Weekly Rewind: 7/11/25
Appeals court strikes down "Click-to-Cancel" rule, a big week in trade, and more.
By Kainoa Lowman and Katie Hettinga
Welcome back to the The Economic Populist’s Weekly Rewind. Every Friday, we’ll briefly recap the week’s biggest news, updates, and developments the in fight against corporate power.
Here’s what to know this week.
Appeals Court Strikes Down FTC “Click-to-Cancel” Rule
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court struck down the Biden-era Federal Trade Commission’s “Click to Cancel” Rule, which would have eliminated subscription traps and made cancelling a subscription as easy as signing up for one.
In large part, this is a story of powerful corporate interests undermining public-interest governance. The rule was challenged by just about every subscription-based industry, with the Chamber of Commerce filing the suit that ultimately got the rule thrown out this week. As David Dayen explained in an excellent deep dive for The American Prospect, the suit alleged the FTC had failed to comply with a single procedural step mandated by the labyrinthine Administrative Procedure Act of 1946.
But the fate of Click to Cancel is also yet another story of the Trump-Vance FTC sabotaging a popular initiative from the Lina Khan era. As Dayen writes, Trump’s Republican FTC commissioners—who voted against approving the final rule last year—helped out the Chamber by delaying the rule’s effective date from May 14 to July 14, allowing time for the appeals court to issue its ruling.
The Click to Cancel rule struck a nerve with the public. It received an extraordinary amount of public engagement with over 17,000 comments, the vast majority of them overwhelmingly positive. That’s hardly a surprise. A 2024 poll found it was supported by four out of five Democrats, Independents and Republicans. Almost no one, no matter what their political persuasion, thinks it right to trick and trap people into paying for subscriptions they no longer want.
Use Our New Trade Agreement Evaluator During Trump’s Latest Tariff Negotiation Deadline
This week, days before the highest “liberation day” tariffs were slated to kick back in, President Trump again punted his own self-imposed July 9 deadline for countries to make “trade” agreements with the United States that would allow them to avoid the higher rates. The new deadline is August 1 — but with Trump’s repeated tariff suspensions, not to mention very few details made public about negotiations and pending agreements, it will likely remain unclear for months what countries will face what tariff rates.
Rethink Trade released a new “Trade Deal” Evaluator to help determine if announced deals, negotiation frameworks, or letters will help deliver on Trump’s promises to rebalance trade and reshore manufacturing—or if “tariff relief” talks are trading U.S. bargaining chips for corporate giveaways, shady business deals, and other non-trade aims. Exhibit #1 of the latter is Trump’s threat of 50% tariffs on Brazil, a country with which the United States has a trade surplus, because Trump is unhappy that former right-wing Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is facing charges in a Brazilian court for his failed coup attempt after he lost his reelection bid.
“Digital Trade” Terms in USMCA Review
Rethink Trade led labor, consumer, and tech accountability groups in sending a letter on July 10 to United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer urging him to stop using tariff relief negotiations to attack other countries’ online privacy, Big Tech anti-monopoly and other digital policies. The letter also requested that he remove the “digital trade” provisions from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) during the agreement’s upcoming six-year review. These Big-Tech-demanded provisions forbid governments from limiting data flows and storage, ban requirements for algorithmic information disclosure even for tech safety or right-to-repair laws, label competition policies as illegal trade barriers, and mandate that governments provide liability protection for tech platforms.
Remember: Rethink Trade has released numerous reports in recent years showing how domestic efforts to regulate tech at the state and federal level could be undermined by “digital trade” terms in trade agreements.
Food Trade Deficit Continues to Grow
Rethink Trade’s released a new infographic report illustrating the United States’ growing reliance on imports for the food we eat. America’s large and growing food trade deficit has increased by over $46 billion over the past decade, with more than ninety percent of that change due to increased imports. This is an import problem, despite agribusiness claims that more free trade agreements and expanded market access will balance the deficit. In fact, the most recent years’ decline in food exports only accounts for a tiny portion of the deficit increase. The bulk of the deficit grew while U.S. food exports were expanding because our exports of raw commodities are overcome by growing imports of the food we actually eat such as beef and tomatoes. Rethink Trade recommends a new approach to farm and food trade policy to support the domestic production and processing of healthy food as well as stronger enforcement of competition law to break up the handful of food processing, grain trading, and grocery monopolists playing the system against farmers and consumers, and greater support for smaller farms.
Quick Hits
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte took a major step to introduce competition in the title insurance market—and reduce FICO’s dominance over credit scoring in the mortgage industry—by allowing lenders to use an alternative credit score provider VantageScore for government-sponsored Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages.
Delta is reportedly using an AI to figure out the maximum amount flyers will pay for a seat. And you thought the flying experience couldn’t get any worse!
Speaking of personalized pricing, Economic Liberties is hosting a virtual event next Wednesday on how lawmakers can protect their communities from “surveillance pricing”--an increasingly widespread corporate tactic that leverages personal data to charge consumers as much as they will pay (and, in gig work arrangements, pay workers as little as they will accept). We’ll hear from Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), California State Assemblymember Chris Ward, and some other great guests.
Weekly Rewind co-author Kainoa Lowman has a new piece in the Washington Monthly on how telecom monopolies have blocked the deployment of high-speed internet networks in rural America.
Senior Fellow Hannah Garden-Monheit has a new essay in Tech Policy Press on how Google, through its subsidiary YouTube, is poised to swallow the television market.