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Worries over military chopper routes, FAA staffing levels emerge as factors in midair crash inquiry

  

SUMMARY:  

  • probes January crash over Potomac that killed 67  
  • Focus on Army helicopter use of crowded D.C. airspace 
  • Air traffic control staffing and visual separation under review 
  • Nation’s deadliest air crash since 2001 raises systemic concerns 

 

Long-standing concerns about military helicopters flying in crowded airspace and worries over short staffing among federal aviation workers emerged Thursday as key factors in investigators’ inquiry into the fatal midair crash between an Army helicopter and a commercial airliner earlier this year.

During the second of three days of witness testimony and public inquiry by the National Transportation Safety Board into the January midair crash over the Potomac River, the board focused on air traffic control.

The NTSB heard Thursday that it was common for pilots to ask to use visual separation — basically relying on their eyesight — just as the Army Black Hawk’s pilot agreed to do the night of the crash. officials also said controllers relied heavily on pilots using visual separation as a way to manage the complex airspace with so many helicopters flying around

But Rick Dressler, an official with medevac operator Metro Aviation, told the board it is difficult to identify other aircraft in the night sky around Ronald Reagan National Airport, especially if an onboard locator system was switched off, as Army choppers routinely did.

Dressler said that he and other civilian helicopter pilots in the area have long been concerned about the Army and Air Force helicopters flying around Reagan airport.

“I don’t like saying this. I’ll say it again on the record,” Dressler, a former Army aviator and retired Air Force officer, said. “I’m speaking for my group there. We we are all very uncomfortable when those two units are operating.”

Clark Allen, an FAA training manager in the Washington area who worked in the tower at Reagan National Airport, said it was common for visual separation to be used daily between helicopter pilots and commercial traffic.

The Department of Defense referred questions about Thursday’s testimony to the Army, who did not immediately respond.

The Air Force also did not immediately respond to questions about Dressler’s remarks.

The American Airlines jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas, carrying, among others, a group of elite young figure skaters, their parents and coaches, and four union steamfitters from the Washington area.

The collision was the nation’s deadliest plane crash since November 2001 and was the first in a string of crashes and near misses this year that have alarmed officials and the traveling public, despite statistics that still show flying remains the safest form of transportation.

It’s too early for the board to identify what exactly caused the crash. The board’s final report won’t be released until sometime next year.

Staffing worries

James Jarvis helped evaluate the operations at Reagan airport for several years. He said that at one point when his group visited the airport for an evaluation in 2022, the airport was so far out of compliance on more than 33 different items that the audit was stopped so Jarvis and the other experts could help the facility identify where to improve.

Jarvis said that he was concerned about staffing levels at the airport dating back to 2016 or 2017 — particularly the lack of support staff. That meant that the air traffic control staff couldn’t focus on what they needed to because they had to take care of things that support staff would normally handle and might not have had the time needed to manage training. And he said controller staffing levels were always on the low side.

“That was a concern of mine,” said Jarvis who works for FAA contractor Leidos. “At one point I was told to quit bringing it up.”

Final moments on Black Hawk

Communications from on board the helicopter moments before the collision were released as part of the board’s investigation.

The Black Hawk’s crew had been communicating with the airport’s control tower, although the helicopter pilots did not fully hear the controller’s instructions.

The Black Hawk pilots told the tower twice in the minutes before the crash that they had the American Airlines passenger plane in sight and would maintain proper separation. But when the controller instructed the pilots to “pass behind” the jet, the crew didn’t hear that instruction because the Black Hawk’s microphone key was pressed at that moment.

Just before the collision an instructor pilot aboard the helicopter asked the pilot at the controls to come left. But it wasn’t clear if the pilot had time to maneuver the helicopter before the crash.

“Kinda come left for me ma’am,” the instructor said.

The pilot responded: “Sure.”

‘Be fully transparent’

At several points throughout the hearing NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has reminded FAA and Army witnesses that they are covered by whistleblower protections and shouldn’t be disciplined for anything they say.

But she remained concerned about whether witnesses are speaking freely because just before lunch Thursday she ordered the seating arrangements to be changed after noticing a supervisor elbow an FAA employee midsentence during testimony, prompting that person to stop speaking.

“We want people to be fully transparent and feel safe in providing us answers. So we’re going to switch the panelists. I’m not going to put up with that,” Homendy said.

‘Fix it’

On the first day of hearings Wednesday, investigators highlighted the warnings about helicopter traffic that the Federal Aviation Administration received years before the tragedy over the Potomac River.

Homendy urged the FAA to “Fix it. Do better” at the end of a fiery exchange when she highlighted the warnings the agency ignored years earlier. She also suggested the Army adopt a formal policy making it clear that helicopter pilots should never fly under landing planes because pilots told investigators they were doing that routinely.

“Every sign was there that there was a safety risk and the tower was telling you that,” Homendy said.

But there were 21 bureaucratic steps the tower had to follow to get a change made and after the accident the FAA transferred managers out of the tower instead of acknowledging that they had been warned.

“What you did is you transferred people out instead of taking ownership over the fact that everybody in FAA in the tower was saying there was a problem,” Homendy said. “But you guys are pointing out, ‘Welp, our bureaucratic process. Somebody should have brought it up at some other symposium.’ Are you kidding me? 67 people are dead. How do you explain that?”

Concern about distances between planes and helicopters

John Cox, an aviation safety expert and retired airline pilot, said the hearings are headed in the right direction to determine what happened and to prevent similar accidents.

His main concerns focus on the Black Hawk helicopter, including why it was above the 200-feet (61 meters) elevation limit for that particular helicopter route. Another question is why the Black Hawk wasn’t closer to the east bank of the Potomac River, where it would have been further away from landing airplanes.

“I’ve passed helicopters underneath me over the east bank of the Potomac a lot of times,” said Cox, who flew commercial airliners for 25 years. “And there’s always been plenty of separation. It’s not a lot because the space is so constrained. But you’re dealing with professional pilots and it’s not been a problem.”

Investigators said Wednesday the flight data recorder showed the helicopter was actually 80 feet to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) higher than the barometric altimeter the pilots relied upon showed they were flying.

Dollar Tree promotes new chief legal officer

Chesapeake-based announced Thursday that it has appointed John S. Mitchell Jr. as its new and . He will start in the roles Aug. 11.

Mitchell joined Dollar Tree in 2021 as the company’s senior deputy general counsel, after previously working as a partner at the law firm of Williams Mullen.

“John is a highly respected attorney whose sharp legal acumen and steady leadership have guided us through moments of significant change,” Dollar Tree CEO Mike Creedon said in a statement. “He understands our business, our and the importance of protecting and advancing our mission. This promotion from within our ranks is the result of thoughtful succession planning and a clear demonstration of something our Dollar Tree associates often hear me say, ‘Show it’s a career, not just a job.’”

Mitchell succeeds Jonathan B. Leiken, who is leaving Dollar Tree in August after two years. Mitchell earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in from Princeton University.

Earlier this month, Dollar Tree announced it completed the roughly $1 billion sale of its business segment to New York-based global asset management firm and Macellum Capital Management, a New York-based investment firm. Net proceeds from the sale, previously announced in March, are estimated to total approximately $800 million.

Headquartered in , 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.

Virginia firm to build $200M White House ballroom co-funded by Trump

Declaring that President was solving a 150-year-old problem that plagued other presidents, the announced Thursday that it would add a $200 million, 90,000-square-foot to the ‘s mansion — with ‘s leading the building team.

That’s nearly twice the size of the actual White House, which is six stories high and has about 55,000 square feet of floor space.

According to the White House, Washington, D.C.-based McCrery Architects will lead the design process, and Dallas-based AECOM will be in charge of engineering for the structure, which would replace the East Wing.

“The project will begin in September 2025, and it is expected to be completed long before the end of President Trump’s term,” the statement said. Trump’s term is set to end January 2029.

Funding for the , the statement says, will come from Trump “and other patriot donors.” The ballroom will have capacity for 650 seated people, an increase from the East Room’s 200-person capacity, and it will be “substantially separated from the main building of the White House.” However, the announcement says, its architecture will be “almost identical” to that of the White House.

Clark Construction was the general contractor for several phases of Amazon’s HQ2 in Arlington County, as well as George Mason University’s Fuse tech hub on its Mason Square campus in Arlington, and it is overseeing the $800 million overhaul of Washington, D.C.’s Capital One Arena, where the Washington Wizards NBA team and Capitals NHL team play.

The firm has also performed renovations and expansions of federal government buildings, and a decade ago, it built the striking National Museum of African American History and Culture, which won the firm accolades for craftsmanship and construction.

Clark did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

VCU to end gender-affirming youth medical care

SUMMARY:

  • to stop prescribing gender-affirming medication for patients under 19 in three months
  • Decision is based on “national trends,” rather than specific directive

VCU Health announced this week that it would stop providing gender-affirming medical care at for patients under age 19 three months from now.

According to a July 29 statement posted on the hospital’s website, the decision came after “much consideration and based upon current understanding of federal and state directives.”

This marks a change from the health system’s decision earlier this year to halt all surgical procedures for teens while continuing to provide medical care and counseling. Tuesday’s decision will mean that patients will no longer be able to obtain prescribed medications through VCU Health, although counseling services are to continue.

According to state Del. Rodney Willett, D-Henrico, a board member of the VCU Health System Authority, the board did not vote to change VCU’s policy but was informed of the decision by the health system Tuesday.

Since receiving guidance from the governor’s office in mid-February, “VCU has not received any direct correspondence from the state or federal government, but rather, they have been monitoring national trends, including letters sent by the [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] to other children’s hospitals, as well as subpoenas issued by the Department of Justice,” Willett said.

He added that potential loss of federal funding for research as well as the possibility for physicians to be prosecuted for providing to minors were factors in the decision.

Willett said that he and many of his fellow VCU Health board members are “distraught over this attack on health care from the . Families should be able to make health care decisions in consultation with their doctors.”

He added that no health care personnel are expected to lose their jobs with the change in policy. “They’re all still there,” Willett said. “Doctors are upset. It’s hard when health care is denied.”

A VCU Health spokesperson referred to the public statement when asked which executives made the decision and what prompted it.

Over the next 90 days, Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU will “provide support and assist with safe transfer of care for existing patients, considering each youth’s needs with compassion and clinical judgement,” the public statement says.

Shortly after taking office in January, issued an banning institutions receiving federal funding from providing surgical and medical gender-affirming care for patients under age 19. Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares issued an opinion in January advising the two university-affiliated health systems to suspend treatments for teens, even with their parents’ permission, which is required for minors.

After receiving Miyares’ directive, UVA Health and VCU Health suspended all medication and surgical procedures in January, but in February both health systems resumed care for all existing patients but referred prospective new patients to private providers. Virginia LGBTQ+ organizations noted that many of VCU’s and UVA Health’s transgender youth patients rely on Medicaid for health care coverage, which many private doctors do not accept.

Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters also halted gender-affirming treatment in January and did not resume it when VCU and UVA Health did in February. As of Thursday, UVA Health is still offering some gender-affirming care to youth, including medication and counseling but not surgical procedures.

US enters 90-day negotiating period with Mexico as 25% tariffs stay in place

  

SUMMARY:  

  • U.S. and Mexico enter 90-day trade negotiation period 
  • Trump keeps 25% on autos, 50% on metals from Mexico 
  • Sheinbaum says talks averted a tariff hike for 90 days 
  • Trump criticizes as trade gap with Mexico widens 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will enter a 90-day negotiating period with Mexico over trade as 25% tariff rates stay in place, said Thursday.

Trump, posting on his Truth Social platform, said a phone conversation he had with Mexican leader was “very successful in that, more and more, we are getting to know and understand each other.”

The Republican president said that goods from Mexico imported into the U.S. would continue to face a 25% tariff that he has ostensibly linked to fentanyl trafficking. He said that autos would face a 25% tariff, while copper, aluminum and steel would be taxed at 50%.

He said that Mexico would end its “Non Tariff Trade Barriers,” but he didn’t provide specifics.

Trump had threatened tariffs of 30% on goods from Mexico in a July letter, something that Sheinbaum said Mexico gets to stave off for the next three months.

“We avoided the tariff increase announced for tomorrow and we got 90 days to build a long-term agreement through dialogue,” Sheinbaum wrote on X.

Some goods continue to be protected from the tariffs by the 2020 U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA, which Trump negotiated during his first term.

But Trump appeared to have soured on that deal, which is up for renegotiation next year. One of his first significant moves as president was to tariff goods from both Mexico and Canada earlier this year.

Census Bureau figures show that the U.S. ran a $171.5 billion trade imbalance with Mexico last year. That means the U.S. bought more goods from Mexico than it sold to the country.

The imbalance with Mexico has grown in the aftermath of the USMCA as it was only $63.3 billion in 2016, the year before Trump started his first term in office.

Besides addressing fentanyl trafficking, Trump has made it a goal to close the trade gap.

Trump administration cancels plans to develop new offshore wind projects

  

SUMMARY:  

  • rescinds 3.5M acres for wind development 
  • Bureau of Ocean Energy halts lease designations 
  • Wind energy policies reversed in favor of fossil fuels 
  • 17 states and D.C. sue over blocking leases 

 

The Trump administration is canceling plans to use large areas of for new offshore wind development, the latest step to suppress the industry in the United States.

More than 3.5 million acres had been designated wind energy areas, the offshore locations deemed most suitable for wind energy development. The is now rescinding all designated wind energy areas in federal waters, announcing on Wednesday an end to setting aside large areas for “speculative wind development.”

Offshore wind lease sales were anticipated off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Maine, New York, California and Oregon, as well as in the central Atlantic. The Biden administration last year had announced a five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production.

Trump began reversing the country’s energy policies after taking office in January. A series of executive orders took aim at increasing oil, gas and coal production.

The Republican president has been hostile to , particularly offshore wind. One early executive order temporarily halted offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and paused the issuance of approvals, permits and loans for all wind projects. In trying to make a case against wind energy, he has relied on false and misleading claims about the use of wind power in the U.S. and around the world.

The bureau said it was acting in accordance with Trump’s action and an order by his interior secretary this week to end any preferential treatment toward wind and solar facilities, which were described as unreliable, foreign-controlled energy sources.

Robin Shaffer, president of Protect Our Coast New Jersey, applauded the administration for its actions and said they were long overdue. Opponents of offshore wind projects are particularly vocal and well-organized in New Jersey.

“It’s hard to believe these projects ever got this far because of the immensity, scale, scope and expense, compared to relatively cheap and reliable forms of onshore power,” he said Thursday. “We’re nearly there, but we haven’t reached the finish line yet.”

Attorneys general from 17 states and the District of Columbia are suing in federal court to challenge Trump’s executive order halting leasing and permitting for wind energy projects. His administration had also halted work on a major offshore wind project for New York, but allowed it to resume in May.

The nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, a 12-turbine wind farm called South Fork, opened last year east of Montauk Point, New York.

Microsoft’s annual cloud revenue hits $75B, profit beats expectations

Microsoft said Wednesday that annual revenue for its flagship platform has surpassed $75 billion, up 34% from a year earlier.

The Azure cloud business has been a centerpiece of ‘s efforts to shift its focus to artificial intelligence, but until Wednesday the company hadn’t disclosed how much money it makes.

The revelation came in the software giant’s end-of-year . The company also said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit was $34.3 billion, or $3.65 per share, beating analyst expectations for $3.37 per share.

It posted revenue of $76.4 billion in the April-June period, up 18% from last year. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had been looking for revenue of $73.86 billion.

Microsoft launched Azure more than a decade ago, but the product has increasingly become intertwined with its AI ambitions, as the company looks to sell its AI chatbot and other tools to big business customers that are also reliant on its core online services.

But building the infrastructure to power cloud and AI technology is expensive, and Microsoft has looked for savings elsewhere. It has announced  of about 15,000 workers this year even as its profits have soared.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees last week the layoffs were “weighing heavily” on him but also positioned them as an opportunity to reimagine the company’s mission for an AI era.

Promises of a leaner approach have been welcomed on Wall Street, especially as Microsoft and other tech giants are trying to justify huge amounts of capital spending to pay for the data centers, chips and other components required to power AI technology.

Google said after releasing its earnings last week it would raise its budget for capital expenditures by an additional $10 billion to $85 billion. Microsoft is expected to outline similar guidance soon.

NTSB finds Army chopper in fatal midair crash with plane was above altitude limit

  

SUMMARY:  

  • Helicopter in January crash was flying above altitude limits 
  • Altitude-measuring equipment was found to be inaccurate 
  • 67 were killed in the midair collision over D.C. 
  • hearings focus on , Army roles and safety protocols 

 

Investigators probing the January midair collision of a passenger plane and an Army helicopter over Washington that killed 67 people found the chopper was flying higher than it should have been and its altitude readings were inaccurate.

The details came out of the first day of National Transportation Safety Board hearings in Washington, where investigators aim to uncover insights into what caused the crash between the American Airlines plane from Wichita, Kansas, and the Black Hawk helicopter over Ronald Reagan National Airport.

The board opened the three days of hearings by showing an animation and playing audio and video from the night of the collision, as well as questioning witnesses and investigators about how the Federal Aviation Administration and the Army may have contributed to nation’s deadliest plane crash since November 2001.

The board’s final report won’t be released until sometime next year, but it became clear Wednesday how small a margin of error there was for helicopters flying the route the Black Hawk took the night of the nation’s crash.

The January nighttime incident was the first in a string of crashes and near misses this year that have alarmed officials and the traveling public, despite statistics that still show flying remains the safest form of transportation.

Animation, altimeter discrepancy

The hearing opened Wednesday with a video animation showing where the helicopter and airliner were leading up to the collision. It showed how the helicopter flew above the 200 feet (61 meters) altitude limit on the helicopter route along the Potomac River before colliding with the plane.

Investigators said Wednesday the flight data recorder showed the helicopter was actually 80 feet to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) higher than the barometric altimeter the pilots relied upon showed they were flying. So the NTSB conducted tests on three other helicopters from the same unit in a flight over the same area and found similar discrepancies in their altimeters.

Dan Cooper with Sikorsky helicopters said that when the Black Hawk helicopter involved in the crash was designed in the 1970s, it used a style of altimeter that was common at the time. Newer helicopters have air data computers that didn’t exist back then that help provide more accurate altitude readings.

Chief Warrant Officer Kylene Lewis told the board that she wouldn’t find an 80 to 100 foot discrepancy between the different altimeters on a helicopter alarming because at lower altitudes she would be relying more on the radar altimeter than the barometric altimeter. Below 500 feet (152 meters), Lewis said she would be checking both instruments and cross referencing them.

She said as long as an altimeter registers an altitude within 70 feet of the published altitude before takeoff the altimeter is considered accurate under the checklists.

Army officials said a discrepancy of 70 to 100 feet (21 to 30 meters) between the Black Hawk’s altimeters is within the acceptable range because pilots are expected to maintain their altitude plus or minus 100 feet.

The greater concern is that the FAA approved routes around Reagan airport that included such small separation distances between helicopters and planes when planes are landing.

“The fact that we have less than 500 foot separation is a concern for me,” said Scott Rosengren, chief engineer in the office that manages the Army’s utility helicopters.

But Rosengren said that “if he was king for a day” he would immediately retire all the older Black Hawk models like the one involved in this crash and replace them with newer versions of the helicopters.

Questions over the route

Army officials and the head of a local medevac helicopter company that flies around Washington told the board they believed air traffic controllers would never let them fly the helicopter route involved in the crash anytime a plane was approaching the runway.

Chief Warrant Officer David Van Vetchen said after the crash he talked to many of his fellow pilots and everyone had the same assumption that controllers would never allow them to fly across the path of the runway the American plane was approaching before the crash.

Citing the numbers for runways, Van Vetchen said that “100% of the time when I was on route four and 33/15 was active” he would be instructed to hold until after the plane landed or took off from that runway.

‘Stepped on transmission’

During the two minutes before the crash, one air traffic controller was directing airport traffic and helicopters in the area, a task that involved speaking to or receiving communications from several different aircraft, according to the NTSB’s History of Flight Performance Study.

The air traffic controller had spoken to or received communications from the Black Hawk helicopter, an airplane that was taking off, an Air Force helicopter, an airplane on the ground, a medical helicopter and an inbound flight that was not the American Airlines plane that would crash.

“All aircraft could hear the controller, but helicopters could only hear other helicopters on their frequency and airplanes only other airplanes,” the report stated. “This resulted in a number of stepped on transmissions as helicopters and airplanes were not aware when the other was communicating.”

Stepped on transmissions are those that are unheard or blocked because of other transmissions. The NTSB report provides a list of 29 separate communications between the airport tower and other aircraft during approximately the 1 minute and 57 seconds before the collision.

Previously disclosed air traffic control audio had the helicopter pilot telling the controller twice that they saw the airplane and would avoid it. Officials on Wednesday also raised the use of night vision goggles, which limit the wearer’s field of view, on the helicopter as a factor.

The animation ended with surveillance video showing the helicopter colliding with the plane in a fiery crash.

Investigations have already shown the FAA failed to recognize a troubling history of 85 near misses around Ronald Reagan National Airport in the years before the collision, and that the Army’s helicopters routinely flew around the nation’s capital with a key piece of locating equipment, known as ADS-B Out, turned off.

Proposed changes

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican, introduced legislation Tuesday to require all aircraft operators to use both forms of ADS-B, or Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, the technology to broadcast aircraft location data to other planes and air traffic controllers. Most aircraft today are equipped with ADS-B Out equipment but the airlines would have to add the more comprehensive ADS-B In technology to their planes.

The legislation would revoke an exemption on ADS-B transmission requests for Department of Defense aircrafts.

Homendy said her agency has been recommending that move for decades after several other crashes.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that while he’d like to discuss “a few tweaks,” the legislation is “the right approach.” He also suggested that the previous administration “was asleep at the wheel” amid dozens of near-misses in the airspace around Washington’s airspace.

Trump announces 25% tariff on India and unspecified penalties for buying Russian oil

  

SUMMARY:  

  • Trump to impose 25% on Indian goods starting Friday 
  • Additional duties tied to ‘s purchases of  
  • India says it’s reviewing the economic impact of the tariffs 
  • between U.S. and India remain ongoing 

 

 WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will impose a 25% tariff on goods from India, plus an additional import tax because of India’s purchasing of Russian oil, President said Wednesday.

India “is our friend,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform, but its tariffs on U.S. products “are far too high.”

The Republican president added India buys military equipment and oil from Russia, enabling Moscow’s war in Ukraine. As a result, he intends to charge an additional “penalty” starting on Friday as part of the launch of his administration’s revised tariffs on multiple countries.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday the two countries were still in the middle of negotiations on trade despite the tariffs slated to begin in a few days.

“We’re talking to India now,” the president said. “We’ll see what happens.”

The Indian government said Wednesday it’s studying the implications of Trump’s tariffs announcement.

India and the U.S. have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a “fair, balanced and mutually beneficial” bilateral trade agreement over the last few months, and New Delhi remains committed to that objective, India’s Trade Ministry said in a statement.

Trump on Wednesday signed separate orders to tax imports of copper at 50% and justify his 50% tariffs on Brazil due to their criminal prosecution of former President Jair and treatment of U.S. social media companies. Trump also signed an order saying that government now had the systems in place to close the tariff loophole on “de minimis” shipments, which had enabled goods priced under $800 to enter America duty-free, largely from China.

Trump also said on Truth Social that he was meeting Wednesday with a trade delegation from South Korea, which currently faces 25% tariffs starting on Friday. He also said the U.S. has reached a deal with Pakistan that includes the development of its oil reserves. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was briefing him on trade talks with China.

Trump’s view on tariffs

Trump’s announcement comes after a slew of negotiated trade frameworks with the European Union, Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia — all of which he said would open markets for American goods while enabling the U.S. to raise tax rates on imports. The president views tariff revenues as a way to help offset the budget deficit increases tied to his recent income tax cuts and generate more domestic factory jobs.

While Trump has effectively wielded tariffs as a cudgel to reset the terms of trade, the economic impact is uncertain as most economists expect a slowdown in U.S. growth and greater inflationary pressures as some of the costs of the taxes are passed along to domestic businesses and consumers.

There’s also the possibility of more tariffs coming on trade partners with Russia as well as on pharmaceutical drugs and computer chips.

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would announce the Russia-related tariff rates on India at a later date.

Tariffs face European pushback

Trump’s approach of putting a 15% tariff on America’s long-standing allies in the EU is also generating pushback, possibly causing European partners as well as Canada to seek alternatives to U.S. leadership on the world stage.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday in the aftermath of the trade framework that Europe “does not see itself sufficiently” as a global power, saying in a cabinet meeting that negotiations with the U.S. will continue as the agreement gets formalized.

“To be free, you have to be feared,” Macron said. “We have not been feared enough. There is a greater urgency than ever to accelerate the European agenda for sovereignty and competitiveness.”

Seeking a deeper partnership with India

Washington has long sought to develop a deeper partnership with New Delhi, which is seen as a bulwark against China.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has established a good working relationship with Trump, and the two leaders are likely to further boost cooperation between their countries. When Trump in February met with Modi, the U.S. president said that India would start buying American oil and natural gas.

The new tariffs on India could complicate its goal of doubling bilateral trade with the U.S. to $500 billion by 2030. The two countries have had five rounds of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement. While U.S. has been seeking greater market access and zero tariff on almost all its exports, India has expressed reservations on throwing open sectors such as agriculture and dairy, which employ a bulk of the country’s population for livelihood, Indian officials said.

The Census Bureau reported that the U.S. ran a $45.8 billion trade imbalance in goods with India last year, meaning it imported more than it exported.

At a population exceeding 1.4 billion , India is the world’s largest country and a possible geopolitical counterbalance to China. India and Russia have close relations, and New Delhi has not supported Western sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

The new tariffs could put India at a disadvantage in the U.S. market relative to Vietnam, Bangladesh and, possibly, China, said Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations.

“We are back to square one as Trump hasn’t spelled out what the penalties would be in addition to the tariff,” Sahai said. “The demand for Indian goods is bound to be hit.”

Trump imposes 50% tariffs on Brazil over Bolsonaro case

  

SUMMARY:  

  • Trump signs to impose 50% on  
  • Cites prosecution as economic emergency under 1977 law 
  • Legal rationale shifts from trade imbalance to political instability 
  • U.S. had a $6.8B trade surplus with Brazil last year 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — signed an executive order Wednesday to impose his threatened 50% tariffs on Brazil, setting a legal rationale that Brazil’s policies and criminal prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro constitute an economic emergency under a 1977 law.

Trump had threatened the tariffs July 9 in a letter to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. But the legal basis of that threat was an earlier executive order premised on trade imbalances being a threat to the U.S. economy. But America ran a $6.8 billion trade surplus last year with Brazil, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

A statement by the said Brazil’s judiciary had tried to coerce social media companies and block their users, though it did not name the companies involved, X and Rumble.

Trump appears to identify with Bolsonaro, who attempted to overturn the results of his 2022 loss to Lula. Similarly, Trump was indicted in 2023 for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

The order would apply an additional 40% tariff on the baseline 10% tariff already being levied by Trump. But not all goods imported from Brazil would face the 40% tariff: Civil aircraft and parts, aluminum, tin, wood pulp, energy products and fertilizers are among the products being excluded.

The order said the tariffs would go into effect seven days after its signing on Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, Trump’s Treasury Department announced sanctions on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes over alleged suppression of freedom of expression and Bolsonaro’s ongoing trial.

De Moraes oversees the criminal case against Bolsonaro, who is accused of masterminding a plot to stay in power despite his 2022 defeat.

On July 18, the State Department announced visa restrictions on Brazilian judicial officials, including de Moraes.