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Trump to put 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea, new import taxes on 12 other nations

Summary

  • imposes 25% import tax on and
  • take effect Aug. 1, per letters posted on Truth Social
  • A dozen other countries also face new or increased rates
  • Trump warns against retaliation, citing risk of escalation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday set a 25% tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, as well as new tariff rates on a dozen other nations that would go into effect on Aug. 1.

Trump provided notice by posting letters on Truth Social that were addressed to the leaders of the various countries. The letters warned them to not retaliate by increasing their own , or else the Trump administration would further increase tariffs.

“If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25% that we charge,” Trump wrote in the letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.

The letters were not the final word from Trump on tariffs, so much as another episode in a global economic drama in which he has placed himself at the center. His moves have raised fears that economic growth would slow to a trickle, if not make the U.S. and other nations more vulnerable to a recession. But Trump is confident that tariffs are necessary to bring back domestic manufacturing and fund the he signed into law last Friday.

He mixed his sense of aggression with a willingness to still negotiate, signaling the likelihood that the drama and uncertainty would continue and that few things are ever final with Trump.

Imports from Myanmar and Laos would be taxed at 40%, Cambodia and Thailand at 36%, Serbia and Bangladesh at 35%, Indonesia at 32%, South Africa and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 30% and Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Tunisia at 25%.

Trump placed the word “only” before revealing the rate in his letters to the foreign leaders, implying that he was being generous with his tariffs. But the letters generally followed a standard format, so much so that the one to Bosnia and Herzegovina accidentally addressed its woman leader, Željka Cvijanović, as “Mr. President.”

Trade talks have yet to deliver several deals

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump was by setting the rates himself creating “tailor-made trade plans for each and every country on this planet and that’s what this administration continues to be focused on.”

Following a now well-worn pattern, Trump plans to continue sharing the letters sent to his counterparts on social media and then mail them the documents, a stark departure from the more formal practices of all his predecessors when negotiating trade agreements.

The letters are not agreed-to settlements but Trump’s own choice on rates, a sign that the closed-door talks with foreign delegations failed to produce satisfactory results for either side.

Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute who formerly worked in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said the tariff hikes on Japan and South Korea were “unfortunate.”

“Both have been close partners on economic security matters and have a lot to offer the United States on priority matters like shipbuilding, semiconductors, critical minerals and energy cooperation,” Cutler said.

Trump still has outstanding differences on trade with the European Union and India, among other trading partners. Tougher talks with China are on a longer time horizon in which imports from that nation are being taxed at 55%.

Higher tariffs prompt market worries, more uncertainty ahead

The stock index was down 0.8% in Monday trading, while the interest charged on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes had increased to nearly 4.39%, a figure that could translate into elevated rates for mortgages and auto loans.

Trump has declared an economic emergency to unilaterally impose the taxes, suggesting they are remedies for past trade deficits even though many U.S. consumers have come to value autos, electronics and other goods from Japan and South Korea. The constitution grants the power to levy tariffs under normal circumstances, though tariffs can also result from executive branch investigations regarding national security risks.

Trump’s ability to impose tariffs through an economic emergency is under legal challenge, with the administration appealing a May ruling by the U.S. Court of  that said the president exceeded his authority.

It’s unclear what he gains strategically against China — another stated reason for the tariffs — by challenging two crucial partners in Asia, Japan and South Korea, that could counter China’s economic heft.

“These tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country,” Trump wrote in both letters.

Because the new tariff rates go into effect in roughly three weeks, Trump is setting up a period of possibly tempestuous talks among the U.S. and its trade partners to reach new frameworks.

“I don’t see a huge escalation or a walk back — it’s just more of the same,” said Scott Lincicome, a vice president at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank

Trump initially roiled the financial markets by announcing tariff rates on dozens of countries, including 24% on Japan and 25% on South Korea. In order to calm the markets, Trump unveiled a 90-day negotiating period during which goods from most countries were taxed at a baseline 10%. So far, the rates in the letters sent by Trump either match his April 2 tariffs or are generally close to them.

The 90-day negotiating period technically ends on Wednesday, even as multiple administration officials suggested the three-week period before implementation is akin to overtime for additional talks that could change the rates. Trump plans to sign an executive order on Monday to delay the official tariff increases until Aug. 1, Leavitt said.

Congressionally approved Trade agreements historically have sometimes taken years to negotiate because of the complexity.

Administration officials have said Trump is relying on tariff revenues to help offset the tax cuts he signed into law on , a move that could shift a greater share of the federal tax burden onto the middle class and poor as importers would likely pass along much of the cost of the tariffs. Trump has warned major retailers such as Walmart to simply “eat” the higher costs, instead of increasing prices in ways that could intensify inflation.

Josh Lipsky, chair of international economics at The Atlantic Council, said that a three-week delay in imposing the tariffs was unlikely sufficient for meaningful talks to take place.

“I take it as a signal that he is serious about most of these tariffs and it’s not all a negotiating posture,” Lipsky said.

Trade gaps persist, more tariff hikes are possible

Trump’s team promised 90 deals in 90 days, but his negotiations so far have produced only two trade frameworks.

His outline of a deal with Vietnam was clearly designed to box out China from routing its America-bound goods through that country, by doubling the 20% tariff charged on Vietnamese imports on anything traded transnationally.

The quotas in the signed United Kingdom framework would spare that nation from the higher tariff rates being charged on steel, aluminum and autos, though British goods would generally face a 10% tariff.

The United States ran a $69.4 billion trade imbalance in goods with Japan in 2024 and a $66 billion imbalance with South Korea, according to the Census Bureau. The trade deficits are the differences between what the U.S. exports to a country relative to what it imports.

According to Trump’s letters, autos would be tariffed separately at the standard 25% worldwide, while steel and aluminum imports would be taxed on 50%.

This is not the first time that Trump has tangled with Japan and South Korea on trade — and the new tariffs suggest his past deals made during his first term failed to deliver on his administration’s own hype.

In 2018, during Trump’s first term, his administration celebrated a revamped trade agreement with South Korea as a major win. And in 2019, Trump signed a limited agreement with Japan on agricultural products and digital trade that at the time he called a “huge victory for America’s farmers, ranchers and growers.”

Trump has also said on social media that countries aligned with the policy goals of BRICS, an organization composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, would face additional tariffs of 10%.

Dollar Tree completes $1B Family Dollar sale

Chesapeake-based discount retailer on Monday announced it has completed the sale of its business segment to New York-based global asset management firm and Macellum Capital Management, a New York-based investment firm, for roughly $1 billion.

Net proceeds from the sale, previously announced in March, are estimated to total approximately $800 million, comprising $665 million paid at closing and about $135 million resulting from the monetization of cash before closing through a reduction in net working capital. Dollar Tree expects the economic impact of tax benefits from losses on the sale to be about $375 million.

“The completion of this transaction marks a defining moment for Dollar Tree,” Dollar Tree CEO Mike Creedon said in a statement. “With a singular focus on our core business, we are doubling down on what we do best — delivering value, convenience, and discovery to our customers every day. Now more than ever before, we are poised to accelerate our growth, innovate faster, and unlock our full potential as a category leader in value retail.”

Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar in 2015 for $8.5 billion. But last year, the company announced that it would close hundreds of Family Dollar stores.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, previously said that after acquiring the rival chain, Dollar Tree struggled with supply chain issues, poor store locations and other operational difficulties.

Dollar Tree said in May that the Family Dollar property would be led by Duncan MacNaughton, who will serve as chairman and CEO of the discount retail chain, and that Jason Nordin will continue to serve as Family Dollar’s president. The company also said at the time that Family Dollar will continue to be headquartered in .

Dollar Trees shares were trading at $103.75 shortly before 2 p.m. Monday, the highest share price in six months and up from a low of $61.80 in April.

As a standalone company, Dollar Tree says it will grow through initiatives like increasing product variety, adding new stores and working to attract new customers.

Headquartered in Chesapeake, Dollar Tree operates more than 9,000 stores and 18 distribution centers across 48 states and five Canadian provinces, under the Dollar Tree and Dollar Tree Canada brands. The company employs about 150,000 people.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Skanska and FlatironDragados land $1B Long Bridge contract

SUMMARY:

  • and won a $1 billion contract to build the North Project, part of a broader $2.3 billion rail expansion between D.C. and Virginia
  • Skanska will work on replacing the existing two-track rail corridor with a four-track system
  • on the north section starts this month, with construction expected to finish by late 2030

The has awarded a $1 billion construction contract for the Long Bridge North Project to construction company Skanska and heavy civil infrastructure contractor FlatironDragados. The project will increase rail capacity and double the number of tracks going across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., to Virginia.

The Long Bridge North Project is part of the larger $2.3 billion, 1.8-mile to replace and enhance the busy rail corridor from D.C. into Arlington County with a series of linked, four-track modern rail bridges and corridors.

The overall project calls for upgrading the roughly 120-year-old Long Bridge, a two-track railroad bridge that connects Virginia and D.C. and serves as the primary passenger and freight rail connection between the Southeast and Northeast. Owned and operated by CSX Transportation, the bridge operates at 98% capacity at peak times. When more than two trains need to use the bridge, any additional trains must wait until the tracks are clear.

The VPRA has split the project into north and south packages.

The Long Bridge north package that Skanska and FlatironDragados will work on calls for replacing the existing two-track rail corridor with a four-track system, in areas stretching from the southern limit near the shore of the Potomac River, through East Potomac Park, across the Washington Channel — ultimately connecting to the existing rail network near L’Enfant Plaza station in Washington, D.C.

Skanska says the north package’s refurbished eastbound tracks, which currently serve freight and passenger traffic, will primarily serve CSX Transportation freight rail. The company says the newly built western tracks will cater mainly to passenger services provided by the state-supported Amtrak Virginia service, Amtrak’s long-distance service and Virginia Railway Express, a local commuter rail service.

Construction on the north package is scheduled to begin this month and is anticipated to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2030.

“Skanska is proud to be leading the construction team and work for the Long Bridge North Project, which will vastly improve freight and passenger rail service in the Capital Region,” said Michael Viggiano, executive vice president of Civil, in a statement. “With funding in place and planning and approvals now complete, this highly complex and critical infrastructure project is shovel-ready.”

The Long Bridge south package involves building a new two-track railroad bridge across the Potomac River; a 16-foot-wide bicycle and pedestrian bridge over the George Washington Memorial Parkway and the Potomac River; and additional infrastructure between Arlington and D.C.

In January, the VPRA selected Long Bridge Rail Partners — a joint venture comprising Trumbull, Fay, S&B Construction and Wagman Heavy Civil — as the design-build construction partner for the south package. A VPRA spokesperson stated that while Long Rail Bridge Partners has been selected as the vendor, a contract has yet to be signed. The south package is also expected to be completed in 2030.

Skanska USA, the U.S. subsidiary of the Swedish parent company, is headquartered in New York, with 28 offices around the country and 6,500 employees. Globally, Skanska has 27,000 employees. FlatironDragados has operations in the United States and Canada. It has headquarters in both Broomfield, Colorado, and New York.

EU braces for Trump tariff hike as deadline nears

Summary

  • imposed 20% on all EU imports
  • Threatens increase to 50% if no deal by Wednesday
  • Affected goods include food, fashion, and tech
  • Economists warn of broad impact on U.S. and EU markets

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Union expects to find out on Monday whether President Donald Trump will impose punishing tariffs on America’s largest trade partner in a move economists have warned would have repercussions for companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Trump imposed a 20% import tax on all EU-made products in early April as part of a set of tariffs targeting countries with which the United States has a trade imbalance. Hours after the nation-specific duties took effect, he put them on hold until July 9 at a standard rate of 10% to quiet financial markets and allow time for negotiations.

Expressing displeasure with the EU’s stance in trade talks, however, Trump said he would increase the tariff rate for European exports to 50%, which could make everything — from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals — much more expensive in the U.S.

The EU’s executive commission, which handles trade issues for the bloc’s 27-member nations, said its leaders hope to strike a deal with the Trump administration. Without one, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN’s “State of the Union” program on Sunday that “the EU was very slow in coming to the table” but that talks were now making “very good progress.”

Here are important things to know about trade between the United States and the European Union.

US-EU trade is enormous

The European Commission describes the trade between the U.S. and the EU as “the most important commercial relationship in the world.”

The value of EU-U.S. trade in goods and services amounted to 1.7 trillion euros ($2 trillion) in 2024, or an average of 4.6 billion euros a day, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat.

The biggest U.S. export to Europe was crude oil, followed by pharmaceuticals, aircraft, automobiles, and medical and diagnostic equipment.

Europe’s biggest exports to the U.S. were pharmaceuticals, cars, aircraft, chemicals, medical instruments, and wine and spirits.

EU sells more to the US than vice versa

Trump has complained about the EU’s 198 billion-euro trade surplus in goods, which shows Americans buy more stuff from European businesses than the other way around.

However, American companies fill some of the gap by outselling the EU when it comes to services such as cloud computing, travel bookings, and legal and financial services.

The U.S. services surplus took the nation’s trade deficit with the EU down to 50 billion euros ($59 billion), which represents less than 3% of overall U.S.-EU trade.

What are the issues dividing the two sides?

Before Trump returned to office, the U.S. and the EU maintained a generally cooperative trade relationship and low tariff levels on both sides. The U.S. rate averaged 1.47% for European goods, while the EU’s averaged 1.35% for American products.

But the White House has taken a much less friendly posture toward the longstanding U.S. ally since February. Along with the fluctuating tariff rate on European goods Trump has floated, the EU has been subject to his administration’s 50% tariff on steel and aluminum, and a 25% tax on imported automobiles and parts.

Trump administration officials have raised a slew of issues they want to see addressed, including agricultural barriers such as EU health regulations that include bans on chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-treated beef.

Trump has also criticized Europe’s value-added taxes, which EU countries levy at the point of sale this year at rates of 17% to 27%. But many economists see VAT as trade-neutral since they apply to domestic goods and services as well as imported ones. Because national governments set the taxes through legislation, the EU has said they aren’t on the table during trade negotiations.

“On the thorny issues of regulations, consumer standards and taxes, the EU and its member states cannot give much ground,” Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Germany’s Berenberg bank, said. “They cannot change the way they run the EU’s vast internal market according to U.S. demands, which are often rooted in a faulty understanding of how the EU works.”

‘Consequence for many companies’

Economists and companies say higher tariffs will mean higher prices for U.S. consumers on imported goods. Importers must decide how much of the extra tax costs to absorb through lower profits and how much to pass on to customers.

Mercedes-Benz dealers in the U.S. have said they are holding the line on 2025 model year prices “until further notice.” The German automaker has a partial tariff shield because it makes 35% of the Mercedes-Benz vehicles sold in the U.S. in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but the company said it expects prices to undergo “significant increases” in coming years.

Simon Hunt, CEO of Italian wine and spirits producer Campari Group, told investment analysts that prices could increase for some products or stay the same depending what rival companies do. If competitors raise prices, the company might decide to hold its prices on Skyy vodka or Aperol aperitif to gain market share, Hunt said.

Trump has argued that making it more difficult for foreign companies to sell in the U.S. is a way to stimulate a revival of American manufacturing. Many companies have dismissed the idea or said it would take years to yield positive economic benefits. However, some corporations have proved willing to shift some production stateside.

France-based luxury group LVMH, whose brands include Tiffany & Co., Luis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moet & Chandon, could move some production to the United States, billionaire CEO Bernaud Arnault said at the company’s annual meeting in April.

Arnault, who attended Trump’s inauguration, has urged Europe to reach a deal based on reciprocal concessions.

“If we end up with high tariffs, … we will be forced to increase our U.S.-based production to avoid tariffs,” Arnault said. “And if Europe fails to negotiate intelligently, that will be the consequence for many companies. … It will be the fault of Brussels, if it comes to that.”

‘Road could be rocky’

Some forecasts indicate the would be more at risk if the negotiations fail.

Without a deal, the EU would lose 0.3% of its gross domestic product and U.S. GDP would fall 0.7%, if Trump slaps imported goods from Europe with tariffs of 10% to 25%, according to a research review by Bruegel, a think tank in Brussels.

Given the complexity of some of the issues, the two sides may arrive only at a framework deal before Wednesday’s deadline. That would likely leave a 10% base tariff, as well as the auto, steel and aluminum tariffs in place until details of a formal trade agreement are ironed out.

The most likely outcome of the trade talks is that “the U.S. will agree to deals in which it takes back its worst threats of ‘retaliatory’ tariffs well beyond 10%,” Schmieding said. “However, the road to get there could be rocky.”

The U.S. offering exemptions for some goods might smooth the path to a deal. The EU could offer to ease some regulations that the White House views as trade barriers.

“While Trump might be able to sell such an outcome as a ‘win’ for him, the ultimate victims of his protectionism would, of course, be mostly the U.S. consumers,” Schmieding said.

U.S. warns of tariff hikes as Trump deadline nears

Summary

  • U.S. to warn nations may rise Aug. 1
  • ‘s July 9 deadline for trade deals looms
  • Uncertainty grows for businesses and consumers
  • Trump could still extend dealmaking window again

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is stepping up pressure on trading partners to quickly make new deals before a Wednesday deadline, with plans for the United States to start sending letters Monday warning countries that higher tariffs could kick in Aug. 1.

That furthers the uncertainty for businesses, consumers and America’s trading partners, and questions remain about which countries will be notified, whether anything will change in the days ahead and whether President Donald Trump will once more push off imposing the rates. Trump and his top trade advisers say he could extend the time for dealmaking but they insist the administration is applying maximum pressure on other nations.

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Trump would decide when it was time to give up on negotiations.

“The United States is always willing to talk to everybody about everything,” Hassett said. “There are deadlines, and there are things that are close, so maybe things will push back past the deadline or maybe they won’t. In the end the president is going to make that judgment.”

Stephen Miran, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, likewise said countries negotiating in good faith and making concessions could “sort of, get the date rolled.”

The steeper tariffs that Trump announced April 2 threatened to overhaul the global economy and lead to broader trade wars. A week later, after the financial markets had panicked, his administration suspended for 90 days most of the higher taxes on imports just as they were to take effect. The negotiating window until July 9 has led to announced deals only with the United Kingdom and Vietnam.

Trump imposed elevated tariff rates on dozens of nations that run meaningful trade surpluses with the U.S., and a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries in response to what he called an economic emergency. There are separate 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum and a 25% tariff on autos.

Since April, few foreign governments have set new trade terms with Washington as the Republican president demanded.

Trump told reporters Friday that his administration might be sending out letters as early as Saturday to countries spelling out their tariff rates if they did not reach a deal, but that the U.S. would not start collecting those taxes until Aug. 1. On Sunday, he said he would send out letters starting Monday — “could be 12, could be 15” — to foreign governments reflecting planned tariffs for each.

“We’ve made deals also,” Trump told reporters before heading back to the White House from his home in New Jersey. “So we’ll get to have a combination of letters, and some deals have been made.”

He and his advisers have declined to say which countries would receive the letters.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected the idea that Aug. 1 was a new deadline and declined to say what might happen Wednesday.

“We’ll see,” Bessent said on CNN’s State of the Union. “I’m not going to give away the playbook.”

He said the U.S. was “close to several deals,” and predicted several big announcements over the next few days. He gave no details.

“I think we’re going to see a lot of deals very quickly,” Bessent said.

Later Sunday, Trump vowed to impose more tariffs against the BRICS bloc of developing nations, which had condemned tariffs increases at its summit in Brazil. Trump said in a post on his social media platform that any country aligning itself with what he termed “the Anti-American policies of BRICS” would be levied an added 10% tariff.

Trump has announced a deal with Vietnam that would allow U.S. goods to enter the country duty-free, while Vietnamese exports to the U.S. would face a 20% levy.

That was a decline from the 46% tax on Vietnamese imports he proposed in April — one of his so-called reciprocal tariffs targeting dozens of countries with which the U.S. runs a trade deficit.

Asked if he expected to reach deals with the European Union or India, Trump said Friday that “letters are better for us” because there are so many countries involved.

“We have India coming up and with Vietnam, we did it, but much easier to send a letter saying, ‘Listen, we know we have a certain deficit, or in some cases a surplus, but not too many. And this is what you’re going to have to pay if you want to do business in the United States.”

Canada, however, will not be one of the countries receiving letters, Trump’s ambassador, Pete Hoekstra, said Friday after trade talks between the two countries recently resumed.

“Canada is one of our biggest trading partners,” Hoekstra told CTV News in an interview in Ottawa. “We’re going to have a deal that’s articulated.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he wants a new deal in place by July 21 or Canada will increase trade countermeasures.

Hoekstra would not commit to a date for a trade agreement and said even with a deal, Canada could still face some tariffs. But “we’re not going to send Canada just a letter,” he said.

Stocks fall as Trump trade deadline, Musk feud rattle Wall St.

Summary 

  • S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq open lower amid tariff threats
  • drops 6.5% as Musk feuds with , plans third party
  • Trump warns trading partners of Aug. 1
  • Molina Healthcare sinks 6% on rising costs, guidance cut

Stocks on closed broadly lower Monday as the White House stepped up pressure on major trading partners to make deals before punishing imposed by the U.S. take effect.

The S&P 500 fell 0.8% for its biggest loss since mid-June. The benchmark index remains near its all-time high set last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 0.9%. The Nasdaq composite also finished 0.9% lower, not too far from its own record high.

The losses were widespread. Decliners outnumbered gainers by nearly 4-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Tesla tumbled 6.8% for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks as the feud between CEO and President Donald Trump reignited over the weekend. Musk, once a top donor and ally of Trump, said he would form a third political party in protest over the Republican spending bill that passed last week.

The selling accelerated after the Trump administration released letters informing and South Korea that their goods will be taxed at 25% starting on Aug. 1, citing persistent trade imbalances with the two crucial U.S. allies in Asia.

“If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25% that we charge,” Trump wrote in the letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.

Trump also announced new tariff rates on Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos and Myanmar.

Just before hefty U.S. tariffs on goods imported from nearly every country around the globe were to take effect in April, Trump postponed the levies for 90 days in hopes that foreign governments would be more willing to strike new trade deals. That 90-day negotiating period was set to expire before Wednesday.

On Sunday, Trump said he would impose an additional 10% in tariffs against the BRICS bloc of developing nations, which had condemned tariffs increases at its summit in Brazil. In addition to Brazil, the BRICS countries also include Russia, India, China and South Africa.

This latest phase in the trade war heightens the threat of potentially more severe tariffs that’s been hanging over the global economy. Higher taxes on imported goods could hinder economic growth, if not increase recession risks.

“Just bringing back that meaty topic back into focus, after a strong week last week, has given a little bit of a pause in the market,” said Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Asset Management.

The near-term outlook will likely hinge on several key factors like the extent to which trading partners are included in Trump letters, the rate of tariffs, and the effective date of such tariffs, according to analysts at Nomura.

Last week, the Trump administration announced that it reached a deal with Vietnam that would allow U.S. goods to enter the country duty-free, while Vietnamese exports to the U.S. would face a 20% levy. That was a decline from the 46% tax on Vietnamese imports he proposed in April.

“The type of deal struck with Vietnam may be a blueprint for similar countries in the region with economies heavily reliant on large trade deficits with the U.S.,” said Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede.

Monday’s market sell-off came on the first day of trading in the U.S. after a holiday-shortened week.

Nearly all of the sectors in the S&P 500 index closed in the red, with technology, financial and consumer-related stocks among the biggest weights on the market.

Apple fell 1.7%, JPMorgan Chase dropped 1.4% and Home Depot slid 1.1%.

Molina Healthcare fell 2.9% after the insurer lowered its profit guidance due to rapidly accelerating costs. UnitedHealth Group also recently reported a spike in costs that forced it to cut its forecast, sending its stock tumbling in April.

In deal news, software company CoreWeave agreed to acquire cryptocurrency mining company Core Scientific in an all-stock transaction valued at about $9 billion. Shares in Core Scientific sank 17.6%, while CoreWeave fell 3.3%.

mostly rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.39% from 4.34% late Thursday.

The downbeat start to the week follows a strong run for stocks, which pushed further into record heights last week after a better-than-expected U.S. .

All told, the S&P 500 fell 49.37 points to 6,229.98. The Dow lost 422.17 points to 44,406.36, and the Nasdaq slid 188.59 points to 20,412.52.

Stock indexes in Europe ended mostly higher. Asian markets closed mostly lower.

Oil prices fluctuated after OPEC+ agreed on Saturday to raise production in August by 548,000 barrels per day.

U.S. benchmark crude settled 1.4% higher at $67.93 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1.9% to settle at $69.58 per barrel.

This week will be relatively light on economic data. On Wednesday the will release minutes from its policymaking committee’s meeting last month.

The Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, has been insisting that the central bank wants to wait and see how Trump’s tariffs affect the economy and inflation before making its next move on interest rates. While lower rates give a boost to the economy by making it easier to borrow money, they can also give inflation more fuel. That could be dangerous if the Trump administration’s tariffs send inflation higher.

Notes: Eds: UPDATES: with close of US trading.

Trump signs tax cut bill at July 4 White House event

Summary

  • signed a tax and spending bill during event
  • Bill extends 2017 , slashes Medicaid and food stamps
  • Steep $1.2T in safety net cuts; 12M may lose health coverage
  • Boosts as part of GOP priorities

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law Friday after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy.

Flanked by Republican legislators and members of his Cabinet, Trump signed the multitrillion-dollar legislation outside the White House, and then banged down the gavel that House Speaker Mike Johnson gifted him that was used during the bill’s final passage Thursday.

Against odds that at times seemed improbable, Trump achieved his goal of celebrating a historic — and divisive — legislative victory in time for the nation’s birthday. Fighter jets and a stealth bomber streaked through the sky over the annual White House Fourth of July picnic as Trump and first lady Melania Trump stepped out onto the White House balcony.

“America’s winning, winning, winning like never before,” Trump said, noting last month’s bombing campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, which he said the flyover was meant to honor. “Promises made, promises kept and we’ve kept them.”

The White House was hung with red, white and blue bunting for the regular Fourth of July festivities. The United States Marine Band played patriotic marches — and, in a typical Trumpian touch, tunes by 1980s pop icons Chaka Khan and Huey Lewis. The two separate flyovers bookended Trump’s appearance and the band playing the national anthem.

Democrats assailed the package as a giveaway to the rich that will rob millions more lower-income people of their health insurance, food assistance and financial stability.

“I never thought that I’d be on the House floor saying that this is a crime scene,” Democratic leader of New York said during a record-breaking speech that delayed the bill’s passage by eight-plus hours. “It’s a crime scene, going after the health, and the safety, and the well-being of the American people.”

The legislation extends Trump’s 2017 multitrillion-dollar tax cuts and cuts Medicaid and food stamps by $1.2 trillion. It provides for a massive increase in immigration enforcement. Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper projects that nearly 12 million more people will lose health insurance under the law.

The legislation passed the House on a largely party-line vote Thursday, culminating a monthslong push by the GOP to cram most of its legislative priorities into a single budget bill that could be enacted without Senate Democrats being able to block it indefinitely by filibustering.

It passed by a single vote in the Senate, where North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis announced he would not run for reelection after incurring Trump’s wrath in opposing it. Vice President JD Vance had to cast the tie-breaking vote.

In the House, where two Republicans voted against it, one, conservative maverick Tom Massie of Kentucky, has also become a target of Trump’s well-funded political operation.

The legislation amounts to a repudiation of the agendas of the past two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, in rolling back Obama’s Medicaid expansion under his signature health law and Biden’s tax credits for renewable energy.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the package will add $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the decade and 11.8 million more people will go without health coverage.

Trump exulted in his political victory Thursday night in Iowa, where he attended a kickoff of events celebrating the country’s 250th birthday next year.

“I want to thank Republican congressmen and women, because what they did is incredible,” he said. The president complained that Democrats voted against the bill because “they hate Trump — but I hate them, too.”

The package is certain to be a flashpoint in next year’s midterm elections, and Democrats are making ambitious plans for rallies, voter registration drives, attack ads, bus tours and even a multiday vigil, all intended to highlight the most controversial elements.

Upon his return to Washington early Friday, Trump described the package as “very popular,” though polling suggests that public opinion is mixed at best.

For example, a Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that majorities of U.S. adults support increasing the annual child tax credit and eliminating taxes on earnings from tips, and about half support work requirements for some adults who receive Medicaid.

But the poll found majorities oppose reducing federal funding for food assistance to low-income families and spending about $45 billion to build and maintain migrant detention centers. About 60% said it was “unacceptable” that the bill is expected to increase the $36 trillion U.S. debt by more than $3 trillion over the next decade.

Carilion Clinic raises $96M for cancer center

SUMMARY:

  • Carilion has raised $96 million of its $100 million goal for a new cancer center and is seeking help from the public to close the gap
  • The center will double patient capacity and offer advanced treatments by 2027
  • Center aims to provide care locally, keeping patients close to home

has very nearly reached its $100 million goal to build a six-story cancer center in , but it’s counting on public support to cross the finish line.

During Roanoke’s annual Freedom Festival Thursday night, just before the evening’s fireworks, Carilion launched the public phase of its “Reaching Far, Caring Close” campaign. The Roanoke-based announced it has raised $96 million for the planned 257,000-square-foot cancer center over the past six years, but the health system is now asking for the public’s help to close the final $4 million gap.

“Ultimately, this project is by our community, for our community, which I think is what makes this so special,” said Lindsay Collins, vice president of oncology services at Carilion. “It’s really cool to be a part of because there was a lot of skepticism around whether we would get to this $100 million within our kind of smaller community. … It’s a big number. And so, we’re really excited to be this close. It feels tangible at this point.”

Launching the public campaign the night of the festival, she said, is “a great symbol of our partnership with the city.”

The health system broke ground on the new center in October 2024, and it is currently on track for completion in October 2027.

Once complete, the new building will replace Carilion’s 42-year-old cancer facility on South Jefferson Street, growing space from 40,000 to 250,000 square feet, doubling patient capacity and introducing advanced treatments and clinical trials previously unavailable in the area. The new building will be located on Carilion’s Riverside campus.

Furthermore, Carilion states that the center will offer comprehensive services for both adult and pediatric patients, advanced technology, clinical trials and multidisciplinary care teams, as well as support services tailored to the needs of patients and their families. Blue Ridge Cancer Care, which partners with Carilion to provide medical and radiation oncology services at the existing facility, will continue to provide care in the new facility.

Collins describes the planned center as “a beacon of hope and healing.” For her, the completion of the center is personal.

“I lost my dad to cancer nine years ago,” Collins told Virginia Business Tuesday before the public campaign launch. “His birthday is actually tomorrow, so it’s going to be a really bittersweet moment tonight, but we had to leave Roanoke to go get care, because there weren’t the specialists here that were needed to manage his type of cancer.”

Collins said it’s a challenge for cancer patients and their families to have to seek care far away from home, as it uproots their lives and may cause them to be separated from their support systems.

“How amazing will it be when our community doesn’t have to make that choice anymore? That they can stay here and get world-class care, and that they don’t have to leave their support systems and their friends or their job or their children to be able to get the care that they think they need,” she said. “We’re going to have it all right here, and it’s going to be under one roof. It’s going to be beautiful, it’s going to be high tech, it’s going to feel comfortable. If one person doesn’t have to experience what my family had to experience, it’ll all be worth it.”

Carilion currently treats about 3,500 patients for different forms of cancer each year, although Collins said she expects that number to grow.

The center bears the name of former Advance Auto Parts CEO Nicholas Taubman, a past U.S. ambassador to Romania, and his wife, Jenny, who donated $25 million to the project in 2024.

HDR, an employee-owned design firm with headquarters in Nebraska, worked with Carilion oncology teams to design the building.

Collins said the health system is still working on determining how many additional staff will be needed to accommodate the new building.

A  organization serving nearly 1 million patients in Virginia through hospitals, outpatient specialty centers and primary care practices, Carilion Clinic has more than 13,000 employees.

House passes Trump’s $4.5T tax cut and spending bill

Summary

  • House approves ‘s $4.5T tax and spending package
  • Includes $1.2T in cuts to federal government programs
  • GOP overcame internal opposition to pass the bill
  • stalled vote with 8-hour floor speech

WASHINGTON (AP) — propelled President Donald Trump’s big trillion-dollar tax breaks and spending cuts bill to final passage Thursday in , overcoming multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package before a Fourth of July deadline.

The tight roll call, 218-214, came at a potentially high political cost, with two Republicans joining all Democrats opposed. GOP leaders worked overnight and the president himself leaned on a handful of skeptics to drop their opposition and send the bill to him to sign into law. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York delayed voting for more than more than eight hours by seizing control of the floor with a record-breaking speech against the bill.

“You get tired of winning yet?” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., invoking Trump as he called the vote.

“With one big beautiful bill we are going to make this country stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before,” he said. Republicans celebrated with a rendition of the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.,” a song the president often plays at his rallies, during a ceremony afterward.

The outcome delivers a milestone for the president, by his Friday goal, and for his party. It was a long-shot effort to compile a lengthy list of GOP priorities into what they called his “one big beautiful bill,” an 800-plus page measure. With Democrats unified in opposition, the bill will become a defining measure of Trump’s return to the White House, aided by Republican control of Congress.

Tax breaks and safety net cuts

At its core, the package’s priority is $4.5 trillion in tax breaks enacted in 2017 during Trump’s first term that would expire if Congress failed to act, along with new ones. This includes allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and a $6,000 deduction for most older adults earning less than $75,000 a year.

There’s also a hefty investment, some $350 billion, in national security and Trump’s deportation agenda and to help develop the “Golden Dome” defensive system over the U.S.

To help offset the lost tax revenue, the package includes $1.2 trillion in cutbacks to the Medicaid  and food stamps, largely by imposing new work requirements, including for some parents and older people, and a major rollback of green energy tax credits.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the package will add $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the decade and 11.8 million more people will go without health coverage.

“This was a generational opportunity to deliver the most comprehensive and consequential set of conservative reforms in modern history, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the House Budget Committee chairman.

Democrats united against the big ‘ugly bill’

Democrats unified against the bill as a tax giveaway to the rich paid for on the backs of the working class and most vulnerable in society, what they called “trickle down cruelty.”

Jeffries began the speech at 4:53 a.m. EDT and finished at 1:37 p.m. EDT, 8 hours, 44 minutes later, a record, as he argued against what he called Trump’s “big ugly bill.”

“We’re better than this,” said Jeffries, who used a leader’s prerogative for unlimited debate, and read letter after letter from Americans writing about their reliance of the health care programs.

“I never thought that I’d be on the House floor saying that this is a crime scene,” Jeffries said. “It’s a crime scene, going after the health, and the safety, and the well-being of the American people.”

And as Democrats, he said, “We want no part of it.”

Tensions ran high. As fellow Democrats chanted Jeffries’ name, a top Republican, Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, called his speech “a bunch of hogwash.”

Hauling the package through the Congress has been difficult from the start. Republicans have struggled mightily with the bill nearly every step of the way, quarreling in the House and Senate, and often succeeding only by the narrowest of margins: just one vote.

The Senate passed the package days earlier with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie vote. The slim majority in the House left Republicans little room for defections.

Once Johnson gaveled the tally, Republicans cheered “USA!” and flashed Trump-style thumbs-up to the cameras.

Political costs of saying no

Despite their discomfort with various aspects of the sprawling package, in some ways it became too big to fail — in part because Republicans found it difficult to buck Trump.

As Wednesday’s stalled floor action dragged overnight, Trump railed against the delays.

“What are the Republicans waiting for???” the president said in a midnight post.

Johnson relied heavily on White House Cabinet secretaries, lawyers and others to satisfy skeptical GOP holdouts. Moderate Republicans worried about the severity of cuts while conservatives pressed for steeper reductions. Lawmakers said they were being told the administration could provide executive actions, projects or other provisions in their districts back home.

The alternative was clear. Republicans who staked out opposition to the bill, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, were being warned by Trump’s well-funded political operation. Tillis soon after announced he would not seek reelection.

Massie voted against it, as did Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who was concerned about cuts to Medicaid.

Rollback of past presidential agendas

In many ways, the package is a repudiation of the agendas of the last two Democratic presidents, a chiseling away at the Medicaid expansion from Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, and a pullback of Joe Biden’s climate change strategies in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Democrats have described the bill in dire terms, warning that cuts to Medicaid, which some 80 million Americans rely on, would result in lives lost. Food stamps that help feed more than 40 million people would “rip food from the mouths of hungry children, hungry veterans and hungry seniors,” Jeffries said.

Republicans say the tax breaks will prevent a tax hike on households and grow the economy. They maintain they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse.

The Tax Policy Center, which provides nonpartisan analysis of tax and budget policy, projected the bill would result next year in a $150 tax break for the lowest quintile of Americans, a $1,750 tax cut for the middle quintile and a $10,950 tax cut for the top quintile. That’s compared with what they would face if the 2017 expired.

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US stocks tick higher and yields leap as Wall Street sees little chance for a July rate cut (UPDATED)

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are climbing further into record heights on Thursday after a report showed the U.S. job market looks stronger than expected.

The was up 0.8% in midday trading and on track to set an all-time high for the fourth time in five days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 334 points, or 0.8%, as of 11:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1% higher.

Stocks of companies whose profits can get the biggest boosts when workers are feeling confident helped lead the way, including travel providers. Expedia climbed 4.1%, United Airlines rose 2.1% and Norwegian Cruise Line steamed 3.2% higher.

Bank stocks were also strong, with Wells Fargo up 1.6%, and JPMorgan Chase up 1.6%.

The reaction was bigger in the bond market following the report from the U.S. government, which said employers added 147,000 more jobs to their payrolls last month than they cut. The unexpected acceleration in hiring signals the U.S. job market is holding up despite worries about how President Donald ‘s  may hurt the economy and inflation.

“There is nothing to complain about here,” according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. “You cannot find any evidence of a nascent recession in these figures.”

A separate report, meanwhile, said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication of easing layoffs.

Yields jumped in the bond market as investors bet the better-than-expected data could keep the on hold when it comes to , instead of cutting them like Trump has been loudly calling for.

Traders in the futures market now see less than a 5% chance that the Fed could cut its main interest rate at its next meeting later this month. That’s down sharply from the nearly 24% chance they saw just a day earlier, according to data from CME Group.

The Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, has been insisting that he wants to wait and see how Trump’s tariffs affect the economy and inflation before making its next move. While lower rates give a boost to the economy by making it easier to borrow money, they can also give inflation more fuel. And that could be dangerous if Trump’s tariffs are about to send inflation higher.

Many of Trump’s stiff proposed taxes on imports are currently on pause, but they’re scheduled to kick into effect next week unless Trump reaches deals with other countries to lower them.

Many U.S. companies in the services industries are still saying they’re concerned about the impacts of tariffs, even if they returned to growth last month following May’s contraction, according to the most recent survey by the Institute for Supply Management.

“Increased cost from tariffs and the potential for tariffs is impacting cost increases,” one company in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry said in the survey.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.33% from 4.30% late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more closely with expectations for the Fed, jumped even more. It climbed to 3.87% from 3.78%.

On Wall Street, Datadog rallied 15% after learning that its stock will join the widely followed S&P 500 index before trading begins on Wednesday. Many managers of funds either directly mimic or at least compare themselves against the S&P 500, which drives investment into any stock that joins the index.

Datadog will replace Juniper Networks, which combined with Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a merger.

On the losing side of Wall Street were companies that can feel pain from interest rates staying high.

Homebuilders would like rates to fall in order to make mortgages cheaper to get, for example, and Lennar sank 3.7%, while D.R. Horton dropped 2.7%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. ‘s Kospi climbed 1.3%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6% for two of the bigger moves.

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AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.

Notes: Eds: UPDATES: with close of US trading;