Will There Be Trade Deals?
With a week to go before President Trump’s deadline, it’s not entirely clear what the administration wants.
Good Morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
Are Walmart, Amazon, and McDonald’s the real welfare queens?
Thanks to AI, small businesses are confronting an “industrial revolution of scams.”
A pizza shop in Philadelphia continues to demonstrate the power of a second chance.
Today’s question: Is this a good time or a terrible time to start a business?
THE TRADE WARS
President Trump’s trade-deal deadline is next week, but other countries are still balking: “After failing to cut a trade deal with Japan following weeks of talks, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer decided to turn up the pressure. When Japanese officials arrived in Washington in late May, Lutnick and Greer warned them that if the two sides couldn’t work out an agreement soon, the conversations might start shifting from easing the tariffs President Trump had recently imposed toward additional punitive measures, according to people familiar with the matter. The Americans said they might demand a cap on the number of vehicles Japan could export to the U.S.—a policy known as a voluntary export restriction.”
“But the Japanese officials stood their ground. From the start, they had told the Americans they wouldn’t agree to any deal that preserves Trump’s 25-percent automotive tariff, according to people familiar with the conversations. That impasse continues.”
“On Monday, Trump appeared to cut off talks with Tokyo. Japan ‘won’t take our RICE, and yet they have a massive rice shortage,’ he posted on Truth Social, despite Japan importing hundreds of thousands of tons of U.S. rice annually under a WTO agreement. Trump added that ‘we’ll just be sending them a letter’—a reference to his repeated pledges to dictate to trading partners what they would have to pay the U.S.” [Editor’s note: It’s not the trading partners who pay the tariffs.]
“The U.S. complicated its negotiating position with Japan and other countries by increasing tariffs as talks progressed, such as in June when Trump doubled global steel tariffs with no warning for trading partners. Other so-called national-security tariffs on products such as lumber, semiconductors, and critical minerals remain in the planning process, making some nations hesitant to strike deals before they are unveiled.”
“Even some Republicans are growing frustrated with the White House’s negotiating strategy. During a recent Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R., La.) asked, ‘Are you or are you not pursuing reciprocity?’ when Lutnick said he wouldn’t agree to a hypothetical deal with Vietnam that would cancel out all tariffs and trade barriers in both countries. Kennedy later said: ‘I was confused more after the hearing than before about their negotiating strategy here.’” READ MORE
MARKETING WORKSHOP
Jaci Russo is offering another virtual marketing workshop designed to help 10 business owners articulate the strengths of their own brands and make sure they stand out in a crowded marketplace.
The 21 Hats Marketing Workshop, which will meet over Zoom on five consecutive Fridays starting July 11, is an immersive, hands-on series designed for business owners who are serious about building a brand that drives growth and customer loyalty.
In the workshop—where we all learn together from each other’s experiences—every participant will have the opportunity to develop a tailored, step-by-step, strategic plan that aligns with their own business goals.
