🛢️ Axios PM: Slow-mo crisis

💊 Plus: Throwback Rx | Tuesday, March 31, 2026

View in browser   PRESENTED BY AMAZON   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Mar 31, 2026 Hi there, Tuesday readers. Today's newsletter, edited by Alex Fitzpatrick, is 797 words, a 3-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing. ⚖️ Bulletin: A federal judge ordered the Trump administration this afternoon to suspend its construction of the $400 million White House ballroom. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington granted the National Trust for Historic Preservation's request to pause the project unless it's approved by Congress. Recognizing the administration is likely to appeal, Leon suspended enforcement of his order for 14 days. Trump criticized the plaintiff in a Truth Social post after the ruling: "Doesn't make much sense, does it?" Get the latest.     1 big thing: Oil's COVID moment   Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch. Photos: Getty Images The oil shortage triggered by the Iran war will spread globally much like COVID did, Axios' Emily Peck writes. Natasha Kaneva, head of global commodities research at JPMorgan, said in a note that it's a slow-motion crisis: "Much like during COVID, the shock unfolds sequentially rather than simultaneously — a rolling supply disruption moving westward, dictated by shipping times and buffered unevenly by regional inventories." The average gas price in the U.S. is $4.02 today — just a preview of more pain to come. Prices could get high enough to force people and companies to stop using oil — "to get a whole bunch of cars and trucks off the road, ships off the seas, planes out of the sky, et cetera," economics journalist Peter Coy writes. Data: AAA. Chart: Sara Wise/Axios 🚢 Ships carrying oil from the Persian Gulf first reach Asia, then Europe, then the U.S., about 40 days after leaving. Asia is feeling the squeeze of lost supply, but the pain is still muted elsewhere. President Trump is signaling he wants to wrap things up. But he has sent mixed messages — and the U.S. operation may end without unclogging the Strait of Hormuz. (More from Barak Ravid.) 🌏 The bottom line: Six years after the pandemic, there's another global crisis brewing on the other side of the world — and once again, that reality hasn't quite hit home. Go deeper.     2. Breaking: OpenAI goes retail   Photo illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images   Announced just after today's market close: OpenAI is beginning to let individual investors access its stock, months before the ChatGPT maker is expected to launch its IPO, reports Axios' Dan Primack. OpenAI said today that its shares will soon be included in several ETFs offered by ARK Invest, the Cathie Wood-led firm that previously invested via its venture capital arm. "We are really trying to take to heart our mission, which is AGI [artificial general intelligence, or human-like capability] for the benefit of humanity and thinking about access," says OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar. "Not just access to the technology, but also access to the economic upside that it's driving." 🧮 By the numbers: The AI giant also sold around $3 billion in shares to individual investors in a recent private placement with clients of three "very large banks," as part of a record fundraise announced just after 4 p.m. ET. The $3 billion was part of a new funding round that now totals $122 billion at an $852 billion post-money valuation. (Disclosure: Axios and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI to access part of Axios' story archives while helping fund the launch of Axios into several local cities and providing some AI tools. Axios has editorial independence.) Read the announcement ... Share this story ... Subscribe to Axios Pro Rata.     A MESSAGE FROM AMAZON Meet Ben: He's taking his local shop national with Amazon     About his business: Ben's family has owned Candlestock, based in Woodstock, N.Y., for 55 years. Since taking over, Ben has been working with Amazon to reach customers across the U.S. Businesses in small towns grew sales by more than 30% selling on Amazon. Read his story.     3. ⚡️ Catch me up   UCLA's Lauren Betts celebrates Sunday after advancing to the Final Four. Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/NCAA Photos via Getty Images 🏀 It's a repeat for the women's Final Four, with No. 1 seeds UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina still dancing for the second straight season. Go deeper ... Final Four schedule. 🧑‍⚖️ The Supreme Court sided with a Christian talk therapist who argued that a Colorado law banning the discredited practice of conversion therapy violated her First Amendment rights. Go deeper. 🌶️ Unilever is selling its food business to spice and sauce maker McCormick, Axios' Ryan Barwick reports. The deal creates a $66 billion condiment powerhouse as Big Food refocuses its portfolios. Go deeper ... Get Axios Pro Deals. 💊 Tiger Woods' eyes were bloodshot and glassy, his pupils were dilated and he had hydrocodone pills in his pocket when interviewed at the scene of his car crash in Florida, according to a sheriff's office report. Keep reading.     4. 💊 1 for the road: Throwback Rx   Photo: Carrie Shepherd/Axios CVS Pharmacy's first new drugstore-only, "apothecary-style" location was unveiled yesterday in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood, on the city's Southwest Side, Axios' Carrie Shepherd reports. The new locations, some with bilingual pharmacists, are smaller than usual — 3,000 sq. ft. or less — and only fill prescriptions, offer shots and sell over-the-counter medicine. 🏘️ CVS is planning four more pharmacy-only stores this year in Chicago, with nearly 20 total opening nationwide this year. The first pharmacy-only location opened in Birmingham, Ala., late last year. Others planned for 2026 include Houston, Detroit, Brooklyn and Roxbury, Mass. Read the announcement ... Share this story ... Get Axios Local.     A MESSAGE FROM AMAZON Meet Ben: He partners with Amazon to run his family business     Favorite Amazon tool: "Fulfillment by Amazon has been a massive game-changer for us. Amazon allows us to get products to people overnight or in a day or two." Fulfillment by Amazon costs 70% less on average than comparable two-day premium shipping options by other major U.S. carriers. See more.   📬 Thanks for reading! 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