Trump’s plan to finish what he started on trade: “Here we are again with some very, even higher, expectations for what can be achieved in a relatively short period of time,” Michael Beeman, a Trump 1.0 aide in the Office of the United States Trade Representative, tells Jasmine and NOTUS’ Violet Jira for a new story about a return to Donald Trump’s old favorite topic: trade.
After Iran, the reconciliation bill, the public images of mass deportations, we are back to watching this president try to remake the global economic order without paying a political price for the upheaval that can cause.
This has not been figured out yet. Deadlines keep moving and hints of new trade deals keep being teased. The 90 days in “90 Deals in 90 Days” promised in April is technically Wednesday, and something like 83 of those deals do not yet exist. Trump extended the deadline to Aug. 1 yesterday.
What comes next: More uncertainty, probably. Fourteen nations got letters setting new tariff rates if deals aren’t made. Asked by reporters Monday night at the White House if the new letters are a “final offer,” Trump said they were, “but if they call with a different offer and if I like it, we’ll do it.” He wasn’t much more concrete on the new August deadline, calling it “firm but not 100% firm.”
Trending
Trump and his allies insist this is going to work. “It’s a stare down, and it’s a game of chicken,” economist Stephen Moore said.
After an early summer where MAGA seemed unstoppable on other stuff, the limits of this political revolution are about to be tested again on the hardest stage.
Open Tabs: DOE warns of power outages if fossil plants shut down (Axios); Proposal outlines large-scale ‘Humanitarian Transit Areas’ for Palestinians in Gaza (Reuters); Tesla shares sink after Musk says he will launch new political party (FT); Death toll from Texas floods rises (AP)
From the White House
What unites DOGE’s “greatest hits”? Thirty-three canceled grants appear on a new page touting DOGE’s biggest wins. NOTUS’ Mark Alfred went through them and found what many of them have in common is a focus or even a brief mention that the money benefits minority groups.
The words that could kill a government grant: “LGBT,” “biases,” “disability,” “minorities,” “black” and “women” are all keywords and phrases that can put a program at risk under this administration, according to an internal EPA flowchart.
One canceled grant on the DOGE list, in Thomasville, Georgia, was for fixing aging infrastructure in the city’s low-income neighborhoods that left residents exposed to hazardous waste, radon, lead paint and polluted air.
An EPA spokesperson said: “U.S. taxpayers shouldn’t have to subsidize this town’s ‘trade-in of gas powered lawn care equipment,’ ‘environmental justice offices’ and ‘green building consultants.’”
THE BIG ONE
Don’t talk about the new HHS vaccine push: “Maybe don’t write about it,” a former official at HHS’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response joked to NOTUS’ Margaret Manto about two new vaccines that late last month appeared on a government contracting website.
The normal is now newsworthy. “It’s almost notable in that it’s not remarkable at all,” that former official said. “Maybe you give this administration some small bit of credit for not blowing everything up, or maybe BARDA managed to do this under the radar.”
HHS quietly posted a pre-solicitation notice that it intends to develop vaccines for the Marburg virus and Sudan ebolavirus, a pair of particularly nasty hemorrhagic fevers from the same family as Ebola. The post comes from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the part of HHS designed to counter bioterror threats.
Is RFK Jr. aware of the dangers of a weakened public health department? Not so fast, Johns Hopkins biosecurity expert Gigi Kwik Gronvall says. Remember, a nearly $600 million contract with Moderna to develop an mRNA vaccine for the avian influenza was canceled in May.
“It makes me wonder if this is something that was on autopilot,” Gronvall told Margaret. “They haven’t exactly been encouraging of science-based approaches to dealing with any public health threats, especially those of a viral nature.”
HHS did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
NEW ON NOTUS
A flabbergasted judge in the Abrego Garcia case: U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis told DOJ lawyers in Maryland yesterday that trying to get straight answers from them about their plans for Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was like “trying to nail Jell-O to a wall.” DOJ lawyers suggested for the first time Monday they might try to send him back to El Salvador.
DeSantis’ new leverage: Thanks to “Alligator Alcatraz,” Gov. Ron DeSantis may finally succeed at getting federal Everglades restoration money in the form of a block grant. Trump seemed amenable to the idea when DeSantis asked him as the two toured the detention site. “Let me ask myself permission,” Trump told DeSantis while the cameras rolled: “Permission granted.”
“The Ranking Rizzler” aka 82-year-old Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro is entering her online era with an edgier social media presence, NOTUS’ Tinashe Chingarande finds. “I just get engaged and take advantage of the various platforms,” DeLauro told NOTUS, pointing to the wider conversation in the Democratic Party about capitalizing on the internet to win elections. “You’ve got to go with the times.”
More: What Democrats Think They Can Learn From Zohran Mamdani; Judge Blocks Reconciliation Bill Measure That Defunds Planned Parenthood; Leavitt Grilled on Pam Bondi’s Original Epstein Client List Claims
NOT US
- Trump’s $5 million ‘gold card’ visa might never happen, by Meryl Kornfield and Hannah Natanson for The Washington Post
- Inside the Media’s Traffic Apocalypse, by Charlotte Klein for New York
- Our top five questions we wait on second-quarter fundraising reports, by David Nir and Jeff Singer for The Downballot
- Democrats Denied This City Had a Gang Problem. The Truth Is Complicated. By Ted Conover for The New York Times
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