HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Stalling on the Street. William Blair downgraded Tesla’s stock — which fell substantially Monday — amid CEO Elon Musk’s politics, lost EV tax credits, and shrinking regulatory revenue.

Libert-EV and justice for all. Musk said he’s starting a third political party, the America Party, as his squabbles with the president over the recent tax bill escalate.

Stars and stripes and swipes. As a TikTok sale deadline looms, the company behind the Chinese-owned app is reportedly working on a U.S.-specific version of its platform.

Crude awakenings. Crude oil prices are up after OPEC+ announced that it will increase oil production by 548,000 barrels per day in August due to “a steady global economic outlook.”

Laid off by loopholes. A time bomb in the tax code that helped fuel mass layoffs has hammered small businesses, and a fix from Washington is now coming much too late.

Cooked in China. Peter Navarro criticized Apple CEO Tim Cook for not moving production out of China quickly enough, calling its exit “the longest-running soap opera in Silicon Valley.”

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A PAPER TRAIL OF TRADE THREATS

President Donald Trump is cranking up the trade war rhetoric with a new set of letters, this time warning South Korea and Japan that they’ll face 25% tariffs starting August 1. The letters, posted on Truth Social, invite these nations to “participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States” — all while quietly slapping a hefty price tag on their exports.

Japan and South Korea aren’t exactly new to the trade game with the U.S. Both have free trade agreements in place — South Korea’s dating back to the George W. Bush era — and Trump himself made some updates during his first term. But this is different. This is Trump 2.0, launching a series of notes (more to come, reportedly) detailing tariffs for countries as diverse as Malaysia, Kazakhstan, and Myanmar, with a deadline that could disrupt everything before August even hits.

While the letters sound stern, Trump said there’s an opening for negotiation. “These tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your country,” he wrote — a little flexibility in the face of trade chaos. It’s unclear whether any real negotiations will follow, though, as Trump's tariff threats remain tied to his whims — and as the administration’s previous trade deals (no 90 deals in 90 days, as was promised) haven’t exactly inspired confidence.

Stocks took a hit in response to the latest moves, with the Dow dropping 500 points and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also seeing losses. Meanwhile, trade experts warn that countries have little incentive to negotiate when deals can be scrapped by a tweet — or, in this case, a letter.

What’s the bigger picture here? A trade war that won’t die, even as markets and businesses feel the heat. As one expert put it, tariffs could add a whopping $50 billion in annual costs to U.S. businesses and consumers. All of this makes one thing clear: August 1 might be the day this trade saga takes an even bigger turn. Quartz’s Joseph Zeballos-Roig has more on what happens when tariffs are a tweet away from reality.

THE ART OF NO DEALS

Trump is threatening a fresh 10% tariff on exports from any country “aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies” of BRICS (a name originally for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) — a vague social media warning that somehow managed to be both globally menacing and grammatically confusing. The post, lobbed onto Truth Social over the weekend, didn’t cite a specific policy offense, but it followed a BRICS summit where members (which now include Iran, Egypt, and Indonesia) criticized military actions in Iran and Israel’s presence in Gaza.

This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to bend trade policy into a blunt-force political weapon. After promising 90 trade deals in 90 days back in April — alongside sweeping tariffs that were then quickly and abruptly paused — the administration has produced just two partial deals, with Vietnam and the U.K., ahead of the self-imposed July 9 deadline. Trump is now floating a new deadline: August 1. In a separate Sunday post, the president said his administration would begin sending out “UNITED STATES TARIFF Letters,” warning of duties of up to 70% if countries don’t get in line.

The letters, per Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, are less of a trigger and more of a warning shot — like a ransom note in all-caps Comic Sans. Negotiations are in limbo: The E.U. is nearing a deal but wants carve-outs for pharma and chips; talks with Canada have been suspended; and Japan, once in tense discussions, has all but ghosted the U.S. Meanwhile, China has seen restrictions quietly ease, even as the rhetoric remains loud enough to rattle a semiconductor fab.

As the gap between the administration’s pronouncements and policy reality widens, one thing is clear: This trade war reboot is running on rhetoric, not victories. Quartz’s Catherine Baab has more on what’s next when a deadline might just be a dare.

A MESSAGE FROM KANTA

INTELLIGENT INNOVATION

AI is revolutionizing marketing, but what about innovation, a space where human curiosity and creativity have always led the way?

DOWNLOAD NOW!

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

INTELLIGENT INNOVATION

A PAPER TRAIL OF TRADE THREATS

THE ART OF NO DEALS

INTELLIGENT INNOVATION

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