The Daily Signal - Tariffs Are Back, US Officials Head to Gaza, Clinton and Russiagate | July 31, 2025

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Starting point is 00:00:25 We'd love to talk. Business. Reciprocal tariffs went into effect at midnight. Special envoy Steve Whitkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, are headed into Gaza today, and Russia Gate has taken yet another turn. I'm Virginia Allen in for Tony Kinnett. It is Friday morning, August 1st, and this is the Daily Signal's Top News in 10th. It is Friday. It is the first day of August, and according to President Trump, it is a great day for America. Today is terrifying. day. At midnight, reciprocal tariffs went into effect on countries that have not yet secured a trade deal with the U.S. Since taking office, the president has been very vocal about making trade deals and using tariffs as a tool to bring production back into the U.S. You will recall that Trump imposed a baseline 10% tariffs on nations across the globe back in April. Trump also announced that reciprocal

Starting point is 00:01:30 tariffs could be as high as 50%. Then the president announced a 90-day pause on those reciprocal tariffs for all nations, with the exception of China. Well, that 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs ended at midnight. So now many countries are facing a much higher rate than that 10% baseline on goods that are imported into the U.S. Some countries have already reached a deal with the U.S. before that 90-day window closed. And one of the biggest deals, you know, the biggest deal, was with the European Union. The European Union agreed to a tariff rate of 15%. That 15% tariff will be imposed on cars, auto parts, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, just to name a few things. A 50% tariff is going to stay in effect on steel, aluminum, and copper from the EU. White House press secretary Carolyn

Starting point is 00:02:22 Levitt said during a press briefing on Thursday that the deal with the EU delivers on Trump's economic promises. The deal guarantees that American businesses will have unprecedented levels of access to the European Union markets to export our American-made goods. Also, as part of this agreement, the EU will purchase $750 billion in U.S. energy to strengthen our energy dominance, reduce European reliance on adversarial sources, and narrow our trade deficit with the EU. The EU will also make new investments of 60,

Starting point is 00:02:58 million dollars in the United States, in addition to the more than 100 billion the EU companies already invest in the U.S. every year. Trump announced yesterday that he had a phone call with the president of Mexico and has agreed to extend Mexico's deadline by another 90 days. In the meantime, a 25% tariff on cars and 50% tariff on steel, aluminum, and copper are going to remain in effect on those items that are coming into the U.S. from Mexico. The situation is a little bit more tense with America's neighbor to the north after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced this week that Canada plans to recognize Palestine as a state at the beginning of September. Well, in response to that announcement, Trump said that that move that Canada is potentially making to recognize Palestine as a state is going to make it harder for the U.S. to secure a trade deal with Canada.

Starting point is 00:03:53 Trump also has reached deals with South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. A federal appeals court did hear arguments on Thursday challenging the legitimacy on Trump's tariffs. And in other economic news, the July jobs report is going to be released this morning at 8.30 a.m. Also today, special envoy Steve Whitkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee are traveling into Gaza. Their trip comes after increasing international scrutiny over starvation consumption. in Gaza. President Trump has said that there is real starvation in Gaza in a break from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who says there is no starvation. Whitkoff and Huckabee met with Netanyahu in Israel on Thursday. Carolyn Levitt discussed this meeting and their forthcoming trip to Gaza during

Starting point is 00:04:43 yesterday's press briefing. The meeting with Netanyahu focused on the need to deliver more humanitarian aid to the civilian population within Gaza. President Trump is a humanitarian with a big heart. And that's why he sent special envoy Whitkoff to the region in an effort to save lives and end this crisis. Tomorrow, Special Envoy Whitkoff and Ambassador Huckabee will be traveling into Gaza to inspect the current distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground. The Special Envoy and the ambassador will brief the president immediately after their visit to approve a final plan for food and aid distribution into the region. And we will provide more details

Starting point is 00:05:28 for all of you once that plan is approved and agreed on by the president of the United States. Meanwhile, Hamas appears to be using the attention on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to its advantage. The Jerusalem Post reports that Hamas says they will not reengage in negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage deal until the humanitarian situation in Gaza improves. Keep an eye on how President Trump and his administration responds to this statement from Hamas because on Thursday, Trump wrote on true social the fastest way to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is for Hamas to surrender and release the hostages. Stay tuned. Yesterday, Senator Chuck Grassley announced the release of new declassified documents from the Durham report. The Durham report looked at the origins and conduct of the FBI's

Starting point is 00:06:18 investigation into possible links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. Newly released information from that report raises questions over Hillary Clinton's campaign and its possible involvement in a plan to link Trump to Russia. The newly released files include memos and emails between leaders of the Democrat National Committee and George Soros' Open Society Foundation. The New York Post reports that the idea to link Trump to Russia was the brainchild of the Clinton campaigns then form policy advisor Julian Smith. Smith is alleged to have raised the theme of Putin's support for Trump and subsequently steering public opinion toward the notion that it needs to

Starting point is 00:07:05 equate the Russia leader's political influence campaign with actual hacking of election infrastructure. In one of the published emails that's dated July 2016, Open Society Senior Vice President, Leonard Bernardo writes, Julie says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump. Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later, the FBI will put more oil into the fire. Grassley joined Fox News to discuss these new documents. Let's take a listen. And it actually brings attention to the fact that there was either a Clinton conspiracy to make this happen

Starting point is 00:07:45 or Russian disinformation. But either way, it was an attempt to stop Trump. And it also proves that the FBI had a hand in it. And now after these eight years, three years of my trying to get the document, we know that there was the steel dossier paid for by the Democrats, and the Clinton campaign, that it was all an effort of total distraction, and to make it look like Russia was playing a very major role in helping Trump to be elected. And now we know none of that was true.

Starting point is 00:08:32 And now with this Durham report, Annex out, it finally proves that the FBI was covering up. This latest report comes on the heels of Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard declassifying a 2020 House Intelligence Committee report on Russiagate. That report found that the Obama administration intel community did not have the direct evidence that Putin wanted to help elect Trump in 2016, but published it anyway. With that, we're going to leave it there for today's show. We hope you have a wonderful weekend, but before you jump into your weekend, don't forget to catch Tony Kennett tonight on the Tony Kennett cast right here across Daily Signal,

Starting point is 00:09:15 platforms. And don't forget to hit that subscribe button. So you never miss brand new shows from the Daily Signal. Have a wonderful weekend. We will see you back here on Monday for Top News.

The Daily Signal - Tariffs Are Back, US Officials Head to Gaza, Clinton and Russiagate | July 31, 2025

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