MNI POLITICAL RISK - Trump Punts Tariffs And Pivots On Ukraine

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Executive summary:

• President Donald Trump will hold a White House lunch today with the leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal to discuss “commercial opportunities”.
• Markets have largely shrugged off Trump’s latest tariff ultimatum, likely assessing that major trade partners will strike preliminary agreements before the new August 1 deadline or receive another extension.
• Markets have been less sanguine about the prospect of a punitive new tariff on copper imports, designed to reshore copper production in the United States.
• South Korea is eyeing an in-person meeting between Trump and President Lee Jae-myung. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tokyo and Washington will "swiftly proceed with negotiations towards the newly set August 1 deadline".
• Trump told reporters yesterday he would "probably" tell the European Union within two days what tariff rate it can expect.
• Trump's economic advisor, Kevin Hassett, has emerged as the slight favourite to be nominated as the next Fed chair.
• Senate leaders are expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon as negotiators in Qatar struggle to make a breakthrough on a Gaza ceasefire.
• Trump is leaning closer to endorsing a new Russia sanctions package. The primary concern for the White House is how to calibrate secondary sanctions without dramatically increasing tensions with China and India.
• Poll of the Day: Very few Americans support reducing or eliminating funding for social services.

Please find the full article attached below: US DAILY BRIEF