For more than 48 hours, two merchant ships in the Red Sea tried to fight off repeated attacks by Houthi fighters. No U.S. or allied warship was around to help.

The WSJ’s Benoit Faucon and Lara Seligman report that an officer at Cosmoship Management, operator of one of the vessels that was attacked, says he desperately tried to get assistance as the fight unfolded and was told there were no ships in the area. 

The attack Sunday was the first successful Houthi strike on commercial shipping since November and one of the deadliest since the Iran-backed Yemeni rebel group began waging a campaign to disrupt traffic along the crucial global trade route.

The international effort to protect the sea lanes has grown less robust in recent months, as fewer navies have the capabilities to counter the Houthis’ increasingly sophisticated arsenal. One maritime security expert says the lack of military presence near Houthi strongholds means carriers are entirely vulnerable in the most perilous area of the region.

Thieves are mining the trucking industry to steal copper as the value of the metal soars. 

The WSJ Logistics Report’s Paul Berger writes that reports of copper theft from trucks are rising even faster than the price of the metal, which is used in products ranging from cars to construction materials. The benchmark futures price in the U.S. hit an all-time high this week after President Trump threatened to impose a 50% tariff on imports.

Criminals increasingly have been targeting copper because of growing demand for the metal in fast-growing sectors of the economy such as renewable energy and data centers.

Rising copper crimes contributed to a 26% increase in thefts from U.S. and Canadian logistics operations last year to 3,798 reported incidents, according to risk-assessment firm Verisk CargoNet. Reported thefts of the metal in the first half of this year are up 61% compared to the same period in 2024.

The U.S. will put a 35% tariff on imports from Canada effective Aug. 1, President Trump said. However, the WSJ's Gavin Bade and Vipal Monga write, an exemption for goods that comply with the nations’ free-trade agreement--the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement--would still apply, a White House official said, stressing that could change. Trump previously applied 25% tariffs to non-USMCA goods and the new rate, announced in a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and posted on social media, would mean that number rises to 35%, the official said. The U.S. and Canada had been involved in talks to lower tariffs ahead of a self-imposed July 21 deadline. A spokeswoman for Carney declined to comment.

• WSJ VIDEO: After President Trump threatened a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods, WSJ's Gavin Bade looks at how Trump is using tariffs to exert political control over other regions.

Initial jobless claims in the U.S. fell to 227,000 last week. (WSJ)

Ireland’s manufacturing sector rebounded strongly in May. (WSJ)

The Defense Department will take a 15% stake in MP Materials, the largest rare earths miner in the U.S. (WSJ)

Canada’s industry minister signaled she plans to help automakers deal with hefty U.S. tariffs while meeting a mandate on electric-vehicle sales. (WSJ)

American officials again halted cattle imports from Mexico due to a flesh-eating pest. (WSJ)

Sales at Conagra Brands fell 4.3% to $2.78 billion in the snack maker’s latest quarter. (WSJ)

Fast Retailing reported lower third-quarter net profit as its Uniqlo business struggled in China. (WSJ)

Amazon warehouse workers from Haiti and Venezuela say they have lost their jobs due to cancelled immigration programs. (CNBC)

Mediterranean Shipping suspended service from Asia to the U.S. West Coast. (ShippingWatch)

Yang Ming is considering an expansion to the South American East Coast. (The Loadstar)

Vietnamese air cargo exports to the U.S. are surging. (Journal of Commerce)

Unilever sold its Venezuelan ice cream business to automotive company Mack de Venezuela. (Bloomberg)

The private-equity industry has almost all the pieces in place to start managing Americans’ 401(k) money—everything but the customers.

A failed GOP effort to block a jumble of state AI privacy and security laws has developers calling for “consistent standards.”

It’s never been easier to create your own app with “vibe coding.” Now, professional software engineers are bringing it into the enterprise.

Some creators say their work has been wrongly tagged as AI on tech platforms, hurting their reputation, while some all-artificial ads get through undisclosed.

Mark R. Long is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at mark.long@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team on LinkedIn: Mark R. Long, Liz Young and Paul Berger.