Reuters World News - Tariffs, Netanyahu, Gaza plans and Musk’s political ambitions

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump fires off more than a dozen letters to countries as he pushes back the tariff deadline. Hopes fade as rescue efforts continue for Texas flood victims. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes a charm offensive to the White House, while a controversial new plan for Gazans emerges. Trump says he will resume weapons shipments to Kyiv. Plus, can Elon Musk pull off the formation of a new political party? Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Trump fires off letters to more than a dozen countries while pushing back the deadline for final tariff negotiations. Hopes fade for missing Texas flood victims. Netanyahu kicks off his White House visit with a charm offensive while a controversial plan for Gaza is floated. And can Elon Musk pull off his third-party ambitions? It's Tuesday, July 8th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you

Everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday. I'm Kim Fennel in Wanganui, New Zealand. President Trump has shifted a deadline for countries to strike trade deals with the US or face harsh tariffs to August 1st. The extended deadline comes as Trump ramps up the pressure. More than a dozen countries have received notices that their tariff rates are shifting. Long-time US trading partners, Japan and South Korea, are now facing. 25% levies. Here to explain is our White House reporter, Andrea Shalal.

All of this is a negotiating tactic. It is intended to increase pressure on countries that perhaps were a little slow during the negotiations. It does seem to be working because countries are actually ponying up. So we have Indonesia is slated to announce something like $34 billion of kind of investment trading accord. with the United States later this week, including purchases of Boeing airplanes. We've heard similar noises from other countries, including Saudi Arabia. So President Trump's strategy appears to be working. It just hasn't gone as quickly as perhaps he had hoped.

Rescue workers continue to comb the Guadalupe River in Kerr County. The now receding waters destroyed everything they touched on Friday, after pre-dawn torrential rain transformed the river into a raging torrent in less than an hour. The death toll is now around 100. Many of them are children. Camp mystic councillors Silvana Garza Valdez and Maria Paula Zerate

explain how they were, by luck, moved to another campsite down river a week ago. They were eventually rescued by the army. The camp's 70-year-old director, Richard Dick Eastland, died while trying to save some of the children. As the search for survivors continues, debate is intensifying over how officials reacted to weather alerts which forecast the possibility of a flash flood. It's an honor to have Mimi and Sarah with us. friends of mine for a long time.

US President Donald Trump welcoming Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and First Lady to dinner at the White House. There's a lot to discuss, but first, a proposed accolade. I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize Committee. It's nominated you for the Peace Prize, which is well deserved.

Thank you very much. This I didn't know. Well, thank you very much. It's Trump's third face-to-face encounter with Netanyahu since returning to office in January. Since then, the U.S. joined in on Israel's bombing of Iran's nuclear sites. The president appears to be seizing on any momentum created by the weakening of Iran, which backs Hamas, to push for a breakthrough in the Gaza war. Israeli officials are negotiating with Hamas over that, albeit indirectly, in Qatar. A Gaza deal would require some concession.

from Netanyahu who wants Hamas entirely dismantled. Jeff Mason is at the White House. President Trump views himself as a peacemaker, and he also values and puts a lot of emphasis on the relationship with Israel. So he has given Prime Minister Netanyahu a lot of what he wants, particularly with those strikes on Iran's nuclear program, and continuing to give him the support and the platform of companies, into the White House is another way of showing that support.

And again, the president said that the U.S. was going to hold talks with Iran. And he even went so far as to say that he would like to lift sanctions on Iran, which I suspect is not something that Prime Minister Netanyahu would welcome. So the two men don't see eye to eye on everything, but they certainly do see eye to eye on a broader goal of Israel's security. What comes after a ceasefire in Gaza is also being. discussed. People want to stay, they can stay.

But if they want to leave, they should be able to leave. Both Netanyahu and Trump say progress is being made on a controversial plan to relocate Palestinians out of war-torn Gaza. Earlier this year, Trump floated a plan, complete with promotional AI-generated video, which suggested relocating Palestinians to turn Gaza into the quote, Riviera of the Middle East. Human rights groups condemned that plan as ethnic cleansing. Meanwhile, a proposal seen by Reuters and submitted to the White House is suggesting building large-scale camps called humanitarian transit areas. The camps inside and possibly outside

Gaza would house Palestinians so they could, quote, deradicalize, reintegrate and prepare to relocate if they wish to. The $2 billion proposal bears the logo of Controversial Aid Group GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Controversial because it uses private US security and logistics companies to get food aid into Gaza. GHF denies submitting a proposal. Reuters could not independently determine the status of the plan, who created and submitted it, or whether it is still under consideration. One last thing about that meeting between Netanyahu and Trump. President Trump also spoke about Ukraine, saying the US will send more weapons to Kiev. That's after the US paused some weapons shipments last week. Elon Musk's announcement

that he plans to launch a new political party is raising a lot of questions about just what that might look like. His foray into politics as Trump's right-hand man had a damaging effect on his car company, Tesla, as well as his reputation. Our US politics editor, Bo Erickson, is in Washington, D.C. Bo, could this really work? The experts that we were talking with and some of the political strategists that we're talking with said that obviously his money is the untested element here. But for many, they said more often than not when an independent jumps into a major race, they act more as a spoiler, taking away more votes from either the Republican or Democrat in the race. Musk is very angry at President Trump's spending and tax bill that was passed last week. and he said he's maybe going to target Republicans who voted for that.

Is there any indication existing politicians might actually want to join this new America Party? We haven't seen anyone quite hoist the flag of Musk's America Party yet. It's kind of just a little too early because the election's more than a year away right now. And I don't think people are wanting to align themselves with Elon Musk because another one of his challenges right now is, according to Reuters' recent polling, he has a lower approval rating than President and Donald Trump. So he's going to have to work on his own nationwide popularity

in order to make it not just his money that's bringing people in, but also kind of his vision and his entrepreneurial spirit that a lot of Americans do respect him for. Two crew members are wounded and two missing from a Greek-managed vessel after a drone attack off Yemen. That attack coming hours after Houthi militants claimed another assault in the vital shipping corridor, saying they had, sunk a ship. The attacks end half a year of calm in one of the world's busiest shipping routes.

Anti-government protests in Kenya have left at least 11 dead and dozens injured. Kenyan police fired on demonstrators in Nairobi who were marking the 35th anniversary of pro-democracy rallies. The death of blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody last month has given the protests fresh impetus, bringing hundreds onto the streets. Russia's recently dismissed transport minister, Roman Starevoit, has been found dead in his car outside Moscow with a gunshot wound. State investigators believe he took his own life. The 53-year-old was fired by President Vladimir Putin earlier the same day after serving barely a year in the job. His dismissal comes amid challenges for Russia's transport sector, including shortages of spare parts and aviation,

and disruptions caused by Ukrainian drone attacks on airports. And for today's recommended read, an exclusive on the global supply of heavy rare earths. It's at risk from ongoing fighting in northern Myanmar. Reuters reporting shows that China has threatened to stop buying rare earths from rebel-controlled areas unless the Kachin Independence Army halts its offensive on the town of Bamu. We'll drop a link to that story in today's pod description. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Roy. Reuters.com or The Reuters app.

And don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.