President Trump’s tariff machine is rolling again, and this time the brakes are off. The July 9 deadline for trade deals passed with minimal progress. Only Vietnam and the United Kingdom locked in agreements. China reached a tentative truce back in May. Everyone else is now staring down the barrel of new import taxes. The administration has sent out more than 20 letters to foreign governments outlining fresh tariff rates. Japan and South Korea are facing 25% duties starting August 1. Brazil got slapped with a 50% rate. Canada was threatened with 35%. Pharmaceuticals could see tariffs up to 200%. Copper is already locked in at 50%.
The White House says this is about restoring reciprocity. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claims the targeted countries represent 95% of the U.S. trade deficit. But the real driver is leverage. Trump’s team is using tariffs to force bilateral deals, and the clock is ticking. If no agreement is reached by August 1, the April 2 “Liberation Day” rates snap back into place. That means sectoral tariffs on steel, autos, semiconductors, and more. Some analysts say over 40% of U.S. imports could be affected.
Markets haven’t flinched. The S&P 500 hit a record high this week. Nasdaq is up. Bitcoin crossed $113,000. Gold is trading above $3,330. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, says the market is “complacent.” He warned that investors are underpricing the risk of inflation, Fed hikes, and economic slowdown. Dimon added, “I hate to use the word ‘TACO trade’ because I think he did the right thing to chicken out.” That’s Wall Street slang for Trump Always Chickens Out. But Dimon says the pattern may not hold. Trump has doubled down. He told NBC News, “There will be no change. All money will be due and payable starting August 1.”
The only thing that could stop the tariff regime now is a market meltdown. That’s the view from Muriel Siebert & Co., which says Trump won’t back off unless stocks deliver an April-style correction. Back then, the market dropped 10% in a week. This time, investors are betting he’ll blink again. But the letters have gone out. The rates are set. And Trump says there will be no extensions.
Meanwhile, the crypto world is watching a different kind of power play. A shadowy entity called Aqua 1 Foundation just dropped $100 million into Trump’s World Liberty Financial token. That makes it the largest publicly known investor in the Trump family’s crypto empire. Aqua 1 claims to be based in the UAE, but it’s not registered with any financial authority there. Its founder, Dave Lee, has no public footprint. The foundation’s website was created in May. Its only known investment is the Trump token.
The Trump family receives 75% of all token proceeds. That means Aqua 1’s purchase injected tens of millions directly into their personal accounts. The total haul from World Liberty now exceeds $500 million. Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, also doubled his stake in the $TRUMP token this week, adding another $100 million. He called it “the currency of MAGA.” The token’s market cap peaked at $15 billion in January and now sits near $2 billion. Every transaction routes fees to wallets tied to Trump-linked entities.
The SEC is still circling. Sun is negotiating a settlement in a civil fraud case. The End Crypto Corruption Act is gaining traction in the Senate. But the money keeps flowing. Trump’s crypto empire is expanding. The mystery man behind Aqua 1 is silent. And the administration insists there are no conflicts of interest.
The tariff regime is locked. The crypto pipeline is active. And the only check left is the market.
Sources:
https://www.axios.com/2025/07/11/trump-tariffs-markets-canada-eu
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2025-07-11/trumps-100-million-crypto-mystery-man