Top stories for the morning: first "tariff letters," $9 billion deal, risk of mass blackouts

Donald Trump continues his aggressive trade strategy by extending duties of up to 40% on products from 14 countries, including Japan, South Korea and Thailand. U.S. authorities have warned of the risk of massive blackouts by 2030 due to coal and gas plant closures and over-reliance on renewable sources. "Protégé" Nvidia - CoreWeave - announced the purchase of cryptominer Core Scientific for $9 billion. About these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of July 8.

U.S. President Donald Trump said new duties on imports from at least 14 countries will go into effect on Aug. 1, reports CNBC. He posted screenshots of tariff rate letters addressed to the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Kazakhstan, South Africa and other US trading partners on the social network Truth Social. White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said other countries will receive such messages in the coming days.

According to these letters, imports to the United States from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Tunisia will be subject to a duty of 25%, goods from South Africa and Bosnia - 30%, from Indonesia - 32%. The rate on Bangladesh and Serbia will reach 35%, Cambodia and Thailand - 36%. Imports from Laos and Myanmar will fall under the highest tariff - 40%. It is also not ruled out that the U.S. will "possibly" revise the rates depending on the nature of bilateral relations.

The emails were the first in a series scheduled to be sent out before July 9, the day the deadline for the talks was supposed to expire. Later Monday, Trump signed an executive order pushing that date back to Aug. 1, citing "additional information and recommendations from senior officials."

Power outages in the United States could become 100 times more frequent by 2030 amid the rapid growth of energy consumption caused by the development of artificial intelligence, according to a report by the country's Department of Energy, prepared at the direction of Trump, reports Bloomberg. The document, according to the agency, is seen as a possible reason for a large-scale intervention by authorities to slow the closure of coal-fired power plants.

The report says that the coming capacity shortage is caused by the mass decommissioning of coal and gas-fired plants and an over-reliance on renewable energy sources. If current policies continue, the ministry estimates that the US risks undermining economic growth, national security and leadership in new technologies.

"If we want to maintain reliable electricity supply, win the AI race, and avoid soaring electricity prices, we need to unlock the potential of American energy," said Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

The agency also points out that the report could serve as a basis for further use of emergency powers under the Federal Energy Act, such as extending the life of coal- and gas-fired thermal power plants. Such measures have already saved two facilities from closure, and the administration is considering expanding the practice.

The report's publication coincided with Trump's passage of a sweeping $3.4 trillion budget package that includes the elimination of tax credits for wind and solar power. Solar plants accounted for 61% of new capacity in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Ark Investment Management, an investment firm led by Katie Wood, has filed to launch four new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) whose aim is to mitigate potential losses of its flagship ARK Innovation fund, reports Reuters. 

This is Ark's entry into the market for so-called buffer ETFs - funds that use option strategies to limit losses while limiting potential gains. Such an approach is already used by companies such as BlackRock, Allianz and Innovator, and it is becoming increasingly popular among investors seeking protection in volatile environments.

Each of the new Ark funds will aim to limit the decline in ARK Innovation ETF shares to 50%, with profits paid only if the fund's growth exceeds about 5%. Since the beginning of the year, the ARK Innovation ETF has added about 24%, while the S&P 500 Index is up about 6%.

The launch comes amid market turbulence caused by trade duties, with Trump's policies likely to benefit assets in the portfolio at ARK Innovation - such as electric car maker Tesla, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and investment platform Robinhood - according to analysts polled by Reuters.

AI cloud computing provider CoreWeave announced that it is buying Core Scientific, which makes data center infrastructure and mines bitcoins, for $9 billion. The deal is all stock, reports TechCrunch.

As a result of the merger, CoreWeave will have access to more than 1 gigawatt of data center capacity - enough to power more than 850,000 homes. The company plans to lease these resources for training tasks and running generative AI models.

Cloud infrastructure providers are ramping up capacity at an accelerated pace to cope with the growing computing needs of AI companies. Bloomberg previously reported that OpenAI has agreed with Oracle to lease an additional 4.5 gigawatts of data centers - expanding their massive Stargate project.

Asia-Pacific markets rose as investors appeared to ignore the trade escalation, reports CNBC.

- Japan's Nikkei 225 index added 0.18%, while the broader Topix index was unchanged.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index jumped 1%, while the Kosdaq small-company index traded flat.

- In mainland China, the CSI 300 Index rose 0.2%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.18%.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index squandered a small gain and was off 0.2 percent after the country's Reserve Bank unexpectedly maintained a key rate, while a 25 basis point cut was expected.

- U.S. stock futures declined in the morning Asian session after a fresh round of duties from Trump, amid which all three key indexes on Wall Street posted their worst performance since mid-June.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor