Like a ghost pepper dropped in the stew, every news story in 2025 was flavored by tariffs.

President Trump’s signature policy of imposing sweeping import duties on nearly every US trading partner in hopes of curbing trade imbalances completely reset the global economic order. Throughout the year, there have been twists and turns—and the biggest one may be yet to come as the Supreme Court is weighing whether they’re legal or must be struck down.

How we got here

Even before tariffs actually went into effect, companies were sweating: Hours after President Trump was sworn in, he announced he’d hit Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs on February 1. This spring, businesses ranging from General Motors to Chipotle cut their earnings forecasts. Following a month’s delay, the tariffs took effect in March—but two days later, most products were deemed exempt under the USMCA trade deal Trump signed in his first term.

April is when the shares hit the fan:

• On April 2, Trump unveiled a minimum 10% blanket tariff on all imports to the US, with larger duties on most countries, that would go into effect on April 9. That kicked off a historically volatile month for the stock market, and over the two days following the announcement, the S&P 500 notched its fifth-largest two-day drop since 1950.
• On April 9, the 10% baseline tariffs briefly went into effect, before Trump abruptly paused them for 90 days on every country except China. The S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq all recorded their biggest-ever single-session gains that day.

Meanwhile, a trade war raged between the US and China, as the world powers lobbed higher and higher tariffs at each other like badminton players in a moonball rally.

But Trump also started shaking hands:

• The EU, Japan, Taiwan, and other countries struck deals with the US over the summer. A detente with China included lowering tariffs to 30%, while China rolled back its retaliatory tariffs to 10%.

Even as Trump continued to pursue deals, he rolled out new tariffs on more than 90 countries in August.

And now…though the tariffs didn’t lead to the recession some economists feared, they did lead to some price spikes. As tariffs impacted grocery prices, the White House rolled back duties on many foods, including bananas and coffee. Ultimately, tariffs have brought in more than $230 billion in government revenue this year, according to the Treasury Department, but have not yet spurred a domestic manufacturing boom.

Runner-up: Is AI a bubble?

Investors poured nearly $1.6 trillion into AI from 2013 to 2024, and are expected to add another $375 billion to the Smaug-sized heap this year. AI chipmaker Nvidia became the world’s largest public company after its stock price rose by 1,000% over three years. ChatGPT-parent OpenAI is thought to be the world’s largest private company, as it reportedly eyes an IPO valued at up to $1 trillion. But…skeptics have raised concerns that the AI juice will never be worth the squeeze and that circular dealmaking could create a dot-com-reminiscent bubble burst.—JW

Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and CPO Kristin Cabot viva la vida’d a little too hard at Coldplay’s July concert in Foxborough, MA, and the internet noticed.

During the band’s traditional “Jumbotron Song,” the camera caught the couple mid-canoodle. When they saw themselves on-screen, the two split apart from each other like a pair of dropped AirPods, and Coldplay singer Chris Martin said, “Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy.” The jury’s still out on whether the two were having an affair or, as one source told People, were just too-close friends.

• The original video capturing the moment quickly garnered more than 125 million views, and spawned a torrent of memes as fans dug into the couple’s history.
• Byron and Cabot both resigned from Astronomer. The company also hired Gwyneth Paltrow to narrate a video that indirectly addressed the fracas.

Runners-up: Nearly 8-in-10 of you agreed that the Coldplay video was the most viral moment of the year. In a far-off second place in our vote, you said Pope Leo XIV sporting a White Sox hat would go down in meme history. Some readers also thought Sydney Sweeney’s controversial denim campaign for American Eagle was the year’s top moment.—JW

And just like that, the US Mint stopped issuing new pennies on November 12, ending a 232-year run.

Why? A penny for your thoughts had gotten increasingly expensive, with the cost of minting one penny rising to 3.69 cents in the last fiscal year.

The change has led some businesses to hoard pennies or start rounding prices. You don’t need to stockpile Abraham Lincoln’s side profile anytime soon, though—250 billion pennies remain in circulation, and they’re still accepted as legal tender.

Next on the chopping block? The nickel faces a similar dilemma, since the US loses about nine cents every time it churns out a new one. Both the penny and the nickel are also simply less useful as prices rise and people opt for digital payment options over cash.

Runner-up: The second thing readers mourned the loss of this year was Southwest’s iconic seating and baggage policies. The airline nixed its two-free-bags policy this summer and, in the new year, it will start assigning seats instead of hosting the open seating policy it became known for.—JW

Imaginations ran wild after four thieves dressed as construction workers stole about $100 million worth of jewelry from the Louvre in broad daylight in October.

The heist took about seven minutes, during which time the Thomas Crown copycats climbed a ladder into the French museum, snatched items that included a diadem (set with 24 Ceylon sapphires and more than 1,000 diamonds), and escaped before security guards noticed they were there.

Parisian police have since made arrests, but have yet to recover any of the stolen jewels.

Instant fame: The internet latched onto the stranger-than-fiction story, turning the massive loss into memes. For Halloween, “Louvre thief” was a top costume, and the story is already being turned into a documentary.

Runners-up: Disney’s live-action Snow White was your choice for the second biggest flop of the year. The movie failed to recoup its budget at the box office after receiving so-so reviews and lead actress Rachel Zegler’s anti-MAGA opinions led to the film being dubbed “Snow Woke.”—JW