US President Donald Trump has announced a 90-day pause on higher tariffs for dozens of countries but hikes levies on China to 125%
Earlier this month, the US president announced a “baseline” tariff of 10% on all countries, with higher rates for the “worst offenders”
In a stunning reversal, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would temporarily lower the hefty duties he had just imposed on dozens of countries while further ramping up pressure on China, sending global stocks rocketing higher.
Trump’s turnabout on Wednesday, which came less than 24 hours after steep new tariffs kicked in on most trading partners, followed the most intense episode of financial market volatility since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The upheaval erased trillions of dollars from stock markets and led to an unsettling surge in U.S. government bond yields that appeared to catch Trump’s attention.
“I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line, they were getting yippy, you know,” Trump told reporters after the announcement, referring to a golf term.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly threatened an array of punitive measures on trading partners, only to revoke some of them at the last minute.
The on-again, off-again approach has baffled world leaders and spooked business executives, who say the uncertainty has made it difficult to forecast market conditions.
The day’s events cast into stark relief the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s policies and how he and his team create and implement them.
Source: REUTERS