Wall Street Week: Rethinking trade and satellites

Welcome to the Wall Street Week newsletter, bringing you stories of capitalism about things you need to know, but even more things you need to think about. I'm David Westin, and this week and this week we told the story of the D'Addario family music business adapting to the Trump tariffs and of a European satellite company trying to catch up with Elon Musk's Starlink. If you're not yet a subscriber, sign up here for this newsletter.

Adjusting to Tariffs

President Trump met his extended deadline of Aug. 1 to impose tariffs on a large number of countries' exports to the US — either by agreement or by unilateral action. As Fed Chair Jay Powell said this week, "we're still a ways away from seeing whether things settle down."

But those like John D'Addario don't have the luxury of waiting to respond to the tariffs. He's the third generation to serve as CEO of his family-owned company named for his great-grandfather. With 1,100 employees making strings, reads, and drumsticks, it's a major music accessory company.

D'Addario says the pandemic started the company's process of rethinking the company's supply chain, and responding to tariffs requires a range of changes in how it does business.

Connecting the World

There's a space race to connect the world. Craig Moffett of Moffett Nathanson says that Elon Musk's "Starlink is probably the biggest part of space at the moment and a part that investors seem to value the most highly."

But it's not the only horse in the race to occupy world of Low Earth Orbital satellites for communication. Europe has an alternative candidate in OneWeb owned by Eutelsat, and its chief strategy officer, Jean-Hubert Lenotte, says it's pursuing a very different path — one aimed at helping businesses and governments communicate.