How flood-damaged businesses in Asheville are rebuilding
06:57 Share

If your job at a healthcare facility includes disinfecting against viruses, you know prevention is the best medicine. And maintaining healthy spaces starts with a healthy cleaning routine. Grainger's world-class supply chain helps ensure you have the quality products you need when you need them. From disinfectants and cleaning supplies to personal protective equipment, so you can help deliver a clean bill of health. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, clickgrainger.com, or just stop by.

Granger, for the ones who get it done. We're tracking trade and market reaction to the giant money ball about to pass Congress. I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. President Trump says the U.S. has reached a trade deal with Vietnam. This is one of many agreements the White House is trying to hammer out before higher tariff rates on hundreds of countries snap back into place, possibly the middle of next week, Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzer reports.

Details on the Vietnam agreement are scarce. In a social media post, President Trump says there'll be a 20 percent tariff on imports from Vietnam and a 40 percent tariff on trans-shipped goods, that is, products that pass through Vietnam on their way to the U.S. That provision appears to be aimed at Chinese manufacturers trying to avoid steep tariffs on products from China.

Trump says Vietnam also agreed to drop all tariffs on things it imports from the U.S. In his post, Trump talked about increasing exports of American-made SUVs to Vietnam, but it's not clear that Vietnamese consumers could afford that. Former President Biden also negotiated a trade deal with Vietnam after visiting the country in 2023. I'm Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace.

Stocks in Vietnam-based companies are trending higher this morning, as you might expect. More evidence now that the U.S.-China trade truce is sticking. American companies that do high-tech semiconductor design are resuming business with Chinese customers. Our editorial partners at the BBC are following this for us. Here's Katie Silver. Synopsis and cadence design systems of two of the world's most important companies when it comes to chip design. And they're both American.

They've told the BBC that they've received notices from the US Commerce Department now allowing them to sell their software to China. The Trump administration stopped this in May as part of a number of measures in response to Beijing limiting rare earth exports.

Semiconductors, or chips, have been a sticking point in relations between Beijing and Washington. Three years ago, under President Biden, the US implemented export controls on many advanced chips and chip-making technology, citing national security concerns. The companies say they are now working to restore access to the products in China. Rival chip design software giant Siemens and the US Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

Katie Silver reporting there. As you've been hearing, the big tax cutting and program cutting bill has cleared a procedural obstacle with a final vote likely this morning. S&P and Nasdaq futures are essentially unchanged at the moment. Dow futures are up just slightly ahead of the big

Hiring and unemployment reports due in just over an hour and a half. Forecasters are expecting 100,000 more people on payrolls during the month of June, but a private sector hiring report yesterday showed surprising weakness. We'll see how that resolves. Interest rates are lower this morning with bonds up. The 10-year is down at 4.26 percent.

If your job at a healthcare facility includes disinfecting against viruses, you know prevention is the best medicine. And maintaining healthy spaces starts with a healthy cleaning routine. Grainger's world-class supply chain helps ensure you have the quality products you need when you need them. From disinfectants and cleaning supplies to personal protective equipment so you can help deliver a clean bill of health. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, clickgrainger.com, or just stop by. Grainger's.

Grainger, for the ones who get it done.

Now to the economics of rebuilding after natural disaster. This is something that businesses in Asheville, North Carolina have been facing since the fall after the most destructive storm in state history, Hurricane Helene. Blue Ridge Public Radio's Laura Hackett reports on the rebuild. Before Hurricane Helene, the waterfront of the French Broad River was a bustling, colorful destination in Asheville's Arts District. We got about 16 feet of water in the building and so the front of the building fell off.

Mark Oliver is talking about his woodworking studio, which was housed in an old leather tannery. It's one of hundreds of structures in the county that were damaged. He did not have flood insurance, and he thought his business was done for. I was going to quit and go work for a friend. But just before filing for bankruptcy, his church stepped in. Volunteers donated labor and money to rebuild and made him a makeshift studio space, a massive industrial tent. It seems crazy because it is crazy.

Local artists also use the space. Today, the tent is abuzz with woodworkers sawing and hammering everything from shelves and bowls to acoustic guitars. The second we got our power hooked up, it was like so nice and freeing. It's just nice to work again. The tent is temporary. Oliver is repairing his original workshop and hopes to reopen this summer with a better drainage system and stronger roof. I've got one major rebuild in me because the conversation is if we ever get this much water again, I'm out.

Rebuilding is expensive, but it's crucial to do it thoughtfully, says Lisa Raleigh. She directs a nonprofit that works to protect the French Broad River. Because unless you have people invested in a river, unless you bring an economy to a river, sometimes it's harder to get people to care and protect the asset.

And she wants Asheville to remember that another, quote, thousand-year flood could happen at any time. Hurricanes and other tropical storms are getting bigger and wetter and are moving further inland into mountainous areas.

So businesses should rebuild with the expectation that they'll flood again. This is a chance for us to sort of rethink the way that we're doing things. Devin DeHall is resurrecting his rock climbing gym, an airy concrete building that filled with 10 feet of water in the storm. It's a shell of its former self. I mean, you can see the bones are still okay. The steel structure is fine. It's not as bad as it used to be.

They're getting creative about floodproofing. The HVAC system will be near the top of the building, and it'll have tall, bright windows. Next time, if it were to flood, it'll break through the windows and the water will flow through the building, and it won't knock the walls down. So when the next flood comes, the new waterfront will be built for it. The idea is that by owning the risk, business owners may save in the long run. In Asheville, North Carolina, I'm Laura Hackett for Marketplace.

And next week marks six months since one of this year's Southern California wildfires started. An investigation into the power company's possible role in starting the Eaton fire is ongoing. Southern California Edison's CEO told investors in May it is probable the company will incur material losses...

Utilities in California paid into a common fund to handle lawsuits when power companies cause wildfires. The Eden firestorm destroyed 9,400 structures, mostly homes. Another 6,800 structures were destroyed in the Palisades fire to the west, where the power company is not implicated. Southern California Edison stock is down 34 percent since just before the January fire. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio, Marketplace Morning Report.

From APM, American Public Media. Greetings, Marketplace listeners. It's Neil Scarborough, Vice President and General Manager of your favorite business shows. I'm coming to you today with an opportunity to help shape the future of economic journalism and philanthropy. Marketplace's parent company, American Public Media, is looking for board members, and we'd like to invite listeners like you to join either the APM Board of Trustees or the Marketplace Philanthropic Council.

If you believe in our mission to raise the economic intelligence of the nation, and if you love building community through public media, we're looking for strategic, innovative leaders to help ensure that Marketplace continues to evolve and expand its reach and impact across the country. Applications are open now through July 6th. Visit marketplace.org slash board to learn more. Thanks for your consideration and thanks for listening.