Seven new countries get tariff letters
An additional seven nations received tariff letters from the United States on Wednesday, including a 30% levy on Algeria and a 25% one on Brunei.
President Trump noted the new tariffs in a social media post late Tuesday.
"We will be releasing a minimum of 7 countries having to do with trade, tomorrow morning, with an additional number of countries being released in the afternoon," Trump said on Truth Social.
Iraq, Libya, Moldova, the Philippines and Sri Lanka also received letters.
Earlier this week, the Trump White House sent tariff notices to 14 countries: Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, South Africa, Tunisia, Bosnia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Serbia, Cambodia, Thailand and South Korea.
Intel layoffs affect 500-plus employees in Oregon
Computer chip manufacturer Intel said it will lay off 529 workers across four factories in Aloha and Hillsboro, Oregon.
"The first separations are presently scheduled to occur during a 14-day period commencing on July 15, 2025," James Warner, Intel's corporate people movement director, said in a regulatory filing Monday.
Intel is the latest major U.S. company to announce layoffs in 2025. Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and UPS have also slashed thousands of jobs. All told, U.S. companies have cut 744,308 jobs in the first half of 2025, according to a report from consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Small businesses say they're worried about taxes
Small business owners are optimistic about the U.S. economy but are increasingly concerned about how taxes will affect them, according to an industry report from the National Federation of Independent Business, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index fell to 98.6 in June, but that is still above the organization's 51-year average of 98. The federation, which has hundreds of thousands of members, takes a randomized survey of its membership and asks for sentiments on earnings, employment, inventory and more.
In the June survey, 16% of small business owners reported labor quality as the single most important problem — unchanged from May. The survey also indicated that 11% of owners felt inflation was their single most important problem.
“Small-business optimism remained steady in June while uncertainty fell,” Bill Dunkelberg, the federation's chief economist, said in a statement Tuesday. “Taxes remain the top issue on Main Street, but many others are still concerned about labor quality and high labor costs.”