GLOBAL
NYT: As Trump Sows Tariff Confusion, Rules of Global Commerce Give Way to Chaos – Jeanna Smialek and Ana Swanson
Six months into his new administration, President Trump’s assault on global trade has lost any semblance of organization or structure.
The resulting uncertainty is preventing companies and countries from making plans as the rules of global commerce give way to a state of chaos.
Gone is the idea that the White House would strike 90 deals in 90 days after a period of rapid-fire negotiation, as Mr. Trump pledged in April. Instead, Washington has signed bare-bone agreements with big trading partners including China, while sending many other countries blunt and mostly standardized letters announcing hefty tariffs to start on Aug. 1.
CounterPunch: Trump’s Tariffs Seen from Contradictory Angles – Patrick Bond
Donald Trump’s paleo-conservative, isolationist attack on global capitalist trade is already having formidable impacts. If tariff levels and targeted announced on ‘Liberation Day,’ April 2, are sustained, a full-blown economic catastrophe could result, perhaps reminiscent of 1930s-scale Make America Great Depression Again.
Setting aside the exemptions on raw materials, which makes the whole operation appear as a neo-colonial resource grab that simultaneously stifles poor countries’ manufacturing sectors, what would justify these highest tariffs on U.S. imports in 130 years? Trump’s chief economic advisor (and investment banker) Stephen Miran, who holds a Harvard doctorate in economics, explained the underlying theory in a November 2024 report, celebrating the potential for a:
“generational change in the international trade and financial systems. The root of the economic imbalances lies in persistent dollar overvaluation that prevents the balancing of international trade… Tariffs provide revenue, and if offset by currency adjustments, present minimal inflationary or otherwise adverse side effects, consistent with the experience in 2018-2019. While currency offset can inhibit adjustments to trade flows, it suggests that tariffs are ultimately financed by the tariffed nation, whose real purchasing power and wealth decline…”
This is wishful thinking, most experts believe.
NYT: American Allies Want to Redraw the World’s Trade Map, Minus the U.S. – Jeanna Smialek
Trade chaos is forcing America’s allies closer together, and further from the United States. And as that happens, the European Union is trying to position itself at the center of a new global trade map.
The bloc learned this weekend that Washington would subject it to 30 percent tariffs starting Aug. 1. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the E.U. executive branch, responded with a pledge to keep negotiating. She also made it clear that, while the European Union would delay any retaliation until early August, it would continue to draw up plans to hit back with force.
But that was not the entire strategy. Europe, like many of the United States’ trading partners, is also looking for more reliable friends.
NELP: New Report Details Employers’ Harmful Use of Digital Surveillance and Automated Decision Systems, Highlights Urgent Need for Policy Action
A new report from the National Employment Law Project highlights the threat to workers posed by employers’ excessive and inappropriate use of digital workplace technologies to monitor and manage their workforces. Companies are increasingly using “bossware” to monitor workers’ actions, schedule shifts, assign tasks, set pay, and evaluate and discipline workers—but too often without transparency, safeguards for accuracy, or recourse for workers who’ve been wronged.
NELP’s report highlights two types of bossware: (1) workplace digital surveillance tools, and (2) automated decision systems. These technologies are now deeply embedded across various management functions, from scheduling and task allocation to performance evaluations and discipline. Often acting as hidden overseers, they are directly linked to a range of harmful practices, including exploitative pay and scheduling, and violations of fundamental worker rights.
ASIA
WhiteHouse: Fact Sheet: The United States and Indonesia Reach Historic Trade Deal
President Donald J. Trump announced a landmark trade deal with Indonesia that will provide Americans with market access in Indonesia once considered impossible and unlock major breakthroughs for America’s manufacturing, agriculture, and digital sectors.
The United States and Indonesia will finalize commitments on digital trade, services, and investment. Indonesia has committed to eliminate existing HTS tariff lines on “intangible products” and suspend related requirements on import declarations; support a permanent moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions at the World Trade Organization (WTO) immediately and without conditions; and take effective actions to implement the Joint Initiative on Services Domestic Regulation, including submitting its revised Specific Commitments for certification by the WTO. Indonesia will provide certainty regarding the ability to move personal data out of its territory to the United States through recognition of the United States as a country or jurisdiction that provides adequate data protection under Indonesia’s law. American companies have sought these reforms for years.
NYT: Indonesia Confirms U.S. Trade Agreement, but Details Remain Scarce – Ana Swanson and Alexandra Stevenson
Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto, confirmed on Wednesday the broad outlines of a trade agreement with the United States that was reached after what he called “tough negotiations” with Washington.
Under the terms, which President Trump on Tuesday called a “great deal for everybody,” U.S. exports to Indonesia would face no tariffs, while Indonesian goods would be charged a tariff of 19 percent in the United States.
Mr. Prabowo confirmed in brief remarks in Jakarta that the two nations had “finally” reached an agreement. “We understand their interests, and they understand ours,” he added.
NYT: In New Deal, Trump Keeps Tariffs While Indonesia Drops Trade Barriers – Ana Swanson
The Trump administration provided more details Tuesday of the trade deal it reached with Indonesia, saying that the Indonesian government had agreed to roll back multiple trade barriers that U.S. companies have complained about and make purchases of American oil, gas, airplanes and farm products.
In a call with reporters, a senior official who declined to be named said that Indonesia had agreed to drop its tariff on nearly all American imports to zero, while the United States would maintain a 19 percent tariff on Indonesian products.
BDDigest: US Tariff and Security Agreement: USTR’s letter to Bangladesh hints at trade aggression
The United States is waging a trade and investment war with various countries in the name of reciprocal tariffs, as it tries to pressure importing countries to curb China’s growing export growth.
This information was found after reviewing a confidential letter from the US Trade Representative (USTR) to Bangladesh. The letter, titled US-Bangladesh on Reciprocal Trade (Bangladesh Specific Commitments), was sent on May 21.
The 21-page copy of the agreement is divided into 6 sections. That is, the agreement contains discussions on more than 6 types of hundreds of conditions. These are – tax-related conditions, non-tariff barriers conditions, digital trade and technology-related conditions, rules of origin conditions, economic and national security conditions, and commercial conditions.
Digital Commerce and Technology Terms (5)
1. Bangladesh must recognize the global cross-border privacy policies CBPR and PRP for information exchange.
2. The formulation of personal data privacy policies should increase dialogue with the US government and the country’s private sector, and feedback should be reflected.
3. Cyber Security Ordinance 2025—Adequate safeguards must be taken to ensure freedom of expression. Stricter punishments for cyber crimes must be ensured.
4. The 2021 OTT Policy should be amended or repealed so that there is no identification requirement for end-to-end encrypted services.
5. The 600 to 700 MHz spectrum should be opened up for LPIs and VLPs.
NYT: Under Attack by Trump’s Tariffs, Asian Countries Seek Out Better Friends – Lydia DePillis
For most countries that received President Trump’s letters last week threatening steep tariffs, especially the Asian nations with economies focused on supplying the United States, there are no obvious substitutes as a destination for their goods.
But they are doing their best to find them.
“Across the world, tools once used to generate growth are now wielded to pressure, isolate and contain,” Anwar Ibrahim, the prime minister of Malaysia, said at a gathering of Southeast Asian leaders on Wednesday. “As we navigate external pressures, we need to fortify our foundations. Trade among ourselves. Invest more in one another.”
Politico: India didn’t get a tariff ‘deal’ from Trump last week. That signals a real one may be near. – Megan Messerly and Ari Hawkins
President Donald Trump last week sent more than two dozen letters to countries outlining their new tariff rates that he said amounted to “trade deals.” But it’s the countries that didn’t receive letters that may be closer to reaching real agreements.
Taiwan, Switzerland and India, none of which received letters, are all potentially closing in on deals that could be announced in the coming weeks.
Trump has repeatedly suggested an agreement with India is close, but details are still being buttoned up. Still, former administration officials who specialize in U.S.-India relations see the lack of a letter as a good sign, saying that a missive from Trump would likely have irked the Indian government and derailed an almost-final agreement between the countries.
NYT: U.S. and Japan Reach Trade Deal – Ana Swanson and River Akira Davis
President Trump said Tuesday that he had reached a “massive” trade deal with Japan, helping to allay fears of heightened trade tensions between the United States and one of its closest Asian allies.
In a social media post Tuesday evening, the president wrote that Japan had agreed to open its country to imports of American cars, trucks, rice and other agricultural products, as well as invest $550 billion into the United States. He said that Japanese exports to the United States would be charged a tariff of 15 percent, lower than the 25 percent tariff he had threatened against the country’s products if Japan did not strike a deal.
NYT: ‘Unprecedented’ Investment Fund Seals Deal for Japan and Expands Trump’s Influence – Ana Swanson
On Tuesday night, Ryosei Akazawa, the Japanese trade negotiator, sat across from President Trump’s desk in the Oval Office, clustered alongside the U.S. secretaries of Treasury, commerce and state, trying to persuade the president to back off from the punishing tariff rates he had threatened on Japan.
As a carrot, American and Japanese negotiators offered Mr. Trump an extraordinary proposal: Japan would create a $400 billion investment fund that Mr. Trump himself could decide where to invest, with half of the profits flowing to the U.S. government.
The fund represented a significant expansion by the president over domestic investment, an idea that pleased Mr. Trump. He set about renegotiating some of the terms, crossing out numbers and scribbling on a placemat-size visual aid brought to the meeting by Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary. In the end, Mr. Trump upped the ante and announced that Japan, already the country’s largest foreign investor, would create a fund of $550 billion to invest in the United States, with the U.S. government receiving 90 percent of the profits.
AFRICA
CounterPunch: Real and Fake Antidotes to Trump’s Latest Tariffs, Seen From South Africa – Patrick Bond
U.S. President Donald Trump apparently aims to reassert his power to cause a full-blown economic catastrophe, perhaps reminiscent of 1930s-scale Make America Great Depression Again. The self-harm to his own MAGA lower-middle-class social base – especially consumers of cheap imports – will soon become evident when price inflation rises.
But since Trump hit South Africa hard on July 8 with a 30% general tariff (though there are exceptions such as platinum, gold and other minerals which are zero-rated), will we find any creative economic planners in Pretoria, and in the big Johannesburg corporates, now preparing for potentially fast-falling export markets? Not only do they face the rise from the current 10% global tariff to 30% (and an extra 20% for steel and aluminum), but there is also likely to be a 10% BRICS-penalty addition.
EUROPE
Reuters: Germany seeks to levy 10% tax on online platforms like Google – Sarah Marsh
Germany is considering a 10% tax on large online platforms like Alphabet’s Google, opens new tab and Meta’s Facebook, opens new tab, its new culture minister told magazine Stern, in a move likely to heighten trade tensions with the Trump administration.
The proposal comes as Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to travel to Washington soon to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, although a trip has not yet been officially announced. Trump has in the past said he will not allow foreign governments to "appropriate America’s tax base for their own benefit".
If the government goes ahead with the tax on sales revenue generated by digital services providers within its borders, it would join a raft of other countries to have done so such as Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, India, Austria and Canada.
FT: Brussels stalls probe into Elon Musk’s X amid US trade talks – Barbara Moens and Henry Foy
The European Commission has stalled one of its investigations into Elon Musk’s X for breaking the bloc’s digital transparency rules, while it seeks to conclude trade talks with the US.
Brussels was expected to finalise its probe into the social media platform before the EU’s summer recess but will miss this deadline, according to three officials familiar with the matter. They noted a decision was likely to follow after clarity emerged in the EU-US trade negotiations. “It’s all tied up,” one of the officials added.
Politico: Meta rebuffs Brussels over AI rules – Eliza Gkritsi and Pieter Haeck
Meta just blew a hole in a European Union plan to tame artificial intelligence models. The technology giant on Friday was the first Big Tech company to come out saying it will not sign the EU’s code of practice for general-purpose AI.
In a comment on Friday, Meta’s chief global affairs officer Joel Kaplan said the code “introduces a number of legal uncertainties for model developers as well as measures which go far beyond the scope of the AI Act.”
The aggressively lobbied code of practice was released last week and is the latest step by the European Commission to limit risks posed by AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or X’s Grok. It comes as Grok is under fire for spewing Hitler-praising comments and other harmful responses.
Politico: Europe’s privacy groups take on Big Tech with class action cases – Ellen O-Regan
Europe’s powerful privacy activists are wielding a sharp new legal tool that, if successful, could see the cost of privacy breaches balloon into the billions for Big Tech.
European consumers in recent years have seen a law take effect that allows them to club together to look for compensation for damages caused by companies. Armed with Europe’s blockbuster privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, internet users — often represented by savvy digital rights groups — are now gunning for big payouts.
Privacy groups see “a lot of potential” in collective redress as a new avenue, especially for GDPR breaches by Big Tech, said Ursula Pachl, who last year took on the role of spearheading collective redress actions at Noyb — one of Europe’s most prolific privacy watchdogs — after more than a decade working at powerful Brussels consumer lobby association BEUC.
NORTH AMERICA
TheGlobeandMail: Canada is becoming digitally subservient to the U.S. in the global economy – Barry Appleton
As Canada enters trade and security negotiations with the United States, we face a stark choice: assert our digital sovereignty now, or risk becoming a permanent branch plant in America’s tech empire.
Global powers are weaponizing AI algorithms and data to reshape economic dominance – and so the timing of the talks could not be more critical. They will determine whether Canada controls its digital economy or cedes it to foreign platforms.
The evidence suggests we’re already dangerously behind.
Today’s economy increasingly runs on algorithms we don’t control, through platforms we don’t regulate, and under rules we didn’t write. Digital governance now determines economic competitiveness, democratic legitimacy, and national security simultaneously. Countries that control their digital infrastructure control their economic destiny; those that don’t, become digital colonies.
DataandSociety: Data Centers Aren’t the Future of American Prosperity – Tamara Kneese and Maia Woluchem
If AI is the key to US technological supremacy — as tech companies, investors, and many policymakers insist — the frenzied buildout of data centers is the physical manifestation of that vision. Indeed, the Trump administration, supported by Silicon Valley, asset managers, and the fossil fuel industry, has focused its AI efforts on quickly building data centers and associated energy infrastructure. To do so, it has opened up federal lands, loosened permitting requirements, and gutted environmental regulations.
The material implications of AI’s expansion for the climate, local economies, and global patterns of extraction are being pushed aside in favor of the alleged inevitability of AI’s advantages. In this policy brief, Tamara Kneese and Maia Woluchem interrogate the myths that are driving data center construction and speculation, emphasizing what the evidence reveals about the industry’s claims.
WhiteHouse: Promoting the Export of the American AI Technology Stack
It is the policy of the United States to preserve and extend American leadership in AI and decrease international dependence on AI technologies developed by our adversaries by supporting the global deployment of United States-origin AI technologies.
Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Commerce shall, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), establish and implement the American AI Exports Program (Program) to support the development and deployment of United States full-stack AI export packages.
The Secretary of State, in consultation with the EDAG, shall be responsible for:
(iii) coordinating United States participation in multilateral initiatives and country-specific partnerships for AI deployment and export promotion;
(iv) supporting partner countries in fostering pro‑innovation regulatory, data, and infrastructure environments conducive to the deployment of American AI systems;
(v) analyzing market access, including technical barriers to trade and regulatory measures that may impede the competitiveness of United States offerings
WhiteHouse: Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government
Americans will require reliable outputs from AI, but when ideological biases or social agendas are built into AI models, they can distort the quality and accuracy of the output. While the Federal Government should be hesitant to regulate the functionality of AI models in the private marketplace, in the context of Federal procurement, it has the obligation not to procure models that sacrifice truthfulness and accuracy to ideological agendas.
It is the policy of the United States to promote the innovation and use of trustworthy AI. To advance that policy, agency heads shall, consistent with applicable law and in consideration of guidance issued pursuant to section 4 of this order, procure only those LLMs developed in accordance with the following two principles (Unbiased AI Principles):
(a) Truth-seeking. LLMs shall be truthful in responding to user prompts seeking factual information or analysis. LLMs shall prioritize historical accuracy, scientific inquiry, and objectivity, and shall acknowledge uncertainty where reliable information is incomplete or contradictory.
(b) Ideological Neutrality. LLMs shall be neutral, nonpartisan tools that do not manipulate responses in favor of ideological dogmas such as DEI. Developers shall not intentionally encode partisan or ideological judgments into an LLM’s outputs unless those judgments are prompted by or otherwise readily accessible to the end user.
Politico: Trump derides copyright and state rules in AI Action Plan launch – Mohar Chatterjee
In remarks delivered at a “Winning the AI Race” summit hosted by the All-In Podcast and the Hill and Valley Forum in Washington, Trump said stringent copyright enforcement was unrealistic for the AI industry and would kneecap U.S. companies trying to compete globally, particularly against China.
Trump echoed tech companies’ complaints about state AI laws creating a patchwork of regulation. “You can’t have one state holding you up,” he said. “We need one common sense federal standard that supersedes all states, supersedes everybody.”
His Action Plan includes directions to the Office of Management and Budget to limit AI-related funding to states with regulation that might hinder the funding’s “effectiveness.” It also directs the Federal Communications Commission to check whether state AI regulations interfere with the agency’s ability to carry out its duties under the Communications Act of 1934.
LATIN AMERICA
TheAmericanProspect: Trump Is Big Tech’s Personal Lobbyist – David Dayen
Donald Trump and JD Vance came to power long on rhetoric about cutting down the power and influence of the tech industry. As I write this, Meta, Apple, Amazon, and Google are still formally being sued by the federal government. Trump’s Federal Trade Commission litigated the trial against Meta in the spring, and Google has twice been found guilty of monopolization, with Trump’s Justice Department pursuing a breakup in the remedy phase.
Yet there is far more evidence that Trump and Vance are happily doing the bidding of the biggest tech firms, while claiming to be adversaries. You see it in the friendliness toward AI, which Google and Microsoft and Meta are certainly thrilled about. You also see it in how the Trump administration is using its clout all over the world to force other governments to take down their sovereign laws that impact Big Tech. Any more of this and Trump and Vance might have to register as personal lobbyists for Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.
NYT: Trump Pledges 50% Tariffs Against Brazil, Citing ‘Witch Hunt’ Against Bolsonaro – Jack Nicas
The United States and Brazil appeared to have launched a sudden trade war on Wednesday.
First, President Trump said that he planned to impose a 50 percent tariff on all Brazilian imports, partly in retaliation for what he sees as a “witch hunt” against his political ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing trial for attempting a coup.
In a letter to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Mr. Trump wrote that the new tariffs would take effect on Aug. 1. “The way that Brazil has treated former President Bolsonaro, a Highly Respected Leader throughout the World during his Term, including by the United States, is an international disgrace.”
A few hours later, Mr. Lula said that Brazil would reciprocate against the tariffs. “Brazil is a sovereign country with independent institutions that will not accept being abused by anyone,” he said in a statement. He added that the case against Mr. Bolsonaro “is the sole responsibility of the Brazilian Judiciary.”
NYT: Behind Trump’s Decision to Tax Brazil to Save Bolsonaro – Jack Nicas and Ana Ionova
Since March, the son of the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been roaming the halls of the White House.
And in multiple visits to Washington over the past several months, he has found a sympathetic audience.
Eduardo Bolsonaro said he had been pushing senior White House officials to place sanctions on the Brazilian judge overseeing his father’s prosecution.
Then, on Wednesday, Mr. Trump opted for something far more damaging: a 50 percent tariff on all Brazilian imports starting Aug. 1, retaliation for what he called a “witch hunt” against Jair Bolsonaro.
Publica: Report reveals that Trump’s move to investigate Brazil serves Big Tech – Natalia Viana
A large lobbying group funded by US Big Tech companies—including Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Uber, Apple, Pinterest, and eBay—is linked to Donald Trump’s threat to investigate Brazil’s trade practices. The investigation was announced alongside the decision to increase import tariffs on Brazilian products.
It’s the CCIA, the Computer & Communications Industry Association. Just minutes after Trump announced his tariff increase against Brazil on the Truth Social network, the group published a statement applauding the initiative.
CommonDreams: Trump’s Tariffs on Brazil Are About Power and Profit – Joseph Bouchard
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced new 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports, set to take effect this August. Trump has said these tariffs are a response to the “witch hunt” against disgraced former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, on trial for his role in supporting a coup d’état.
Beyond threatening democracy and sovereignty, these tariffs are about a core of Trump’s brand: personal loyalty, elite self-preservation, and corruption. As with Trump’s overall foreign policy, whether toward Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Venezuela, Qatar, or others, his posture toward Brazil is driven not by principle but by self-interest, through private business interests, campaign donors, family friends, and alliances with authoritarian strongmen.
USTR: USTR Announces Initiation of Section 301 Investigation of Brazil’s Unfair Trading Practices
Today, the Office of the United States Trade Representative initiated an investigation of Brazil under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The investigation will seek to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of Brazil related to digital trade and electronic payment services; unfair, preferential tariffs; anti-corruption interference; intellectual property protection; ethanol market access; and illegal deforestation are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.
As set out in the Federal Register notice, the investigation relates to a number of trading practices, including:
- Digital trade and electronic payment services: Brazil may undermine the competitiveness of U.S. companies engaged in these sectors, for example, by retaliating against them for failing to censor political speech or restricting their ability to provide services in the country;
- Unfair, preferential tariffs: Brazil accords lower, preferential tariff rates to the exports of certain globally competitive trade partners, thereby disadvantaging U.S. exports;
NYT: U.S.-Based Orange Juice Importer Sues Over Trump’s 50% Tariff on Brazilian Goods – Alicia Chen
A U.S.-based juice company is suing over President Trump’s pledge to impose a steep 50 percent tariff on Brazilian imports starting next month.
Johanna Foods Inc., a major importer of orange juice, filed a lawsuit on Friday in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, saying that the measure, announced in a July 9 letter from Mr. Trump to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, threatened to upend its business and sharply drive up prices for American consumers.
Economist: Trump’s astonishing battering of Brazil
Rarely since the end of the cold war has the United States interfered so deeply with a Latin American country. On July 9th Donald Trump pledged tariffs of 50% on Brazilian exports, citing a “witch hunt” against Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right former president, who is soon due to stand trial for allegedly plotting a coup, a charge he denies. On July 15th Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, started investigating Brazil’s trade practices. On July 18th the US State Department revoked the visas of most Brazilian Supreme Court judges and other officials connected to Mr Bolsonaro’s prosecution. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, has said he wants to use the Global Magnitsky Act to place sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes, a prominent justice, an action usually reserved for dictators and warlords.
Mr Trump and Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, are ideological foes and Mr Trump’s allies have long decried a probe Mr Moraes leads into online disinformation. Yet the trigger for Mr Trump’s attack appears to have been the summit of the BRICS, a group of emerging-market countries, that Brazil hosted on July 6th and 7th. Lula, as the president is known, has called the threats “unacceptable blackmail” and an attack on Brazil’s sovereignty. He also threatened to start taxing American technology companies. Brazil’s Congress, which is controlled by right-wing parties, has rallied around Lula and is mulling retaliatory tariffs.
