U.S. and EU Trade Deal, Mid-Grade Gas Blending, & U.S. Craft Breweries Face Decline
Good morning!
Welcome to The Workday Dash, where your supply chain news is served faster than a hotshot load.
Today’s headlines are a full-blown triple-pallet:
📦 First up, transatlantic traders can finally exhale… the U.S. and EU sealed a sweeping trade deal, cooling months of tariff drama and promising smoother lanes for cars, chips, and energy shipments.
⛽ Meanwhile, TikTok is blowing up because someone noticed that gas pumps only have two underground pipes but sell three fuel grades… turns out, mid-grade is just a little pump-side mixology.
🍺 And finally, the craft beer boom is going flat. Brewery closures are outpacing openings, production’s down, and even Three Weavers Brewing has tapped out into Chapter 11.
From global trade resets to blended gas secrets and a sobering craft beer slump, today’s Dash has all the supply chain buzz you can sip on.
“To give real service, you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.”
U.S. and EU Strike Major Trade Deal to Ease Tariff Tensions
Head’s up to all involved in transatlantic trade…The U.S. and EU just inked a sweeping trade agreement that’s set to cool months of tariff drama. Starting August 1, nearly all EU goods headed stateside will face a flat 15% tariff. Car duties? Slashed from 27.5%. Pharma and semiconductors? Zero tariffs (for now).
Steel and aluminum stay at 50% temporarily, but expect a quota system soon. Other highlights? Zero-for-zero tariffs on aircraft, semiconductor-making gear, select chemicals, and certain ag products (sorry, beef and sugar lovers, you’re still taxed).
And the money moves are massive: Europe’s committing $750B to buy U.S. oil, LNG, and nuclear tech, plus $600B in investments! AND they’ll be stocking up on American defense equipment too.
💡 Why Logistics Should Care: This isn’t just political news; it’s about to load up the freight lanes. Expect surging container traffic, packed ports, more airfreight runs, and a boost in heavy equipment and energy shipments across the Atlantic.
🔥 Hot Take: Forget “ending tariff tensions”… this deal’s basically a fuel-injected launchpad for a U.S.–EU freight boom. If your ops aren’t already scaling capacity for transatlantic flows, your competition will be steering that revenue ship while you’re still waiting on customs paperwork.
The Truth About Mid-Grade Gas Blending
A TikTok video recently went viral when someone spotted only two underground pipes feeding a pump that offers three fuel grades. Cue the conspiracy theories… but the reality? It’s just smart engineering.
Most U.S. gas stations only store regular (87 octane) and premium (91–93 octane). That “mid-grade” option? It’s blended on the fly at the pump. Precision tech inside mixes the fuels in real time, hitting that 89-octane sweet spot perfectly… and yes, it’s fully regulated and inspected.
By skipping a third tank, stations save money, reduce environmental risk, and streamline operations WITHOUT sacrificing quality. Your car doesn’t know the difference, but the supply chain sure does.
📦 Why Logistics Professionals Should Care:
This is lean ops 101. Gas stations are proving you don’t need more tanks (or warehouses) to offer more options. Smart tech + blending = more flexibility, less overhead.
🔥 Hot Take: If gas stations can blend fuel on demand, maybe it’s time logistics blends capacity the same way - fewer silos, tighter networks, same service. Efficiency isn’t magic… it’s just good ops.
U.S. Craft Beer Faces a Hangover as Breweries Close and Three Weavers Files for Bankruptcy
The craft beer wave that fueled thousands of entrepreneurial success stories is starting to lose its fizz. The Brewers Association’s 2025 Midyear Market Report shows U.S. craft breweries have dropped to 9,269 (a 1% decline from last year) with production volumes slipping another 5% YoY.
Adding to the turbulence, Inglewood-based Three Weavers Brewing has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Founded in 2013, the brewery went through a sale to CANarchy in 2018 and a buy-back in 2021, but even strong retail distribution and a broad beer lineup couldn’t shield it from financial strain.
🚛 Why Logistics Should Care:
When breweries close, it’s not just taprooms that feel it… freight does too. Fewer breweries means fewer hops, malt, cans, and kegs moving through the network. Reefer haulers and beverage-focused carriers could see a serious dip in volume.
🔥 Hot Take: The craft beer boom once poured profits into logistics - cold storage, specialized lanes, co-op distribution. Now? Those “hoppy” freight flows are going flat. If you’re not diversifying your beverage portfolio, you might be left holding an empty keg when the tap runs dry.
The Workday Dash is an aggregation of articles regarding the transportation logistics, trucking, and supply chain industries for July 31, 2025, from iLevel Logistics Inc.