawei's smartphones, one of its most successful consumer products, are now a rival to Apple's iPhone in China

The company introduced Ascend, its first line of smartphones, in 2010 in a move to enter the global smartphone market following the release of the iPhone.

Two years later, Huawei launched the Ascend P1 S, which was said to be one of the thinnest smartphones in the world at the time. It later released high-end phones like the Mate and P Lines, and lower-end devices with its offshoot brand Honor.

Still, Huawei's ascent to the international arena has included controversies

In 2003, hardware giant Cisco sued Huawei, accusing the company of stealing network router technology, which Huawei eventually settled.

Then, in 2010, Motorola hit the Chinese company with a suit alleging that Huawei conspired with several Motorola workers to steal trade secrets. Motorola agreed to drop the suit in 2011.

And in 2017, a jury decided that Huawei misappropriated trade secrets belonging to T-Mobile in a series of incidents that occurred in 2012 and 2013.

The United States saw Huawei as a potential threat to national security

The US and other countries have expressed concerns that Huawei's equipment could be used for espionage by China.

In 2012, the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee released a report asking US companies to avoid using Huawei products because of cybersecurity concerns. In 2018, AT&T killed a deal with Huawei to sell its smartphones across America.

Between 2017 and 2018, as tensions between the country and the company rose, the Donald Trump administration restricted federal agencies like the Department of Defense from using the telecom giant's equipment.

In 2019, the US cracked down even further on Huawei, with former president Trump signing an executive order laying the groundwork to block it from selling equipment in the country. The blacklisting has since been expanded, and diplomatic tensions between China and the US have also ramped up.

In 2018, Meng Wanzhou, the CEO's daughter who is also Huawei's CFO, was detained in Canada on fraud and sanctions violation charges

Meng Wanzhou was detained in Canada and subsequently placed under house arrest on extradition request by the US DOJ under the indictment of bank and wire fraud. The US accused her of sidestepping sanctions on Iran by selling technologies through the company Skycom.

The CFO awaited extradition to the US for three years.

In 2021, she was released from house arrest and returned home to China as part of an agreement with the US Justice Department.

Huawei continues to step up its competition against the iPhone in China

As of early 2024, Apple lost its edge in China in smartphone sales, a major market, to local rivals like Huawei as iPhone sales declined.

Huawei's $960 Mate 60 Pro debuted in 2023 and wowed consumers and analysts as a viable alternative on the heels of an iPhone ban for Chinese government officials.

As if the Mate 60 wasn't enough, in 2024, Huawei introduced another series of smartphones called the Pura 70, starting at $760.

Huawei didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment before publication.

• Many Croatian millennials are being priced out of cities like Dubrovnik.
• House prices and limited space have inspired a very practical solution. BI went to investigate.
• Parents build floors on top of their homes to make room for their adult children and grandkids.

Bogdan Dascalescu, 37, stands on the balcony of his home, surveying the view of Mokošica — a suburb of Dubrovnik situated just across a major bridge.

Though more affordable than the city's picturesque Old Town, property prices here are still beyond the reach of most locals his age.

On this drizzly day in mid-April, he gestured toward a few seemingly unfinished buildings with flat, concrete roofs. Some had metal rods protruding from their edges, while others featured piles of scattered bricks.

Dascalescu explained that these usually signify expansion plans, both of the families and of the buildings themselves.

While some Gen-X and boomers bought land in Mokošica before Croatia's War of Independence in the 1990s, or shortly afterward, when property prices were relatively low, millennials have been largely priced out.

And given Mokošica's hilly and rocky terrain, expanding properties horizontally is challenging. The landscape means there's a scarcity of affordable land to buy and build on.

Devoted parents unwilling to leave their children in the lurch have devised a practical solution: building additional floors on top of their existing homes for their kids and grandkids to live in.

When Dascalescu, originally from Romania, moved to Mokošica in 2017 with his Croatian wife, Diana, buying a home in Dubrovnik wasn't financially viable.

Instead, they moved into Marlais' parents' home, which had already been expanded to house other family members.

Originally a two-bedroom, two-story home, Marlais' father built two more stories soon after his eldest son got engaged. Now, Dascalescu and Marlais live on their own floor, beneath her brother and his children, who live beneath their parents.

Homes like this in Croatia often feature lockable doors for each level, with internal or external staircases connecting the individual spaces inside.

The popularity of this set-up comes down to price, according to a Croatian real-estate expert.

"Adding an additional floor to a house is currently the most affordable option for young families," Filip Brkan, a member of the Real Estate Business Association of the Croatian Chamber of Economy, told BI.

He noted that in Croatia, where the average construction cost is about $140 per square foot, adding 1,000 square feet this way can cost about $150,000 — considerably cheaper than buying a new home.

Brkan said what's happening in Mokošica is happening in suburbs across Croatia, reflecting an ongoing housing crisis in which "young people practically have nowhere to live."

Eurostat, the EU statistical office, notes that house prices in Croatia have climbed steadily over the past decade, and last year experienced the highest annual increase among the 27 member states.

Perhaps as a result, many Croatian millennials are stuck living at home well into their mid-30s — the highest average age in Europe.

"In Dubrovnik, not only are property purchase prices extremely high, but also rental prices," Brkan said. "Young people have no real alternative."

Extra floors aren't always for kids

Dubrovnik's Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has stringent conservation rules that mean you "can't build sideways, you can't build up to make the fourth floor," says Ivan Vukovic, a 43-year-old tour guide and lifelong Dubrovnik resident.

But in Mokošica, more relaxed planning regulations mean that the solution of adding floors remains a popular one.

But there are still limitations to expanding family homes in the suburbs, Nenad Lipovac, a professor of physical planning at the University of Zagreb, told BI.

Homeowners must adhere to local ordinances, obtain building permits, and often have to factor in height restrictions, he said.

Lipovac also noted that flat roofs, iron bars, and scattered bricks don't always signal plans to house additional family members; they could stem from financial constraints or pauses in construction, which are common in summer months.

Given the lucrative potential of short-term rentals, Croatian homeowners might also be building rooftop apartments for tourists, to generate extra income, he added.

However, even if the intention behind leaving roofs flat is to expand properties to allow younger family members to live there, Lipovac said there's no guarantee millennials will want this, or that the additional floors will ever be built.

In fact, flat roofs can become a permanent feature, he said, with houses remaining "unfinished forever."

• Trinity Howard's personal experience with a cheating boyfriend inspired her to help other girls.
• She's now a loyalty tester for Lazo, charging $70 per mission to see if a boyfriend will cheat.
• Howard conducts 15-20 loyalty tests a week and says 90% of the men who respond to her fail the test.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Trinity Howard, a 22-year-old loyalty tester in Tampa. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Before I became a loyalty tester, I had my own run-in with cheating.

I was in a toxic relationship for two years during high school. Despite my commitment to loyalty, my first love turned out to be a cheater.

Throughout our relationship, I always knew he had another girl on the side. I often saw them sitting together at lunch or talking at school, but when I confronted him, he would say, "I'm going to end it," and "I will block her," but he never meant it.

I decided to test his loyalty and texted him using a fake number, posing as the other girl. When he wanted to meet up with her, I agreed to that, too. I grabbed his things from my house, and at 2 a.m., I showed up as her. We broke up that night.

I didn't know it then, but that was my first loyalty test, and it's now my full-time job.

I became a loyalty tester for others

Not long after I caught my own boyfriend, I made a TikTok video sharing my story, and it quickly blew up. I woke up with more than 300,000 followers on TikTok, mainly girls wanting me to test their boyfriends. I realized this could be a great way to help others who've experienced the same hurt.

I told my new following to DM me if they were interested in a loyalty test and that I'd do it free of charge. As more women took me up on my offer, my new gig started to take up more and more of my time.

I was also in school, had homework, played softball, and worked out — it became very hard to juggle everything, so I began to request donations. I told my audience that I'd make those who offered a donation of their choosing my priority. Some donated $5.00, and some even donated $50.00.

Even after I started requesting donations, there were still thousands of women messaging me for my help. It was a lot of work.

I became a loyalty tester on Lazo

In 2023, the founders of Lazo, a platform specializing in relationship loyalty tests, contacted me. They found me on TikTok and asked if I would offer my service through their platform. I agreed. Now, I do loyalty tests for a living and help even more women than when I did it on my own. I mostly test boyfriends but have tested about five husbands since I started.

When users come to Lazo needing a loyalty test, they can pick the 'tester' they want based on location, hobbies, interests, hair color, and other things they think their significant other might be into. There are roughly 400 testers on the platform. Loyalty testers have different prices, depending on the price they set for themselves.

I have a set fee of $70 for a "mission." Lazo takes $21, and I keep $49.

Depending on how many I can handle, I do 15 to 20 missions a week. Sometimes, a mission can take a little over an hour, but others can take up to a week if not more.

Unfortunately, a lot of the girls who come to Lazo are usually right about their cheating boyfriends.

Once I take on a mission, I get to work

Before hiring me, users tell me what social media platform their boyfriend is on, where he lives, and what he likes. They'll tell me if he likes a flirty girl or if I need to take it slower and get to know him first. At that point, I can accept or decline the mission. I've declined around 30 missions because they were under 18.

I send a request to follow the boyfriend on social media, and if the boyfriend accepts my request, I'll DM him, using my first name and middle initial, and a photo of me. If the guy responds to me and interacts with my message, 90% of the time, they will fail the mission. Though many also do tell me they have a girlfriend.

When messaging, I'm careful about being too straightforward because that comes across as suspicious, so I take my time and try to get to know them. As I talk with the boyfriend, I show the girlfriend what the messages look like. The girlfriend then determines if the boyfriend is cheating or not.

Sometimes, a girlfriend will see that he likes my pictures on social media and call that a fail. Other times, it needs to be more blatant, like the boyfriend wanting to meet up with me or asking if I am single.

Requesting to meet in person is an immediate fail

I've had guys want to meet in person before, and then they get caught because the girlfriend will show up instead of me. I've had men want to Facetime me to see where I am. It rarely happens, but in those situations, I avoid Facetime and just hop on the phone instead.

Since I make videos on TikTok, even though I try to block them, I've had some boyfriends recognize me, but it's always been after they failed or when they were already on the way to failing.

After the girlfriends decide if it is a pass or fail, the mission ends.

This job has changed how I think about relationships

Since becoming a loyalty tester, I've had a lot of people ask if it changes how I view relationships and men. Honestly, in a way, it does. Although I believe partners should be 100% loyal to each other, through these loyalty tests and personal experience, I know not everyone shares that belief.

I plan to do this long-term. It's sad to me that cheating goes on so much in relationships, but I'm happy to help where I can.

• Saudi Arabia has embarked on its ambitious project to build a city in the shape of a line. 
• While the concept of linear urban design has existed since the 19th century, few have attempted it. 
• Business Insider asked architects, urban planners, and academics  whether a line is a good shape for a city. 

Saudi Arabia is constructing a huge mirrored city in the desert.

The Line, as it has been named, is actually a megacity consisting of two skyscrapers that was originally intended to stretch out for 170km, with the aim to eventually house nine million people.

Officials have called it an "architectural masterpiece" and a "revolution in urban living."

Although recent reports suggest the plans have been scaled back, the 2.4km still due to be built will be the largest linear city in existence if it is completed.

As a concept, linear living is nothing new.

"It is ambitious but hardly revolutionary," Anirban Adhya, a Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Lawrence Technological University, told Business Insider.

Following the Industrial Revolution, many urban planners looked to alternative city layouts to tackle booming populations.

The Spanish architect Arturo Soria is widely credited with designing the first linear city, "La Ciudad Lineal," in 1882 on the outskirts of Madrid. Around forty years later, in 1924, renowned Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier offered another radical alternative with his "Ville Radieuse," a linear, ordered metropolis full of green space.

The Soviet urbanist Mikhail Okhitovich was sent to a gulag in 1930 for his "economically crippling" proposal to transform the city of Magnitogorsk into eight ribbon-like strips converging on a factory.

"It has been common for urban planners to argue for a new future as a reaction to what they claim to be an 'unsustainable;' existing situation of their time. The Line in Neom is no different," said Adhya.

But revolutionary or not, is the idea of building a dense metropolis in the shape of a line a good one?

Compared to traditional layouts, the benefits of linear cities include efficient public transport, ready access to nature, and a more egalitarian lifestyle. Theoretically endless, they can easily extend as populations expand.

Proposals for The Line echo many of these promises.

The project's website presents the city as a solution to mass urbanization and the climate crisis, depicting it as a sustainable carless utopia that will preserve 95% of the region's land.

Neom's designers claim that all essential services will be accessible within five minutes, and nature will be just a two-minute walk away. AI-powered technology throughout the city will enhance sustainability and maximize residents' life expectancy, they say.

"There is no right shape for a city — they typically evolve over time, based on natural, cultural, transportation, political, and economic factors," Mona Lovgreen, a partner at Canadian architecture firm DIALOG, told BI.

She believes that if designed correctly, The Line's linear form would make it accessible and facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources along its entire length.

Though she said its goals may be exaggerated, Lovgreen believes the vision of The Line is admirable.

"It challenges us to rethink urban design and discover new ways to make cities efficient, livable, and sustainable."

It could set a trailblazing example for how to use AI to improve sustainability and energy efficiency, something US urban planners should replicate, Lovgreen added.

The focus on convenience and services being within reach also shows promise, Adhya said, pointing to successful examples already underway in cities like Paris and Portland.

In "smaller chunks and pieces," the linear structure of The Line could work, Adhya said.

'Bland and monotonous'

While some practical sides of the structure have potential, all experts BI spoke to saw fundamental issues with the lived experience inside linear cities.

"The Line could be a fascinating place to visit and experience, but I'm still unsure of whether humans are designed to live in such a rigid and prescriptive structure," Lovgreen said.

The Line is formed of modules that can each house 80,000 people, able to move about through a horizontal and vertical transport system.

"Compared to other urban designs like grid layout, radial layout, ring layout, or some combination of these, human experience in a strictly linear urban development can lack interest and variation," explained Adhya.

"Certain parts of the city could become too far and segregated."

The repetition of infrastructure and kit-of parts would be "bland and monotonous," lacking the unique character that other cities offer, said Lovgreen.

"Ultimately, the psychological impact of living in such a regimented environment may affect residents' well-being," she told BI.

This type of structure is not only monotonous, but can limit social cohesion, according to John Gold, a professor of Urban Historical Geography at Oxford Brookes University.

"Linear cities are an extreme form of urban dispersal — community development and social cohesion still need centrality," Gold told BI.

Another challenge in Neom's design is its over-reliance on technology and the public transport system, experts said. If something went wrong, the entire system would crumble, they warned.

"Most cities have network redundancy, where multiple options are available if a specific connection or intersection is blocked. A linear city may not have this capability," explained Lovgreen.

Lastly, in spite of The Line's proclamations of sustainability, its huge mirrored walls could be harmful ecologically both in terms of unnecessary heat gain within the structure as well as being detrimental for the migratory flight paths of billions of birds.

But the big issue, according to Gold, is "who would actually want to live in such a 'city'?"

"These schemes, and the Saudi one is a classic example, map out a hi-tech utopian future but never engage with people as they really are. In my opinion, linear city schemes are best left as design exercises for third-year architectural students," Gold said.