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US President Donald Trump is shortly due to meet with the leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal for a business lunch at the White House to discuss “commercial opportunities”. LIVESTREAM

• According to Semafor, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania will take a step toward resuming ties with Israel at the meeting.
• Chatham House notes: “The lunch signals that the Trump administration does not intend to ignore the African continent and plans to engage selectively. The aims are clear: to secure mineral deals and supply chains and especially to compete with China.”
• The White House press pool notes in a backgrounder: "All five of the countries invited enjoy rich natural resources - including manganese (a critical mineral in the production of batteries and stainless steel), iron ore, gold, diamonds, lithium, cobalt and more. The US’ global competitors - particularly China - have made significant in-roads on the continent in recent years, becoming a top trading or investment partner of many of those nations invited. Gabon, for example, provides 22% of China’s manganese used in batteries - the country holds around a quarter of the global known reserves."
• The meeting will also be of broader interest to markets as it provides the first press access to Trump today. It comes in the wake of a new set of tariffs imposed on 15 trading partners this week, which will take effect on August 1 if bilateral trade agreements aren't struck. 

US President Donald Trump has issued a raft of new tariff letters on his Truth Social account, imposing unilateral tariff rates on six trading partners. The letters target Algeria (30%), Libya (30%), Moldova (25%), Iraq (30%), Brunei (25%), and the Philippines (20%). 

• The letters follow a nearly identical template to the tariff letters issued to 15 trading partners on Monday and Tuesday. They note that goods "transshipped" via the targeted country will be subject to the tariff of the origin country, widely understood to be directed at Chinese goods.
• As with the other tariff letters this week, today's letters state that implementation will take place on August 1, opening the door for negotiations to lower the tariff rate.
• While Algeria, Libya, Brunei, and Iraq all have large hydrocarbon sectors, Iraq is the only country on the list with a notable bilateral trade in oil with the United States.
• Today's rates are largely in line with the rate announced earlier this week, which ranged from 25% on Japan and South Korea to 40% on Laos and Myanmar.  
• The Yale Budget Lab noted in an update on July 7, shortly after the first new tariff rate was released: “Consumers face an overall average effective tariff rate of 17.6%, the highest since 1934. After consumption shifts, the average tariff rate will be 16.5%, the highest since 1936.” 

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has outlined 15 new measures intended to counter graft, spearheaded by a new 'Public Integrity Agency'. Speaking in the Congress of Deputies, Sanchez said that in the wake of a scandal that has implicated a close ally of his, former PSOE organisational secretary Santos Cerdan, he had considered resigning from office. Sanchez: "I myself have considered [resignation]. It seemed like the simplest solution for me and my family. But after listening to many people, I realised that throwing in the towel is never an option. I will continue because I am a clean politician who was unaware of corruption. "

• Bloomberg: "The measures Sanchez unveiled to lawmakers include using artificial intelligence tools to monitor contracts, as well as blacklisting companies that have been found guilty of corruption and higher fines for companies, and sanctions for political parties involved in corruption."
• A key objective for the address was to shore up support for Sanchez's minority coalition gov't, which is propped up by a number of regionalist and separatist parties in an uneasy alliance.
• It would appear at present that the parties involved realised a no-confidence motion or Sanchez's resignation could spark a snap election. Recent opinion polling shows the most likely outcome of any election being a right-wing coalition formed by the conservative Popular Party and the nationalist Vox. As such, these parties look set to allow Sanchez to continue to retain their position at the table.