For Days, Donald Trump and His White House Team insisted themselves fully committed to their decision to impose the dozens of dozens on tariffs. They Even Derided A Tuesday That Said President Was Considering a 90-Day Pause – News That Triggered A Brief Stock Market Surge.
But now that pause on Higher Tariff Rates, With A Few Notable Exceptions, Is A Reality. The Roeorder Of The Global Economic Order Is On Hold, and Trump’s Promise Of A Golden Age of American Manufacturing Will Have To Wait.
The White House has said that going big on Tariffs and then hitting The Pause Button, Before Entering Negotiations Individual Countries, Was The Plan All Along.
“We’ve Had More than 75 countries Contact US, and I Imagine, After Today,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Told Reports Shortly After The Announcement.
That framing from The White House is not surprising, course of. And IT IS DIFFICULT TO IGNORE THE INVESTOR PANIC, Tumbling Bond Market and Growing Public Disapproval That Preceded The Announcement.
So Was It A Strategic Retreat Of The Face of Unexpected Resistance, Or Another Of Another Example Of Trump’s “Deal in the Deal” Negotiating Strategy?
It didn’t take for Long Trump’s Aides – Many of the Same People Who said Never Back Down – To Fan Out and Celebrate The President’s Move.
Trade Adviser Peter Navarro Said Trump’s Rariff Situation “Unfolded Exactly The Way It Should”.
“You clearly failed to see what President Trump Is Doing Here,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Told to Gathered Of Crowd Reporsters. “The Entire World is Calling The United States of America.”
They was the Less Clear About The Trump’s Tariff Suspension, Announced Via A Post on His Truth Social website. Did the Reprieve in Higher Tariffs Apply To The EU? Were Mexico and Canada, What Avoided The Original 10% Baseline Tariffs, Somehow Now Get Included? Were Tariffs Targeting Specific Sectors Affected?
Ultimately, The White House Provided On Thesse Chestions – But Hours US Trading Partners Were Left to Scrutinize Trump’s Truth Social Post and Glean Details From Answers Shouted by Press Gaggles.
On Wednesday Afternoon, Trump Acknowled That The Markets Had Loked “People Were Getting a Little Queeasy” Course.
He insisted, Howver, Announcement Announcement Was One That Made, And That Any Economic Disruptions Reflected That Had Been Allowed to Fester In The American Economy.
Democrats, Meanwhile, Painted a Less Rosy Picture. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Accused Trump of “Governing by Chaos”.
“He is reeling, He is retreating, and that is a good thing,” He said.
In The End, The Thought Process Behind Trump’s Decision May Not Really Matter.
The Reality is that the US is now making nice – Or at Least Nicer – With Nations That Had Faced Their Retaliatory Trade Fire. It is LETTING THE STOCK MARKET BOUNCE Back, And Leaning Into A Trade War With China Which The President Hit with 125% tariffs.
That Will Have Global Economic Reserts Own Own, But More In Line Recent Foreign Policy – Including That Of Democratic President Joe Biden – As It Seeks to Constrain Chinese Ambitions.
The Big Unknown, Howwer, Is Whether Trump’s Actions Over The Past Week – Setting Allies Scrambling and Threatening Global Order – Will Make Such a structegy purpicult to Pursue.
And in 90 Days, When Trump’s Pause Expires, This Week’s Economic Drama And Uncertainty Could Begin All over again.
