In today's issue:

▪ Sweeping new tariffs unveiled

▪ Trump spars with GOP senators

▪ Harris steps back into spotlight

▪ Witkoff, Huckabee visit Gaza

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President Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries late Thursday as he presses ahead with new levies on U.S. trading partners and shifts timelines to clinch agreements.

Trump announced a new deadline of Aug. 7 for steep tariffs on more than 60 countries. The move, delivered hours before a midnight deadline for rates to kick in, gives officials more time to prepare to implement the tariffs while extending the runway for the White House to land more deals.

The new tariff rates establish a 10 percent baseline for all imports, while setting higher levies on many countries including Syria (41 percent), Laos (40 percent), Switzerland (39 percent), Iraq (35 percent), South Africa (30 percent) and India (25 percent).

It's the latest twist in an evolving push to rebalance the global trading system, first unveiled in April and then delayed twice.

The president told NBC News in an interview Thursday night that it's "too late" for countries to avoid the rates set to snap into place next week, while leaving the door open to future deals.

"It doesn’t mean that somebody doesn’t come along in four weeks and say we can make some kind of a deal," he said.

While the schedule for most tariffs is extended another week, Trump carried through on his threat to hike tariffs on Canada to 35 percent.

He cited the illicit drug flow from the country into the U.S., though this week also hit Ottawa's plan to recognize Palestinian statehood. The new rate doesn’t apply to goods covered under the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The president also signed an executive order raising tariffs on imports from Brazil to 50 percent.

Trump said that some countries, despite having begun negotiations with the United States, have not yet met his terms to “address imbalances in our trading relationship or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national-security matters.”

The White House has boasted of pacts made so far, including with the European Union, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and the Philippines in recent days, but agreements with other crucial trading partners — Mexico and China — remain in the works.

The president said Thursday he would allow another 90 days for trade talks with Mexico, the United States' largest trading partner, keeping in place a 25 percent tariff on goods not covered under the USMCA and punting a higher 30 percent tariff. The U.S. and China have been working under a separate Aug. 12 deadline for a deal.

“The complexities of a Deal with Mexico are somewhat different than other Nations because of both the problems, and assets, of the Border,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We will be talking to Mexico over the next 90 Days with the goal of signing a Trade Deal somewhere within the 90 Day period of time, or longer.”

The president has long said his goal for tariffs is twofold: He wants to get better deals for the U.S., and he wants to regrow America’s manufacturing industry by forcing businesses to relocate stateside.

“Fifteen percent is for today,” Peter Kim, a managing director at KB Securities in South Korea, told The New York Times. “It will take a while for Korean companies especially to say ‘OK, this is a new regime, we will start to make these long-term decisions on our manufacturing base.’ Some companies I’ve spoken to are just saying, we’re just going to weather it out, at least a few years, before we feel comfortable.”

WHO WINS: The trade deals brokered in recent months have been lauded as giving the U.S. an edge over its trading partners and evidence of Trump’s dealmaking prowess with other world leaders.

But the impact has been harder to sell to Americans. Trump’s job approval rating slipped this week to its lowest point of his second term. Polls also have suggested that his tariff push is unpopular as Americans brace for higher prices.

The Hill’s Alex Gangitano reports that, while consumer confidence is improving, anxieties persist among the general public about the ultimate impact on consumers.

“They’re not genuine trade agreements of the traditional sort, which are voluntary in nature — countries negotiate, agree, sign, and then ratify,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the center-right American Action Forum. “These are handshake agreements at the point of a gun, and I don’t see that as a particularly durable way to think about trade policy. So, we’ll see how that plays out.”

WHO PAYS: Duties are levied when products come into the U.S. from other countries, and it’s up to businesses to decide whether to absorb the additional costs or pass them to consumers. Many companies have tepidly approached the administration’s fluctuating policies and shifting rates — shouldering the burden or gradually increasing prices until more certainty is established.

Trump, for his part, has described the tariffs as being paid by foreign countries. But he also has urged companies to “

© The Hill