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|  |  | Thursday, July 10, 2025 | | .jpg) |  | | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images | | Good morning, Quartz readers! |
| | HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW | | Pen pals! President Donald Trump has issued another round of tariff threat letters, sending memos to six more countries — none of which are major trade partners. |
| | Trillion-dollar baby. Nvidia briefly reached a milestone on Tuesday — a record $4 trillion market cap — cementing its dominance in one of the most lucrative tech revolutions in decades. |
| | From exec to ex. CEO Linda Yaccarino announced her resignation from
Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, after two years — with no indications as to why she’s stepping down. |
| | Core exec peels away. Apple COO Jeff Williams is stepping down from his
role later this month and then retiring at the end of the year after three decades with the company. |
| | Brewing interest. Private equity firms are lining up to buy a stake in
Starbucks’ China business, with big names submitting offers for a unit that could be valued at about $10 billion. |
| | Ctrl-alt-compete. Nvidia-backed Perplexity just launched an AI-powered
browser called Comet, which is built to replace traditional browsing with agentic AI — and to take on Google Chrome. |
| | A MESSAGE FROM THE RUNDOWN AI | .jpg) | THE RUNDOWN AI IN YOUR INBOX | Get the latest AI news, understand why it matters, and learn how to apply it to your work. Join 1,000,000-plus readers from companies such as Apple, OpenAI, and NASA. | | | DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN | President Donald Trump’s trade-war theater returned for an encore this week, but markets have responded with a collective shrug. Despite the White House firing off tariff threat letters and floating sky-high levies — 50% on copper, up to 200% on pharma — investors have barely blinked. On Tuesday, the S&P
inched up. On Wednesday morning, futures nudged higher. The message? Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us every quarter with tariff talk, and we’ll be over here watching earnings instead.
Wall Street has learned to separate Trump’s trade drama from trade policy. A nickname has even emerged for the routine: “TACO,” short for “Trump Always Chickens Out.” The name has some legs to it. The president initially set a July 9 deadline for trade deals, then quietly extended it to August 1
after only two partial deals (with Vietnam and the U.K.) materialized. UBS analysts say this round of saber-rattling looks more like leverage than a lunge into full-scale economic warfare.
Still, copper prices surged 13% on the threat, and semiconductors may be next in line for levies. But equities? Steady. UBS, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America have all noted that investors seem to be pricing in a zero chance of actual implementation — a dangerous bit of optimism if August 1
arrives and Trump suddenly follows through.
With trade tensions swirling, markets are keeping one eye on the Fed and the other on second-quarter earnings. Big banks are set to report, and expectations are high; meanwhile, June’s Fed minutes dropped on Wednesday. So far, the tariffs have led to headline fireworks without much fire. But with enforcement threats hanging in the summer air like the smell of burnt popcorn, the risk isn’t gone — it’s just discounted. Whether this is Trump’s
opening act or another feint remains to be seen. One thing’s for sure: August 1 just became Wall Street’s next episode of must-see TV. Quartz’s Shannon Carroll has more on whether TACO Tuesdays are turning into tariff
Thursdays.
| | LETTER RIP | In early April, Trump gave himself a mission: to strike 90 trade deals in 90 days — or, by July 9. That deadline was yesterday — and unless you count typo-ridden letters as signed agreements, the scoreboard looks rough. Just
two partial deals have been announced. The rest? Well, maybe they got lost in transit.
Instead of locking in sweeping trade frameworks, the Trump administration quietly kicked the deadline to August 1 and has issued tariff threat letters to countries ranging from Japan and South Korea to Tunisia and Kazakhstan. Trump insisted on Truth Social that “a letter means a deal” and that the new deadline “will not change.” For those keeping track: It already
has.
The letters outline the tariffs that countries will face if negotiations fall through. But they’ve also raised questions: Why these countries? Why now? One theory is that the administration is targeting midsize economies to combat transshipping and fine-tune its pressure tactics before going after bigger players such as India and the EU. Another theory: The letters are more performance than policy.
Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent reportedly urged the deadline shift, citing progress in talks with key partners. Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says another batch of letters could land this week — presumably proof of diplomatic momentum, if not an actual agreement. As Axios’ Neil Irwin put it, we’re stuck in a “liminal state” — one where tariffs are always about to happen… but somehow never do.
| | A MESSAGE FROM THE RUNDOWN AI | | THE RUNDOWN AI IN YOUR INBOX | Get the latest AI news, understand why it matters, and learn how to apply it to your work. Join 1,000,000-plus readers from companies such as Apple, OpenAI, and NASA. | | | MORE FROM QUARTZ | |
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