Ben Berkowitz
@berkowitzbt.bsky.social
1.2K followers 380 following 120 posts
Journalist. Managing Editor on the biz desk at Axios. Ex-NBC, Reuters, AP, AOL, Fidelity, among various others.
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berkowitzbt.bsky.social
Editor pro-tip: When a reporter asks you if she can go drive an 18-wheeler and then sleep in the back, you should of course say "yes."

www.axios.com/2025/10/01/v...
The tiny 5-star hotel room inside Volvo's new semi truck
The VNL has just about everything — except a toilet.
www.axios.com
Reposted by Ben Berkowitz
katemarino.bsky.social
This is an intimate interview with Ukrainian President Zelensky unlike any I've seen recently. Speaking with my colleague Barak Ravid, he was candid, emotional and very human. He's increasingly hopeful for his country.

WATCH The Axios Show: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kwZ...
Zelensky warns Putin, reacts to Trump reversal, apologizes to Ukrainian kids - The Axios Show, Ep. 2
YouTube video by Axios
www.youtube.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
The new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas will NOT apply to existing visa holders when it goes into effect Sunday, per a White House official.

(Some lawyers and companies had warned existing holders to rush back to the U.S. today to avoid the fee.)

www.axios.com/2025/09/20/t...
Trump's new H-1B fee won't apply to existing visa holders Sunday, official says
The $100,000 fee for the highly prized visa is intended to boost jobs for U.S. workers.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
One of President Trump's major campaign promises was to lower grocery prices.

By and large, they're higher than they were last month and last year, some categories by double digits.

My latest with @kellytyko.bsky.social

www.axios.com/2025/09/11/t...
Grocery prices rise at the fastest pace since 2022 as Trump tariffs bite
On the campaign trail, Trump promised lower grocery prices.
www.axios.com
Reposted by Ben Berkowitz
axios.com
Axios @axios.com · 28d
THE AXIOS SHOW exclusive:

After taking a stake in Intel and a cut of Nvidia's chip sales in China, the U.S. government may next target a share of the money generated by patents developed at major universities using federal funding, Howard Lutnick says
Exclusive: U.S. should take a chunk of universities' patent revenue, Lutnick says
The administration wants to capture potentially tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in future upside from the work of scientists.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
Chairman of the board? No, chairman of ALL boards.

President Trump has assumed a quasi-authority to orchestrate how the private sector operates, broadly and at individual company levels. No one's stopping him, so he confidently plows ahead.

My latest for @axios.com

www.axios.com/2025/08/26/t...
Trump, chairman of corporate America
Less than a fifth of the way through his second presidency, the impact of his influence is only just starting to be seen.
www.axios.com
Reposted by Ben Berkowitz
megmorrone.bsky.social
I want to talk to you about your kids’ K-12 new school AI policies this year. For an @axios.com story. Please share this most with anyone. I’m at Megan.Morrone@Axios
Reposted by Ben Berkowitz
inafried.bsky.social
New at Axios: Google debuts its Ai-infused Pixel 10 lineup as it looks to get a boost before Apple’s iPhone launch.
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
Data out this morning from the BLS shows import prices of edible vegetables have risen more than 5% in the last two months.
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
ICYMI, the eye-popper in today's PPI: a 39% rise in wholesale fresh vegetable prices.

It's the largest month-on-month increase ever recorded in the summer (data to 1947), and one of the ten largest ever, regardless of season.

With the estimable @alexjamesfitz.com

www.axios.com/2025/08/14/i...
Veggie-flation strikes, with a warning for grocery prices
No matter what the official data shows, consumers "feel" inflation when grocery prices rise.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
The White House is now scoring companies and trade associations on their loyalty to the administration's priorities, starting with support for the BBB.

Uber, DoorDash, Delta, United, AT&T, Cisco, and trade groups for steel and airlines among those topping the list.

www.axios.com/2025/08/15/w...
Scoop: White House hands down loyalty ratings for hundreds of companies
The unusual scorecard fits this administration's habit of micromanaging companies and administering loyalty tests.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
ICYMI, the eye-popper in today's PPI: a 39% rise in wholesale fresh vegetable prices.

It's the largest month-on-month increase ever recorded in the summer (data to 1947), and one of the ten largest ever, regardless of season.

With the estimable @alexjamesfitz.com

www.axios.com/2025/08/14/i...
Veggie-flation strikes, with a warning for grocery prices
No matter what the official data shows, consumers "feel" inflation when grocery prices rise.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
The solicitor general of the United States says Social Security and Medicare could collapse if Trump's tariffs are struck down by a court — claiming the gov't would have to repay money it hasn't been paid from deals it hasn't finalized.

www.axios.com/2025/08/11/s...
Trump admin claims Social Security, Medicare at risk if tariffs blocked
Government lawyers said the U.S. could be on the hook to repay money it hasn't yet been paid.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
Where you ask matters as much as what you ask.

Truth Social's new AI search tool, powered by Perplexity, appears to use a limited set of sources - Fox News, Epoch Times, Washington Times - to answer queries. The same questions on Perplexity's site use more sources.

www.axios.com/2025/08/06/t...
Truth Social's Perplexity search comes with Trump-friendly media sources
Increasingly, where you ask matters as much as what you ask.
www.axios.com
Reposted by Ben Berkowitz
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
“.. While you can quibble with this or that estimate or figure, the order of magnitudes make it pretty clear that AI itself is not enough to buoy the economy, sales, or earnings ahead ..”

@axios.com
www.axios.com/newsletters/...
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
No one, and I mean no one, hits nails on heads all day long like the estimable Zach Basu. Read this and in 500 words you'll understand the entire world of the last week.
axios.com
Axios @axios.com · Aug 2
Apply any of these five storylines from the past week to a foreign leader — or even a past U.S. president — and it reads like an authoritarian playbook.
Trump's authoritarian streak
With one social media post, Trump threatened to eviscerate the integrity of U.S. government data.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
Commerce Sec. Lutnick insists the August 1 tariff deadline is real, no TACOs — and he projects they could generate $700 billion to $1 trillion a year in revenue, perhaps the highest figure yet from the administration.

www.axios.com/2025/07/27/t...
Trump's tariffs start August 1, no extensions, Lutnick says
After a months-long pause, tariffs are expected to shoot higher on dozens of countries next Friday.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
Sec. Lutnick with a number of #timestamp comments on trade this morning:

* Baseline tariff rates will be 10%, not higher
* Aug. 1 is a hard deadline for new tariffs
* The USMCA will be renegotiated next year

www.axios.com/2025/07/20/t...
U.S. still looking at 10% baseline tariff, not higher, Lutnick says
President Trump repeatedly suggested in recent days that baseline rates could go to 15% or even 20%.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
If I told you one year ago that a future president was going to:

* Impose 30% tariffs on the largest US trading partners
* Threaten to fire the Fed chair
* Provide weapons for a war against Russia

And stocks would close HIGHER on the news, would you have believed me?
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
Oh so it's gonna be that kind of week huh
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
Big @neilirwin.bsky.social scoop for @axios.com — the Federal Reserve has asked its inspector general to look into its $2.5 billion HQ renovation project, which has suddenly become a possible lever for the Trump administration to oust chair Jerome Powell.

www.axios.com/2025/07/14/t...
Scoop: Powell asks Fed's IG to review renovation costs amid Trump pressure
The Trump administration is using cost overruns as leverage to squeeze Powell to cut rates or leave.
www.axios.com
Reposted by Ben Berkowitz
axios.com
Axios @axios.com · Jul 14
NEW: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, bristling at Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's warning of a looming white-collar apocalypse, tells Axios that AI will create vastly more and superior jobs.

“I don't know why AI companies are trying to scare us.”
Behind the Curtain — Jensen vs. Dario: "There will be more jobs"
The Jensen Huang vs. Dario Amodei debate captures a deep divide among AI experts over America's job market in a highly automated world.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
🚨 Trump threatens EU, Mexico with 30% tariff rates

The intrigue: Canada gets a higher tariff than Mexico over fentanyl flows, even though fentanyl seizures at the Mexican border are 20x the Canadian border.

www.axios.com/2025/07/12/t...
Trump threatens EU, Mexico with 30% tariff rate
Trump has reverted to the aggressive trade posture he took early in his term.
www.axios.com
berkowitzbt.bsky.social
Elon Musk spent more than $250 million getting Donald Trump elected last year.

His public, real-time blow-up with Trump today has just cost him somewhere north of $11 billion.

www.axios.com/2025/06/05/t...
Tesla stock sinks as Musk-Trump tension blows up
Musk has repeatedly assailed Trump's "big, beautiful bill" in recent days, saying it'll unacceptably increase the national debt.
www.axios.com