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August 7, 2025

Good morning. The next phase of President Trump’s trade war is here, as scores of trading partners and imported products now face significantly higher tariffs. That will raise costs for many companies — except for those who have placated Trump with acceptable-enough promises to invest in the U.S. — and continue to scramble the outlook for global business. We dive into the latest below. (Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

The day that many countries and companies were dreading has arrived: President Trump’s new tariffs went into effect. Doug Mills/The New York Times

Tariff tantrum

Bruising tariffs went into effect a few hours ago on more than 90 countries as President Trump’s trade war enters a new phase. The president has signaled that there’s more to come.

Trading partners are scrambling to negotiate better terms, while many of their industries — Japan’s automakers, for one — reel from the protectionist attack. Here’s a country-by-country tariff tracker.

But investors appear to be shrugging off the potential hit to global commerce. Stocks in Asia and Europe were trading mostly higher, helped by decent earnings that suggest that some companies are holding up. That’s in part because many deeply involved in international trade, like the shipping giant Maersk and Chinese exporters, have found resilient demand outside the U.S.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures are gaining, too.

The latest:

Is Apple out of Trump’s doghouse? Tim Cook separately joined Trump at the White House, announcing a commitment to invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S. Cook had a 24-karat gold gift for the president and said that “every single new iPhone and every single new Apple Watch sold anywhere in the world will contain cover glass made in Kentucky.”

It will be worth watching if the commitment will be enough to dissuade Trump from imposing tariffs on Apple products. (Remember that the iPhone maker has a history of pledging huge sums — in February it vowed to invest $500 billion domestically, drawing Trump’s praise — but hasn’t always followed through.)

Also keep an eye on Trump’s rapidly escalating trade fight with India, a major Apple production hub that now faces a 50 percent levy on most of its U.S. exports.

Switzerland is still under the gun. The country’s president, Karin Keller-Sutter, left Washington yesterday without a trade deal, meaning her country — a major exporter of gold, watches and pharmaceutical products — faces a 39 percent tariff rate.

Swiss political figures are calling on Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president who has close ties to Trump, to help out, The Financial Times reports.

Is Trump still in a negotiating mood? He delivered a series of all-caps posts on social media heralding the new tariffs. “BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, LARGELY FROM COUNTRIES THAT HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE UNITED STATES FOR MANY YEARS, LAUGHING ALL THE WAY, WILL START FLOWING INTO THE USA,” he wrote in one message.

Federal agents stage a big immigration raid in Los Angeles. The operation, which the Department of Homeland Security said led to the arrest of 16 undocumented immigrants, was the most high-profile sweep in the area since a court order barred the authorities from stopping people for checks without “reasonable suspicion.” Previous raids in Los Angeles led to widespread protests and left business owners anxious about the loss of workers and customers.

Andrew Cuomo courts New York business leaders. The former governor sought to convince the roughly 50 executives at a meeting that he — not Mayor Eric Adams — was the best candidate to defeat Zohran Mamdani in the fall, The Times reports. Separately, President Trump has indicated that he may get involved in the race, potentially scrambling an already unpredictable contest.

Nvidia helps SoftBank beat estimates for its quarterly profit. The Japanese tech investor reported $2.9 billion in its most recent fiscal quarter, more than double what Wall Street had expected, thanks to the soaring value of both Nvidia and start-ups that SoftBank had invested in. That performance will help give Masa Son, SoftBank’s founder and C.E.O., more leeway to double down on his artificial intelligence bets.

Eli Lilly reports disappointing trial results for its weight-loss pill. The drugmaker said that the highest dose of its daily obesity treatment helped patients lose around 12 percent of their body weight after 72 weeks. That’s less effective than many investors had hoped; shares in Lilly were down sharply in premarket trading.

What’s the next big media deal?

More than a year after Skydance signed a deal to acquire Paramount, the transaction finally closes today. Now Paramount, a relatively small player in the streaming wars, is getting a second wind just as Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery, two of its larger rivals, are rearranging their businesses.

So, naturally, media insiders are buzzing about which deals might be next, Lauren Hirsch reports.

There are simply too many streamers. There are the giants — Netflix, Amazon and Alphabet’s YouTube — and then there’s everyone else. Investing in streaming businesses is expensive, and consumers are getting sick of subscribing to multiple platforms.

Disney announced yesterday that it would consolidate its Hulu and Disney+ apps. And analysts say Paramount is still under pressure to expand its streaming and studio businesses. “Skydance and Paramount coming together doesn’t change the game for the combined entity,” Laurent Yoon, an analyst at Bernstein Research, said. “They’re both small, and the status quo doesn’t work.”

Skydance’s C.E.O., David Ellison, has long been interested in Warner Bros. Discovery, three people familiar with his thinking said. (Puck earlier reported Ellison’s interest.) And Warner Bros. Discovery is preparing to spin out its streaming and studio business by mid-2026, a move that insiders see as a potential precursor to selling one of the last major libraries of its kind.

But Paramount executives may want to settle in at Skydance before pursuing a major acquisition. And Discovery’s streaming and studio business, which includes intellectual property like Harry Potter, “Game of Thrones” and Batman, would cost at least $40 billion by the end of next year, according to analysts.

That means Paramount would need financial help to seal a deal — possibly from Ellison’s father, Larry, a co-founder of Oracle, who helped fund the Paramount deal. A spokeswoman for Skydance declined to comment.

Others could also make a play. Technology giants like Apple and Amazon could afford the $40 billion price tag, but may not want to divert funds from artificial intelligence. And Comcast may wish to stay out of the regulatory spotlight given that its C.E.O., Brian Roberts, has been a constant target for President Trump.

The elephant in the room: Dealmakers watched and learned from Skydance’s long, painful journey to close its acquisition of Paramount. Appetite to withstand a rigorous review may determine whether dealmakers are in for a quick sequel or a long intermission.

“We still are not posting the extremely edgy things that go — that are more likely to go viral. So that’s probably what had us come in slightly at the lower end.”

— Luis von Ahn, the C.E.O. of the language-learning app Duolingo, to analysts yesterday. The company toned down its social media content after drawing backlash to a post about its A.I. strategy, but the move appears to have cost Duolingo daily active users.

Seen and heard, consumer edition

Several consumer-facing companies yesterday reported earnings that both excited and underwhelmed investors.

The American consumer was a focus of analyst calls, with executives pointing to an emergent divide between the haves and have-nots. Here are some key takeaways:

McDonald’s: Lower-income consumers are under strain. The restaurant chain saw a rebound at its U.S. stores last quarter, which it attributed to recent promotions. But executives still expressed concern about spending, especially by those with less disposable income.

“Re-engaging the low-income consumer is critical, as they typically visit our restaurants more frequently than middle- and high-income consumers,” Chris Kempczinski, the company’s C.E.O., told analysts. “This bifurcated consumer base is why we remain cautious about the overall near-term health of the U.S. consumer.”

Disney: Wealthier Americans are still spending on leisure. The entertainment giant posted stronger-than-expected earnings and raised its profit outlook in two crucial businesses: streaming and “experiences,” a category that includes its parks, resorts and cruises. Revenue from domestic theme parks rose 10 percent in the most recent quarter.

Disney’s cruise ships are already roughly half-booked for next year, the company’s C.F.O., Hugh Johnston, told analysts. “I know there’s a lot of concern about the consumer in the U.S. right now,” Johnston told CNBC. “We don’t see it. Our consumer is doing very, very well.”

Shopify: Tariffs aren’t holding shoppers back. Shares in the e-commerce company soared 20 percent after it reported a sales jump of 31 percent year over year, fueled by robust consumer demand and adjustments to that by sellers on its platform. Jeff Hoffmeister, Shopify’s chief financial officer, told analysts that “the business remains in very good shape.” He also said that strength was not due to shoppers trying to front-run President Trump’s tariffs.

“We had factored into our guidance some potential impact from tariffs, which did not materialize,” Hoffmeister told analysts. Harley Finkelstein, Shopify’s president, told CNBC that “the millions of stores on Shopify are doing really, really well.”

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