Hot week for Trump: tariffs, Middle East, and the Musk case

Middle East, tariffs and the thorn of Elon Musk’s America Party: on Donald Trump’s agenda this week are the meeting, today, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; the deadline, Wednesday, of the truce in the ‘universal trade war’ unleashed on April 2 and then paused for three months; and the political buzz sparked by the intentions of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, who has gone from ally to rival, to promote a conservative ‘anti-Trumpian’ party, which won’t win the elections, but could make the ‘Trumpian’ Republicans lose them.

In this lineup, Trump will also have to include a visit to the counties in central Texas devastated by the tragic flooding of the Guadalupe River, which has caused – according to the latest AP count – around 80 victims, including dozens of young girls attending a summer camp, Mystic Camp. And about ten people are still missing. Controversy is growing over the lack of prevention and warning systems in an area historically exposed to flood risk. The White House has announced that the President will be in the devastated areas on Friday the 11th.

Trump 2: ME, Trump optimistic about truce, Netanyahu more rigid
President Trump repeats that a deal on a truce in the Gaza Strip is possible this week, based on the American proposal: 60 days of ceasefire, with the return of 30 of the 50 hostages still held by Hamas, ten alive and twenty dead. Israel, however, has rejected Hamas’s additions to the draft agreement and has continued lethal military operations, with dozens and sometimes hundreds of civilian casualties per day.

Departing for Washington, Netanyahu gave a detailed and unyielding statement, even towards Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is urging him to agree to a ceasefire.

“I’m leaving, with my wife, for a very important visit to Washington, where I will meet President Trump. This is my third meeting with him since he was elected… I will also meet with all the top members of the Administration, key members of Congress from both parties, and many other figures… In the conversation with President Trump, first of all I will thank him for his strong commitment to Israel: we’ve never had such a friend in the White House. Our joint commitment has led to a great victory against our common enemy, Iran, …and also against Lebanon”, as well as the blows inflicted on Hamas.

“All of this,” Netanyahu continued, “brings great responsibilities and also great opportunities. The responsibility is, above all, to preserve what we have achieved and to be vigilant against Iran’s attempts to renew its nuclear program aimed at our destruction. But there is also the opportunity to broaden the circle of peace far beyond what we could have imagined in the past.”

The statement continues: “We have already profoundly changed the face of the Middle East and we have the opportunity and the ability to transform it further, to give Israel and the entire region a great future. At the same time, we are still engaged on the Gaza front. There too we have achieved great results, but there are still missions to complete. So far, we have freed 205 of the 255 hostages, of whom 148 are alive. There are 20 live hostages and 30 deceased. I am determined — we are determined — to bring them all home.”

“We are also determined,” Netanyahu concluded, “to ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel. This means no more kidnappings, killings, beheadings, invasions. It means one thing: the elimination of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities. Hamas will no longer be there… We are working to reach the agreement that has been discussed, under the conditions we accepted. I have sent a team for negotiations with clear directives. I believe the conversation with President Trump can definitely help move toward this result that we all desire.”

An investigation by the Washington Post has meanwhile found that the Israeli airstrike on a well-known prison in Tehran, where opponents of the theocratic regime are imprisoned, caused at least four civilian casualties last month, including two children.

Trump 2: tariffs, towards a de facto three-week extension, Bessent suggests
In an interview with CNN, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that the United States might grant a de facto three-week extension to the countries they’re negotiating tariffs with. Bessent said that on Wednesday the 9th, U.S. tariffs will return to the levels of April 2, in the absence of agreements, but that the duties will take effect on August 1.

However, everyone is aware that, when it comes to tariffs, the voice that counts is Trump’s, who has often given contradictory directions and imprecise information about the status of negotiations and his own intentions.

Bessent also said that negotiations with the EU are “moving forward”: after a slow start, “there has been progress.” “We’ll be very busy in the next 72 hours: we’ll see many agreements,” he added, saying several major deals will be announced in the “next couple of days.” “We are focused on 18 countries that represent 95% of our trade deficit,” Bessent clarified, stressing that the strategy in the negotiations is one of “maximum pressure.”

Trump 2: Musk announces launch and goals of his new party, the America Party
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, the former First Buddy of President Trump, now one of his most vocal critics, has announced — based on the result of an online poll — the creation of a third party, the America Party, and specified its (limited) goals. As a first step, to win about ten seats in the House and two or three in the Senate in the midterm elections of November 2026: that would be enough to make the Trump-aligned Republicans lose the majority in both chambers of Congress.

On July 4, Independence Day, the Tesla founder launched an online poll asking Americans whether they wanted “independence” from the two-party system: 65% answered yes, 35% no. Musk then wrote on X: “With a 2 to 1 ratio, you want a new political party and you’ll have it. When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste and corruption, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. The America Party is born to give you back your freedom.”

Musk’s acceleration, after already floating the idea of a party of his own, comes after the approval of the ‘big beautiful bill’, the budget law strongly pushed by Donald Trump and just as strongly criticized by the world’s richest man, who opposes a measure that, in his view, could bankrupt the United States.

“You’ll lose the elections, even if it’s the last thing I do,” he said menacingly to House and Senate members. Trump bluntly rejected the criticism and downplayed the threat: “Musk,” he said, “is mad about electric vehicle subsidies,” even going so far as to threaten to deport him. Relations between the two have been tense since Musk left the White House orbit, breaking a ‘bromance’ that lasted nearly a year, after having helped, with hundreds of millions of dollars, to bring Trump back to the White House.

In June, at the height of tensions, Musk had already floated the possibility of founding a new party that would truly care about the interests of Americans. But his anger mounted in recent weeks with the green light from the Senate and the House to the ‘big beautiful bill’, the 940-page budget containing all the president’s electoral promises, from tax cuts to new funding to combat immigration.

In the billionaire’s dreams, his new party will be able to attract frustrated Republicans and Democrats, though it seems very unlikely that it will gain traction among progressives…