The U.S. added a meager 73,000 jobs in July, and the jobless rate ticked up to 4.2% on a day when President Donald Trump’s blizzard of new tariffs competed for attention with the latest measure of the nation’s economic health.

Among the fresh tariffs was an increase to 35% on imports from Canada, a key market for the U.S. recreational boating industry. About half of all boats that the U.S. exports go to our northern trading partner.

“For most U.S. recreational marine exports, this 35% tariff is more noise than impact,” export consultant Julie Balzano told Trade Only Today this morning, adding that the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement “still shields the bulk of our trade with Canada. It’s important to have all paperwork in order, as any missing document can trigger customs to hold your shipment or apply the 35% duty until you prove eligibility.

“My advice to my clients is, for now, stay calm, stay proactive, have your paperwork in order and don’t let uncertainty stall your business,” said Balzano, the founder and principal consultant at Florida-registered Global Connect Marketing Services.

What does seem to have stalled is hiring across the economy at the national level. In addition to reporting the July jobs figure, which fell below nearly all economists’ forecasts, the Labor Department revised its May number down by 125,000, to 19,000, and the June total became 14,000, down 133,000 from the originally reported 147,000. As a result, the economy added only 33,000 jobs in May and June combined — a drop of 258,000 from the initial totals.

“It’s challenging to draw conclusions from this latest report alone,” Chad Lyon, managing director, global inventory finance, at Wells Fargo, told Trade Only Today. “While the report does show signs of softening in the labor market, both with the lower-than-expected job additions and the downward revision of previous months’ numbers, it’s worth noting that initial jobless claims were actually lower in a report earlier this week.

“Additionally, the unemployment rate, despite a slight uptick, remains low by historical standards,” Lyon added. “This report does suggest that the weakening in the labor market may have started earlier this summer. However, there are still some underlying numbers that indicate parts of the labor market remain healthy.”

The Federal Reserve’s policymaking committee met this week and did not reduce its benchmark lending rate, “citing a healthy labor market and still slightly elevated inflation,” Lyon said. “The market’s view is the Fed will likely lower rates during the September meeting. This report would likely strengthen the market’s view on a cut during the next meeting.”

The health care category, long the top gainer among job groups, was first again in July, adding 55,000 jobs. Social assistance employment added 18,000. Federal government employment declined by 12,000 and is down by 84,000 since January, reflecting the job-cutting efforts of the extra-governmental Department of Government Efficiency. The Labor Department said employment showed little change in other major industries.

The Labor Department said the labor force participation rate — the measure of the population that is in the workforce — slipped again in July, although slightly, to 62.2%. It is, however, down by half a percent for the year.

The government also said hourly pay rose by 12 cents, or 0.3%, to $36.44 in July. During the past 12 months, earnings have increased by 3.9%, slightly above the 12-month figure from June and at a pace that is still well above the current rate of inflation. That’s good news domestically.

However, tariffs and other trade issues involving the U.S. and its economic partners have been topics of outsized importance, especially for the boating industry, since Donald Trump returned to the presidency in January. Trump and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, announced a new trade agreement on July 28 with a 15% tariff on European Union exports.

Lyon said that the “U.S. and other key trading partners, like the EU, agreeing to terms does create better predictability for the [boating] industry and consumer confidence more broadly.”

Balzano said the agreement is, in some ways, a good deal for U.S. boatbuilders and parts-and-accessory manufacturers who sell products into the EU.

“Having stability and predictability should come as a relief for U.S. boatbuilders and accessory makers who export to Europe,” Balzano said. “They can keep (or begin) selling into the EU with no tariffs, which protects billions in exports. And given that U.S. boat sales have softened slightly, this creates a real opportunity for builders to lean into European markets to keep production lines moving and to pick up the slack.

“The flip side is that the new 15% duty on European imports is a first,” Balzano added. “Before this deal, most marine components from Europe entered the U.S. at very low or even zero tariffs, so we’re jumping from almost nothing to 15%. That’s a big hit for U.S. builders and importers who rely on European products. What’s more, it’s still unclear exactly which specific products will fall under this new duty, which means uncertainty is still very much in play until the dust settles and we all learn more.”

Although the EU agreed to the 15% tariff, the bloc is certainly not happy about it. France referred to it as a “submission.” EU Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told Reuters it was the “best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances.”

The question is whether the deal will endure if European corporate unhappiness builds.

“There’s definitely a chance this deal could hit some bumps,” Balzano said. “A lot of European companies and trade groups are frustrated, saying the deal feels pretty one-sided toward the U.S. For our industry, though, recreational boating is just a small piece of the trade puzzle. Unless bigger industries — like autos or tech — push hard for a change, I think the deal may hold for now. That said, there’s still plenty of uncertainty. The official details haven’t been fully published yet, so no one has a perfect picture of exactly which products are covered or how enforcement will play out. Until that dust settles, we’re all operating with a bit of wait and see, and European pressure could shift things as we go.”

Balzano told Trade Only Today last month that two of her accessory manufacturing clients told her that they stopped promoting “Made in the USA” during a recent European sales trip because the label was actually working against them. She said they received “surprisingly negative” feedback.

Could anger in response to the terms of the new trade agreement mean that U.S. marine companies encounter even more hostility when they seek new business in Europe?

“It’s certainly possible,” Balzano said. “There are a lot of factors at play, but a deal like this — combined with the negative sentiment around it — could very well push European buyers to turn more to local or non‑U.S. suppliers just to sidestep the political and cost friction.”

European boating businesses that export to the United States are particularly unhappy with the deal. Philip Easthill, secretary general at European Boating Industry, told Trade Only Today that the trade group has “serious concerns about the 15% tariff rate for our sector.”

“Building of recreational boats, and the entire supply chain connected, is unique compared to other sectors with a strong export focus (craft, specialized, labor-heavy vs. large-scale industrial) and many other factors around jobs, small and medium-sized enterprises and local economic growth,” Easthill said. “The EU and U.S. are the largest boating sectors, and the supply chains are integrally connected.”

EBI said earlier this week that although the new U.S.-EU deal “averts the worst of a detrimental trade war” the 15% tariff rate will be “very challenging” for businesses and small and medium-size enterprises in Europe.

“The U.S. is the most important export market for the recreational boating industry in Europe,” Easthill said in the EBI statement. “Stability and predictability is vital, but equally important is a trading environment that businesses can sustain. This deal is not sufficient. The 15% tariff rate presents serious challenges for businesses in Europe. We call on the EU Commission to take the announcement as the basis for more sectoral negotiations and consider the needs of export-reliant industries such as ours.”

Ahead of the July jobs report, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey that vacancies nationally fell by 275,000, to 7.44 million, in June, from a downwardly revised 7.71 million the previous month. The government said layoffs fell by a statistically insignificant 7,000, to 1.6 million, and hiring fell by 261,000, to 5.2 million. The number of vacancies per unemployed worker remained at 1.1.

The ADP Research Institute in its National Employment Report for July said that private-sector employment rose by 104,000 in July after the ADP had reported a decline of 33,000 the previous month.

“Our hiring and pay data are broadly indicative of a healthy economy,” Nela Richardson, the institute’s chief economist, stated in a press release. “Employers have grown more optimistic that consumers, the backbone of the economy, will remain resilient.”

Annual pay was up 4.4% for people who stayed in their current jobs and 7% for those who changed jobs. Both figures were little changed from June.

The institute said large and medium-sized companies each added 46,000 jobs in July. Small companies — those that employ no more than 19 people — added 12,000 jobs.