Ace of Trades

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for Aug. 24, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

THE LATEST

President Donald Trump threatened to impose even steeper tariffs on Canada this morning after trade talks between the two countries unraveled. All cars and car parts, as well as steel, would be hit with a 50% levy starting Jan. 1 if Trump follows through.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went in front of reporters to outline new economic sanctions on Iran and its trading partners. The measures, called Operation Economic Outcast, include dozens of people and companies, as well as plans to target cryptocurrency and other industries.

• Iran doesn’t seem concerned, at least outwardly: “The United States is not in an economic position to further restrict its relations with other countries,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who serves as speaker of the Iranian Parliament, wrote on social media just before Bessent took the stage.

THE ADMINISTRATION

The Trump administration unveiled a proposal this morning to charge employers who hire workers with H-1B visas a fee of more than $100,000.

• Déjà vu: Trump tried to implement a nearly identical fee by making a presidential proclamation last year, but a federal judge struck it down earlier this summer.

Federal immigration authorities took the father of a U.S. Navy sailor into custody just as his son was set to return from a record-breaking deployment on the beleaguered USS Abraham Lincoln.

• Joshua Aviles posted on Facebook that his father has a driver’s license, social security card, work permit and was in the process of getting a green card when he was arrested.
• “This is heartbreaking for me,” he wrote.

THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss, the Democrat running to replace Rep. Haley Stevens, claimed that a viral audio recording featuring his voice was faked.

• Moss said the clip, in which he appeared to state that the primary objective of his campaign was to secure American support for Israel, was “manipulated, either stitched and edited together or just a complete fabrication.”
• The clip has reverberated in Michigan politics: Abdul El-Sayed attempted to distance himself from Hasan Piker after the streamer used the clip to suggest American Jews’ support of Israel was opening them to violence.

Mike Rogers’ allies have asked AIPAC to shelve its planned advertising on the Michigan Senate candidate’s behalf, Axios reported. Rogers spoke with AIPAC chair Michael Tuchin last week, which led to the pro-Israel group pulling a planned ad attacking El-Sayed.

METRO DESK

An arbitrator overseeing the case of fired Washington Post opinion columnist Karen Attiah ordered the newspaper to rehire her — and shell out back pay to boot. Attiah was let go last year after making several social media posts about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

• She said in a statement to The New York Times that she was “willing to go back” to work.

DAN SULLIVANS OR DANS SULLIVAN?

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