South Korea Commits $150 Billion to U.S. Shipbuilding

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned of imposing new tariffs and export restrictions on countries that enforce digital service taxes and regulations perceived to discriminate against American tech giants like Google, Meta, Amazon, and Apple. In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed such rules unfairly benefit Chinese firms while penalizing U.S. companies, calling them “discriminatory” and a violation of fair trade.

🎯 Target Europe: The threat targets the UK’s digital services tax—which collects an estimated £800 million annually—and similar levies in EU nations like France, Italy, and Spain.

💵 Deal Breaker: This increases pressure on the UK and EU, despite both having recently signed trade agreements with the US.

🌎 Past Threats: Trump has previously warned of slapping tariffs on countries such as Canada and France over their implementation of digital services taxes, which he argues unfairly target American tech companies.

During his first U.S. visit as president, South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung announced sweeping investments in American shipbuilding, headlined by a $150 billion pledge to help modernize U.S. shipyards and deepen bilateral industrial ties. The initiative, part of a broader $350 billion South Korean investment package, is designed to align with President Trump’s “Make American Shipbuilding Great Again” vision and to secure tariff relief amid rising trade tensions.

🇺🇸 MASGA: The MASGA plan includes investments in U.S. shipyards, co-production of LNG carriers and naval vessels, and expanded maintenance capacity for U.S. fleets in Asia

🚢 Big Plans: As part of the plan, South Korea’s Hanwha Group, which now owns Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, announced a $5 billion expansion to boost annual output from two ships to twenty ships.

✅ Double Power: South Korea’s HD Hyundai will merge its two shipbuilding subsidiaries — HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Mipo — by December 2025 in a bid to sharpen global competitiveness and strengthen its role in the Korea-U.S. “MASGA” initiative

Mexico is preparing to impose higher tariffs on imports from China as part of its upcoming 2026 budget, in a move that aligns with U.S. pressure to curb cheap Chinese goods. The proposed hikes—expected to impact sectors like autos, textiles, and plastics—are designed to protect Mexico’s domestic manufacturers from subsidized Chinese competition.

U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have pushed for a North American trade bloc that limits Chinese imports, and Sheinbaum’s government has floated the concept of a “Fortress North America.”

The shift comes amid concerns that Chinese goods, including electric vehicles and car parts, are entering Mexico and eventually reaching the U.S. through transshipment. Mexico has recently become the top global destination for Chinese cars, surpassing Russia.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has proposed adding copper, potash, silver, lead, and silicon to its draft 2025 critical minerals list, citing their importance to national security and economic stability. The move could make mining projects involving these materials eligible for federal support, faster permitting, and protections against import dependencies.

Copper's inclusion is especially notable amid rising U.S. electricity demand driven by AI and data centers, as well as its strategic role in defense and the power grid. Potash, essential for fertilizer, also made the list. The draft, released by the U.S. Geological Survey, is open for public comment for 30 days.

While the draft omits metallurgical coal and uranium, which were ordered for review by President Trump earlier this year, the Interior Department has invited public feedback on including them in the final version.

The U.S. Commerce Department has voided up to $7.4 billion in CHIPS and Science Act funding previously allocated to Natcast, a nonprofit set up to operate the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC).

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Biden administration "illegally" created Natcast without congressional approval, violating the Government Corporation Control Act. Operational control of NSTC has now shifted to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Natcast, formed in 2023, was previously tasked with advancing semiconductor R&D under a public-private partnership model. It had received commitments to oversee $6.3 billion in CHIPS R&D programs and an additional $1.1 billion for advanced packaging work.

Flexport has secured up to $250 million in supply chain financing through a new partnership with BlackRock, bolstering its financial services arm, Flexport Capital. The move aims to provide working-capital support directly within the logistics flow — offering clients term loans, asset-based credit, and tariff financing from the point of supplier pickup to final delivery.

Flexport CFO Stuart Leung said the goal is to help businesses bridge the cash gap between buying inventory and making sales — a challenge exacerbated by tariffs, shrinking margins, and fragmented supply chains.

Since launching in 2017, Flexport Capital has disbursed over $2 billion in funding and is growing at a 71% annual rate.

Chinese AI chipmaker Cambricon has reported a record profit of RMB 1 billion ($140 million) in the first half of 2025 — a major turnaround from a RMB 533 million loss last year. Revenues surged 44-fold to RMB 2.9 billion, driven by rising demand for domestic semiconductors amid Beijing’s directive to reduce dependence on U.S. giant Nvidia.

The company’s soaring performance follows a broader state-led push for homegrown AI chips, with major Chinese firms like ByteDance and Tencent adopting local alternatives for inference tasks. Cambricon’s stock has doubled in the past month, reaching a valuation of RMB 580 billion, bolstered by the launch of DeepSeek’s new AI model optimized for Chinese chips.

China’s exports to Africa surged 25% year-on-year to $122 billion in the first seven months of 2025, far outpacing shipments to other global markets amid steep U.S. tariff hikes under the Trump administration.

With sales to the U.S. declining, Africa has become an increasingly vital market, with countries like Nigeria, South Africa, and Egypt leading the charge in demand for Chinese goods — especially construction machinery, which rose 63% over the same period, according to a Bloomberg report.

According to the report, China is on track to exceed $200 billion in exports to Africa this year, eclipsing its total exports to the continent in 2020. Despite the widening trade imbalance, China has begun opening parts of its own market to African goods in parallel.

The U.S. battery industry is staring down a massive oversupply problem by 2030, with domestic capacity expected to far outpace demand due to the Trump administration’s rollback of EV subsidies and tax credits.

According to a new BloombergNEF report, battery deployment forecasts have been slashed by 56% since President Trump took office, dropping from earlier estimates to just 378 GWh by 2030. Meanwhile, production capacity is still growing—193 GWh is already online, and an additional 428 GWh could be added, potentially flooding the market.

According to the report, utility-scale energy storage, once a promising growth avenue, is also at risk. New rules aimed at excluding Chinese battery materials from qualifying for tax credits are complicating supply chains. Given that China controlled 88% of cathode and 96% of anode production as of 2024, meeting those requirements will now be difficult.

India is set to increase its imports of Russian crude by 10–20% in September, even as President Trump’s administration imposes 50% tariffs on Indian goods in retaliation for the ongoing trade. According to a Reuters report citing oil traders, the move will raise Indian purchases by as much as 300,000 barrels per day, defying Washington’s pressure campaign to isolate Moscow over the Ukraine war.

Despite condemnation from U.S. officials, India has continued to capitalize on discounted Russian crude—currently trading at a $2–$3 discount to Brent—covering about 40% of its oil needs. Major buyers like Reliance and Nayara Energy are expected to drive the volume increase.

Canada has pledged tougher action against cheap steel imports, with Industry Minister Mélanie Joly warning that foreign dumping is threatening domestic producers already battered by U.S. tariffs. In recent weeks, Ottawa imposed a 25% surtax on steel from countries lacking free trade deals and tightened quotas.

The Canadian steel sector, long reliant on U.S. automakers, has been hit hard by President Trump’s 50% tariff on foreign steel, leading to layoffs and steep losses at firms like Algoma Steel. While Prime Minister Mark Carney has removed retaliatory tariffs on several U.S. products, 25% duties on American steel remain in place

President Donald Trump announced that his administration will no longer approve solar or wind power projects, escalating his administration’s crackdown on renewable energy.

Trump’s declaration, posted on Truth Social, reignited concerns among renewable energy companies. He criticized wind and solar energy for their impact on land use and blamed them for rising electricity costs, particularly on the PJM Interconnection grid, where capacity prices increased by 22% in a recent auction.

The announcement is part of a broader policy shift. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act phases out federal tax credits for wind and solar by 2027, while tariffs on steel and copper have added costs to clean energy projects. The Department of Agriculture also ended support for solar on farmland earlier this week.