Bloomberg (June 29)
“With just 10 days to go until President Donald Trump’s country-specific tariffs are set to resume, the White House appears poised to fall short of the sweeping global trade reforms it promised to achieve during the three months they were on hold.” It is unclear what will happen to the tariffs at the point. The President’s unpredictable approach may gain “concessions from trading partners,” but “the erratic effort has injected uncertainty into the financial markets, and created anxiety for domestic businesses. The lack of clarity around the deadline heightens the tension.”
Tags: 10 days, Anxiety, Approach, Businesses, Clarity, Concessions, Deadline, Erratic, Financial markets, Global trade, Promised, Reforms, Resume, Tariffs, Tension, Trading partners, Trump, Uncertainty, Unpredictable
Reuters (June 19)
“Central banks are grappling with elevated uncertainty about economic growth and inflation, complicating decision-making, especially for those trying to calibrate policy as they near the end of their rate-cutting cycles.” The rate uncertainty is in turn “making life hard for investors.” For example, “Norway’s central bank on Thursday gave markets a shock by cutting interest rates, and even the U.S. Federal Reserve is warning not to put much weight on its policy projections.”
Tags: Calibrate, Central banks, Decision-making, Economic growth, Fed, Grappling, Inflation, Investors, Norway, Policy projections, Rate-cutting cycles, U.S., Uncertainty, Warning
Washington Post (June 12)
“Trump miscalculated on China. Now the administration is trying to fix the mess.” The United States “started off with the economic upper hand, thanks to low unemployment, falling inflation and a strong global network of alliances,” but Trump “overplayed” his hand with China. As a result, “markets are volatile because of uncertainty. Recession fears loom.” Now, the “two nations have a chance for a reset. But both must recognize they remain mutually dependent.”
Tags: Administration, Alliances, China, Falling inflation, Global network, Low unemployment, Markets, Mess, Miscalculated, Mutually dependent, Overplayed, Recession fears, Reset, Trump, U.S., Uncertainty, Upper hand, Volatile
Market Watch (May 17)
“President Donald Trump’s move to defuse an ugly trade war with China not only sparked a massive stock-market rally but also drove down the chances of a recession — for now.” Though it’s a welcome sign of relief, numerous obstacles remain. Nobody can rest assured. “Ongoing trade wars have not gone away, for one thing. Trump could change his mind or the U.S. could fail to strike more economic-friendly deals with China, after that 90-day pause, and other countries.” Moreover, the uncertainty has “made households and business hesitant to spend, hire and invest. Confidence has plunged in the past few months, and anxiety is unlikely to fade quickly.” U.S. growth remains likely “to taper off sharply this year.”
Tags: 90-day pause, China, Confidence, Deals, Defuse, Hire, Households, Invest, Obstacles, Recession, Relief, Spend, Stock-market rally, Trade war, Trump, U.S., Ugly, Uncertainty
Washington Post (April 9)
“Trump grabbed a life preserver. In announcing a 90-day pause on most tariffs… he acknowledged, however reluctantly, the harsh realities of economics, foreign policy and domestic politics.” While the pause is “indeed worth rejoicing,” it is only a partial pause as the trade war continues with China. “Investors, business and consumers will still be living with uncertainty. For the long term, Trump and his team are well advised to come up with a less volatile economic strategy.”
Tags: Business, China, Consumers, Economic strategy, Economics, Foreign policy, Investors, Lfe preserver, Partial, Pause, Politics, Realities, Tariffs, Trade war, Trump, Uncertainty, Volatile
Newsweek (March 29)
“While the Trump administration is optimistic about the country’s growth prospects… economists are voicing gloomy forecasts.” Among them, “Moody’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi on Thursday compared the current levels of uncertainty to those seen during 9/11 and the 2008 financial crash, having previously said that he felt the country was being ‘pushed into a recession’ by Donald Trump’s tariff policies.”
Tags: 2008 financial crash, 9/11, Economists, Gloomy forecasts, Growth prospects, Moody, Optimistic, Recession, Tariff policies, Trump, Uncertainty, Voicing, Zandi
FeightWaves (March 20)
“FedEx Corp. reduced its full-year guidance for the third consecutive quarter because of intensifying macroeconomic headwinds and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy, which are crimping higher margin B2B shipping services.” One major source of uncertainty is “the rapid escalation of tariffs and tariff threats from the United States, which is inviting retaliation and worries of diminished consumer demand because of higher prices.”
Tags: B2B, Consumer demand, FedEx, Guidance, Headwinds, Industrial economy, Intensifying, Macroeconomic, Prices, Reduced, Retaliation, Shipping services, Tariffs, Threats, U.S., Uncertainty, Worries
Barron’s (March 6)
“The Nasdaq Composite closed in correction territory as Wall Street sold pretty much everything in response to the Trump administration’s latest tariff rhetoric.” Both the S&P 500 and the Dow also dropped amid a tariff saga that has left investors shaking. “The uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariff plans have caused headaches for market participants. There are also fears among some economists that policy uncertainty will send sentiment falling further until it triggers a recession.”
Tags: Correction territory, Dow, Economists, Fears, Headaches, Investors, Market participants, Nasdaq, Recession, S&P 500, Sentiment, Sold, Tariff, Trump, Uncertainty, Wall Street
Wall Street Journal (February 10)
Trump’s first-term “levies hurt consumers and U.S. manufacturers.” The “truth” about his past steel tariffs is that they “made U.S. manufacturers less globally competitive and prompted retaliation that hurt American businesses.” The tariffs ultimately “created uncertainty for U.S. manufacturers and boomeranged on steel and aluminum companies.” Second-term Trump just “gave the economy another jolt of uncertainty… when he signed executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.” Is his “strategy to harm U.S. manufacturers and workers?” His tariffs are “political rent-seeking at its most brazen” and benefit “the few at the expense of the many.”
Tags: Aluminum, Boomeranged, Brazen, Businesses, Competitive, Consumers, Harm, Levies, Manufacturers, Rent-seeking, Retaliation, Steel tariffs, Trump, Truth, U.S., Uncertainty
Bloomberg (January 26)
“Oil fell as President Donald Trump imposed his first set of sanctions and tariffs in a move that highlighted risks to the global economy and to trade.” U.S. tariffs and other sanctions have now been imposed on Columbia, and the Trump “administration has also threatened actions on flows of goods from a host of other nations, including Canada and China.” On top of that economic uncertainty, Trump is advocating for “OPEC to bring down prices, potentially raising the pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.”
Tags: Canada, China, Columbia, Global economy, Oil, OPEC, Prices, Risks, Russia, Sanctions, Tariffs, Threat, Trade, Trump, U.S., Uncertainty, War
