🚢 Axios PM: Trump's strait turn

Good Tuesday afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Alex Fitzpatrick, is 679 words, a 2½-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.

⚡️ Breaking: The Trump administration ordered ICE to suspend most vehicle stops after ICE officers killed two drivers in the past week, in Houston and the coastal city of Biddeford, Maine, the N.Y. Times reports. Gift link.

President Trump today walked back his plan to collect a 20% toll from ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

• Instead, Trump said, Gulf states would make major investments in the U.S.

🤳 Trump wrote on Truth Social: "Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States."

• Trump later told reporters that he received calls from "kings and emirs" asking him not to impose tolls in the Strait of Hormuz.

The president said: "I don't think anybody should charge a fee for the strait or any other strait in the world."

• "I don't like the concept of a fee, but at the same time it is not fair that we are protecting this strait for the entire world ... and we are not somehow compensated."

💰 Reality check: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain had already committed to investing more than $2 trillion in the U.S. over the next several years — even before the war with Iran.

• Trump said in his post that the Gulf countries will make "new Investments" that "will make that Number even larger."

⚓️ Trump made his comments several hours before a U.S. naval blockade on Iran comes into effect, and amid exchanges of fire between the U.S. and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz for the fourth day in a row.

• Trump wrote: "The Strait of Hormuz is open to ALL Ship traffic except for Iran — and that is because of their lying, violent, malicious leadership, which is taking them down the path of TOTAL DESTRUCTION."

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An experimental drug from Biogen could help slow early Alzheimer's disease by lowering levels of a brain protein called "tau," researchers reported today.

• Past attempts to develop drugs targeting the protein have failed, AP reports.
• Two existing Alzheimer's drugs try to clear the buildup of the better-known amyloid protein.

📉 The new findings suggest Biogen's diranersen did more than lower tau levels.

• The study of about 400 people found signs that it also slowed cognitive decline — in one small subset, enough to be comparable to amyloid therapy.

💊 What's next: Biogen is planning a larger study to try to prove the drug's benefits.

Reality check: Dr. Reisa Sperling of Mass General Brigham, who wasn't involved in the study, cautioned that "this is early days."

• But Sperling tells AP that it could "reinvigorate interest and investment in lots of tau mechanisms, and the field needs that."

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About the business: A former NASA engineer, Mark used his skills to create a sleep tech company. He started selling on Amazon to reach new customers and grow his small business.

Why Amazon? “Amazon is a great place for new companies to launch a product and reach new customers.”

Learn more.

1. 🤑 Lower energy prices led to inflation's biggest monthly drop since April 2020 — but this latest report doesn't account for seesawing oil prices as the Iran war reignites. More from Emily Peck.
2. 🤖 New York is becoming the first state to impose a statewide data center moratorium amid backlash against their construction, Axios' Maria Curi reports. Go deeper.
3. 🏞️ President Trump is cutting nearly 3 million acres from Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments, Axios Salt Lake City's Erin Alberty reports. Go deeper.
4. 🥊 Fox Nation is partnering with Conor McGregor and his Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship on a new competition show called "World's Baddest Man." Go deeper.

Our nation's capital goes big for Bastille Day — and France's World Cup semifinal today could give revelers another reason to celebrate, Axios D.C.'s Anna Spiegel writes.

• France takes on Spain at 3 p.m. ET, giving the usual festivities an extra boost of energy.

🇫🇷 France watch parties are planned at Union Market, along U Street and at Penn Social.

• 🇪🇸 Spain fans will flock to Jaleo in Penn Quarter, Casa Teresa downtown and Torito Bar in Foggy Bottom.

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Impact of selling on Amazon: Since scaling his sleep tech company on Amazon, Mark has hired dozens of Newport residents.

In 2025, independent sellers employed over 2 million people in the U.S. in support of their businesses.

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