Weekly Rewind: 7/18/25

Congress moves to codify "click-to-cancel," FTC commissioner Slaughter reinstated, 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 in the fight against corporate power.

Here’s what to know this week.

Congress Moves to Codify “Click-to-Cancel”

After a federal appeals court last week struck down on procedural grounds 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 — members of Congress introduced three separate pieces of legislation to codify the thrust of the rule.

Late last week, Sens. Brian Schatz and John Kennedy introduced the Unsubscribe Act, which would require companies to be more transparent about their pricing practices and make it easier for consumers to cancel automatic subscription payments. That same day, Sen. Ruben Gallego introduced the “Click to Cancel Consumer Protection Act of 2025,” which will directly codify the FTC’s rule as written. On Monday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Yvette D. Clarke reintroduced the Consumer Online Payment Transparency and Integrity Act, a broader bill that also tackles free trial scams.

As we wrote last week, the court’s blocking of the Click to Cancel rule—aided by the Trump-Vance FTC’s sabotaging of the rule’s implementation—is a true travesty. When the rule went out for public comment, it received more than 17,000 comments, an extraordinary number. The vast majority of them positive, with many recounting Kafkaesque experiences of attempting and failing to cancel subscription services. No surprise, a 2024 Data For Progress poll found the Click to Cancel rule enjoyed the support of four out of five Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. It’s great to see bipartisan members of Congress move to resuscitate this overwhelmingly popular policy, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on these bills.

FTC Commissioner Slaughter Reinstated

On Thursday, a federal judge reinstated FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, who President Donald Trump attempted to fire without cause in March alongside fellow Democrat commissioner Alvaro Bedoya.

Slaughter and Bedoya had both sued to challenge the firings; Bedoya formerly resigned his position before joining Economic Liberties as a Senior Advisor earlier this month.

The judge’s ruling to reinstate Slaughter applied the Supreme Court’s 1935 “Humphrey’s Executor” decision, which established that the president can only fire commissioners of independent federal agencies for concrete reasons related to job performance. The Trump Administration has already appealed, and if the case makes it up to the Supreme Court, this ruling could well be overturned: earlier this year, the Supreme Court directly challenged Humphrey’s Executor when it allowed Trump to remove members of the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board without cause. But for now, Slaughter is back to work as the FTC’s sole minority Commissioner. “Top of the to-do list,” she wrote on X: “calling a vote on restoring the Click to Cancel Rule.”

Who Gains from Detail-Light Trade Deals?

The Trump administration has announced trade deals for Indonesia and maybe Vietnam… but with the president saying of the Vietnam framework, “I don't think it matters how much you release of the deal,” it remains unclear if or when deal texts will be made public. Vietnam has not even officially announced that a deal exists.

We know more about the Wednesday announcement of new and outrageous 50% tariff threats and a trade investigation against Brazil. The 50% tariffs have nothing to do with trade at all — they are meant to punish Brazil for holding right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro accountable for a failed coup attempt. The trade investigation targets Brazil’s domestic regulation of Big Tech and intellectual property protections — again, issues that have nothing to do with trade — in an effort to help Big Tech and Big Pharma in line with the old usual neoliberal corporatist agenda. In fact, the “digital” practices under investigation relate to Brazil’s anti-monopoly, privacy, and data security regulations opposed by Big Tech. What all this action doesn’t accomplish? It doesn’t begin to address rebuilding U.S. manufacturing or rebalancing trade, the goals Trump pledged would be furthered by his tariffs. How could it? The United States has a trade surplus (exporting more than we import) with Brazil!

Trump Soft on China?

With the MAGA movement currently distracted by their ongoing circular firing squad over the never-ending Jeffrey Epstein scandal, will the administration’s next own goal be Trump “going soft” on China? Trump embargoed sales of cutting-edge U.S. AI microchips to China in April, arguing it was vital to national security. But after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited the White House last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced Nvidia can resume sales of its H20 chip to China. Meanwhile, China continues to throttle rare earth exports in violation of an agreement China made with the Trump administration in June, with Trump saying nary a word. Ultimately, Trump is delivering something he didn’t promise — lifting a national security embargo and allowing China to have greater access to U.S. tech — in the so-called China deal, while China doesn’t deliver on one of the major things it did promise.

Quick Hits

• The Trump-Vance FTC has reversed an order issued under Lina Khan that banned oil executives from serving on the board of Chevron because they allegedly colluded with OPEC officials to inflate gas prices. Director of Research Matt Stoller estimated this scheme cost the average family $3,000 in 2023.

• As private equity firms increasingly seek to buy electrical utilities to capitalize on the AI datacenter boom, consumer groups are warning that ratepayers may pay a price.

• A new report shows Elon Musk’s DOGE put together plans to kill the IRS’ free tax filing service after a meeting with tax software lobbyists.

• As industry observers — including Managing Editor Helaine Olen — have long feared, the Trump Administration is reportedly set to make it easier to open up 401(k) plans to investments in private equity, which many consider too risky for most retirement savers.

• Allison Preiss, former senior advisor to CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, has a new piece in MSNBC breaking down how the Trump administration’s dismantling of the CFPB is costing military servicemembers millions in redress and restitution.

• The House passed the GENIUS Act, a corrupt giveaway to the crypto industry and Trump family, that we wrote about back in May. The legislation is expected to be signed into law by Trump.

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren is calling for scrutiny of the booming private credit market, where she warns that unregulated lending by nonbank financial firms could pose a threat to financial stability.