MarketWatch (December 22)
“The kitchen sink was thrown at the economy in 2025 — punishing tariffs, higher inflation, rising unemployment — but the U.S. might still be growing at an above-average speed in a sign of surprising pluck.” Can the momentum continue? AI may deliver continuing investment and efficiency gains. In addition, 2026 “should also benefit from lower interest rates, relaxed tariffs, fewer taxes and regulations, and more government spending in a midterm-election year.”
Tags: 2025, 2026, AI, Economy, Efficiency gains, Inflation, Interest rates, Investment, Momentum, Regulations, Tariffs, Taxes, U.S., Unemployment
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
Barron’s (July 7)
“Trade tensions are likely to recapture markets’ attention this week and through the summer months as President Donald Trump looks to ride his recent wins on taxes and immigration into tariff negotiations.” Since “reshaping the international trade system is a vastly complex enterprise,” the ensuing “uncertainty tied to trade talks… likely will be a feature for markets into the back half of the year and possibly beyond.”
Tags: Attention, Complex, Immigration, Markets, Recapture, Reshaping, Tariff negotiations, Taxes, Trump, Uncertainty
Wall Street Journal (April 21)
“If the White House wanted a test of how firing Jerome Powell would go over in the markets, it succeeded on Monday. U.S. stocks and the dollar plunged while yields on long-term Treasurys climbed after President Trump renewed his attacks on the Federal Reserve Chairman.” The President “thinks he can bully everyone into submission, but he can’t bully Adam Smith, who deals in reality. Markets know tariffs are taxes, and taxes are anti-growth.” It is clear that the “Trump tariffs are the biggest economic policy mistake in decades.” What remains unclear is the President’s ability to see reality. “Markets are spooked because they don’t know if Mr. Trump listens to anyone but his own impulses.”
Tags: Adam Smith, Anti-growth, Attacks, Bully, Dollar, Fed, Firing, Markets, Mistake, Plunged, Powell, Reality, Spooked, Stocks, Submission, Tariffs, Taxes, Treasurys, Trump, U.S., White House, Yields
Wall Street Journal (April 14)
“The biggest issue in financial markets these days, other than tariffs, is the fate of U.S. dollar assets. Are President Trump’s herky-jerky decision-making and border taxes causing the world’s investors to shy away from the dollar and U.S. Treasurys?” Amid the volatility, that remains to be seen, but any shift would occur “’at the margin’ because the U.S. remains too big a market, and its financial system too liquid, to ignore.” Still, the potential impact should not be dismissed lightly. “Even a modest shift from Treasury bonds” could have enormous repercussions.
Tags: Bonds, Decision-making, Dollar assets, https://www.wsj.com/opinion/is-there-a-new-trump-risk-premium-tariffs-trade-policy-bonds-us-dollar-investing-9bee401d?mod=hp_opin_pos_4#cxrecs_s Financial markets, Impact, Investors, Jerky, Liquid, Margin, Shift, Tariffs, Taxes, Treasurys, Trump, U.S., Volatility
Wall Street Journal (April 3)
“The tariffs Trump announced would lift the average duty above the previous peak of 1930. It is by far the most disruptive component of an agenda that may be one of the most disruptive of any new president since the 1930s, one that includes slashing immigration, government spending, taxes and regulations.” The timing for all this is striking. “The economy he inherited was the envy of the world with growth of 2.8% last year, faster than almost every other major developed economy, an unemployment rate of just 4.1% and inflation of 2.8%. Stocks were at record highs.”
Tags: 1930, Disruptive, Duty, Economy, Government spending, Growth, Immigration, Inflation, Regulations, Stocks, Tariffs, Taxes, Timing, Trump, Unemployment
Wall Street Journal (March 3)
We’ve called “the Mexico and Canada levies the ‘dumbest’ in history, and we may have understated the point. Mr. Trump is whacking friends, not adversaries. His taxes will hit every cross-border transaction…. The 25% tariff will raise the cost of a full-sized SUV assembled in North America by $9,000 and a pickup truck by $8,000. Is this how the new Republican Party plans on helping working-class voters?”
Tags: $9K, 25% tariff, Adversaries, Canada, Cost, Cross-border transaction, Dumbest, Friends, Levies, Mexico, Republican, SUV, Taxes, Trump, Understated, Whacking
Reuters (March 3)
“Europe’s dark defence picture has a bright side. President Donald Trump’s hostility to erstwhile U.S. allies in Europe… has scrambled the continent’s security arrangements. Yet leaders who gathered in London on Sunday have a consolation of sorts: the pressure to rapidly rearm gives them cover to hike taxes.” They can now “legitimately tell their populations that everything has changed. There’s a solid long-term argument for Europeans to make a bigger contribution to their security. It’s a silver lining for an otherwise gloomy outlook.”
Tags: Allies, Consolation, Cover, Defense, Europe, Gloomy outlook, Hostility, Leaders, London, Pressure, Rearm, Scrambled, Security arrangements, Silver lining, Taxes, Trump, U.S.
Reuters (December 23)
“EU industries pay power prices 2-3 times higher than those in the U.S. Taxes made up, on average, 23% of the retail electricity price paid by Europe’s energy-intensive firms in 2023.” In addition, energy-intensive industries face “a more fragmented market than China and difficult access to credit.” Lowering taxes might be a way for policymakers “to offer fast relief” to industry.
Tags: China, Credit, Energy-intensive, EU, Fragmented market, Higher, Industry, Policymakers, Power prices, Relief, Retail electricity, Taxes, U.S.
The Times (November 19)
“Middle-earning families will be nearly £20,000 worse off over the next six years,” according to “research carried out for The Times,” analyzing the tax impact of Jeremy Hunt’s new budget “on people’s incomes, as wages go up with inflation but tax thresholds remain frozen.”
Tags: £20 thousand, Hunt, Impact, Incomes, Inflation, Middle-earning families, Research, Succession, Taxes, Wages, Worse
