July 25, 2026

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Morning, sunshine. It’s somehow already the last weekend in July, so it’s time to assess whether you’re achieving everything on your summer bucket list. We still need to:

Run around in a field with our friends
Go fishing
Eat tons of fish
Find a good cave for the winter

—Molly Liebergall, Brendan Cosgrove, Dave Lozo, Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, Holly Van Leuven, Abby Rubenstein

In today’s newsletter, we’ll look at: President Trump’s newest tariffs, LeBron’s “last decision,” and South Korea’s “divorce of the century.”

Markets

Nasdaq

24,975.82

-0.64%

S&P

7,411.98

+0.05%

Dow

51,947.25

+0.46%

10-Year

4.679%

-2.0 bps

Bitcoin

$64,100

-1.60%

SpaceX

$115.07

-2.68%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:30pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Be kind to your trader friends this weekend—they had a rough one yesterday amid market volatility brought on by escalating Middle East tensions, AI fears, and soaring bond yields. Stocks ultimately closed mixed for the day, but all three indexes were down for the week. One market watcher having an especially bad day? Elon Musk, who described himself on X as a “(former) trillionaire.” Tesla had its worst week since 2022, and SpaceX also stumbled ahead of an anticipated rocket launch.

OUT WITH THE OLD

What to know about Trump’s latest tariffs

Container ship at port with windsurfers in foreground

Mario Tama/Getty Images

In with the new: The US slapped fresh tariffs on dozens of trade partners, accusing them of forced labor violations, right as the clock ran out yesterday on temporary levies that President Trump previously imposed.

Who: The new tariffs apply to 60 trade partners—including China, Canada, and the EU—a group that accounts for 99.4% of US imports, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

What: The duties range from 10% to 12.5%. They replace a 150-day global tariff of 10% that Trump imposed in February after the Supreme Court blocked his sweeping “liberation day” tariffs. The new import taxes have some exceptions:

Oil, natural gas, and many goods not produced in the US are exempt.
Items like aluminum and steel, which already face import taxes Trump enacted last year under a national security trade law provision, won’t have this added.

Why and how: The Trump administration says countries affected by the new tariffs have failed to curb forced labor, which can enable a US president to impose import taxes under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Section 301 targets countries with unfair trade practices.

How everyone’s reacting

The EU and other countries have recently taken steps to ban forced labor. In a chorus of unhappy trade partners, Australia said the new tariffs are “completely unjustified,” the EU called them “not really grounded,” New Zealand said the US is “looking for any way to put a tariff rate back on,” and Brazil vowed to appeal to the World Trade Organization.

In the US, a group of small businesses sued yesterday to stop the new levies. Economically, the “triple whammy” of more tariffs, war-induced spikes in energy costs, and skyrocketing AI spending is aggravating inflation “angst,” per Bloomberg.

Looking ahead…the US is planning two more waves of Section 301 tariffs on the grounds of 1) excess manufacturing and 2) what Trump called the EU’s “illegal and highly unethical” fines against US tech giants.—ML

reader poll

Will these tariffs stick?

Yes, they were designed to fend off legal challenges.
No, the courts will step in again.
Who even knows anymore?

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World

Tour de headlines

Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

🔔🏀 LeBron James makes his “last decision,” chooses the Sixers in free agency. The future NBA Hall of Famer and Space Jam star agreed to a two-year, $8 million contract that includes a player option with the Philadelphia 76ers. The 41-year-old, who is taking a pay cut from his $53 million salary with the Lakers last year, called this his “last decision” in a thread on X explaining the move. He is joining what could be a superteam with All-Stars Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Jaylen Brown. But he might not be regularly hitting up the City of Brotherly Love’s slew of Wawas—it’s reportedly possible that James could live in New York and take a helicopter to Philadelphia for work.—DL

🤒 US measles cases reach three-decade high. So far this year, there have been 2,318 cases of measles in the US, the CDC revealed yesterday, making it the worst year for measles since 1991. That’s already more cases than there were in the entirety of last year—which itself saw the highest number of cases in more than 30 years. Outbreaks in Utah and South Carolina accounted for about half of the 2026 totals, per the agency. In 2000, the US was found to have eliminated measles following federal initiatives that encouraged vaccinations. But in recent years, vaccination numbers have dropped, and outbreaks are becoming increasingly common.—AR

🥬 Four more states linked to parasite outbreak. Ensuring that it’ll be another weekend of wondering whether it’s safe to eat a salad, federal health officials said yesterday that the outbreak of the diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora tied to shredded lettuce has now impacted Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania, raising the number of states involved to nine. Meanwhile, the FDA said Thursday that it was looking into a separate outbreak of unknown origin that had sickened 72 people. While the original outbreak has been connected to Mexican-grown lettuce from Taylor Farms, including some supplied to Taco Bell, state health authorities in North Carolina said parsley and cilantro may also be to blame.—AR

NOT SEOUL MATES

Tech exec’s ex wins $640m divorce payout

Ceci Lee/Getty Images

South Korean tech mogul Chey Tae-won has made a lot of money selling memory chips, but yesterday might be a day he’d rather forget. A Seoul court ordered him to pay his ex-wife, Roh Soh-yeong, 944 billion won (~$640 million)—a settlement in what’s known as the “divorce of the century.”

Who is he? Chey is the chairman of SK Group, a massive conglomerate. Its SK Hynix affiliate, which recently made its US market debut, supplies chips to Nvidia. Chey is worth ~$5 billion and posts photos of himself with other tech titans under the ~~AIM screen name~~ Instagram handle “papatonybear.”

Who is she? Roh is the daughter of former South Korean President Roh Tae-woo, who was imprisoned after leaving office for accepting bribes and participating in a military coup.

A settled affair?

After decades of marriage, Chey publicly announced in 2015 that he was leaving Roh for a younger woman with whom he had a child. But during the decade of divorce proceedings that followed, the AI boom drove Chey’s net worth through the roof.

Roh argued she was entitled to more of his AI scratch, but the court ultimately worked off of an earlier valuation of Chey’s wealth.

Is the K-drama-worthy saga finally over? According to the Wall Street Journal, either side can appeal the decision to South Korea’s Supreme Court.—BC

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ICYMI

Have you heard...

Here’s everything that didn’t make it into this week’s newsletters but we immediately sent to the group chat.

➡️ A recent study found that rinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher may reduce the effectiveness of the dishwasher. The study was funded by the think tank Husbands Who Will Come Up With Anything To Avoid Helping To Wash Dishes.

➡️ A startup released a product called MouthPad—a trackpad that goes on the roof of your mouth where you can click and scroll with your tongue. “I had something stuck in my teeth” may soon become a real explanation for why there’s a mistake on a spreadsheet.

➡️ Yesterday, Ford recalled more than a half-million Broncos. John Elway. Terrell Davis. Steve Atwater. Sorry, but it’s just not believable that someone could recall that many Broncos in a day.

➡️ The band They Might Be Giants tweeted a list of businesses that use Taylor Farms lettuce, warning fans about potential cyclospora outbreaks. Helpful, but where is the PSA from Weezer about which stores sell the eggs contaminated with salmonella?

➡️ Upon securing the job of Germany’s national team soccer coach, Jurgen Klopp told reporters, “If … you don’t leave my family in peace, I’ll be gone.” You can also say this if your manager asks if you can hop on a quick call on a Saturday.—DL

News

What else is brewing

Paramount agreed to delay its $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery until next June while a judge considers an antitrust suit brought by a dozen states seeking to block the deal.
The US broadened its strikes against Iran, while Iran continued to target US allies in the region yesterday, after President Trump said he was considering a “massive attack” on Iran.
President Trump gave an hour-long speech last night at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
SpaceX completed a mostly successful test launch of its Starship rocket yesterday, the 13th for the largest rocket ever built or flown.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was dismissed over allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies.
More than 200,000 people had to evacuate their homes because of wildfires in Spain and France.
Tony Romo, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and CBS NFL analyst, was arrested in Milwaukee on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Community

Crowd work

Last week, we asked, “What’s a superstition you abide by even if you’re not superstitious?” Here are some of our favorite responses:

“Every Halloween, just before midnight, I leave out an offering of a dram of whiskey and a snack of some sort for the Daoine Sidhe (pronounced “Doynah She”) fae folk to pass my house and bless it before they journey back to the faery realm. It’s an ancient Scottish practice, which I do to honor my own ancestors as well.”—Don from Dallas, TX
“I have a special star in the sky (it’s above one of the stars in the Big Dipper), that I always make a wish on. I love that I can always see it no matter where I am in the world. It’s the same wish I’ve made since I was a young girl!”—Sammi from San Clemente, CA
“I was a NY Yankees season ticket holder for 20 years, and one year I took my brother to a playoff game. They lost, so I never took him back to the many playoff games after. Poor guy.”—Pete from Maryland
“My dad was a pilot, career USAF, and when we were little, he taught us we needed to lift our feet off the floor during takeoff to help the pilot. Now in my fifth decade of life and thoroughly understanding aerodynamics, I still can’t not do it.”—“Base brat” from New Orleans, LA
“I used to be a professional ballerina. If a particular role involved a prop, I would need to have the exact same prop for the entire run of the production. If all the props were matching, I would mark mine with a tiny piece of tape and make sure to get to the prop table first!”—Alexis from NYC

This week’s question

What’s your favorite local event that happens near you?

Sam’s answer to get the juices flowing: “I’m a big fan of the Brimfield Antique Flea Market, which takes place thrice yearly in Central Massachusetts and is the largest outdoor antique market in the US. I love treasure-hunting across its 150 acres, where you can find anything from a 16th-century samurai sword to vintage Enron merch.”

Submit your response here.

recs

Learn how to ask better questions (and get better answers).
This video explores the history of The Clapper—which had a viral marketing campaign before that was a thing.
Tips on where to go when your vacation is also a celebration.
A moving memoir about an out-of-the-blue divorce.**

Ever wondered where your story begins? MyHeritage’s DNA test reveals your family origins and finds relatives you never knew existed. Use code GOOD to get the DNA Kit for $19.*

^{*A message from our sponsor. **This is a product recommendation from our writers. When you buy through this link, Morning Brew may earn a commission.}

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Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section looking out longingly at Loon Island. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Zillow

Today’s estate is in Sunapee, NH. The 1,512-square-foot home extends on top of the lake, so your deck doubles as a dock. Amenities include:

4 beds, 3 baths
Matching deepwater boathouse
Tasteful seafaring decor

How much for a place right on the water?

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Answer

$2.3 million

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: thrice, meaning “three times.” Thanks to Michael Olsen from Columbia, SC, for tripling our excitement with the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

Written by Abigail Rubenstein, Molly Liebergall, Brendan Cosgrove, Dave Lozo, Sam Klebanov, and Matty Merritt

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