WSJ What’s News - Hardball or a Hail Mary? Trade Tactics Go Down to the Wire

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

A.M. Edition for Aug 6. With scores of countries facing steep reciprocal tariffs tomorrow, WSJ markets reporter Chelsey Dulaney says governments without a U.S. trade deal are either rushing to Washington for talks or taking on the fight. Plus, special envoy Steve Witkoff meets President Putin just days before the White House's deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or potentially face severe economic penalties. And, RFK Jr. pulls $500 million in funding for U.S. vaccine research. Azhar Sukri hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No frills, delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC optimum points on your first five orders. Shop now at nofrills.ca. India plays hardball while Switzerland hopes for a Hail Mary just hours before steep U.S. tariffs come into effect. Plus, foreign envoy Steve Whitkoff, makes a last-minute trip to Moscow as Trump's Russia sanctions loom. And the UN hopes to shore up critical minerals for the

world's energy needs, but will it work? Countries like the US and China are not going to be willing to give up the control they already have over the industry, because for them, they control the pricing power as it is. It's Wednesday, August the 6th. I'm Azha Sukrie for the Wall Street Journal. Here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. As the clock ticks down toward President Trump's next tariff deadline tomorrow, some of the countries facing the largest tariff threats and yet to reach a trade deal with the US

are taking very different approaches to negotiations. With Trump now threatening tariffs on India beyond the planned 25%, the country is refusing to cave to US demands for it to end large-scale purchases of Russian oil, prompting a response from Moscow that India is free to choose its own trading partners. Here's journal Markets reporter Chelsea Delaney. Trump said on CNBC Tuesday that he could be raising tariffs on them significantly in the next 24 hours. So that's something to definitely watch for.

He's been quite critical of the fact that India continues to buy Russian oil. We don't sort of seem to see India rushing to Washington for negotiations. and other countries that are still trying to potentially get deals or countries like Canada. But even though these tariffs will go into fact just after midnight, it's not the end of negotiations. There likely will still be negotiations after the deadline. So this isn't necessarily the end of the road for countries in terms of these trade deals. Today, the president of Switzerland is in Washington,

hoping to avert double-digit tariffs that Chelsea says have stunned the Alpine Nation. Well, it's been seen as a humiliation, a huge slap in the face to Switzerland. They have gotten one of the highest tariff rates in the world. And Switzerland thought it had a really good relationship with the U.S. They thought they were going to be the second country to get a trade deal. They thought they had a text of a trade deal. And this all is just sort of come crashing down in the past week. For Switzerland, it is a huge problem. A 39% tariff is a major threat to their economy. The U.S. is their biggest export market. They are a very small country, only 9 million people. And exports is through the lifeblood of the Swiss economy. And a 39%

tariff rate would be really devastating to a lot of that, especially when you look at the international comparison. The EU has a 15% tariff rate. The UK has a 10% tariff rate. So it would make them very uncompetitive. Chelsea explains that the Swiss president's dash to Washington is a last ditch attempt to head off these punishing tariffs. Switzerland's definitely hoping for a deal to get this 39% tariff rate taken down. The only thing we've heard so far is that the Swiss president is going to be meeting with Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State. It's not clear if they have meetings set up with Trump himself or members of the trade

delegation. Some of the things that they could do are try and invest more in the U.S. They could also perhaps do some sort of energy purchases like the EU has agreed to do buy more American LNG, they could maybe buy a little bit more of U.S. defense goods, but they don't have the same buying power as the European Union or Japan. So they're going to bring their proposals whether that works, whether that, you know, is enough to get the U.S. to budge on this tariff rate is unclear. That was Journal Markets reporter Chelsea Dulaney.

U.S. special envoy Steve Whitkoff arrived in Moscow this morning. Days before the White House's Friday deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine, Washington has threatened sanctions and severe economic penalties that could also hit countries buying its oil if Moscow doesn't stop bombarding Ukraine. Meanwhile, the U.S. is making good of its plans to sell arms to European allies for Ukraine to use in the war. Four European countries said this week that they are buying U.S. military hardware valued at about $1 billion. the first of many purchases due to be funded by European governments and Canada. President Trump has balked at providing US weapons directly to Ukraine

and has been pushing for Europe to take responsibility for its own defence. The Department of Health and Human Services says it's winding down its MRNA vaccine development activities, which includes shrinking contracts and cancelling more than 20 projects worth nearly $500 million. The department said the decision came after it reviewed its investments in MRNA-related programs initiated after COVID-19 broke out. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the review showed the vaccines failed to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections, such as COVID-19 and influenza. Instead, he said the National Institutes of Health are developing what he described

as a universal vaccine that can tackle any virus. a vaccine that mimics natural immunity. And it is effective against any kind of mutation. So it doesn't drive the virus to mutate. And it could be effective. We believe it's going to be effective against not only coronaviruses, but also flu. And staying with public funding programs, a top government watchdog has ruled that the Trump administration's delay and cancellation of billions of dollars in grants to scientists this year was illegal. The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in the decision yesterday that the National Institutes of Health stopped and delayed funds while terminating more than 1,800 existing grants, while canceling meetings early in the year to award

new ones. The agency's report said the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the NIH didn't adequately justify those actions. NIH and HHS referred requests for comment to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which didn't respond. Coming up, the UN moves to shore up critical minerals around the world to secure the energy transition for everyone, but will it work, that story and more after the break. As the modern day gold rush for critical minerals to power the AI revolution and sustainable industries heats up, the United Nations has a plan it thinks can help avoid

conflict. The UN is proposing a global minerals trust which would see countries and companies that produce and consume critical minerals jointly manage a stockpile of commodities. The journal's Don Nico Forbes says the idea, is to avoid shortages, encourage recycling, support production in developing countries, and prioritise minerals for sustainable developers. Sectors from everywhere from the military semiconductor industries are really clambering for materials right now. One of the biggest, though, is the energy transition, which going forward is going to demand much more of global resources, and hence why the UN is focusing

on this sector specifically right now. And when you look at industry, such as electric vehicles, this is becoming a real issue for them because rising nationalism around resources is leading to production blocks at huge companies like Ford and Suzuki Motor. But there are question marks over the UN's ability to pull off such a feat at a time of deep geopolitical divisions. A lot of analysts are concerned that countries like the US and China are not going to be willing to give up the control they already have over the industry, and especially the countries that are currently dominating the scene, because for them, they control the pricing power as it is. And so when it comes to seeding control to an institution like the UN, which many of

these countries have historically been very sceptical of, a lot of people see this as quite a far-fetched proposal. Don says that while there is resistance at government level, companies involved in the energy transition are all too keen to have a mechanism that would ensure smoother supplies of key minerals. Ensuring a stable supply of critical minerals is kind of front and centre for these companies, especially big battery producers, EV companies. These guys are really trying to shore up supplies, especially in this time of heightened resource nationalism and limited supply. The International Energy Agency says the demand for critical minerals is set to triple by 2030, with clean energy technologies alone accounting for more than half of total demand growth.

And finally, two of the biggest names in entertainment and sports have agreed to a tie-up after years of dancing around one another. The National Football League has struck a wide-ranging deal with Disney, which would see the NFL take a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN Sports Network in return for control of key media assets, including NFL Network. The deal will need regulatory approval and given the power of the NFL. and ESPN might face scrutiny from lawmakers. Neither Disney nor the NFL would disclose the value of the ESPN's stake, though analysts have estimated ESPN's valuation at between $25 billion and $30 billion.

Makes you wonder if we'll get to see an NFL-themed Lion King one day. And that's it for what's news for this Wednesday morning. Today's show was produced by Kate Bullivant and Daniel Bark. Our supervising producer is Sandra Kilhoff. I'm Azhar Sukri for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back tonight with a new show. Until then, thanks for listening.