Axios

President Trump has revived a provision from one of former President Herbert Hoover's most infamous policies: the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.

Why it matters: Smoot was long thought to be moot — widely considered a failure and, possibly, an exacerbating factor in the Great Depression.

• Trump has repeatedly said that he doesn't want to be associated with Hoover, who presided over the country during that economic collapse and has forever been associated with it.
• "The irony just writes itself in some sense," Douglas Irwin, an economics professor at Dartmouth and author of "Clashing over Commerce: A history of U.S. trade policy," tells Axios.

House Republicans' strategy for keeping the speaker's gavel and their leadership suites next year hinges on being anywhere but Washington this summer.

Why it matters: The Senate is in for another two weeks, but Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team are crisscrossing the country during the House's five-week August recess like German or Norwegian World Cup fans: no town too small, no state too far away.

South Carolina has been preliminarily tapped to hold the first Democratic presidential primary of 2028, as a key panel of party leaders picked the Palmetto State over Nevada on Friday after a contentious, racially fraught debate.

Why it matters: It's a coup for Black leaders who argued the party's most loyal voters — represented by South Carolina's large Black population — deserved to have the first chance to weigh in on who should be Democrats' next presidential nominee.

President Trump will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, the Israeli Prime Minister's office said in a statement.

Why it matters: Netanyahu has met with Trump in the Oval Office six times since Trump returned to office a year-and-a-half ago — more than any other world leader. But Netanyahu is deeply unpopular in Washington these days, among Democrats, Trump's close circle and the MAGA base.

Anduril has returned to market for a new round that could value the defense tech firm at around $100 billion, Reuters reports.

Why it's the BFD: The company raised $5 billion at $61 billion valuation earlier this year.

The wars in Iran and Ukraine show how the drone tech revolution makes it easier — and cheaper — to interrupt energy supplies by striking refineries and oil tankers.

Why it matters: It's an important reason why oil traded at $100 per barrel this week and gasoline and diesel fuel are so expensive these days.

The Trump administration's backlog of high-level health appointments isn't getting any smaller after the Senate health committee postponed votes yesterday on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director nominee and a divisive pick for an assistant health secretary post.

Why it matters: CDC nominee Erica Schwartz probably will have enough Republican votes to be approved after committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said he'll support her — he just couldn't get enough GOP senators to show up yesterday.

She has President Trump's endorsement and is a sympathetic figure after the death of her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham. As Graham's temporary replacement, she's a symbol of the political brand he built over more than two decades in the Senate.

Driving the news: Even so, Darline Graham faces an uphill battle to win a full Senate term in November, Republicans in D.C. and her home state of South Carolina tell Axios.

House GOP leaders are turning up the heat on Senate Republicans, calling on them to move quickly on the House's $95 billion reconciliation package despite resistance from Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).

Why it matters: Before they split town, House leaders left some instructions for their Senate colleagues.

Democrats are indicating to their Republican counterparts that they are prepared to vote as early as next week on a Russia sanctions package that includes an 11th-hour demand from President Trump that the bill also include Iran, according to people familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: It would mark a rare bipartisan breakthrough on legislation to help end the war in Ukraine in a Senate that has spent much of the year engaged in partisan combat.