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By Jayakumar Madala
August 07, 2025
By Jayakumar Madala
August 07, 2025
Good morning, I'm Jayakumar Madala, filling in for Sarah Naffa.
In the news today: US President Donald Trump's broad tariffs go into effect; Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agree to meet; and a new report says Americans get more than half their calories from ultra-processed foods. Also, China has opened a store staffed by humanoid robots.
Cargo containers fill a ship at the Port of Oakland in California. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
BUSINESS
Trump's broad tariffs go into effect, just as economic pain is surfacing
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 to the U.S. economy. Read more.
Why this matters:
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 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.
Trump to meet Putin soon, the Kremlin says as a White House deadline looms on Ukraine
A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump has been agreed, a Kremlin official said Thursday, the eve of a White House deadline for Moscow to show progress toward ending the war in Ukraine. Read more.
Why this matters:
A meeting between Putin and Trump would be their first since Trump returned to office this year. It would be a significant milestone, though there's no promise that it would lead to the end of the fighting, since Russia and Ukraine remain far apart on their demands.
"At the suggestion of the American side, it has been agreed in principle to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days," Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters. Next week is the target date for a summit, he said.
A new Gallup poll found that Ukrainians are increasingly eager for a settlement that ends the fight against Russia's invasion. About seven in 10 Ukrainians said in early July that their country should seek to negotiate a settlement as soon as possible. It's a sharp reversal from 2022 — the year the war began — when Gallup found that about three-quarters of Ukrainians wanted to keep fighting until victory.
Americans get more than half their calories from ultra-processed foods, CDC report says
Most Americans get more than half their calories from ultra-processed foods, those super-tasty, energy-dense foods typically full of sugar, salt and unhealthy fats, according to a new federal report. Read more.
Why this matters:
For the first time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed those high levels of consumption, using dietary data collected from August 2021 to August 2023.
The top sources included burgers and sandwiches, sweet baked goods, savory snacks, pizza and sweetened drinks.
A humanoid robot works at a restaurant at the Robot Mall in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
Shopping for a robot? China's new robot store in photos A high-tech district in the Chinese capital is opening an all-service robot store to push a national drive to develop humanoid robots. From plucking boxes off a pharmacy shelf to serving drinks from behind a bar, robots at the government-run facility showcase how far humanoid robot development has come — and how far it has to go.
Please let us know what you think of this newsletter. You can sign up for more and invite a friend here. For news in real time visit APNews.com. - Jayakumar
Please let us know what you think of this newsletter. You can sign up for more and invite a friend here. For news in real time visit APNews.com. - Jayakumar
