US will impose new tariffs on Brazil. The US will impose a 25 percent tariff on most imports from Brazil beginning July 22, the US Trade Representative’s office announced. The action is the first under the Trump administration’s new tariff strategy, which relies on Section 301 investigations into alleged unfair trade practices. USTR has opened nearly 80 investigations, raising the possibility of tariffs on many other trading partners. The Brazil tariffs will apply to thousands of products, including sugar, agricultural machinery, apparel, electrical machinery, paper, and steel. Beef, coffee, energy products, aircraft, and aircraft parts are among the exemptions. Brazil rejected the US allegations and said it would respond to the tariffs through domestic retaliation tools and the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement mechanism.
House GOP advances reconciliation blueprint. House Republicans advanced a budget resolution out of committee Thursday, taking the first legislative step toward their third party-line reconciliation package this session. The House Budget Committee approved the measure 20-14 along party lines. The blueprint would unlock up to $95 billion, including $73 billion for military and intelligence programs, $12 billion for farm assistance, and up to $10 billion for election-related grants. But it does not direct committees to find spending cuts to fully offset the package. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) hopes to bring the resolution to the House floor next week.
Senators press IRS on Trump audit order. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) are asking Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano to stop implementing an order that they say could shield President Trump, his family, and his business from tax audits, reports Tax Notes (paywall). The order was included in a settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against Treasury and the IRS over leaks of his tax information during his first term. A federal judge recently said the order “directly contravenes” federal law because it conflicts with rules barring presidential interference in tax audits and investigations. Warren and Wyden asked whether the IRS has implemented any part of the order, whether it has stopped doing so, and whether the IRS Office of Chief Counsel has analyzed its legality.
IRS tax lien filings are rising. The IRS filed more than 214,000 notices of federal tax liens in fiscal year 2025, up 9 percent from the prior year and 36 percent from 2022. Tax experts say the increase largely reflects the IRS returning to more normal collection activity after enforcement was reduced during and after the pandemic. But taxpayer advocates warn that liens can have serious consequences. A tax lien is the government’s legal claim against a taxpayer’s property when taxes go unpaid, and public lien filings can make it harder to get a loan, refinance a home, start or operate a business, or pass some employment background checks. The increase also comes as the IRS workforce has shrunk, raising concerns that the agency could rely more heavily on automated collection tools.
Try not to repeat old fiscal choices. TPC’s Gene Steuerle argues that policymakers too often keep extending policies that once made sense without asking whether they still do. He points to several paths that cannot continue forever, including debt growing faster than the economy, Social Security and health care spending outpacing income, one-way tax-cut pledges, and expanding bureaucracy. Good policy, he argues, requires lawmakers to keep reassessing each additional dollar spent, tax dollar forgone, or dollar of debt passed on to future voters.
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