Bibi, Elon, Tariffs: What To Watch This Week
Here’s what Washington is watching.
Good morning! It’s Monday, July 7, 2025. I hope you had a great holiday weekend. Let’s dive in with a roundup of what to watch this week…
Netanyahu in DC. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet with President Trump at the White House today for the third time in the last six months. A lot has changed since their last sit-down, including the 12-day Israel-Iran war, which included the U.S. bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites.
But the top issue expected to be under discussion is the war in Gaza; per Axios, Trump wants to reach a ceasefire deal this week, and to hammer out the details today. The current agreement on the table is a proposal from the U.S. for a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would return 10 living hostages and 18 deceased hostages to Israel, humanitarian aid and a certain number of Palestinian prisoners would be delivered to Gaza, and negotiations would begin to ink a permanent ceasefire.
Hamas said Friday that it had delivered a “positive” response to the framework; Trump announced earlier last week that Israel had agreed to the proposal.
Trump campaigned on a vision of peace, but so far has struggled to end the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine as he promised and, indeed, helped escalate the former conflict with his bombings in Iran. That makes today’s meeting especially high-stakes: a successfully brokered ceasefire (if it sticks, unlike the last one) would be a major accomplishment for the U.S. president.
The America Party. The Donald Trump/Elon Musk breakup — exactly as messy and dramatic as everyone predicted — continues apace. As promised, now that the GOP has approved the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Musk says he has moved forward with starting a new political party.
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,” Musk announced on Saturday. The next day, he revealed that the party “backing a candidate for president is not out of the question, but the focus for the next 12 months is on the House and the Senate.”
Musk has yet to file the formal paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to start the party (a filing that was floating around online turned out to be fake). He has also offered few details about the party’s ideology or the type of candidates he plans to back.
As I’ve written previously, it is incredibly difficult for third parties to succeed in American politics, although, of course, Musk’s would benefit from having a huge war chest behind it.
Trump, for his part, wrote on social media after the announcement that Musk had gone “off the rails.”
Tariff deadline. Remember “Liberation Day,” when Trump announced 10% tariffs on every country in the globe, plus varying additional tariffs for each based on their trade deficit with America? And then, a week later, when Trump reversed himself amid a global market crash?
Well, the reversal wasn’t permanent, you might recall: it was only a pause, set to last for 90 days. That clock is set to run out on Wednesday, presenting another deadline by which Trump will have to decide whether to impose sweeping levies on many of the country’s closest trading partners.
When Trump originally announced the pause, his aides boasted that he would spend the time time inking trade agreements: trade adviser Peter Navarro famously promised “90 deals in 90 days.” But 88 days later, the U.S. has only struck two trade deals, with Vietnam and the United Kingdom (and, even then, not all of the details of those agreements have been finalized).
In a pair of posts on Sunday, Trump announced that letters would go out to countries today setting new tariff rates, while also threatening additional 10% tariffs on Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS,” the bloc made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
But it remains unclear whether the new tariff rates will actually take effect on Wednesday: in a CNN interview, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled that the reprieve would be extended yet again, this time to August 1. And so the dance continues.
Rescissions. Finally, something to watch for on Capitol Hill. The House is out this week, but the Senate is in session, which means we could see action on Trump’s rescissions proposal, which asks Congress to allow him not to spend $9.4 billion of previously appropriated funds, including foreign aid and grants for PBS and NPR.
The House already approved the package, 214-212; by law, the Senate has until July 18 to follow suit. If the upper chamber doesn’t meet the deadline, Trump will be required to sped the $9.4 billion in question.
It remains an open question whether Republicans will have enough votes in the Senate to approve the package: Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) have all raised concerns, per Punchbowl News. The party can only afford to lose three GOP senators on the vote.
The last time a president proposed a rescissions package, it was Trump in 2018 — and the measure failed to pass the Senate, with Collins providing the crucial “nay” vote.
More news to know
Reuters: Trump to terminate deportation protection for thousands of Hondurans and Nicaraguans in U.S
WaPo: U.S. measles cases reach 33-year record high as outbreaks spread
New York Post: Biden advisers pushed early Trump debate to reach ‘widest audience possible,’ leaked memo reveals
WSJ: Oracle Gives U.S. Government Discount on Cloud and Software
Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) have all raised concerns, per Punchbowl News. Ha ha. Ha ha. Good one. "raised concerns" from these wimps means they will vote the way Trump wants them too.
What I wish Musk would do instead of starting a third party is funding and founding a counter to Fox News.