Washington, DC

1. Lobbying for Canada carveouts
2. Piker dogs Michigan race
3. Ratcliffe’s Russia trip
4. White House infrastructure push
5. Inflation edges up

Nvidia reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with revenue over $96 billion.

Lobbyists go to work for Canada tariff carveouts

Companies that do business with Canada and the lawmakers who represent them are ramping up their lobbying for carveouts from the new US tariffs on Canada. The levies on autos, dairy, and alcohol affect only a sliver of goods, but they could have an outsize impact on select states, particularly when combined with Canada’s retaliatory tariffs. Members including Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, had previously written to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer expressing concern over imports like road salt. Now, those conversations have taken on a fresh urgency, with some like Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, urging Greer to scrap them entirely. “Any business that has a Washington lobbyist on speed dial is looking for a carveout, and I’m telling all of those businesses: ‘You go, girl,’” the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Sandy Baruah said.

— Eleanor Mueller, Nicholas Wu, and Burgess Everett

El-Sayed says Democratic critics are ‘nursing wounds’ from primary

Abdul El-Sayed is chalking up criticism from fellow Democrats to a bitter primary. This week, divisions have emerged in the party over how El-Sayed responded to streamer Hasan Piker’s recent comments about American Jews, and today Michigan’s Democratic attorney general accused him of making excuses for domestic terrorism. “There are a few people who are still nursing wounds or grievances from the primary,” El-Sayed told Semafor after an event today in Ann Arbor. “I get it. Losing is hard.” He hopes they “take their notes from Congresswoman Stevens,” El-Sayed’s primary opponent who threw her support behind him. El-Sayed insisted Democrats were largely unified and added: “Hasan Piker is a streamer in California. You would think if you turned on any media that this whole campaign is about a streamer in California. That’s not what this campaign has ever been about.”

—Nicholas Wu

Trump downplays Ratcliffe’s Russia trip

President Donald Trump confirmed that CIA Director John Ratcliffe secretly flew to Moscow yesterday, an unusual high-level visit as the administration’s efforts to end global conflicts increasingly run through Russia. In an interview with conservative commentator Glenn Beck, Trump minimized Ratcliffe’s trip as “semi-routine,” but teased that “something may come out of the visit,” adding, “We would like to see the war with Ukraine end.” The Kremlin likewise downplayed the visit, saying Ratcliffe did not meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. But the visit isn’t routine — the last time a CIA director visited Russia was in November 2021, shortly before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — and comes as negotiations over both Ukraine and Iran remain deadlocked. As Trump ramps up economic pressure on Iran, Moscow remains Tehran’s close ally: Russian media announced today that the Iranian president is expected to meet with Putin in Kyrgyzstan next week.

— Lauren Morganbesser

Trump’s new affordability push runs on highways, rail

The Trump administration is unveiling a new proposal today aimed at turning the nation’s highways and rail lines into “multi-use” utility corridors that could hold critical infrastructure like transmission wires and water pipelines, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott and Tim McDonnell scoop. The plan, dubbed “America’s Great Corridors of Commerce,” is being billed by the Transportation Department as a “voluntary nationwide opportunity,” and comes as the administration looks for ways to drive down energy costs. The initiative will allow state-level transportation agencies and railroads to lease out land alongside roads and tracks to private-sector companies to develop new infrastructure. It will help “make energy more affordable and fuel American industry for generations to come,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy argued. The Trump administration also billed the proposal as a way to better compete with China, arguing Beijing is ahead in building things like high-voltage transmission lines.

Inflation inched up in July

The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure rose slightly to 3.7% in July, according to new data from the Commerce Department. The figure is slightly above what economists had predicted, and well above the Fed’s target of 2%. Consumers, meanwhile, appear weary: Savings climbed to 3% in July from 2.6% in June, which is still low by historical standards. Consumption was flat when factoring in inflation. Whether the Fed will raise rates or stick with a wait-and-see approach at its next meeting in mid-September is an open question. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s view on what’s driving inflation — whether the Iran war and tariffs are one-off stressors, or the economy is fundamentally running too hot — remains unclear. Fed watchers might get an answer Friday when Warsh speaks at the Kansas City Fed’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Foreign Policy

• The State Department said the US is in touch with the government of Nepal and officials “stand ready to assist” after deadly flash floods.

Congress

• A letter signed by 45 Senate Democrats urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene and stop a “significant surge” of “fatal violence” by West Bank settlers. — Reuters
• Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is leading a probe into Flock, the surveillance camera provider. — Axios

Campaigns

• Democratic Senate candidate Annie Andrews released a poll showing her in a tie with Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., with an accompanying memo arguing for national investment in the race. – Burgess Everett

Courts

• Democratic states filed a new lawsuit challenging President Trump’s executive order limiting mail-in voting.

Technology

• Meta settled with 47 states, agreeing to pay up to $17.1 billion in penalties and make changes to its products over claims of child endangerment.

National Security

• Gen. Randy George, the former Army chief of staff, was urged to halt an investigation into a helicopter flyby of Kid Rock’s home days before being fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. — WaPo

Health

• The Food and Drug Administration cleared a breakthrough drug that targets a mutation associated with pancreatic cancer.
• Some influential MAHA activists are upset with the Trump administration over its support of increased production of the weed killer glyphosate and are opposing Trump’s nominee for Food and Drug Administration commissioner, Heidi Overton. — WaPo
• After federal subsidies lapsed, 440,000 Floridians dropped their Affordable Care Act plans. — AP

World

• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will attend the State of the European Union speech in Strasbourg in September. — Politico

— Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., on falling for her now-fiancé during the tumultuous Senate primary.

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Graph Massara and Lauren Morganbesser, copy editors

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel