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Tariffs Hang In Legal Balance: Trump’s Global Tariffs Found Illegal by US Appeals Court (Bloomberg)

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The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Friday upheld an earlier ruling by the Court of International Trade that Trump wrongfully invoked an emergency law to hit nations across the globe with steep tariffs. But the appellate judges said the lower court should revisit its decision to block the tariffs for everyone, rather than just the parties in the case — and the judges let the levies stay in place while the case proceeds.

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The case had been expected to next go to the Supreme Court for a final ruling. The administration could now turn to the justices, who have largely backed the president on other matters.

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Escalating Uncertainty: US Trading Partners ‘Dazed and Confused’ After Tariff Court Loss (Bloomberg)

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It’s unclear exactly where the case goes from here. The Trump administration could quickly appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, or it could allow the trade court to revisit the matter and potentially narrow the injunction against his tariffs.

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“Our trading partners must be dazed and confused,” Wendy Cutler, a senior vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute and veteran US trade negotiator, wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “Many of them entered into framework deals with us and some are still negotiating.”

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Trillions of dollars of global trade are embroiled in the case, which was filed by Democratic-led states and a group of small businesses. A final ruling against Trump’s tariffs would upend his trade deals and force the government to contend with demands for hundreds of billions of dollars in refunds on levies already paid.

National Security Solution.

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Mike Bloomberg: Americans Are Fixers. Their Troops Should Be Too. (Bloomberg Opinion)

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Here’s something that Democrats and Republicans ought to be able to agree on: When Americans serving in the military are trying to protect our country and each other, they should not be strangled by red tape that prevents them from fixing broken weapons and tools. And yet that is exactly the danger they currently face.

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If a war broke out tomorrow, American troops may struggle to repair and maintain the assets they need to defend themselves and defeat the enemy — not because they aren’t capable of making those repairs or hiring a third party who can, but because they are contractually forbidden from doing it.

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Currently, many Department of Defense contracts reserve the task of repairs to personnel authorized by the manufacturer. Such restrictions can apply to everything from backup generators to F-35 fighters. Lacking access to the necessary data, tools, parts and training, troops in the field must either ship broken gear back home or fly out contractors tied to manufacturers — raising costs and imposing potentially dangerous delays.

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As the former chair of the Defense Innovation Board, this was an issue that we examined and highlighted. And the good news is: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recognizes the problem and has begun addressing it. In April, he directed the Army to mandate right-to-repair clauses in all new contracts and seek to add them to old ones. Leaders of the other services have said they support taking on the issue, too — and Congress can help.

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Read the full op-ed here.

What I'm Reading.

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At Meeting in China: Indian PM Modi Hugs Putin and Hails Russia Ties in Defiance of Trump (Bloomberg)

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He was the first foreign leader Donald Trump welcomed to the Oval Office after his inauguration, but Indian Prime Minister Modi’s bromance with the American president appears to be over and he is looking for friends elsewhere. Modi is among 20 leaders (including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian) attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in China. “Always a delight to meet President Putin!” Modi posted on X, along with a photo of the two embracing.

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Modi also met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit, their first talks since Trump’s return to power. In the closely watched meeting, the two leaders pledged to be partners rather than rivals and announced steps to rebuild ties, including the resumption of direct flights between the two countries.

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Is US-India Economic Alliance Nearing Its End? India Was the Economic Alternative to China. Trump Ended That. (New York Times)

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In the past, India’s risk-averse bureaucracy would have taken pains to avoid such overt displays of warmth with China and Russia at sensitive junctures — the secret to expanding ties with Washington while keeping a seat at forums led by the other major powers. But Donald Trump’s barrage of tariffs on India, now at 50 percent after penalizing India for buying Russian oil, has left little incentive for India to do so, according to the Times.

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Afghanistan Earthquake: Rescuers Dig for Survivors as Afghan Quake Toll Crosses 1,100 (Bloomberg)

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The 6.0 magnitude quake wounded more than 3,000 people and triggered landslides that blocked mountain roads and buried parts of remote villages, cutting off access for rescuers. The Taliban government dispatched helicopters as part of the rescue effort.

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Remote districts in Kunar such as Nurgal, Chawkay, Wadir and Shomash were hit the hardest, Ehsanullah Ehsan, head of disaster management in Kunar province, told Bloomberg News. The temblor also struck neighboring Nangarhar and Laghman provinces, with strong jolts felt in the Afghan capital about 124 miles from the epicenter and as far away as Pakistan, including Islamabad.

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Gun Violence's Deadly Toll: How Many Lives Have Been Lost in School Shootings in the US This Year? (ABC News)

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There have been at least 57 shootings at K-12 schools in 2025, not including Wednesday's shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, which says of the 47 people shot in those prior incidents at least 15 were killed.

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"What should be a day of hope has turned into a day of horror for yet another school community," John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a statement on Wednesday in response to the Minneapolis shooting. "All signs point to this tragedy being perpetrated by an assault weapon, which begs a question: How many more Americans must die before lawmakers ban these weapons of war?"

Can He Be Trusted With Our Health? Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Names Jim O'Neill Acting Director of the CDC (New York Times)

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During the Covid pandemic, Jim O’Neill, a former Silicon Valley executive with no medical or scientific training, indicated support for a number of unproven coronavirus treatments and preventives, including ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine and vitamin D.

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The Consensus On RFK Jr: We Ran the CDC: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health (New York Times)

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The authors, including Dr. Tom Frieden, previously led in the CDC, as directors or acting directors under Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to 1977.

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According to them: "What the health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has done to the C.D.C. and to our nation’s public health system over the past several months — culminating in his decision to fire Dr. Susan Monarez as C.D.C. director days ago — is unlike anything we had ever seen at the agency and unlike anything our country had ever experienced."

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AI-Assisted Cybercrime: Anthropic Says Attacker Used AI Tool in Widespread Hacks (Bloomberg)

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The hacker used Anthropic’s agentic coding tool in a data theft and extortion operation that affected victims in the last month across government, health care, emergency services and religious institutions, according to the company’s August threat intelligence report published this week. The attacks using the Claude Code tool resulted in the compromise of health care data, financial information and other sensitive records with ransom demands ranging from $75,000 to $500,000 in cryptocurrency.

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Red State Crime Wave: Crime Festers in Republican States While Their Troops Patrol Washington (New York Times)

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Donald Trump denied statistical reality last week when he was asked whether he might send federal forces into high-crime cities in Republican-led states. “Sure,” he said, “but there aren’t that many.”

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There are that many: Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield, Mo.; Birmingham, Ala.; Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo, Ohio; Tulsa, Okla.; Memphis and Nashville; Houston; Little Rock, Ark.; Salt Lake City; and Shreveport La., all have crime rates comparable to Washington’s, according to F.B.I. statistics.

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NYC Vice: ‘Hash Court’ and High Drama: How Weed Became the US Open’s New Distraction (The Guardian)

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Alongside the honey deuce cocktails and free-flowing Heineken, a different vice has threaded itself into the fortnight: the pungent and unmistakable odor of marijuana. It drifts across the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with enough frequency that players have begun treating it as not a bug but a feature of the event itself.

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The USTA has maintained a strict no-smoking policy since at least 2011, when New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg’s smoking ban was expanded to public parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas. Yet since New York legalized recreational cannabis in 2021, Flushing Meadows has become a microcosm of the state’s shifting culture.

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Don't Miss Today's Daily Read Podcast! Click here to listen to the latest episode of the AI-generated companion of today's newsletter on Spotify. It's also available on Apple Podcasts. And check out our AI-focused edition that posted yesterday to catch up on all the latest developments in artificial intelligence. 

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Free Art in London: Contemporary Art Installation Centers 2,000-year-old Oak Stakes to Bring Fresh Perspective, Wow Visitors  (London Mithraeum)

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'Performance of Entrapment' by Jane and Louise Wilson opened at London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE in July. The Wilson's weave together film, archaeology, and contemporary art in an installation that centers 2,000-year-old oak stakes discovered during excavations for Bloomberg’s European headquarters.

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Explore their powerful reflection on time, memory and ancient shrines by visiting the space, or watching the film on Bloomberg Connects. You can also click the photo below to watch the film and hear from the artists.

Best of Late Night.

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On the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files:

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“Attorney General Pam Bondi told President Trump earlier this year that his name was in the Jeffrey Epstein files. Oh, he definitely already knew that. What other bombshells did you have for him, Pam? ‘Mr. President, did you know you’re in “Home Alone 2”?’”

— Seth Meyers

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“They must be finding so many mentions of Trump they’re going to have to change the name to ‘The Trump Files, Featuring Jeffrey Epstein.’”

— Seth Meyers

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“Well, at least Trump kept his promise to create more jobs, specifically jobs for F.B.I. agents to look for Trump’s name in the Epstein files.”

— Seth Meyers

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And from Jimmy Kimmel Live: Some companies are worried that Trump’s tariffs will jack up the price of their products, but others have already found ways around them. Click the photo below to watch.