Good morning. Zelensky’s fortunes may have turned in the White House. Trump signed an executive order seeking to end federal funding for NPR and PBS. Trump looms over Australia’s election. More news is below. But first, Ana Swanson explains how the U.S. is trying to negotiate new trade deals
Dealmakers?
Today, President Trump ended a rule that let cheap Chinese goods bypass U.S. tariffs. The move closes a loophole, the “de minimis” exemption, that many U.S. businesses say gave China an unfair advantage. But it will also raise prices for American consumers on platforms like Amazon, Shein and Temu that took advantage of that provision. Now products on those apps face the same tariffs as other Chinese goods, a minimum of 145 percent. Trump says he is giving other countries a chance to avoid steep levies by making trade deals. His administration is negotiating with more than a dozen other nations before a self-imposed deadline of July 8. The president styles himself as a consummate dealmaker, but this will test even his abilities. U.S. trade negotiators, already short-handed, are negotiating simultaneously with India, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and others. Today’s newsletter is about how these talks might go. A long gameTrump imposed, quickly withdrew and then threatened to bring back huge tariffs on dozens of countries. Immediately, they began calling and asking what they could do to stop him. “More than 100 countries have already come to the table looking to offer more favorable terms for America and our people,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said at a briefing with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday. “There has never been a president who has created his own leverage like this president.” What can Trump get? For starters, some countries are offering to lower their own tariffs on American exports and cut red tape that keeps U.S. businesses out. India said it might lower its tariffs on U.S. farm goods, while Europeans may drop them on cars and machinery if Washington agrees to do the same. But finalizing granular deals with all these countries is unlikely, given that traditional agreements typically take more than a year to negotiate. Torsten Slok, the chief economist at Apollo Global Management, an investment firm, has calculated that, on average, trade deals signed by the United States take 18 months to negotiate and 45 months to implement. Government officials are chatting each day with a dizzying carousel of foreign governments, in person and in video calls, to solve trade spats that have persisted for decades. Longstanding trade fights between countries exist for many reasons: Europeans don’t want to import any U.S. meat treated with chlorine or hormones that they ban, for example. Which is why, instead of finalizing new agreements by July 8, the White House may be able to offer only a plan for future negotiations. And even if talks opened more markets for U.S. exporters, they probably would not solve another problem Trump has fixated on: trade deficits. That’s when one country buys more from another country than it sells to it. The United States has a big overall trade deficit that Trump officials are trying to eliminate, but it’s unlikely that a few limited trade deals will do the trick. Washington vs. BeijingThe biggest challenge of all is Trump’s standoff with China. Because Beijing retaliated with tariffs of its own, it got no relief when Trump suspended tariffs for everyone else. Thanks to the triple-digit levies, much trade has come to a standstill. Companies that depend on China are careening toward bankruptcy, my colleague Daisuke Wakabayashi reports. After watching stock markets and companies react badly to the tariffs, Trump officials would clearly like an amicable solution. But they’re reluctant to wind down tariffs without any concessions from Beijing. China’s position seems to be that this battle makes no sense and that giving way would only invite future blackmail. U.S. tariffs hurt Chinese exporters, but Beijing is also focused on winning a symbolic battle — and expanding its trade relationships with other countries around the world. So for now, the standoff continues, while losses pile up for companies that depend on trade. Related: How might today’s change affect your next online order? We explain here.
Trump’s Cabinet Shake-up
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University Funding Cuts
The Trump administration has targeted a few elite universities with its threats of funding cuts. But, as the map above shows, many more schools are vulnerable to cuts: In 2023 alone, around $60 billion flowed from the federal government to universities in all 50 states. Here are more maps showing funding across the U.S. Related: Two professors at Rutgers called on universities to commit to defending one another from the administration’s threats. More than a dozen schools have joined them. International
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Other Big Stories
Leaflets on the windows of beat-up R.V.s warned the more than 100 homeless people who live in this stretch of forest outside Bend, Ore., to get out by 12:01 a.m. Thursday, or else face a $5,000 fine and up to a year in jail. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that cities could ban homeless encampments, even if there are no shelter beds available. Scores of cities have since enacted rules that penalize people who sleep outdoors or in their cars. As the deadline approached, people worked frantically to fix derelict vehicles. In the dark, they replaced dead batteries, busted tires, broken transmissions and faulty wiring. There are only around 500 shelter beds in Bend, which are nearly always full. Many of the people I interviewed in the forest told me they planned to move to a different patch of federal land on the north side of Bend — not because they want to, but because they have nowhere else to go. For more, read my full story on the removal, which one advocacy group called “the largest eviction of a homeless camp in recent history.”
Americans need to build a broad coalition of diverse political affiliations to oppose Trump’s attack on democracy, the Editorial Board writes. Here is a column by David Brooks on keeping faith under Trump. The Games Sale. Our best offer won’t last. Let the fun begin. Subscribe to New York Times Games for up to 75% off your first year. As a subscriber you can strengthen your strategy with Wordle Bot, reach Genius on Spelling Bee, play the Crossword and more.
What makes you happy? Take this quiz to find out which kind of well-being you tend to value most. Modern Love: We found intimacy in figuring out how to pay the rent. Your pick: The Morning’s most-clicked link yesterday was about the mystery of a missing whale carcass. Trending online yesterday: Jill Sobule, the singer and songwriter whose hit “Supermodel” and gay anthem “I Kissed a Girl” were followed by three decades of touring, advocacy and a one-woman musical, died in a house fire in Woodbury, Minn. She was 66.
N.H.L.: Toronto beat its rival Ottawa in a first-round series win. Edmonton and Las Vegas also advanced, while Colorado forced a Game 7 matchup w |
