Tuesday Briefing: A bad start for the dollar

July 1, 2025

	By Natasha Frost

Good morning. We’re covering the sliding U.S. dollar and a deadly strike on a cafe in Gaza.

Plus: A refreshing summer salad.

A line chart showing the percentage change in the U.S. dollar index in the first six months of each year since 1986. The U.S. dollar is down 10.5 percent at the end of June 2025, the worst start to the year in decades.

The New York Times

The dollar’s bad start to the year

The U.S. dollar has weakened more than 10 percent over the past six months when compared to the currencies of America’s major partners — its worst start to a year since 1973.

President Trump’s aggressive tariff proposals and his more isolationist foreign policy, combined with inflation and rising government debt, have all contributed to eroding confidence in the role of the U.S. at the center of the global financial system. Even though Trump has eased off somewhat, and the U.S. stock and bond markets have recovered from their losses earlier in the year, the dollar has continued to slide.

“Having a weak dollar or a strong dollar isn’t the issue,” said Steve Englander, global head of G10 foreign exchange research. “The issue is what is it telling you about how the world sees your policies.”

Tariffs and trade:

President Trump has said that his tariffs would go into effect on July 9, and countries are rushing to make deals. But those talks have been slowed by his threats of additional duties.
Canada will eliminate internal trade barriers, starting today. But economists say the move is not a substitute for lost U.S. trade.
U.S. and E.U. negotiators are working frantically to strike a trade deal by July 9. They may come up with only a rough outline.

Two images, one showing solar panels in China and a second showing oil rigs in California.

Chinese solar panels in Shanxi Province and U.S. oil fields in California. Gilles Sabrié and J. Emilio Flores for The New York Times

China is far ahead in the race to power the future

Though China still emits more climate pollutants than the U.S. and Europe do combined, it is pivoting to cleaner power at breakneck speed.

More wind turbines and solar panels were installed in China last year than in the rest of the world, and the country’s clean energy boom is going global. Chinese companies are building electric vehicle and battery factories in Brazil, Thailand, Morocco, Hungary and beyond. The country already dominates global manufacturing of several clean energy devices, and with each passing month, it widens its technological lead.

Context: At the same time, the U.S. is pushing oil and gas. Both countries’ strategies are driven largely by national security. China, unlike the U.S., doesn’t have much easily accessible oil or gas of its own, so it is eager to eliminate dependence on imported fossil fuels and power more of its economy with renewables.

The remains of a badly damaged building.

The aftermath of a strike on a Gaza cafe. Furniture was smashed and the scene was awash in blood. Reuters

A deadly strike on a beachside cafe in Gaza

An Israeli airstrike on a beachfront coffee shop in Gaza City yesterday afternoon killed more than two dozen Palestinians and injured dozens more, according to local medical workers.

Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said that more than 30 people were killed and more than 50 were wounded in the strike. The Gaza health ministry did not immediately provide an official death and injury toll, and the Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on the strike.

Dozens of Jewish extremists clashed with Israeli troops outside a military base in the West Bank.
Satellite images taken in the days after the U.S. attack on the Fordo nuclear enrichment site in Iran show a flurry of activity.

A group of nonprofits in Britain lost a legal battle to block British exports of fighter jet parts to Israel.

MORE TOP NEWS

Cristina Quicler/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Europe: Heat warnings were issued in Britain, France, Italy and Spain as temperatures in some places exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.
Syria: Gulf States have moved quickly to aid and invest in Syria after the sudden collapse of the country’s dictatorship.
Britain: With many Labour Party lawmakers in open revolt and voters dropping their support, some are urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer to pivot left.
Health: A new study suggests that tissue inflammation may not be a natural part of getting older, but is rather a product of modern living.
Travel: Wars and conflicts are increasingly forcing airlines to remap routes.
Russia: Where everything Western was once worshiped, China has become trendy among young Russians.
Norway: A gambling company apologized for mistakenly telling thousands of people that they had won big prizes in a lottery. It blamed a coding error for the mistake.

From the Americas

Mexico: Members of the Sinaloa Cartel have forged an alliance with a rival gang that could transform the criminal underworld in dozens of countries.
U.S. politics: The Senate is still voting on amendments to the president’s sweeping economic and domestic policy bill. Here’s the latest.
Migration: The Trump administration paid El Salvador millions of dollars to imprison migrants who had been deported. Read our investigation into the deal.

Crime: Bryan Kohberger, the man charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, has reached a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.

SPORTS NEWS

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Tennis: The first day of Wimbledon was the hottest opening day in tournament history. Catch up on the drama.
Soccer: The Athletic picked 25 players to watch out for at the Women’s Euros in Switzerland.
Cricket: After a thrilling first Test between England and India, The Athletic answers questions from readers.

MORNING READ

Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters

Last month, the Italian fashion house Prada sent models down the runway in Milan wearing T-strap sandals. Quickly, Indian social media exploded with accusations of cultural appropriation, demanding credit and an apology from Prada.

“Had they acknowledged their inspiration from the get-go,” an Indian intellectual property lawyer said, “it perhaps wouldn’t have blown up.”

CONVERSATION STARTERS

A small white truck with a license plate that reads ANARKEI, with two men looking at it.

Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

Not an SUV: Kei trucks from Japan are small, slow and increasingly popular in the U.S.
Secret sauce: Researchers have zeroed in on six traits that seem to determine what makes someone cool.
Electric blue: President Trump and others in the White House seem to favor suits in shades that are brighter than navy. Our fashion critic explores why.
Committing to the corset: At her wedding to Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez Bezos took her love of a nipped waist to the next level.

ARTS AND IDEAS

An aerial view of a street tightly packed with crowds of protesters.

Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

A high price for protests in Hong Kong

Tsui, a software engineering major; Fung, a social worker; and Chan Chi Sum, a student, all joined pro-democracy protests that erupted in Hong Kong in 2019. When the movement was crushed by Beijing, they were among the thousands who were arrested, sentenced and imprisoned.

Five years ago this week, China passed its sweeping national security law that outlawed dissent in Hong Kong. Those who were convicted often lost careers, friends and dreams. Read their stories.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Tomato and watermelon salad with cubes of cheese is piled into a shallow white bowl.

David Malosh for The New York Times

Cook: This tomato and watermelon salad is summer in a bowl.

Watch: The documentary “Tour de France: Unchained” takes a look at the 2024 race.

Read: Here are