Washington, DC

1. GOP tariff pushback
2. Vance in Maine
3. Bessent threatens sanctions
4. Buyback questions unanswered
5. ChatNYT

The Trump administration has proposed charging $103,265 for new H-1B visas.

Canada tariffs complicate Republicans’ Senate defense

President Donald Trump’s escalating tariff threats against Canada are running headlong into one of his party’s top priorities: retaining Senate control, Semafor’s Burgess Everett reports. The new levies could have an outsize effect in three states that could determine the Senate majority next year: Maine, Michigan, and New Hampshire. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said there’s a “unique relationship” between Americans and Canadians who live on the border. “They cross the border. They work together. They have families together,” Tillis said. “You create that tension, and the party that owns that tension is the party that probably suffers the consequences in November.” Former Republican Sen. Scott Brown, a New Hampshire Senate candidate, told Semafor that “there’s gotta be a better way to negotiate or negotiate an agreement with our neighbor,” noting the countries’ “very strong” ties. “I do not agree with this approach,” Brown added.

Collins skips Vance event in Maine

Vice President JD Vance rallied voters in Maine today for Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who skipped the event amid the US’ escalating trade war with Canada. “To the prime minister of Canada: Stop taking advantage of the people of Maine,” Vance said. “Stop taking advantage of America. It’s over.” Collins, whose state has a uniquely important economic relationship with Canada, took the opposite position today, saying: “I still think imposing tariffs on Canada is a mistake.” Still, Vance praised Collins as doing an “amazing job,” while joking that she makes his job as president of the Senate difficult as the Senate’s “most independent member.” His balancing act underscored Maine’s importance to Republicans, who need Collins to hold the critical Senate seat in a competitive race.

— Lauren Morganbesser

Bessent omits China from new Iran sanctions

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled potential new secondary sanctions on countries that do business with Iran today but stopped short of imposing them, Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller reports. Noticeably absent from the plan: Chinese banks that help facilitate Iranian transactions. Targeting Chinese banks could rattle the US-China relationship before Trump meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month. Bessent had described the sanctions plan previously as “economic D-Day” for Iran, but acknowledged today it was more of a warning. “We are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior,” Bessent told reporters. “Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?” Bessent said Trump would speak with world leaders individually and provide timelines to “shut down activities we have identified.”

Bessent ducks buyback questions

Bessent also ducked questions at today’s press conference about his plans for buying back billions in government bonds, indicating his next moves wouldn’t be clear until September. He announced last week that the Treasury would double buybacks from $2 billion to at least $4 billion, but the initial bond rally reversed within 24 hours, in part over skepticism that Treasury would have enough firepower for a purchase at that scale. CNBC reported today that Bessent would be able to tap Treasury’s $1 trillion general account for the effort. Still, skeptics remain, including an executive at Citadel Securities, who wrote that the buyback effort doesn’t eliminate inflationary pressure, “it merely shifts it elsewhere,” as Bloomberg reported. Ultimately, the Federal Reserve may have to confront the problem, the executive added, “including, if necessary, by hiking rates.”

NYT tests AI search

The New York Times has begun testing its first generative AI tool for readers, hoping to improve its troubled search feature but alarming some of the paper’s journalists, reports Semafor’s Max Tani. Non-news parts of the company like Wirecutter have been experimenting with AI for months. But in recent weeks, the paper has quietly rolled out a new search page for a small subset of visitors that responds to queries with excerpts, relevant links to Times stories, and AI-generated summaries of Times reporting. It’s the news arm’s first test of AI-generated text unmediated by a Times journalist or editor. “We are always testing new ways for our users to discover and engage with Times journalism,” Times spokesperson Graham James said. “This experimental feature is an example of how we are using the latest technology to create a better search experience.”

White House

• The US will likely impose a 7.5% tariff on Chinese goods over allegations of excess manufacturing capacity ahead of next month’s summit between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. — Bloomberg
• Trump intervened in the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation in March, leading to a settlement that kept Ticketmaster intact. — WSJ

Campaigns

• Dan Sullivan, the former Anchorage mayor, has weighed in on the Senate race in Alaska, endorsing Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan over a challenger, Dan J. Sullivan. — NBC

Courts

• Nevada sued the Trump administration over a plan requiring Nevada and two other states to cut Colorado River water use.

Immigration

• The State Department plans to revoke the business and tourism visas of as many as 200,000 foreigners seeking asylum in the US. — AP

National Security

• The US canceled a large-scale amphibious military drill with South Korea scheduled for next month.

World

• The US removed Syria from its ​list of state sponsors of terrorism.
• The US military killed two men in a strike on a boat in the eastern Pacific that was allegedly transporting narcotics.

Environment

• The US has doubled down on its opposition to plastic production limits in global treaty talks. — WaPo
• Authorities urged 90,000 people to evacuate amid a wildfire near Reno, Nevada.

Media

• A private arbitrator ordered The Washington Post to rehire former columnist Karen Attiah after she was fired last year over social media posts she wrote following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

— Vice President JD Vance speaking at a manufacturing facility in Brewer, Maine, in an apparent reference to Trump’s push to make Canada the 51st state.

Laura McGann, editor

With help from Elana Schor, senior Washington editor, and Morgan Chalfant, Washington briefing editor

Graph Massara and Lauren Morganbesser, copy editors

Contact our reporters:

Burgess Everett, Eleanor Mueller, Shelby Talcott, Nicholas Wu, David Weigel