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President Donald Trump began levying higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday, just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to create visible damage for the U.S. economy.Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10% or higher. Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15%, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh are taxed at 20%. Trump also expects the EU, Japan and South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S.“I think the growth is going to be unprecedented,” Trump said Wednesday afternoon. He added that the U.S. was “taking in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs,” but he couldn’t provide a specific figure for revenues because “we don’t even know what the final number is” regarding tariff rates.Despite the uncertainty, the Trump White House is confident that the onset of his broad tariffs will provide clarity about the path of the world’s largest economy. Now that companies understand the direction the U.S. is headed, the Republican administration believes they can ramp up new investments and jump-start hiring in ways that can rebalance the U.S. economy as a manufacturing power.But so far, there are signs of self-inflicted wounds to America as companies and consumers alike brace for the impact of new taxes. What the data has shown is a U.S. economy that changed in April with Trump’s initial rollout of tariffs, an event that led to market drama, a negotiating period and Trump’s ultimate decision to start his universal tariffs on Thursday. Risk of economic erosion Economic reports show that hiring began to stall, inflationary pressures crept upward and home values in key markets started to decline after April, said John Silvia, CEO of Dynamic Economic Strategy.“A less productive economy requires fewer workers,” Silvia said in an analysis note. “But there is more, the higher tariff prices lower workers’ real wages. The economy has become less productive, and firms cannot pay the same real wages as before. Actions have consequences.”Even then, the ultimate transformations of the tariffs are unknown and could play out over months, if not years. Many economists say the risk is that the American economy is steadily eroded rather than collapsing instantly.“We all want it to be made for television where it’s this explosion it’s not like that,” said Brad Jensen, a professor at Georgetown University. “It’s going to be fine sand in the gears and slow things down.”Trump has promoted the tariffs as a way to reduce the persistent trade deficit. But importers sought to avoid the taxes by importing more goods before the taxes went into effect. As a result, the $582.7 billion trade imbalance for the first half of the year was 38% higher than in 2024. Total construction spending has dropped 2.9% over the past year.The economic pain isn’t confined to the U.S. Germany, which sends 10% of its exports to the U.S. market, saw industrial production sag 1.9% in June as Trump’s earlier rounds of tariff hikes took hold. “The new tariffs will clearly weigh on economic growth,” said Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro for ING bank. Dismay in India and Switzerland The lead-up to Thursday fit the slapdash nature of Trump’s tariffs, which have been variously rolled out, walked back, delayed, increased, imposed by letter and frantically renegotiated. The process has been so muddled that officials for key trade partners were unclear at the start of the week whether the tariffs would begin Thursday or Friday. The language of the July 31 order to delay the start of tariffs from Aug. 1 only said the higher tax rates would start in seven days.Trump on Wednesday announced additional 25% tariffs to be imposed on India for its buying of Russian oil, bringing its total import taxes to 50%.A top body of Indian exporters said Thursday the latest U.S. tariffs will impact nearly 55% of the country’s outbound shipments to America and force exporters to lose their long-standing clients.“Absorbing this sudden cost escalation is simply not viable. Margins are already thin,” S.C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, said in a statement.The Swiss executive branch, the Federal Council, was expected to hold an extraordinary meeting Thursday after President Karin Keller-Sutter and other top Swiss officials returned from a hastily arranged trip to Washington in a failed bid to avert steep 39% U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods.Import taxes are still coming on pharmaceutical drugs, and Trump announced 100% tariffs on computer chips. That could leave the U.S. economy in a place of suspended animation as it awaits the impact. Stock market remains solid The president’s use of a 1977 law to declare an economic emergency to impose the tariffs is also under challenge. The impending ruling from last week’s hearing before a U.S. appeals court could cause Trump to find other legal justifications if judges say he exceeded his authority.Even people who worked with Trump during his first term are skeptical that things will go smoothly for the economy, such as Paul Ryan, the former Republican House speaker, who has emerged as a Trump critic.“There’s no sort of rationale for this other than the president wanting to raise tariffs based upon his whims, his opinions,” Ryan told CNBC on Wednesday. “I think choppy waters are ahead because I think they’re going to have some legal challenges.”Still, the stock market has been solid during the recent tariff drama, with the S&P 500 index climbing more than 25% from its April low. The market’s rebound and the income tax cuts in Trump’s tax and spending measures signed into law on July 4 have given the White House confidence that economic growth is bound to accelerate in the coming months.Global financial markets took Thursday’s tariff adjustments in stride, with Asian and European shares and U.S. futures mostly higher.Brzeski warned: “While financial markets seem to have grown numb to tariff announcements, let’s not forget that their adverse effects on economies will gradually unfold over time.”As of now, Trump still foresees an economic boom while the rest of the world and American voters wait nervously.“There’s one person who can afford to be cavalier about the uncertainty that he’s creating, and that’s Donald Trump,” said Rachel West, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who worked in the Biden White House on labor policy. “The rest of Americans are already paying the price for that uncertainty.” Follow the AP’s coverage of President Donald Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump. Josh Boak, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
A commercial spaceflight company that specializes in small- to medium-lift launch vehicles is hoping to have a giant-sized first day of trading today. Firefly Aerospace is expected to debut on the Nasdaq today as the companys initial public offering gains liftoff. Heres what you need to know about Firefly Aerospaces IPO and how the feud between the CEO of its competitor, SpaceX, and the president of the United States could give it an advantage. What is Firefly Aerospace? Firefly Aerospace Inc. is a space and defense technology company. Located in Cedar Park, Texas, it specializes in space launch and landing capabilities. In other words, the company helps get satellites and other vehicles into space. Founded in 2017, Firefly specializes in small- to medium-lift launch vehicles, as well as lunar landers and orbital vehicles. The company offers a number of spacecraft, including the Blue Ghost lander. According to Fireflys Form S-1 Registration Statement, which it filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Blue Ghost is the only commercial vehicle to have had a fully successful landing on the moon, which it achieved in March 2025. Firefly has a number of competitors in the space industry, including Elon Musks dominant SpaceX. Currently, Firefly says it has more than 800 employees (SpaceX has around 13,000, according to PitchBook) and boasts that its agility allows it to get a satellite into orbit with as little as 24 hours’ notice. Firefly operates at a loss Despite Fireflys impressive offerings, the company currently operates at a loss. This isnt unusual for a young company in the technology space, which often has high operational and research and development costs. In its S-1, Firefly stated that it had a net loss of $231.1 million for the year that ended December 31, 2024. That net loss was greater than the $135.5 million net loss the company experienced in the year that ended December 31, 2023. Most recently, the company said it had a net loss of $60.1 million for the three months that ended March 31, 2025. That was a net loss increase from the net loss of $52.8 million that Firefly experienced for the same period a year earlier. However, while the company is still operating at a loss, its total revenue has surged lately, although the revenue sum is relatively small. Firefly says it brought in total revenue of $55.9 million for the three-month period ending March 31, 2025. That was an increase of 572% from the same period a year earlier. It says revenue was helped by a 297% increase in its launch revenue for the quarter versus the quarter a year earlier, as well as a 623% in its spacecraft solutions revenue for the same timeframe. Still, Firefly says that it expects to continue to incur net losses for the next several years. When is Firefly Aerospaces IPO? Firefly priced its shares on Wednesday and expects to list its stock today (Thursday, August 7, 2025). What is Firefly Aerospaces stock ticker? Firefly Aerospaces stock will trade under the ticker FLY. What exchange will Firefly Aerospace shares trade on? Firefly Aerospace shares trade on the Nasdaq Global Market. What is the IPO share price of FLY? Firefly Aerospaces IPO price is $45 per share. This is a significant increase over its original target IPO price range of $35 to $39 a share. The target was then revised upwards to a range between $41 and $43 each. Finally, shares landed at $45 each. The increasing IPO price suggests that there is a healthy appetite for FLY shares. How many FLY shares are available in its IPO? According to a company press release, Firefly Aerospaces public offering consisted of 19,296,000 shares. How much did Firefly Aerospace raise in its IPO? With 19.2 million shares sold at $45 apiece, that means that Firefly raised approximately $868 million from its IPO. How much is Firefly Aerospace worth? Firefly Aerospace is now valued at approximately $6.3 billion, according to CNBC. Is the Trump-Musk feud beneficial for Firefly? Elon Musks privately held SpaceX is the dominant player in the commercial space industry with significant government contracts. However, Musk and President Trump had a historic and very public falling out earlier this year, leading many to assume that the schism could hurt SpaceXs business interests. Still, the U.S. government itself is heavily reliant on SpaceX to get its satellites into orbit. But as smaller space companies continue to grow and expand their capabilities, the U.S. government increasingly has more options to choose from. And given the Trump-Musk feud, it’s fair to wonder if other space companies will benefit from the rift. Whether or not there is a direct benefit to other companies from the feud is a game of speculation. However, Firefly Aerospace has recently gained from increasing government contracts. At the end of July, the company announced that it was awarded a $177 million contract from NASA to deliver five payloads from the countrys space agency to the moons south pole in 2029.
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E-Commerce
Last week, President Donald Trumps super PAC revealed that it has an unsettling amount of cash on hand for a president who is, his occasional musings to the contrary notwithstanding, constitutionally ineligible to run for a third term in office. According to a midyear report filed with the Federal Election Commission, MAGA Inc. is sitting on nearly $200 million, a sum that includes a shade over $175 million collected just in the past six months. Unless collections fall off a cliff in the second half of the year, Trump should enter 2026 with well over a quarter-billion dollars to spend on the midterm electionsa war chest that would make him not only the Republican Partys unquestioned standard-bearer but also perhaps its deepest-pocketed financier for the foreseeable future. Many of the donors to MAGA Inc. would likely donate to any Republican president: real estate developers, oil and gas companies, firearms manufacturers, Wall Street banks, allegedly crooked mortgage brokers, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and so on. Others made what proved to be prudent investments in their relationships with Trump, who has long viewed the presidency as a tool for rewarding loyal friends and punishing perceived enemies. A Florida personal injury attorney nominated by Trump as the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, for example, gave $500,000; an investor who now serves on the Presidents Intelligence Advisory Board gave $250,000. Longtime Trump donors Jeffrey Sprecher, whose company owns the New York Stock Exchange, and his wife, former Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, gave a cool $2.5 million apiece in June. In a wild coincidence, Trump announced that he would appoint Loeffler to lead the Small Business Administration six months earlier. But the most notable collection of namesand some of the biggest numbersare associated with the cryptocurrency industry, which has, in another wild coincidence, netted Trump and his family hundreds of millions of dollars since he took office in January. Foris Dax, which does business as Crypto.com, gave MAGA Inc. $10 million. Tools for Humanity, better known as World Network or Worldcoin (and cofounded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman), chipped in $5 million, as did Blockchain.com. Venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, whose eponymous Silicon Valley firm has invested heavily in crypto projects (including Tools for Humanity), combined to donate $6 million. The Winklevoss twins and their crypto exchange, Gemini Trust Company, donated a total of nearly $4 million. (Tyler donated about $15,000 more in his name than his brother, Cameron, which is how you can tell them apart.) All told, crypto and crypto-adjacent interests have contributed at least $40 million to MAGA Inc. so far this year. This figure does not include $5 million from Elon Musk, whose companies hold crypto assets worth billions of dollars. Despite his extremely funny public falling-out with Trump, Musk evidently still knows whats best for business: On June 27, he ponied up $5 million to the man who more or less just gave him the boot. The steady flow of cash to Trumps political machine is a peek at the struggle for control of the movement Trump creatednot necessarily now, when he is both president of the United States and the leader of the Republican Party, but over the next 24 months or so, as his term winds down and he prepares to return to Mar-a-Lago for good. Everyone involved here understands that it is not only the current White House that is for sale, but also the future of a party that has really not had an identity apart from Trump, a 79-year-old man who is decompensating before our eyes, for a decade now. Many of the people who are giving to MAGA Inc. are roughly analogous to investors racing to get in on the ground floor of a promising startup: For anyone who can foot the bill, the chance to own even a sliver of one of this countrys two major political parties is too valuable to pass up. And because the first six months of Trumps second administration have been so good for the crypto industry, its wealthier-than-ever luminaries have been among the most aggressive early buyers of (even more) political influence. They envision the country as a nascent Silicon Valley plutocracy, and themselves as its leadersequal parts fabulously wealthy oligarchs, industry-friendly regulators, and currency revolutionaries on the verge of making fiat money obsolete. Wealthy people have always been able to buy power in Washington, D.C., but rarely have they been this comfortable being this obvious about it. Part of the challenge with gauging the value of these investments is that there is basically no precedent for them. Super PACs have only been around since 2010, after the Supreme Courts decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission opened the floodgates to unlimited political spending by megacorporations and the billionaires who run them. As a result, President Barack Obama is the only other term-limited president who has ever raised money under the same circumstances, and at the time his supporters plainly did not perceive the same value in continuing to write checks: Again, over the past six months, MAGA Inc. has raked in around $175 million. As The New York Times notes, during the same period in 2013, the primary super PAC affiliated with Obama raised a grand total of $356,000. Generally, candidates from the same party as a sitting president face a tougher road to victory in the midterm elections that followa dynamic that is especially salient when a president whose approval rating was already dropping is also trying to fend off persistent questions about the nature of his friendship with the nations most famous child sex abuser. But the fact that Trump will be the GOPs de facto kingmaker in 2026 will make it very challenging for Republican candidates to break with himon the campaign trail, to the extent that any Republican candidates would have interest in doing so in the first place. If you want to win a primary, you cannot afford to pass up Trumps moneyor, worse yet, to do something to make him angry, such that he starts giving to your more enthusiastically MAGA opponent instead. What I am saying here is that the Republican candidates trying to win in purple districts next falland, in all likelihood, the serious contenders vying for the GOP presidential nomination in 2028are not going to be traditional conservatives trying to appeal to swing voters with promises of limited government and lower taxes. They are going to be Trump acolytes steeped in X clips and manosphere content who promise to do his and his donors bidding. Trumps dominance of the modern GOP has also come at the expense of what remains of the Republican establishment, whose leaders on Capitol Hill are now dealing with the consequences of having long ago ceded control of the party to a made-for-TV businessman who has never cared about its long-term success outside the context of his own political and financial fortunes. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to the House, had around $33 million in cash on hand as of June 30, and the GOP-affiliated Senate analogue came in just behind it, at $29.7 million. If youre doing the math at home, this means that the combined spending power of the Republican lawmakers trying to preserve their majorities in the House and Senate is about one-third the spending power of the partys outgoing president. The only group with anywhere close to as much money as MAGA Inc., The Times reports, is Fairshake, a super PAC backed byyou guessed itthe crypto industry. In other words, Republican candidates can take crypto industry cash funneled through MAGA Inc., or directly from its super PAC. But they are taking that money either way, and dealing with whatever strings come attached to it. For several years now, there has been an open question about what will happen to the Republican Party once Trump, for one reason or another, is no longer in control of it: whether it will revert to the establishment conservatives Trump has rendered all but irrelevant, or whether it will continue as a cult of personality propped up by a coalition of bigots, billionaires, and billionaires who are also bigots. MAGA Inc.s massive fundraising haul yields a grim answer: As venal as Trump is, the next generation of party leaders will be even more transparently for sale to the highest bidder. Those who can afford it are already spending accordingly.
Category:
E-Commerce
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