U.S. President Donald Trump launched his global tariff assault into overdrive on Wednesday, announcing a new 50% tariff on U.S. copper imports and a 50% duty on goods from Brazil, both to start on August 1.
“I am announcing a 50% TARIFF on Copper, effective August 1, 2025, after receiving a robust NATIONAL SECURITY ASSESSMENT,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social media platform, a reference to a “Section 232″ national security trade investigation into the red metal that has been underway.
The announcement came hours after he also informed Brazil that its “reciprocal” tariff on August 1 would rise to 50% from 10%, a shockingly high level for a country with a balanced U.S. trade relationship.
Trump first broached the copper tariff during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, setting off a scramble by companies to import as much copper as soon as possible from Chile and other major suppliers.
He blamed the decline of the U.S. copper industry on past administrations, saying copper was needed for semiconductors, aircraft, electric vehicle batteries and military hardware.
Trump Sets 50% U.S. Tariffs On Copper, Brazilian Imports Starting In August
Supreme Court won't let Florida enforce controversial immigration law
Florida can't enforce a controversial new law targeting undocumented immigrants entering Florida, the Supreme Court said on July 9 in rejecting an emergency appeal from the state.
The decision leaves in place a lower court's pause on the law while it's being challenged.
The law, which made it a felony for certain immigrants to enter Florida, was passed to help carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier told the Supreme Court the law is needed to protect residents from "the deluge of illegal immigration."
"If a State's police powers are powers at all, they allow a State to criminalize harms destructive to the community," he wrote in the appeal.
Seventeen states told the Supreme Court they're backing Florida's position as did the Trump administration.
Trump caught off guard by Pentagon’s abrupt move to pause Ukraine weapons deliveries, AP sources say
The Pentagon, which announced last week that it would hold back some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons pledged to Ukraine because of what U.S. officials said were concerns that American stockpiles were in short supply. Trump said Monday that the U.S. will have to send more weapons to Ukraine, effectively reversing the move.
Two of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive internal discussions, said there was some internal opposition among Pentagon brass to the pause — coordinated by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby — before it was announced.
‘Could become a death spiral’: scientists discover what’s driving record die-offs of US honeybees
Bret Adee is one of the largest beekeepers in the US, with 2 billion bees across 55,000 hives. The business has been in his family since the 1930s, and sends truckloads of bees across the country from South Dakota, pollinating crops such as almonds, onions, watermelons and cucumbers.
Last December, his bees were wintering in California when the weather turned cold. Bees grouped on top of hives trying to keep warm. “Every time I went out to the beehive there were less and less,” says Adee. “Then a week later, there’d be more dead ones to pick up … every week there is attrition, just continually going down.”
Adee went on to lose 75% of his bees. “It’s almost depressingly sad,” he says. “If we have a similar situation this year – I sure hope we don’t – then we’re in a death spiral.”
It developed into the largest US honeybee die-off on record, with beekeepers losing on average 60% of their colonies, at a cost of $600m (£440m).
Scientists have been scrambling to discover what happened; now the culprits are emerging. A research paper published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), though not yet peer-reviewed, has found nearly all colonies had contracted a bee virus spread by parasitic mites that appear to have developed resistance to the main chemicals used to control them.
Pentagon provided $2.4tn to private arms firms to ‘fund war and weapons’, report finds
Most of defense department’s discretionary spending from 2020 to 2024 went to military contractors.
A new study of defense department spending previewed exclusively to the Guardian shows that most of the Pentagon’s discretionary spending from 2020 to 2024 has gone to outside military contractors, providing a $2.4tn boon in public funds to private firms in what was descrhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/08/pentagon-military-spendingibed as a “continuing and massive transfer of wealth from taxpayers to fund war and weapons manufacturing”.
Responsible Statecraft and Costs of War project at Brown University said that the Trump administration’s new Pentagon budget will push annual US military spending past the $1tn mark.
That will deliver a projected windfall of more than half a trillion dollars that will be shared among top arms firms such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon as well as a growing military tech sector with close allies in the administration such as JD Vance, the report said.
Supreme Court Clears The Way For Trump 's Plans To Downsize The Federal Work Force
The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s plans to downsize the federal workforce despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs.
The justices overrode lower court orders that temporarily froze the cuts, which have been led by the Department of Government Efficiency.
The court said in an unsigned order that no specific cuts were in front of the justices, only an executive order issued by Trump and an administration directive for agencies to undertake job reductions.
At least 161 missing, 109 dead after Texas floods, Abbott says
At least 161 people are known to be missing in Kerr County, Texas, following the catastrophic flooding this past weekend, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said at a news conference Tuesday.
The governor also confirmed 109 fatalities linked to the floods, including 94 in Kerr County and 15 in other parts of Texas.
There are far more fatalities than there were in Hurricane Harvey. That’s how catastrophic this is,” Abbott said at the news conference.https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5391041-missing-dead-after-texas-floods-abbott/
MCamp Mystic, which has long been the go-to summer camp for the Christian daughters of the state’s political elite, said on Monday that it was “grieving” the loss of 27 campers and counselors after the flooding. Abbott said on Tuesday that five campers and one counselor remained missing.
Latest news on West Bank, Palestine
Recent events in the West Bank include the displacement of hundreds of Palestinian families from the Tulkarem refugee camp, attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and property, and Israeli military raids and arrests.
Israeli forces have also seized land northeast of Ramallah. A new directive allowing accelerated demolitions has raised concerns about displacement and potential annexation. The UN has recorded hundreds of settler attacks in the first half of 2025, impacting Palestinian communities and causing casualties and damage. June saw the highest number of Palestinians injured by settlers in two decades.
The humanitarian situation is marked by increased volatility and protection risks, exacerbated by settler violence and movement restrictions. Over 2,300 Palestinians have been displaced since October 2023 due to settler violence and limited access. Demolitions in areas like Area C and East Jerusalem contribute to displacement and affect access to services. Obstacles to movement, such as checkpoints, hinder access to essential locations.
Trump says US to send more weapons to Ukraine days after ordering pause in deliveries
US President Donald Trump said Ukraine has "to be able to defend" itself, as his comments contradict a last week’s decision to pause key weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
President Donald Trump said that the United States will have to send more weapons to Ukraine. The decision comes just days after pausing key arms deliveries to Kyiv.
His comments marked a sudden change of course. Last week, the Pentagon announced it would delay shipments of air defence missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons, citing concerns about falling stockpiles.
However, on Monday, Trump said, “We have to,” adding, “They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going to send some more weapons — defensive weapons primarily.”
The pause came at a difficult time for Ukraine. Russian forces have been stepping up air strikes, launching more frequent and complex attacks. On Monday, officials said Russian strikes had killed at least 11 civilians and injured more than 80 others, including seven children.
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