Weekly Rewind: 7/24/26
A New Trump Tariff Regime Arrives, and more.
By Zachary Hagen-Smith and Katie Hettinga
Welcome back to 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.
A New Trump Tariff Regime Arrives
At 12:01 am Friday morning, new American tariffs of between 10 and 12.5% went into effect against 86 countries under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. These tariffs follow investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into whether 59 countries and the European Union have enacted and effectively enforced bans on imports produced with forced labor. According to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), these U.S. trade partners cover 99.4% of all U.S. imports.
Several import categories are exempt from the new tariffs, including energy products and goods compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The tariffs come into effect as a previous 10% global tariff imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 expires. Other Section 301 investigations into 16 countries’ overcapacity and unfair manufacturing practices are still pending.
Oh Canada! Tariff Retaliation Retaliation!
On Monday, President Donald Trump announced new 50% tariffs on multiple categories of Canadian goods, including lumber, hockey sticks, cement, paper, machinery, and dairy products. Unlike previous tariffs, these apply to goods even if they comply with the USMCA, which is currently under review.
He did this using a nearly century-old statute never before utilized to impose tariffs. Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 allows the president to set tariffs on imports from foreign countries that discriminate against U.S. commerce.
The claimed justification for tariffs on the United States’ second-largest trading partner and long-time ally? That Canada has discriminated against U.S. exports. In three different executive orders, the administration set forth ways in which it argues U.S. dairy, automobile, and alcohol products are treated differently than imports from other countries.
Not mentioned... most Canadian provinces’ ban on sales of U.S. booze and wine was enacted in retaliation for past Trump unilateral tariffs on Canada. And that the limit on sales of automobiles made in the United States relates to specific models from plants that the Trump administration pushed to relocate from Canada to the United States to avoid tariffs.
The White House does note that Canada was one of two countries (along with China) to “retaliate” against Trump’s unilateral tariffs. The message seems to be that countries may not react to the Trump II tariffs lest their exports get slapped with additional tariffs.
Legal challenges are sure to ensue if only because the law has never been used to actually impose tariffs. (The last trade threats issued under the law were in the 1930s, but did not end in actual duties!). We will see if Section 338 tariffs outlast those Trump declared using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — another statute the administration used for the first time to impose tariffs, which was ultimately ruled by the Supreme Court not to provide tariff authority.
A Judge Told Two Broadcast Giants to Not Merge. They Don’t Seem to be Listening.
A bipartisan group of 13 state attorneys general and DirecTV filed a motion in court on Wednesday to get to the bottom of what appears to be an incredibly flagrant instance of corporate lawlessness. Earlier this year, the AGs and DirecTV respectively sued to block the $6.2 billion merger of Nexstar and TEGNA — two of the largest owners of local broadcasting stations in America. A month later, a judge ordered the two broadcasting rivals to, as the antitrust case proceeded, temporarily pause the deal.
Instead, Nexstar allegedly stacked TEGNA’s board with their own executives — including Nexstar’s CEO, COO, CFO, General Counsel, and the former president of Nexstar Broadcasting — who all collectively guided TEGNA’s corporate strategy and gained unprecedented access to sensitive internal information. Though Nexstar’s lawyers will say TEGNA is still independent, Nexstar’s own CEO Perry Sook is on the record telling investors that TEGNA “operate[s] as a [Nexstar] subsidiary.” Sook also stated that, for certain TEGNA transactions, “Nexstar ‘must make’ decisions directing TEGNA-owned stations.”
In a fair and honest judicial system, the court will next issue sanctions and contempt orders against the Nexstar and TEGNA executives actively flouting the law and refer their attorneys to the bar for disciplinary action. We will be keeping an eye on this.
Remember: the combined broadcaster would own TV stations reaching up to 80% of U.S. households — more than double Congress’s 39% cap — giving it control of 50 to 70% of broadcast revenue in some areas, and the leverage to extract a planned $135 million through higher retransmission fees from consumers, while also driving up TV advertising costs for local businesses.
This would appear to be a blatantly illegal merger. But both companies have been cozying up to Trump — most egregiously by trying to force the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show. Trump has since endorsed the merger as a way to “help knock out the Fake News” and his DOJ and FCC collaborated to clear the way for it.
Quick Hits
States are punching back against data center giveaways. This week Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen issued an executive order to block tax breaks for new data centers, while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul moved to do the same through a budget proposal. Even Virginia’s Loudoun County — the heart of “Data Center Alley” — is advancing plans for a temporary moratorium on new projects until new data center zoning laws are prepared. For more here, check out the latest from Director of State and Local Policy Pat Garofalo’s Boondoggle Substack.
States won a major victory this week, pausing the $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. merger initially until Aug. 18. But now Paramount has agreed to freeze the merger until next June! Also in news around the merger: the EU approved the deal this week after Paramount agreed to ditch certain film distribution agreements with Universal for a decade. For more on what this acquisition would mean for working people and press freedom, catch Senior Adviser Alvaro Bedoya in conversations with L.A. location scout Travis Beck and comedian Heather Gardner.
The California Chamber of Commerce launched a multi-million dollar misinformation campaign to kill the COMPETE Act, a state antitrust bill that would create enforcement mechanisms against anticompetitive conduct by single firms. In a new press release, we break down the fact and fiction surrounding the bill.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed two new laws targeting algorithmic pricing abuses, including a grocery-only ban on surveillance pricing and restrictions on rent-setting software.
It’s official: Trump has a new pick to head the DOJ’s antitrust division: Adam Candeub, the current general counsel at the FCC, where he helped clear the way for the Nexstar-TEGNA merger. As we previously reported, he also advocates for a limited federal antitrust role. Candeub’s confirmation hearing will be held on August 5th.
In other DOJ news: the department is making it easier for big business to push mergers through by asking less of companies during antitrust reviews.
As NextEra’s $67 billion bid for Dominion Energy heads toward regulatory review, opposition is mounting. Clean Virginia, an anti-dark money group, filed a motion with the state regulator arguing that the merger application is too incomplete to even start the SCC’s six-month review clock. At the same time, two Republican lawmakers are pressing Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger for a special session to buy the state more time before the state regulator is forced to sign off. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi is still waiting on answers to the questions she has raised about its cost to consumers and the grid.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed former FTC Chair Lina Khan as chair of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, signaling a shift toward using economic development to prioritize working people and public interests.
President Trump is threatening a “substantial” new tariff on the European Union and has ordered a trade investigation following the European Commission fining Google €890 million for self-preferencing its own services on Google Search and restricting promotion of alternative purchase options on Google Play. For more on this front, check out Rethink Trade’s June report on how Trump is weaponizing US trade policy for BigTech.
Congress passed provisions to audit TRICARE’s contract with PBM giant Express Scripts —which has a record of pushing independent pharmacies out of the TRICARE network and leaving military families in care deserts — falling short of simply terminating the contract.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, introduced a resolution calling for an FTC investigation into private equity rollups of firetruck manufacturers, which has led to years-long delays and skyrocketing prices.
As the Surface Transportation Board (STB) weighs the proposed merger of the Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railway, a group of 21 senators led by Cory Booker are out with a letter demanding the regulator give the merger the scrutiny it deserves.
ICYMI: For the Economic Populist, Senior Fellow for Aviation and Travel, William J. McGee, lays out how the Government Accountability Office’s latest report on airline competition whitewashes and ignores the problems created by consolidation.