Trump opens new front in tariff war

Nick Beams

Vehicles for export are parked at a port in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Tuesday, July 8, 2025. [AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon]

After sending out letters to a series of countries that will be hit with major “reciprocal tariffs” on August 1, US President Trump has further extended his global trade war, announcing more commodities that will have sharply increased tariffs imposed.

Speaking to reporters before a cabinet meeting yesterday, Trump said “today we’re doing copper,” adding that he expected a 50 percent tariff to be imposed on the metal. He also foreshadowed that a possible 200 percent levy on pharmaceuticals over an 18-month period. Others are set to follow under “national security” investigations being carried out by the administration.

The tariffs on selected products will be carried out under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act while the blanket reciprocal tariffs on countries are being implemented under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Trump said drug companies would be given a year and half to “come in” but after that “they’re going to be tariffed at the very high rate, like 200 percent. We’ll give them a certain period of time to get their act together.”

The copper tariffs will be imposed much earlier. In an interview with the business channel CNBC, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he expected they would be put in place at the end of this month or in early August.

The tariff hike on copper had been expected for some time but not at the level indicated by Trump. Analysts at JPMorgan said the market would “be surprised to the upside by the proposed number” because it had penciled in a 25 percent hike for refined metals.

Copper is widely used for piping in construction and in the electronics industry. The biggest supplier to the US is Chile, followed by Canada and Mexico.

Pierre Gratton, president of the Mining Association of Canada, told the Financial Times (FT) billions of dollars’ worth of copper was sent to the US as part of an integrated North American industry. The US did not have enough refining capacity and smelters, and the high tariff rate would “hurt US manufacturing.”

Those claims are borne out by the analysis of previous tariff increases in steel. Between 2018 and 2020 while several thousand jobs are estimated to have been gained in the steel industry as many as 75,000 jobs were either lost or put at risk in other industries. These included auto manufacturing, construction, machinery and tools, food and beverage packaging, because of increased steel prices.

As he expanded his tariff war front, Trump insisted that the extension of the deadline for the imposition of reciprocal tariffs from July 9 to August 1 would be the last.

Tariffs, he said in a social media post, would start being paid on August 1. “There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change. …No extensions will be granted.”

As the countries most affected by the tariffs, Japan, South Korea, the nations of southeast Asia as well as a number of poorer and smaller economies, scramble to try to secure a last-minute agreement to try to lessen their impact, Trump made clear the content of his so-called negotiations.

With letters to be sent out to other countries, following the 14 delivered on Monday, he said: “I just want you to know a letter means a deal.”

The two major economies with no “deal” struck are the European Union and India.

Trump said that while there had been some progress with the EU, opposition to European taxes on US technology firms could lead him to announce a tariff rate within the next few days.

The administration has said it is close to a deal with India, but it would still be subject to a 10 percent tariff because of its membership of the BRICS group of countries.

This grouping, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which has now expanded to include 11 countries, has been under fire from Trump because of its efforts to bypass the dollar in international trade.

The two largest industrial economies hit by Monday’s announcement, South Korea, the world’s 13th largest economy and Japan, the fourth largest, are still seeking to secure concessions in next three weeks.

A statement from the South Korean trade ministry yesterday said: “We will double our efforts to produce a result mutually beneficial for both sides. We will improve domestic institutions and regulations to help ease the United States’ concerns.”

Last week newly elected South Korean president Lee Jae Myung said it was unclear what the US wanted. The two countries have a free-trade agreement implemented in 2012 that removed most tariffs on US goods, leaving it with little to offer.

The shock of the tariffs has been most significant in Japan. It had expected that it would be able to secure concessions relatively easily, as had taken place under the first Trump administration.

That has not eventuated, however, despite seven rounds of negotiations. The main sticking point has been Japan’s insistence that auto tariffs be eliminated and its refusal to permit increased US exports of rice. Dependent on electoral support from small rice farmers, the somewhat unstable Liberal Democratic Party government of prime minister Shigeru Ishiba has said they will not be sacrificed for concessions on cars and vehicles.

This stance has now drawn opposition from key sections of industry.

In an interview with the FT, Takeshi Niinami the chair of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, criticised the government’s insistence on a total exemption from the US measures.

“They underestimated the determination of Trump,” he said. “They thought time was on Japan’s side. It was a big mistake.”

The result was that Tokyo was now on a weaker footing and could be forced into an agreement.

According to the FT report of the interview: “Niinami said that Japan’s stubbornness—including Ishiba’s refusal to sacrifice the country’s rice farmers to protect its auto industry—had squandered the legacy of the late prime minister Shinzo Abe, who enjoyed warm relations with Trump during the US president’s first term.”

His criticisms were echoed by David Boling, director of Japan and Asian trade at the Eurasia Group think tank, and a former US official involved in the 2020 negotiations with Japan.

“Japan badly miscalculated by taking a maximalist position that the US must eliminate all tariffs. The strategy was a fantasy,” he told the FT. If Japan wanted a deal by August 1, he said, it had to be more “pragmatic.”

As trade conflict develops, with its full effects yet to be felt, it is already starting to have a significant impact.

In May the value of Japanese exports to the US fell by 11 percent compared to the same month a year earlier. The value of transport equipment, including cars and auto parts was down by 8.5 percent.

The Bank of Japan has halved its forecast for growth after what it has called the “unprecedented level” of tariffs imposed by the US which are set to cost the auto industry billions of dollars.

In South Korea, Samsung Electronics, the country’s largest company, reported that its profits for the second quarter had fallen by 56 percent from a year earlier. LG Electronics, a major exporter, said its profits had dropped by 46.6 percent.

Measles in the US reaches a 3-decade high

Benjamin Mateus

A sign outside of Seminole Hospital District offering measles testing, Feb. 21, 2025, in Seminole, Texas. [AP Photo/Julio Cortez]

The United States has reached a troubling new milestone, recording the highest number of measles cases in more than three decades. As of July 7, 2025, according to the Johns Hopkins Measles tracker, a total of 1,281 confirmed measles cases have been reported in the United States. This surpasses the 1,274 cases reported in all of 2019, the last recent peak following an outbreak in several orthodox Jewish communities in suburban New York City.

The figure, by all accounts, represents an underestimation of the actual incidence of measles infection. Measles was officially declared eliminated in the US in 2000, and since then the country typically saw an average of about 180 cases, almost all linked to travel to other countries where measles was still encountered.

This alarming resurgence is primarily driven by falling childhood vaccination, particularly in under-vaccinated communities, as seen in a significant outbreak originating in West Texas. The vast majority of those affected, approximately 95 percent of confirmed cases in 2025, have been individuals who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.

The consequences have been severe, with three measles-related deaths reported in the US this year—two children in Texas and one adult in New Mexico, all of whom were unvaccinated—matching the total number of US measles deaths over the previous two-and-a-half decades. Experts warn that if current trends persist, the US is at risk of losing its measles elimination status.

While West Texas has been identified as a major epicenter of the current measles surge, accounting for 69 percent of reported cases in an outbreak spanning Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, the prevalence of measles is alarmingly widespread across the United States.

As of July 5, 2025, at least 38 states have reported at least one case of measles this year, with a total of 27 identified outbreaks (defined as three or more related cases). Cases have appeared in various states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

This widespread distribution shows that while some outbreaks stem from imported cases, local transmission is largely responsible for most reported cases. For instance, a recent spike in Colorado cases was linked to an infectious traveler on a plane, leading to further community spread.

The broad age range of affected individuals also suggests that this outbreak has been developing over years due to persistent gaps in measles vaccine coverage, predominantly the result of an insidious anti-vaccination and disinformation campaign that has taken a disturbing hold on the national and international theater.

The concerning resurgence of measles is directly linked to a decline in childhood vaccination rates across the US. A recent study published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) analyzed county-level vaccination data and found that childhood MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination rates have been declining in much of the US since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, among 2,066 counties in 33 states, 78 percent reported a decline in vaccination rates. The county-level mean vaccination rate decreased from nearly 94 percent before the pandemic to about 91 percent after the pandemic. This puts the national average well below the 95 percent threshold public health experts consider necessary for herd immunity against measles, a target the US has missed for four consecutive years.

Notable drops include Hawaii, which saw its vaccination rate plummet from around 95 percent pre-pandemic to roughly 80 percent in the most recent estimates, and Wisconsin, which recorded the lowest average rate among studied states, in the 70s.

Reported measles cases and MMR vaccination rates in the US. [Photo: JAMA (data CDC)]

The connection between declining vaccination rates and the increase in measles infections is evident. Most confirmed measles cases in the US this year—approximately 95 percent to 96 percent—have occurred in individuals who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. This underscores the critical role of vaccination in preventing the disease.

Measles is one of the most highly transmissible infectious diseases, making even a small drop in immunity a significant risk factor for large outbreaks. Its basic reproduction number is estimated at 12, meaning one infected person can transmit it to up to 12 others in a fully susceptible population. Without a high percentage of vaccinated individuals, the virus can spread rapidly, leading to the return of diseases once eliminated. Experts warn that if current vaccination trends persist, measles may become endemic in the US within approximately two decades, giving up all the gains made in the public health effort to eliminate it.

The troubling trend of surging measles cases is not unique to the United States, as neighboring countries Canada and Mexico are also grappling with significant and deadly outbreaks. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have highlighted these developments, warning that the “overall risk of measles in the Americas Region is considered high” due to low vaccination rates.

As of mid-June 2025, the Americas Region has confirmed 7,132 measles cases and 13 deaths. This marks a 29-fold increase compared to the 244 cases reported in the same period of 2024. Canada, Mexico, and the United States account for most of these cases. The most affected age groups across the region are among children under 5 and adolescents aged 10 to 19 years. A significant proportion of cases in the Americas (56 percent) were in unvaccinated individuals, with 35 percent having unknown or absent vaccination status. Globally, as of June 6, 2025, WHO reported 88,853 confirmed measles cases in 168 member states.

Geographic distribution of confirmed measles cases by subnational level in the Americas Region, 2025. [Photo: Pan-American Health Organization]

Mexico has reported 2,597 confirmed measles cases, including nine deaths, as of the week ending June 24, 2025. As of late May, Mexico had reported at least 1,520 cases. This marks Mexico’s worst measles outbreak in decades. The outbreak began in March and was traced to an 8-year-old unvaccinated Mennonite boy who visited relatives in Seminole, Texas, an epicenter of the US outbreak. Cases then rapidly spread through Chihuahua’s Mennonite community via schools and churches, then to workers in orchards and cheese plants.

The Mennonite community in Chihuahua has historically low vaccination rates due to misinformation about vaccines and deep-seated distrust of authorities. Some members view vaccination as a matter of “freedom of expression” and prefer “to cure themselves in their own way,” with some even intentionally exposing children at “measles parties.”

Canada has reported 3,170 measles cases (including confirmed and probable cases) and one death as of epidemiological week 23, 2025. This far exceeds the 177 cases reported in all of 2024 and constitutes the highest annual number of cases since measles elimination was achieved in 1998. The reported death was an infant born prematurely with a congenital measles infection from an unvaccinated mother. Most cases (93 percent) in 2025 were exposed within Canada. A multi-jurisdictional outbreak affecting unvaccinated individuals in communities with low coverage began in New Brunswick in October 2024 and has spread to nine provinces and territories.

While significant shares of outbreaks in the US, Canada, and Mexico have been concentrated in closely connected Mennonite communities with historically low vaccination rates, PAHO experts have not formally linked outbreaks in the three countries genetically due to limited genetic sequencing. However, travel links have been identified, such as cases in Colorado being linked to travel to Chihuahua, Mexico, and Canadian outbreaks linked to cases in Michigan, underscoring the essential point that viruses and disease do not respect borders, meaning a threat in one place is a threat to the entire world’s population. And given the highly safe and effective vaccine, such developments are a disturbing and expanding trend.

The troubling resurgence of measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases in the Americas is being further inflamed by deliberate political actions taken by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his chosen appointees. These maneuvers are widely perceived by scientific and medical communities as fostering deep mistrust in vaccines and posing a direct threat to the bedrock of childhood vaccination programs.

It should be recalled that on June 9, 2025, Kennedy abruptly dismissed all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), an unprecedented move in the committee’s 61-year history that bypassed standard CDC procedures. He falsely justified the purge by claiming ACIP was “plagued with persistent conflicts of interest” and was a “rubber stamp.” Former CDC director, Dr. Tom Frieden, called these claims “total misrepresentation” and “classic misinformation,” noting that a 2009 report cited by Kennedy found administrative errors but not widespread conflicts of interest. Then, just two days later, Kennedy appointed eight new ACIP members, many of whom are known for publicly expressing vaccine skepticism, promoting misinformation, or opposing established public health practices.

During the recent two-day meeting, chair of the ACIP and one of the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, Martin Kulldorff, announced new working groups to “evaluate the cumulative effect of the recommended vaccine schedule.” This move was criticized by Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) as an “anti-vaccine trope.”

The committee’s agenda also shifted to include revisiting “long-settled questions” such as the safety of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that has been scientifically debunked as having any link to autism. This echoes long-standing anti-vaccine narratives, even though most US vaccines have been thimerosal-free since 2001. In no uncertain terms, these comments and actions are an open attack on the entire public health edifice.

Additionally, the withdrawal of a US funding pledge to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, an international organization that immunizes children in the world’s poorest countries, further compounds this crisis. The US was a major funder, and this withdrawal of $1.2 billion could lead to over 1 million preventable child deaths within five years by disrupting immunization programs for 75 million children. Public health experts warn that these “destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of US immunization policy, impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put US families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses.”

The resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough is directly linked to these actions and the declining trust and vaccine uptake they foster. Modeling indicates that if current vaccination rates persist, measles may become endemic again in the US within two decades, and a 10 percent decline in MMR vaccination could lead to 11.1 million measles cases over 25 years.

Preparing for privatization, rural service reduced under USPS revised delivery standards

Jane Wise

A USPS employee works outside post office in Wheeling, Illinois December 3, 2021. [AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh]

On July 1, the United States Postal Service (USPS) implemented the second phase of its revised delivery standards under the so-called “Delivering for America” plan, which is, in reality, a massive cost-cutting campaign to prepare USPS for privatization. The changes, described by management as necessary for “efficiency,” will extend delivery times for millions of residents, particularly in rural areas, as USPS seeks to eliminate trucking routes and consolidate processing operations to slash labor and transportation costs.

According to industry publication Freightwaves, the latest phase expands the Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) initiative nationwide, adding an extra day to expected delivery times for First-Class Mail originating from remote post offices more than 50 miles from regional processing centers.

USPS claims the changes will save $36 billion over 10 years, with most savings derived from cutbacks to mail processing and transportation. Under the new standards, Sundays and holidays no longer count as transit days, meaning a two-day delivery mailed on Saturday will not arrive until Tuesday, greatly extending delivery times.

The situation is urgent and must be opposed by a rank-and-file movement from below, independent of the union bureaucrats who either openly support Delivering for America or refuse to lift a finger against it.

The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), in its January 2025 advisory opinion, sharply criticized the plan’s defective modeling, unproven cost-saving projections, and devastating impact on rural customers. The Commission warned that USPS is “irreversibly changing its network without laying a foundation for success.” It found that nearly half (49.5 percent) of First-Class Mail ZIP codes will experience downgraded service and concluded the changes are inconsistent with USPS’s statutory obligation under 39 U.S.C. § 101(a), to provide “prompt, reliable, and efficient services to patrons in all areas.” It emphasized the disproportionate harm to rural communities, delaying their outgoing mail and receipt of essential items such as medications and business payments.

The PRC noted specifically that USPS’s claims of improved performance were contradicted by actual outcomes in regions where they were piloted, including the cities of Richmond, Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia, where performance significantly declined following the implementation of the new network model.

But in spite of the scathing report from the PRC, the Trump administration is accelerating the plans of his predecessors to sell off the post office. These cuts are part of USPS’s broader transformation agenda initiated under former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, appointed under Trump but serving mostly under Joe Biden.

Trump’s newly appointed Postmaster General, David Steiner, is a sitting FedEx board member who will assume office on July 14. His appointment signals the administration’s intent to strip USPS of its public mission and carve up its assets for private profit.

In its February 2025 industry update, Wells Fargo laid out a blueprint for USPS privatization, viewing these facility closures and consolidations as key steps toward carving up USPS. The bank proposed splitting the profitable parcel business from mail operations, privatizing parcel delivery through IPO or sale while retaining letter mail under minimal public funding.

Delivering for America is proceeding along many of the recommendations in the report. As Freightwaves reported, in 2021 USPS operated 427 facilities, many under short-term leases or contractors, functioning in an uncoordinated manner. Under DeJoy’s restructuring, the agency is downsizing to just 250 facilities nationwide, including 60 regional processing and distribution centers (RPDCs) and 190 local processing centers (LPCs) that sort letters, flats and parcels for final-mile delivery. This represents a massive 40 percent reduction in facilities, with devastating consequences for postal workers and the communities they serve.

Amazon is also positioning itself to capitalize on a privatized USPS. As Truthout reported, CEO Andy Jassy’s 2024 shareholder letter highlighted Amazon’s expansion into rural delivery networks, traditionally dependent on USPS for the costly “last mile.” Up until now, rural offices were so dominated by deliveries for the e-commerce giant that they functioned effectively as Amazon contractors, violating federal law by prioritizing Amazon packages over other items.

With privatization, Amazon could absorb these routes directly for massive profit, while slashing service to unprofitable regions. The company delivered over 6 billion packages in 2024 through its own network of franchised “Delivery Service Providers,” becoming the country’s biggest delivery business virtually overnight.

Truthout noted that both UPS and FedEx stand ready to absorb USPS’s package delivery business. FedEx has a last-mile station network similar in size to Amazon’s, but more evenly distributed nationwide, alongside a more efficient air network. UPS surpasses both with a larger last-mile footprint and nearly double Amazon’s air capacity, positioning these corporations to seize routes and profits if USPS’s universal service obligation is dismantled.

Far from mobilizing opposition, the unions have quietly cleared the path for privatization by accepting Delivering for America’s agenda. This year, all major USPS unions finalized new contracts that failed to include any protections against the ongoing preparations for dismantling the Postal Service.

However, support for the contracts among the memberships was abysmally low. The National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association “ratified” a contract on only 11 percent turnout, while the American Postal Workers Union is wrapping up voting on a “contract” which does not even exist because the language has not yet been finalized. Members of the National Association of Letter Carriers rejected their tentative agreement by 70 percent, only to have its terms imposed through interest arbitration. This signals immense dissatisfaction with the union leaderships and their inability to defend workers’ interests.