Main by morning: Trump praises duties, bids for Warner Bros. go up

Donald Trump praised the duties in an address to the nation and said he would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demanded that Anthropic give the military full access to AI models under threat of recognizing the company as a "supply chain risk" or using emergency powers. On these and other topics - in our review of key events by the morning of February 25.

Donald Trump said during his speech to Congress that he prefers a diplomatic agreement with Iran, but emphasized: The US has not heard a commitment from Tehran to give up nuclear weapons. "One thing I am certain of is that I will never allow the world's chief sponsor of terror to get nuclear weapons. I cannot allow that to happen," the US president said.

Trump also said the duties are "saving the country" because of "the money we're getting" and suggested that revenue from the duties could one day replace income taxes. The Supreme Court ruled several days later that some of the duties set for 2025 were illegal, after which Trump announced a 10 percent duty on imports from all countries for 150 days. On Saturday, he said he would raise the duty to 15 percent.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has given Anthropic a deadline of February 27 to give the military broad access to its AI models, CNBC writes. Otherwise, the Pentagon may recognize the company as a "supply chain risk" or apply the Defense Production Act, which allows the government to control industries in the interest of national security.

The TV station notes that the parties' negotiations had previously reached an impasse, with Anthropic demanding assurances that its models would not be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance, while the US Defense Department insists on agreeing to "all legitimate use scenarios."

Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees and known for modeling Claude, was previously awarded a $200 million Pentagon contract and until recently was the only AI company allowed to operate on the department's classified networks. However, Axios reported in mid-February that the Pentagon was close to severing its partnership with Anthropic and may recognize the startup as a supply chain risk. The U.S. Defense Ministry was not satisfied with restrictions on the use of Anthropic's technology for military purposes, the publication explained.

Warner Bros. Discovery said Paramount's new Skydance offer could be more favorable than its current agreement with Netflix and paves the way for new negotiations, Bloomberg writes. The board has not yet deemed it "better," but if it deems the updated terms superior to the Netflix deal, the streaming giant will have four business days to either raise the price or otherwise improve its terms.

Paramount's offer, valued at about $108 billion including debt, includes a premium for delayed regulatory approval and compensation of $7 billion if the deal is blocked, as well as a willingness to cover the penalty for breaking the agreement with Netflix. Netflix's offer is valued at $82.7 billion, but Warner Bros. believes spinning off its cable channels into a separate company would bring additional value to investors.

Bitcoin trimmed some of its morning gains during Trump's speech to Congress, falling back to around $65,500 after jumping above $66,000 - its highest since mid-February, Bloomberg writes. Before the speech, the cryptocurrency was adding more than 3%, Ether was up nearly 5%, Solana and XRP were also rising, but then the major tokens partially squandered gains.

The market was supported by buying on the downside after a recent sell-off triggered by the Supreme Court's decision on Trump's duties and concerns around new 15 percent global duties, the agency points out.

- Japan's broad Topix index was up 1.09 percent, while the Nikkei 225 was up 2.57 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.39%. Mainland China's CSI 300 index was up 0.61%.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was adding 1.66%, while the Kosdaq was falling 0.24%.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.17%.

- S&P 500 futures, Nasdaq Composite futures and Dow Jones Industrial Average exchange-traded contracts were little changed.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor