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Virginia casinos report $78.5M in June revenue

SUMMARY:

  • Virginia casinos earned $78.5 million in June, down $6.9 million from May
  • in Danville led with $30.57 million in revenue
  • For the month of June, taxes from adjusted revenues totaled about $14.1 million.

June gaming revenues from Virginia’s three casinos totaled $78.5 million, down $6.9 million from May, according to a Tuesday report from the .

Last month, casino reported about $21.44 million in adjusted gaming revenues (wagers minus winnings), of which about $17.24 million came from its 1,397 slots and about $4.2 million came from its 73 table games. (The casino’s temporary facility opened in July 2022, making it the first operating casino in Virginia. The permanent Hard Rock Bristol opened in November 2024.)

Rivers Casino , which opened as Virginia’s first permanent casino in January 2023, generated about $18.6 million in June from its 1422 slots and about $7.85 million from its 84 table games, for a total adjusted gaming revenues of about $26.46 million.

The state’s newest permanent casino, the Caesars Virginia resort in Danville, reported almost $30.57 million in adjusted gaming revenues, with about $23.1 million coming from its 1,451 slots and roughly $7.46 million coming from the casino’s 100 table games. The $800 million Caesars Virginia opened in December 2024, replacing a temporary casino that opened in May 2023.

Virginia assesses a graduated tax on a casino’s adjusted gaming revenue. For the month of June, taxes from totaled about $14.1 million.

Under Virginia law, 6% of a casino operator’s adjusted gaming revenue goes to its host locality until the operator passes $200 million in AGR for the year, at which point the host locality’s tax rate rises to 7%. If an operator passes $400 million in AGR in the calendar year, that rises to 8%.

For June, Portsmouth received 6% of the Rivers Casino Portsmouth’s AGR, getting about $1.59 million. Danville received 6% of the Caesars Virginia casino’s adjusted gaming revenue, amounting to roughly $1.83 million. For the Bristol casino, 6% of its adjusted gaming revenue — nearly $1.29 million last month — goes to the Regional Improvement Commission, which the General Assembly established to distribute Bristol casino tax funds throughout Southwest Virginia.

The Problem Treatment and Support Fund receives 0.8% of total taxes — about $112,997 last month. The Family and Children’s Trust Fund, which funds family violence prevention and treatment programs, receives 0.2% of the monthly total, which was approximately $28,249 in June.

Two more casinos are on the horizon in Virginia.

Construction began on the long-awaited $750 million Norfolk casino in February. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe remains a partner in the venture, but Boyd Gaming replaced Tennessee investor Jon Yarbrough in 2024. A temporary casino is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Developers named Ron Bailey as vice president and general manager for the forthcoming casino earlier this month.

In November 2024, more than 80% of Petersburg voters said yes to the city’s casino referendum. Baltimore-based The Cordish Cos. and Virginia Beach developer Bruce Smith Enterprise broke ground on the much-anticipated $1.4 billion casino in March.

In May, Rivers Casino and Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming announced they are planning to break ground on a $65 million hotel in Portsmouth this summer, more than two years after the casino first opened.

Nvidia to resume highly desired AI computer chip sales to China

Summary

  • approves ‘s exports to China
  • Approval follows months of lobbying by Nvidia CEO
  • H20 chip complies with U.S. restrictions, but is less powerful
  • Nvidia shares rose 4% on news, signaling trade thaw with China

BANGKOK (AP) — Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang says the technology giant has won approval from the Trump administration to sell its advanced H20 computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence to China.

The news came in a company blog post late Monday, which stated that the U.S. government had “assured” Nvidia that licenses would be granted — and that the company “hopes to start deliveries soon.” Shares of the California-based chipmaker were up over 4% by midday Tuesday.

Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run CGTN television network, in remarks shown on X.

“Today, I’m announcing that the U.S. government has approved for us filing licenses to start shipping H20s,” Huang told reporters in Beijing.

He added that half of the world’s AI researchers are in China. “It’s so innovative and dynamic here in China that it’s really important that American companies are able to compete and serve the market here,” he said.

Huang recently met with President Donald Trump and other U.S. policymakers — and is in Beijing this week to attend a supply chain conference and speak with Chinese officials. The broadcast showed Huang meeting with Ren Hongbin, the head of the China Council for Promotion of , host of the China International Supply Chain Expo, which Huang was attending. Nvidia is an exhibitor.

Nvidia has profited enormously from the rapid adoption of AI, becoming the first company to have its market value surpass $4 trillion last week. However, the trade rivalry between the U.S. and China has been weighing heavily on the industry.

Here’s what we know.

What is Nvidia’s H20 chip?

The H20 graphics processing unit, or GPU, is an advanced AI chip — a type of device used to build and update a range of AI systems. But it’s less powerful than Nvidia’s top semiconductors today.

That’s because the H20 chip was developed to specifically comply with U.S. restrictions for exports of AI chips to China. Nvidia’s most advanced chips, which carry more computing power, are off-limits to the Chinese market.

Washington has been tightening controls on exports of advanced technology to China for years, citing concerns that know-how meant for civilian use could be deployed for military purposes. And in January, before Trump began his second term in office, President Joe Biden’s administration launched a new framework for exporting advanced computer chips used to develop AI — in an attempt to balance national security concerns about the technology with the economic interests of producers and other countries.

Restrictions on sales of advanced chips to China have been central to the AI race between the world’s two largest economic powers, but such controls are also controversial. Proponents argue that these restrictions are necessary to slow China down enough to allow U.S. companies to keep their lead. Meanwhile, opponents say the have loopholes — and could still spur innovation. The emergence of China’s DeepSeek AI chatbot in January particularly renewed concerns over how China might use advanced chips to help develop its own AI capabilities.

What’s happened since Trump took office?

In April, just months after Trump took office, the White House announced that it would restrict sales of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China — as well as MI308 chips from rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices.

At the time, the Trump administration again cited national security. But Nvidia said these tighter export controls would cost the company an extra $5.5 billion — and Huang and other technology leaders have been lobbying Trump to reverse the restrictions since. They’ve argued that such limits hinder U.S. competition in a sector in one of the world’s largest markets for technology, and have also warned that U.S. export controls could end up pushing other countries toward China’s AI technology.

Monday’s announcement from Nvidia signals that its lobbyingefforts paid off — although the Trump administration has yet to publicly comment on the future of H20 chip sales in China. And the exact timing remains unknown overall. It’s also unclear whether AMD will similarly see restrictions lifted for its MI308 chips. AMD didn’t immediately return an emailed request for comment Tuesday about how Trump’s policies would affect its chip sales in China.

On top of export controls, California-based Nvidia — like other tech giants today — has been caught in the crosshairs of Trump’s tariff wars abroad, particularly amid America’s tit-for-tat levies with China. But Nvidia and its CEO have garnered Trump’s favor in recent months. In April, the company announced that it would be producing its AI chips in the U.S. for the first time, starting with more than one million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test its specialized Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas.

Trump was quick to applaud Nvidia’s move. He introduced Huang as a “smart cookie” who was helping bring jobs to the U.S. at an “Investing in America” event held at the White House later that month.

Most US stocks fall, but Nvidia keeps Wall Street near records

Summary

  • June rose to 2.7%, up from 2.4% in May
  • Fed may delay rate cuts as price pressures increase
  • jumps 4.3% on U.S. license approval, boosts
  • rise; Dow falls 294 points, S&P edges lower

NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks are falling on Tuesday after an update on inflation hurt Wall Street’s hopes for lower . But indexes are staying close to their records thanks to Nvidia, the market’s most influential stock.

The was down 0.1% in midday trading and just a bit below its all-time high, which was set on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 294 points, or 0.7%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% higher and on track to set another record.

Stocks were feeling pressure from a report showing inflation accelerated to 2.7% last month in the United States from 2.4% in May. Economists pointed to increases in prices for clothes, toys and other things that tend to get imported from other countries. Their prices could be rising because of that President Donald Trump has imposed on countries worldwide in hopes of getting them to open their markets further to U.S. products.

“Inflation has begun to show the first signs of tariff pass-through,” according to Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

To be sure, the inflation rate for June reported on Tuesday morning wasn’t far from what economists expected. And an underlying measure of inflation that economists think is a better predictor of future trends accelerated by less than feared.

Altogether, the data caused Treasury yields to yo-yo a few times in the bond market before they began rising.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.47% from 4.43% late Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for what the will do with short-term interest rates, rose to 3.94% from 3.90%.

A further acceleration in inflation could tie the hands of the Fed, which has kept interest rates on hold so far this year, because lower rates can give inflation more fuel. Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they goose prices higher for stocks and other investments, and Trump himself has been clamoring for the Fed to cut more quickly.

Fed Chair , though, has been adamant that he wants to wait for more data about how tariffs affect the economy and inflation before moving. Following Tuesday’s inflation data, traders are still overwhelmingly betting that the Fed will cut its main interest rate at least once by the end of the year. But they pulled back their bets on the number of potential cuts, compared with a day before, according to data from CME Group.

On Wall Street, tech stocks were the outliers and rose after Nvidia said the U.S. government assured it that licenses will be granted for its again and that deliveries will hopefully begin soon. Nvidia’s 4.3% gain was by far the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500.

Earlier this year, Nvidia said that U.S. restrictions on the chips used in artificial-intelligence development chiseled billions of dollars off its results for the first quarter of the year.

Nvidia’s announcement could also be an encouraging signal for trade talks between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies.

Stocks of big U.S. banks, meanwhile, were mixed following their latest profit reports.

JPMorgan Chase fell 0.9% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected, as CEO Jamie Dimon warned of risks to the economy because of tariffs and other concerns.

Citigroup rose 1.6%, and Wells Fargo fell 5.3% following their profit reports, which also topped analysts’ expectations.

In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped in Europe after a mixed session in Asia. Indexes rose 1.6% in Hong Kong but fell 0.4% in Shanghai after a report said China’s economic growth slowed only slightly last quarter despite pressure from Trump’s tariffs.

US inflation accelerated in June as Trump’s tariffs start to bite

Summary

  • rose 2.7% in June, up from 2.4% in May
  • Monthly accelerated to 0.3% from 0.1%
  • Gas, food, and grocery prices led the increase
  • Rising inflation complicates Trump’s cost-cutting promises

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation rose last month to its highest level since February as President Donald Trump’s sweeping  are pushing up the cost of a range of goods, including furniture, clothing, and large appliances.

Consumer prices rose 2.7% in June from a year earlier, the said Tuesday, up from an annual increase of 2.4% in May. On a monthly basis, prices climbed 0.3% from May to June, after rising just 0.1% the previous month.

Worsening inflation poses a political challenge for President Donald Trump, who promised during last year’s presidential campaign to immediately lower costs. The sharp inflation spike of 2022-2023 was the worst in four decades and soured most Americans on former president Joe Biden’s handling of the economy. Higher inflation will also likely heighten the ‘s reluctance to cut its short-term interest rate, as Trump is loudly demanding.

Trump has often insisted in comments on social media that there is “no inflation” and that as a result, the central bank should swiftly reduce its key interest rate from its current level of 4.3% to around 3%.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation increased 2.9% in June from a year earlier, up from 2.8% in May. On a monthly basis, it picked up 0.2% from May to June. Economists closely watch core prices because they typically provide a better sense of where inflation is headed.

The uptick in inflation was driven by a range of higher prices. The cost of gas rose 1% just from May to June, while grocery prices increased 0.35. Appliance prices jumped for the third straight month.

Trump has imposed sweeping duties of 10% on all imports, plus 50% levies on steel and aluminum, 30% on goods from China, and 25% on imported cars. Just last week the president threatened to hit the with a new 30% tariff starting Aug. 1.

The acceleration in inflation could provide a respite of sorts for Federal Reserve Chair , who has come under increasingly heavy fire from the White House for not cutting the benchmark interest rate.

Powell and other Fed officials have emphasized that they want to see how the economy evolves as the tariffs take effect before cutting their key short-term rate. The Fed chair has said that the duties could both push up prices and slow the economy, a tricky combination for the central bank since higher costs would typically lead the Fed to hike rates while a weaker economy often spurs it to reduce them.

Trump on Monday said that Powell has been “terrible” and “doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing.” The president added that the economy was doing well despite Powell’s refusal to reduce rates, but it would be “nice” if there were rate cuts “because people would be able to buy housing a lot easier.”

Last week, White House officials also attacked Powell for cost overruns on the years-long renovation of two Fed buildings, which are now slated to cost $2.5 billion, roughly one-third more than originally budgeted. While Trump legally can’t fire Powell just because he disagrees with his interest rate decisions, the has signaled, he may be able to do so “for cause,” such as misconduct or mismanagement.

Some companies have said they have or plan to raise prices as a result of the tariffs, including Walmart, the world’s largest retailer. Automaker Mitsubishi said last month that it was lifting prices by an average of 2.1% in response to the duties, and Nike has said it would implement “surgical” price hikes to offset tariff costs.

But many companies have been able to postpone or avoid price increases, after building up their stockpiles of goods this spring to get ahead of the duties. Other companies may have refrained from lifting prices while they wait to see whether the U.S. is able to reach trade deals with other countries that lower the duties.

Supreme Court allows Trump to lay off nearly 1,400 Education Department employees

Summary

  • pauses ruling blocking Education Dept.
  • Trump plan includes cutting nearly 1,400 federal employees
  • Lower court warned move could “cripple the department”
  • Three liberal justices dissented from the high court’s order

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to put his plan to dismantle the back on track — and to go through with laying off nearly 1,400 employees.

With the three liberal justices in dissent, the court on Monday paused an order from U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, who issued a preliminary reversing the layoffs and calling into question the broader plan. The layoffs “will likely cripple the department,” Joun wrote. A federal appeals court refused to put the order on hold while the administration appealed.

The high court action enables the administration to resume work on winding down the department, one of Trump’s biggest campaign promises.

The court did not explain its decision in favor of Trump, as is customary in emergency appeals. But in dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor complained that her colleagues were enabling legally questionable action on the part of the administration.

“When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the , and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it,” Sotomayor wrote for herself and Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said it’s a “shame” it took the Supreme Court’s intervention to let Trump’s plan move ahead.

“Today, the Supreme Court again confirmed the obvious: the President of the United States, as the head of the Executive Branch, has the ultimate authority to make decisions about staffing levels, administrative organization, and day-to-day operations of federal agencies,” McMahon said in a statement.

The Supreme Court has handed Trump one victory after another in his effort to remake the federal government, after lower have found the administration’s actions probably violate federal law. Last week, the justices cleared the way for Trump’s plan to significantly reduce the size of the federal workforce. On the education front, the high court has previously allowed cuts in teacher-training grants to go forward.

Separately on Monday, more than 20 states sued the administration over billions of dollars in frozen education funding for after-school care, summer programs and more.

Education Department employees who were targeted by the layoffs have been on paid leave since March, according to a union that represents some of the agency’s staff.

Joun’s order had prevented the department from fully terminating them, though none had been allowed to return to work, according to the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252. Without Joun’s order, the workers would have been terminated in early June.

The Education Department had said earlier in June that it was “actively assessing how to reintegrate” the employees. A department email asked them to share whether they had gained other employment, saying the request was meant to “support a smooth and informed return to duty.”

The current case involves two consolidated lawsuits that said Trump’s plan amounted to an illegal closure of the Education Department.

One suit was filed by the Somerville and Easthampton school districts in Massachusetts along with the American Federation of Teachers and other education groups. The other action was filed by a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general.

The suits argued that layoffs left the department unable to carry out responsibilities required by Congress, including duties to support special education, distribute financial aid and enforce civil rights laws.

DOJ withdraws from Sentara investigation

SUMMARY:

  • The U.S. has withdrawn from intervening in a whistleblower complaint against Sentara Health, originally launched over allegations of improperly inflating rates in 2018–2019
  • Despite the DOJ’s exit, whistleblowers plan to pursue the case
  • A expert says the whistleblowers face a tougher path without DOJ support

The federal government is withdrawing from intervening in a whistleblower complaint against Sentara Health that alleges the system improperly inflated local insurance rates in 2018 and 2019.

On June 19, the federal government sent a notice of its decision to withdraw its prior notice of partial intervention, and that it is declining to intervene on the matter. The DOJ declined to comment when asked to elaborate on its reason for withdrawing.

“We are pleased that the U.S. Department of Justice has declined to intervene in this matter,” Sentara spokesperson Mike Kafka said in a statement. “We have consistently maintained that the facts and evidence are on our side. At a time when Virginians were at risk of losing access to Affordable Care Act plans, Sentara stood with the commonwealth and quickly extended coverage to a much larger population than we had previously served. We stand by those actions and, if necessary, will continue to vigorously defend ourselves against these meritless claims while staying focused on our not-for-profit mission to improve health in the communities we serve.”

The whistleblower complaint was filed in 2020 by Charlottesville residents Sara Stovall, Ian Dixon and Karl Quist, who were motivated to act after Sentara’s insurance division (now part of Sentara Health Plans) significantly increased rates for 2018 and 2019 health insurance coverage under the federal Affordable Care Act. At the time, Sentara was the only insurer offering health coverage on the exchange in the Charlottesville region.

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil federal investigation into how Sentara set its 2018 and 2019 premiums. The investigation was made public in November 2023, when the filed a petition in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, alleging Sentara withheld relevant documents from government investigators.

Previously, under the Biden administration, the federal government sent a notice on Dec. 20, 2024, to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia saying it intended to intervene on the allegations made by Stovall, Dixon and Quist that Sentara and Optima and Milliman (a Seattle-based independent actuarial and consulting firm that certified Optima’s insurance rates) violated the False Claims Act by making materially false statements and omissions in Optima’s rate filings for the 2018 and 2019 plan years. However, the government at the time also declined to intervene in allegations against Milliman based solely on its marketing and use of its health cost guidelines.

An uphill battle

With the federal government now declining to intervene, the court ordered on July 2 that Stovall, Dixon and Quist must file an amended complaint within 60 days of the order and serve the amended complaint upon the defendants within 21 days of filing it.

Marty Bienstock, a civil litigator representing the whistleblowers, indicated last week that Stovall, Dixon and Quist intend to continue pursuing the complaint.

“The relators and I are absolutely committed to seeing this case move forward, and having Optima, Sentara and Milliman held accountable for fraudulently increasing insurance rates by 81% across the state of Virginia,” Bienstock said in a statement.

Although the federal government declined to intervene, it said the relators — Stovall, Dixon and Quist — can maintain the action in the name of the United States, providing, however, that the “action may be dismissed only if the court and the Attorney General give written consent to the dismissal and their reasons for consenting.”

The court states that if the relators or defendants propose that the action be dismissed, settled, or otherwise discontinued, the court will solicit the written consent of the federal government before ruling or granting its approval.

Attorney John P. Fishwick from Fishwick & Associates says it’s unlikely that the federal government will shut down the case at Sentara’s request, believing it will more likely take a hands-off approach when monitoring the case.

Nevertheless, the DOJ’s withdrawal from the case is “certainly a blow to the plaintiffs. … Because you always want the full might and power of the DOJ when you bring these False Claims Act cases,” Fishwick said. “[The federal government was] firmly planted in the case. They no longer are firmly planted in the case. They have certain veto rights as the case moves forward, but if you’re the plaintiff, you’d much rather have them on your side, helping to investigate the case.”

Fishwick said the plaintiffs can still move forward with the case without the federal government being directly involved, but noted it will be “a tougher hill to climb.” For instance, he added, plaintiffs do not typically get access to evidence the government has collected in an investigation unless the government is involved in the case.

“Plaintiffs can always move forward with the False Claims Act without the government,” Fishwick said. “But it’s always better if you’re the plaintiffs to have the government intervene in the case. They have the right to go forward without them. It’s just more challenging without the government.”

He said the change in presidential administrations from Biden to President Donald Trump is a possible factor in why the government withdrew from the matter.

Seeking damages

According to the original complaint, Stovall, Dixon and Quist are seeking to recover over $200 million in damages and civil penalties on behalf of the federal government from Sentara , Optima Health Plan and Milliman.

The trio alleged Sentara, Optima and Milliman imposed “knowingly fraudulent surcharges,” falsifying calculations and engaging in intentional cost shifting to generate “massive illicit profits.” The complaint accuses Sentara of violating the federal False Claims Act, which prohibits knowingly falsifying records or statements to the U.S. government. Those found in violation are liable for treble damages.

In September 2017, when Sentara announced it would expand the availability of its Optima Health plans in Virginia, the health system said that 70% of existing customers statewide would see their premiums go up just $4 a month on average, thanks to federal subsidies. However, the remaining 30% would see a more significant average increase of 81.8%.

In fall 2017, when Optima was selling insurance plans on the exchange for the coming year, Quist and Stovall found alternative insurance plans outside of Optima, and Dixon signed up for a 2018 Optima small group plan, although he said in an interview with Virginia Business last year that he was forced to hire an employee he didn’t need to qualify for the plan.

The three plaintiffs aired their concerns in a November 2017 interview with The New York Times, and they met with state and federal officials and filed complaints with the state Bureau of Insurance and the American Academy of Actuaries.

In court filings and public statements, Sentara had denied all the plaintiffs’ allegations and has said the company was being a good corporate citizen that stepped up during a politically volatile time to prevent vulnerable Virginians from losing health insurance coverage.

Under fire by Trump over costs, Chair Powell seeks watchdog review of Fed building overhaul

Summary

  • Powell asks inspector general to review Fed
  • $2.5B price tag is $700M over original estimates
  • Trump officials call the project “ostentatious”
  • Renovation controversy adds to pressure on Powell over rates

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chair has asked an inspector general to review the cost of the central bank’s building renovations that White House officials have attacked as “ostentatious.”

A spokesperson for the inspector general, an independent watchdog, confirmed the request and declined further comment. The request was previously reported by CNBC.

The Fed has been renovating two of its office buildings in Washington for several years at a current cost estimate of about $2.5 billion, $700 million more than originally expected. officials have seized on the expense and some alleged amenities in the remodeled buildings to extend their criticism of Powell, whom the president has attacked for not reducing the Fed’s short-term rate.

On Thursday, Russ Vought, the president’s top budget advisor, said that President Donald Trump is “extremely troubled” about the “ostentatious overhaul” and suggested that it may be violating local building rules.

The letter represented a sharp escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to gain greater control over the Fed, an independent agency charged with seeking stable prices and maximum employment. Independence from day-to-day politics has long been seen as a critical element in the Fed’s ability to achieve those goals.

Trump has repeatedly demanded that Powell cut the short-term interest rate that the central bank controls, in part because the president believes it will lower the government’s borrowing costs.

Trump and some of his officials have encouraged Powell to resign, though there is no indication he will leave before his term ends next May.

Amentum to lay off 56 Richmond-area employees

Chantilly-based government contractor is laying off 56 area employees by Aug. 31 due to losing a nearly two-decade old contract with -based tobacco manufacturer .

Amentum, Operation and Maintenance Services, in compliance with the (WARN) Act, notified the state on July 2 of the . The letter, written by Amentum Area Operations Manager Daniel Feldmen, says that Altria notified Amentum that it has awarded the contract to a competing contractor and that 56 employees would be impacted. None of the employees are represented by a union.

Feldman told Virginia Business the contract with Altria had been in place since 2007 and entailed mechanical work, HVAC, plumbing, elevator work, landscaping, snow removal and other forms of maintenance. Work was performed at Altria’s headquarters at 6601 West Broad St., as well as other locations within the Richmond area.

However, Altria has recently conducted an internal evaluation of all of its business operations and, in an attempt to be more efficient, it put the contract out for bid, he said. According to Feldman, Altria awarded the contract to Chicago-based global real estate services company Jones Lang Lasalle.  is likely to hire a majority of the employees being laid off by Amentum, he added.

Neither Altria nor JLL immediately returned requests for comment.

Amentum has more than 53,000 employees in approximately 80 countries across all seven continents. The company was founded as a spinout of AECOM’s Management Services Group in 2020 and moved its headquarters from Germantown, Maryland, to Chantilly in 2023.

US manufacturers are stuck in a rut despite subsidies from Biden and protection from Trump

Summary

  • U.S. factory job growth remains limited despite major federal policies
  • Biden’s subsidies for EVs and chips are slow to deliver results
  • Some Biden-era incentives overturned by GOP-led Congress
  • Trump’s protect some sectors but unsettle others
  • Unpredictability in leaves manufacturers hesitant to invest

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on much, but they share a conviction that the government should help American manufacturers, one way or another.

Democratic President Joe Biden handed out subsidies to and electric vehicle manufacturers. Republican President Donald Trump is building a wall of import taxes — tariffs — around the U.S. economy to protect domestic industry from foreign competition.

Yet American manufacturing has been stuck in a rut for nearly three years. And it remains to be seen whether the trend will reverse itself.

The U.S. reports that American factories shed 7,000 jobs in June for the second month in a row. Manufacturing employment is on track to drop for the third straight year.

The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, reported that manufacturing activity in the United States shrank in June for the fourth straight month. In fact, U.S. factories have been in decline for 30 of the 32 months since October 2022, according to ISM.

“The past three years have been a real slog for manufacturing,” said Eric Hagopian, CEO of Pilot Precision Products, a maker of industrial cutting tools in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. “We didn’t get destroyed like we did in the recession of 2008. But we’ve been in this stagnant, sort of stationary environment.”

Big economic factors contributed to the slowdown: A surge in , arising from the unexpectedly strong economic recovery from COVID-19, raised factory expenses and prompted the to raise 11 times in 2022 and 2023. The higher borrowing costs added to the strain.

Government policy was meant to help.

Biden’s tax incentives for semiconductor and clean energy production triggered a factory-building boom – investment in manufacturing facilities more than tripled from April 2021 through October 2024 – that seemed to herald a coming surge in factory production and hiring. Eventually anyway.

But the factory investment spree has faded as the incoming launched trade wars and, working with Congress, ended Biden’s subsidies for green energy. Now, predicts Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, “manufacturing production will continue to flatline.”

“If production is flat, that suggests manufacturing employment will continue to slide,” Zandi said. “Manufacturing is likely to suffer a recession in the coming year.”

Meanwhile, Trump is attempting to protect U.S. manufacturers — and to coax factories to relocate and produce in America — by imposing tariffs on goods made overseas. He slapped 50% taxes on steel and aluminum, 25% on autos and auto parts, 10% on many other imports.

In some ways, Trump’s tariffs can give U.S. factories an edge. Chris Zuzick, vice president at Waukesha Metal Products, said the Sussex, Wisconsin-based manufacturer is facing stiff competition for a big contract in Texas. A foreign company offers much lower prices. But “when you throw the tariff on, it gets us closer,” Zuzick said. “So that’s definitely a situation where it’s beneficial.”

But American factories import and use foreign products, too – machinery, chemicals, raw materials like steel and aluminum. Taxing those inputs can drive up costs and make U.S producers less competitive in world markets.

Consider steel. Trump’s tariffs don’t just make imported steel more expensive. By putting the foreign competition at a disadvantage, the tariffs allow U.S. steelmakers to raise prices – and they have. U.S.-made steel was priced at $960 per metric ton as of June 23, more than double the world export price of $440 per ton, according to industry monitor SteelBenchmarker.

In fact, U.S. steel prices are so high that Pilot Precision Products has continued to buy the steel it needs from suppliers in Austria and France — and pay Trump’s tariff.

Trump has also created considerable uncertainty by repeatedly tweaking and rescheduling his tariffs. Just before new import taxes were set to take effect on dozens of countries on July 9, for example, the president pushed the deadline back to Aug. 1 to allow more time for negotiation with U.S. trading partners.

The flipflops have left factories, suppliers and customers bewildered about where things stand. Manufacturers voiced their complaints in the ISM survey: “Customers do not want to make commitments in the wake of massive tariff uncertainty,” a fabricated metal products company said.

“Tariffs continue to cause confusion and uncertainty for long-term procurement decisions,” added a computer and electronics firm. “The situation remains too volatile to firmly put such plans into place.”

Some may argue that things aren’t necessarily bad for ; they’ve just returned to normal after a pandemic-related bust and boom.

Factories slashed nearly 1.4 million jobs in March and April 2020 when COVID-19 forced many businesses to shut down and Americans to stay home. Then a funny thing happened: American consumers, cooped up and flush with COVID relief checks from the government, went on a spending spree, snapping up manufactured goods like air fryers, patio furniture and exercise machines.

Suddenly, factories were scrambling to keep up. They brought back the workers they laid off – and then some. Factories added 379,000 jobs in 2021 — the most since 1994 — and then tacked on another 357,000 in 2022.

But in 2023, factory hiring stopped growing and began backtracking as the economy returned to something closer to the pre-pandemic normal.

In the end, it was a wash. Factory payrolls last month came to 12.75 million, almost exactly where they stood in February 2020 (12.74 million) just before COVID slammed the economy.

“It’s a long, strange trip to get back to where we started,” said Jared Bernstein, chair of Biden’s White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Zuzick at Waukesha Metal Products said that it will take time to see if Trump’s tariffs succeed in bringing factories back to America.

“The fact is that manufacturing doesn’t turn on a dime,” he said. “It takes time to switch gears.”

Hagopian at Pilot Precision is hopeful that tax breaks in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill will help American manufacturing regain momentum.

“There may be light at the end of the tunnel that may not be a locomotive bearing down,” he said.

For now, manufacturers are likely to delay big decisions on investing or bringing on new workers until they see where Trump’s tariffs settle and what impact they have on the economy, said Ned Hill, professor emeritus in economic development at Ohio State University.

“With all this uncertainty about what the rest of the year is going to look like,” he said, “there’s a hesitancy to hire people just to lay them off in the near future.”

“Everyone,” said Zuzick at Waukesha Metal Products, ”is kind of just waiting for the new normal.’

European trade ministers pledge unity after Trump’s surprise 30% tariffs

Summary

  • Trump announces 30% on EU goods, effective Aug. 1
  • European trade ministers meet in to coordinate response
  • Denmark’s foreign minister says EU will impose “robust” countermeasures if needed
  • EU remains open to negotiations to avoid trade escalation
  • EU is the U.S.’s largest trading partner

BRUSSELS (AP) — European trade ministers were hopeful Monday for a negotiated trade deal after President Donald Trump announced 30% tariffs on the European Unio n, but also expressed resolve in preparing countermeasures if talks break down.

The ministers met Monday in Brussels following Trump’s surprise announcement of such hefty tariffs, which could have repercussions for governments, companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. The EU is America’s biggest business partner and the world’s largest trading bloc.

“The EU remains ready to react and that includes robust and proportionate countermeasures if required and there was a strong, feeling in the room of unity,” Denmark’s foreign minister, , told reporters after the meeting.

The tariffs, also announced for Mexico, are set to start on Aug. 1 and could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the U.S., and destabilize economies from Portugal to Norway.

Meanwhile, Brussels decided to suspend retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods scheduled to take effect Monday in hopes of reaching a trade deal with the by the end of the month.

The “countermeasures” by the EU, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of its 27 member countries, will be delayed until Aug. 1. Trump’s letter shows “that we have until the first of August” to negotiate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday.

Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade representative in its talks with the U.S., said negotiations would continue Monday.

“I’m absolutely 100% sure that a negotiated solution is much better than the tension which we might have after the 1st of August,” he told reporters in Brussels on Monday. But he added that “we must be prepared for all outcomes.”

“I cannot imagine walking away without genuine effort. Having said that, the current uncertainty caused by unjustified tariffs cannot persist indefinitely and therefore we must prepare for all outcomes, including, if necessary, well-considered proportionate countermeasures to restore the balance in our transit static relationship.”

The letters to the EU and Mexico come in the midst of an on-and-off Trump threat to impose tariffs on countries and right an imbalance in trade.

Trump imposed tariffs in April on dozens of countries, before pausing them for 90 days to negotiate individual deals. As the three-month grace period ended this week, he began sending tariff letters to leaders, but again has pushed back the implementation day for what he says will be just a few more weeks.

If he moves forward with the tariffs, it could have ramifications for nearly every aspect of the global economy. The American Chamber of Commerce in the , an influential industry group representing major American corporations in Europe, said the tariffs could “generate damaging ripple effects across all sectors of the EU and US economies” and praised the EU’s delay of countermeasures.

In the wake of the new tariffs, European leaders largely closed ranks, calling for unity but also a steady hand to not provoke further acrimony.

Just last week, Europe was cautiously optimistic.

Officials told reporters on Friday they weren’t expecting a letter like the one sent Saturday and that a trade deal was to be inked in “the coming days.” For months, the EU has broadcast that it has strong retaliatory measures ready if talks fail.

Reeling from successive rebukes from Washington, Šefčovič said Monday the EU is “doubling down on efforts to open new markets” and pointed to a new economic agreement with Indonesia as one.

The EU top brass will visit Beijing fora summit later this month while courting other Pacific nations like South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, whose prime minister visited Brussels over the weekend to sign a new economic partnership with the EU. It also has mega-deals in the works with Mexico and a trading bloc of South American nations known as Mercosur, and Šefčovič will meet with his counterpart from the United Arab Emirates next week.

While meeting with Indonesia’s president on Sunday, Von der Leyen said that “when economic uncertainty meets geopolitical volatility, partners like us must come closer together.”