Forbes Daily: U.S.-EU Trade Deal Sets 15% Tariffs, Lifts Stock Futures

Forbes

5 days ago

When the iconic animated series South Park returned to Comedy Central last week, its season premiere struck a nerve with at least one viewer from the White House.
Writer-producer duo Trey Parker and Matt Stone addressed the reaction to the episode—which prominently skewered President Donald Trump—at a San Diego Comic Con panel, with Parker joking that 'We're terribly sorry.'
Parker and Stone also joined Hollywood's most elite club last week after securing a $1.5 billion streaming deal with Paramount, making each of them billionaires and ensuring their satirical comedy will be around to poke fun at a very litigious president until at least 2030.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen shakes hands with President Donald Trump during a meeting at Trump Turnberry golf club on July 27, 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland.U.S. stock futures are up on news that President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to a 15% tariff rate on most EU goods. The deal was announced Sunday afternoon, just days before Trump's self-imposed August 1 deadline, and matches the rate secured with Japan in last week's deal.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Sunday that Samsung will manufacture the car maker's next-generation AI chip at its upcoming Texas semiconductor plant as part of a deal worth $16.5 billion, in a significant boost for Samsung's struggling chipmaking arm. The multi-year deal will run through till the end of 2033, and Samsung's semiconductor fabrication plant in Taylor, Texas, is scheduled to begin operations in 2026.
Tom Crowley Jr. at the Jacksonville, Florida, headquarters of Crowley Maritime. At 16, he was put to work scraping barnacles. JAMEL TOPPIN FOR FORBES
Thomas Crowley Jr. is the third generation to run shipping business Crowley Maritime, and has figured out how to navigate a loophole in U.S.' protectionist laws. With 112 vessels that are Jones Act-compliant for domestic shipping, Crowley—who along with his immediate family owns some 80% of the company, worth an estimated $1.5 billion—is able to steer clear of whales like Denmark's Maersk ($56 billion revenue) and China's Cosco ($32 billion). WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP
These days, tax savvy investors have an automated way to make sure good losses don't go to waste. With 'direct indexing' instead of owning an S&P index fund, you own positions in the individual stocks that make up the index. Then, if one stock drops, the computer sells it, harvesting the tax loss. Robo-advisor Wealthfront, with an account minimum of only $5,000, beats Fidelity, Schwab and Vanguard at this game. MONEY + POLITICS
A federal judge handed down the third ruling Friday against President Donald Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship in the U.S., meaning the president's executive order against the right to citizenship will remain blocked until the Supreme Court steps in. The high court ruled last month that lower courts cannot block nationwide policies, but did not explicitly address whether Trump's birthright citizenship rule was constitutional.
The House Ethics Committee on Friday found Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) violated ethics rules after she 'impermissibly' accepted gifts during her appearance at the 2021 Met Gala and said the lawmaker must pay roughly $3,000 to settle the claims. Ocasio-Cortez paid just over $900 in 2021 for the white dress—which was adorned with the phrase 'Tax the Rich'—and other items she wore to the event, and the amount she must now pay will help cover the fair market price of the wardrobe. SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT
David Ellison, 42, is set to become the chairman and CEO of Paramount once its merger with Skydance, approved by the FCC last week, is complete. Ellison is the son of Oracle founder and second richest person in the world Larry Ellison, and is a major Hollywood player, having produced blockbusters including Top Gun: Maverick . He will soon oversee brands including CBS, MTV and Paramount Pictures.
The 12-minute monologue that The Late Show's host Stephen Colbert delivered after the news of his show's impending end has racked up more than 10 million views on YouTube, making it the most popular video on his channel in six years. While The Late Show is the top-rated program of the 11:30 p.m. ET hour, its popularity on YouTube peaked years ago, shedding some light on what could have led to the surprise cancellation. Until last week, only 10 videos in the past three years had managed to cross the 4 million view mark on YouTube.
The latest Marvel and Disney film Fantastic Four: First Steps raked in about $57 million at the domestic box office for its opening day, marking the year's second-largest opening day so far—just behind A Minecraft Movie . Marvel's two other releases from this year, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts* , both lost money at the box office despite the latter film's positive reception. DAILY COVER STORY How Surfside Became The Fastest-Growing Alcohol Brand In America
Surfside CEO Clement Pappas, center right, with cofounder Matt Quigley, center left, and his brother Bryan, far left, and Pappas' brother Zach, far right. SURFSIDE
The backstory of Surfside, this summer's most popular ready-to-drink spirits beverage, starts with trash, and particularly what vodka entrepreneur Matt Quigley noticed on the streets of Philadelphia—a lot of discarded bottles of iced tea.
'People just don't naturally digest their surroundings enough,' says Quigley, the 41-year-old president of Pennsylvania-based Stateside Vodka. 'If you look at what is smashed on the curb and the street, it'll tell you a lot about what the people of your city are actually drinking. And, in Philadelphia, that means it's a ridiculous amount of iced tea. You'll find Twisted Tea, yes, but you'll also find Snapples, and a lot of other brands.'
Quigley brought the idea to his business partner Clement Pappas, Stateside Brands' 51-year-old CEO, and they set out to produce alcoholic iced teas and lemonades to compete with hard seltzers and other canned drinks, as better-for-you versions of the classic Twisted Tea or Mike's Hard Lemonade. And now with Surfside in its third summer on the market, customers are crushing Surfside after Surfside, especially along the beaches of the Northeast coast. So far this summer, Surfside cans were the fastest-growing of any beer or ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail, with an increase of $70 million in retail sales year-to-date. This month, Surfside hit the milestone of topping 5 million cases sold in 2025.
'I've been on a flat-out sprint for three-plus years now, trying to keep pace with it,' Pappas tells Forbes .
​​Surfside is expected to sell as many as 12 million cases this year, which would mean hitting revenue of as much as $300 million. The RTD cocktail brand ended 2024 with $100 million in estimated revenue, and as the fastest-growing brand across all alcoholic beverages, according to NielsenIQ, hitting more than 360% sales growth compared to a year prior.
WHY IT MATTERS RTD cocktails like Surfside are one of the few areas that are actually growing in the alcohol sector, says Duane Stanford, the publisher of Georgia-based Beverage Digest. Drinkers are switching from flavored malt beverages like White Claw and legacy hard teas and lemonades: According to NielsenIQ, hard lemonades made with malt declined nearly 10% so far this year, and hard malted teas dropped over 4%, whereas the spirits-based hard lemonades grew over 96% so far this year and the hard teas grew over 168%.
'Young consumers are moving to canned cocktails and they want flavor. Drinks like Surfside are leading this trend,' says Stanford. 'The use of crafted vodka and big flavor have been part of the secret to its success.'
MORE How This $100 Million Popsicle Business Licks The Competition FACTS + COMMENTS
The deal Columbia University struck with the Trump Administration last week settled allegations that it violated anti-discrimination laws, and restored billions in federal funding for the university—while scaling back diversity programs and initiatives in return. Many critics are concerned about the precedent it sets for independence at other universities:
$221 million: The amount Columbia will pay, including a $200 million fine to the federal government, and $21 million to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
$1.3 billion: The amount of restored federal research funding
'[F]ar more coercive and far more arbitrary': How Columbia Law School professor David Pozen described the resolution, or 'regulation by deal.' STRATEGY + SUCCESS
Student loan policy is shifting at a rapid pace, and for those seeking relief, here's where things stand. Student loan forgiveness is blocked for three popular income-driven repayment plans—ICR, PAYE and SAVE—due to an ongoing legal challenge. However, forgiveness is still available under a number of other programs, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which allows borrowers to qualify for a discharge after working for 10 years in certain nonprofit or government jobs. VIDEO
Beginning today, which major retailer is ending its decade-old program that promised to match prices on identical products sold at Walmart and Amazon?
A. Costco
B. Target
C. Best Buy
D. The Home Depot
Check your answer.
Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Chris Dobstaff.