Friday’s top story: Beijing vows to retaliate as Trump administration imposes 25% tariffs. Plus, what happened after half a tonne of cocaine washed up on a small island

Subscribe now to receive the morning briefing by email.

Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.

US hikes tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods

The US-China trade war ramped up on Friday morning, as the Trump administration made good on its threat to raise tariffs from 10% to 25% on $200bn in Chinese goods, threatening to destabilise the slowing global economy. Stock markets in Asia appeared to be steady, however, as investors held out hope for a resolution in the ongoing talks between the two economic superpowers and Beijing called on Washington to “meet halfway” on a future trade deal.

Cast of thousands. From tuna to toilet paper to tractor parts, the nearly 6,000 products affected by the higher tariffs include food, chemicals, industrial products and electronics.

Florida school districts reject law allowing armed teachers

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The law was introduced after the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland. Photograph: Alicia Vera/The Guardian

Dozens of school districts across Florida have rejected a new state law permitting teachers with arms training to carry guns in their classrooms in the wake of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, the Guardian has learned. The state’s Republican governor signed the “armed guardian” bill into law on Wednesday, despite opposition from teachers and several law enforcement agencies, but Florida’s 67 counties were left to make their own decision about allowing teachers to participate.

A big ‘no’. The Guardian canvassed Florida’s 25 largest school districts by size, covering more than 2.3 million of the state’s 2.8 million school-age children. None of them plan to allow their teachers to be armed.

Uber’s $82.4bn valuation considered a disappointment

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Uber drivers in several cities in the US and beyond – including São Paulo in Brazil – staged protests against their treatment this week. Photograph: Fernando Bizerra Jr/EPA

Uber will be listed on the New York stock exchange on Friday in one of the largest IPOs of all time, but its valuation of $82.4bn will nonetheless be seen as something of a disappointment for the San Francisco-based ride-sharing app, which had hoped for $100bn. Uber has never made a profit, but its lower-than-expected valuation is thought to have more to do with the poor performance of shares in its closest competitor, Lyft, which has lost 27% of its value since floating in March.

Driver strikes. Uber and Lyft drivers protested in cities across the US and beyond before the IPO this week, demanding better pay and working conditions.

Fake German heiress faces up to 12 years in prison

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Anna Sorokin arrives for sentencing at New York state supreme court on Thursday. Photograph: Richard Drew/AP

Anna Sorokin, the 28-year-old woman who passed herself off as a wealthy German heiress and swindled more than $200,000 from banks, hotels, restaurants and a private jet operator, has been sentenced to between four and 12 years in prison by a Manhattan judge. Sorokin – who called herself Anna Delvey, posed as an art collector and socialite, and ultimately became infamous as the “Soho grifter” – was “blinded by the glitter and glamour of New York City,” said Judge Diane Kiesel.

TV adaptation. Sorokin’s story was a media sensation, and is already being adapted for the screen by both Shonda Rhimes and Lena Dunham.

Crib sheet

The former FBI director James Comey has said the Mueller report contains sufficient evidence of obstruction of justice by Trump that he would have been indicted, were he not president.

Chelsea Manning , the former army analyst who leaked state secrets to WikiLeaks, has been released from jail 62 days after she was detained for refusing to testify before a grand jury.

The tame beluga whale accused of being a Russian spy, after it was found wearing a suspicious harness off the coast of Norway, may in fact be a child therapy whale, a former Norwegian diplomat to Russia has claimed.

Penis extension operations are “ineffective and risky”, often leave men with psychological as well as physical scars, and have a satisfaction rate of no more than 20%, according to a review by experts in the UK.

Must-reads

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A smugglers’ boat washed up on São Miguel in 2001, spilling its contents on the shore. Photograph: Alamy/Guardian Design/Ersoy Emin/Phil Partridge

How a cocaine smugglers’ shipwreck transformed São Miguel

In June 2001, a 40ft yacht carrying tens of millions of dollars worth of uncut cocaine drifted ashore on the island of São Miguel in the Azores. Matthew Bremner tells the bizarre, thrilling and tragic story of how the smuggled drugs overturned life on the quiet island – and how their legacy lingers to this day.

The women standing by Trump in 2020

After Democrat women won big at Michigan’s 2018 elections, those who support the president are organising to fight back. Tom Perkins meets Detroit’s Women for Trump: “[I didn’t] elect him to date my daughter or be my pastor – I elected him to turn the country around.”

The cyclone-hit reservation with no disaster relief

Trump approved a national disaster declaration for Nebraska and Iowa after a cyclone hit the region in March. But Native Americans on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation were hit by the same storm – and they are being forced to recover without federal relief, as Michael Sainato reports.

The funniest Netflix show yet?

I Think You Should Leave is a strange, disorienting, silly new sketch show starring and co-created by the former Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Robinson. It might also be the funniest thing on Netflix, says Stuart Heritage.

Opinion

Three promising young athletes have been shot dead in the US in the past week alone. Given the realities of race, politics and guns in the US, these violent tragedies ought to come as little surprise, writes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Gun violence is of particular interest to athletes of color because they are more in danger of being victims than their white teammates.

Sport

Last year, the UFC and Disney signed an exclusive five-year deal for live UFC content on ESPN. But since then, a series of unseemly controversies have tarnished mixed martial arts’ biggest money-spinner. Karim Zidan asks whether the profits are worth the risk to the Disney brand.

The White House has always offered a warm welcome to triumphant sports stars. This week it was the Baylor Lady Bears basketball team, the Boston Red Sox and Tiger Woods. It may seem like a rare thread of continuity between Trump and his predecessors – but in fact Trump has politicised even the celebration of sporting success, as David Smith reports.

Sign up

The US morning briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you’re not already signed up, subscribe now.