If Donald Trump follows through on his latest deadline when it comes to tariffs, a growing number of European Union member states want the bloc to activate its most powerful trade tool against the US. Trump has repeatedly delayed his threatened levies, a pattern of behavior that’s generated the now-famous TACO meme. Now he has pledged to impose 30% tariffs on the EU if no deal is reached by Aug. 1. And this time, his aides have said, he means it.

It would seem Europe is taking him at his word. A French-led charge to deploy the bloc’s so-called anti-coercion instrument is said to be backed by more than half a dozen European capitals. Benjamin Haddad, France’s minister for European affairs, said earlier this week that the response from Brussels should include the option of using the tool, which gives officials broad powers to take retaliatory action. Those measures could include new taxes on US tech giants or targeted curbs on US investments in the EU.

They could also involve limiting access to certain parts of the EU market or restricting US firms from bidding for public contracts in Europe. “In this negotiation, you need to show strength, you need to show force, unity and resolve,” Haddad told Bloomberg Television on Monday, adding “we can go further.” —David E. Rovella

What You Need to Know Today

Even a midday market whipsaw over Trump’s latest musings on firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell (which the Supreme Court recently telegraphed is likely not in his power) wasn’t enough to dislodge the Jeffrey Epstein files furor from Washington’s front-burner. Blowback from Trump’s base over his administration’s refusal to release additional documents related to the disgraced financier continued, triggering the president to attack his own followers.

The Epstein case has long been a focus of the Trump faithful and spurred numerous conspiracy theories about the deceased sex offender’s associates and his death—as well as a fervor for the administration to release any documents pertaining to him. Democrats meanwhile are reveling in the Republican civil war that’s broken out, with Trump opponents quick to point out his personal connections to Epstein in the 1990s.

Everything’s coming up roses for Wall Street, and its denizens can thank the global uncertainty triggered by Trump’s trade war. Goldman Sachs stock traders posted their largest revenue haul in history as volatility sparked by months of US threats, deadlines, tariffs and retreats spurred a second straight record quarter for the unit. At $4.3 billion, equity-trading revenue for the second quarter was about $600 million more than what analysts were expecting and $100 million above the first-quarter total. That also pushed Goldman profit above expectations for the period.

Over at Jamie Dimon’s shop, the first half saw his bank’s market value surpass that of its three largest competitors—Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo—combined. JPMorgan racked up $30 billion of profit in that period, more than double its closest rival, and widened its lead over Goldman and Morgan Stanley in investment-banking revenue.

Microsoft has spent billions of dollars to get people like Tyson Jominy using its Copilot, an artificially intelligent personal assistant designed to make it easier for consumers to navigate the world. But when Copilot pops up on Jominy’s computer screen, it’s typically an accident—a mistaken push of what used to be a control key. The bad news for Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, who has been busy firing thousands of his employees in a bid to ramp up AI investment, is that Jominy isn’t alone.

Sub-Saharan Africans boosted their savings at the fastest pace in more than a decade, driven by the growing impact of mobile money accounts across the continent. The share of adults in sub-Saharan Africa who saved through formal channels surged by 12 percentage points to 35% in 2024, the second-highest regional rate after East Asia and the Pacific. Africa’s young, tech-savvy population is increasingly using mobile phones to bridge gaps in services including banking.

This has opened a lucrative and fast-growing space in the fintech sector for wireless carriers, such as MTN Group, Orange, Vodacom Group, Airtel Africa and Safaricom. “Higher personal saving—through banks or other formal institutions—fuels national financial systems, making more funds available for investment, innovation, and economic growth,” according to the World Bank’s Global Findex Database 2025.

Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport will spend as much as C$10 billion ($7.3 billion) over the next decade to modernize and expand its facilities. The Canada Infrastructure Bank said it will lend C$1 billion to support Aeroports de Montreal, the company that manages the airport. The upgrades include new access roads, a building to connect the airport terminal with a transit line, taxiways, tarmacs, and passenger processing areas. The airport is one of Canada’s busiest, handling 22.4 million passengers last year.

What You’ll Need to Know Tomorrow

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