New York Times (November 6)
“President Trump’s barrage on global trade appears to have taken a hit” during questioning in front of the Supreme Court. “Concerns are growing that the Supreme Court could scramble the Trump administration’s tariffs strategy. That may be welcome news for free-trade advocates, but it could also unleash more uncertainty for businesses and Wall Street.” Market reaction was rapid as “the yield on 10-year Treasury notes spiked to 4.15 percent,” a sell-off that suggests “bond holders are fretting that an adverse ruling could deprive the government of revenues needed to offset the federal deficit.”
Tags: Barrage, Bond holders, Businesses, Free trade, Fretting, Global trade, Market reaction, Revenues, Scramble, Sell-off, Supreme Court, Tariffs strategy, Treasuries, Trump, Uncertainty, Wall Street, Yield
Investment Week (September 5)
The bad news in the UK is that the majority of “firms (55%) are holding off on investment decisions until after the Autumn Budget—set for 26th November.” The good news is that 43% of those businesses “are expecting to increase investment as a result.” The Barclays’ Business Prosperity index expects investment “to grow by 5.5% over the next 12 months, with 89% of businesses remaining confident in their own prosperity.”
Tags: Autumn Budget, Barclays, Business Prosperity index, Businesses, Confident, Firms, Grow, Holding off, Increase, Investment decisions, Prosperity, UK
CNN Business (August 14)
In the U.S., “businesses have been eating Trump’s tariffs. That’s starting to change.” Wholesale inflation “picked up steam last month, with prices rising by the fastest monthly pace since June 2022.” The Producer Price Index (PPI) “jumped 0.9% from June, lifting the annual rate to 3.3%.” With costs “sharply on the rise for producers and manufacturers in July,” it looks like “higher prices could soon filter down to American consumers.”
Tags: $3, Businesses, Consumers, Costs, Higher, July, Manufacturers, PPI, Prices, Producers, Tariffs, Trump, U.S., Wholesale inflation
AP (August 1)
“For weeks, President Donald Trump was promising the world economy would change on Friday with his new tariffs in place. It was an ironclad deadline.” Instead, with a one week delay for tariff updates, he “injected a new dose of uncertainty for consumers and businesses still wondering what’s going to happen and when.” Precious “few things seemed to be settled other than the president’s determination to levy the taxes.” Even the “legality of the tariffs remains an open question,” with a federal appeals court hearing oral arguments on Trump’s authority to impose the tariffs.
Tags: Appeals court, Authority, Businesses, Consumers, Delay, Ironclad deadline, Legality, Levy, Oral arguments, Promising, Tariffs, Taxes, Trump, Uncertainty, Updates, World economy
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
South China Morning Post (June 3)
“Hong Kong companies favour markets closer to home and in Southeast Asia to grow their businesses because of higher tariffs and other trade barriers in the US and Europe, according to a survey by HSBC, with many expressing confidence about their expansion plans.” Following the disruption of Trump tariffs, the new pivot is being “supported by Hong Kong and Beijing’s efforts to forge stronger ties with markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East as US-China trade ties remain tense.”
Tags: Businesses, China, Companies, Confidence, Disruption, Europe, Expansion plans, Hong Kong, HSBC, Markets, Middle East, Pivot, Southeast Asia, Survey, Tariffs, Trade barriers, Trump, U.S.
New York Times (May 29)
Companies initially “welcomed a court decision striking down President Trump’s tariffs. Then a stay of that ruling left no one breathing easy.” Uncertainty, with a splash of potential relief, now prevails as U.S. businesses struggle to digest “the latest twist in Mr. Trump’s roller-coaster trade war, which has made it impossible to plan more than a few weeks in advance. It’s particularly hard on industries that place their orders entire seasons ahead of time.”
Tags: Businesses, Companies, Court decision, Impossible, Industries, Orders, Relief, Roller coaster, Ruling, Stay, Striking down, Struggle, Trade war, Trump’s tariffs, U.S.
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
Wall Street Journal (January 31)
“President Trump’s advisers are considering several offramps to avoid enacting the universal tariffs on Mexico and Canada that he had pledged.” Even if Trump implements tariffs, the “frantic negotiations with Canada and Mexico” might continue, hoping to reach a resolution before the measures come into effect. Increasingly, North American businesses and labor groups are arguing that “across-the-board tariffs would snarl continental supply chains, drive up prices, and increase reliance on trade with adversarial regimes such as China and Venezuela.” Still, “the situation is fluid and Trump still may go through with his vow to slap 25%, across-the-board levies on imports from America’s two largest trading partners.”
Tags: Advisers, Businesses, Canada, China, Fluid, Labor, Mexico, Negotiations, Offramps, Prices, Supply chains, Trump, Universal tariffs, Venezuela
Institutional Investor (December 23)
“ESG and DEI may be under attack,” but they are unlikely to disappear. “Recent high-profile news like the case led by the Texas Attorney General against BlackRock, Vanguard Group, and State Street Global Advisors… are indicative of the battle taking place across the country.” However, the economic argument for ESG and DEI programs suggests they will persist. Conversely, “restrictive policies at the state or federal level are liable to cost both businesses and investors.”
Tags: Attack, BlackRock, Businesses, Cost, DEI, Economic argument, ESG, Restrictive policies, State Street, Texas, Vanguard
