Wall Street Journal (July 12)
“Would Tariff Man please take a summer vacation for the good of the nation? Stocks tumbled on Friday after President Trump announced he will raise tariffs on Canada to 35%, starting Aug. 1.” Following this, Trump “floated increasing his current 10% across-the-board tariffs on many countries to 15% or 20%.” Tarriff Man “seems to think that his unpredictability is a negotiating advantage. But keeping trading partners guessing—along with investors and U.S. companies with global supply chains—isn’t a recipe for economic strength.”
Tags: 35%, Advantage, Canada, Companies, Economic strength, Investors, Negotiating, Stocks, Summer vacation, Supply chains, Tariff Man, Trading partners, Trump, Tumbled, U.S., Unpredictability
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
Investment Week (April 1)
“Some of the world’s largest investment banks and a major credit ratings agency have upped their expectations of a recession in the US and globally as trade war woes loom large.” U.S. President Donald Trump “is expected to unveil sweeping tariffs on major trading partners on Wednesday.”
Tags: Credit ratings agency, Expectations, Globally, Investment banks, Loom, Major, Recession, Sweeping, Trade war, Trading partners, Trump, U.S., Woes, World
Wall Street Journal (March 21)
“At this point you have to ask: Is China’s economy real anymore?” While recent “economic news out of Beijing sounds so good,” it is driven by non-sustainable “subsidies for upgrades of business and household equipment.” Mr. Xi has fallen “back on the export dependence that so irritates trading partners while leaving China’s economy as vulnerable as ever to foreign protectionism.”
Tags: Beijing, Business, China, Economy, Equipment, Export dependence, Household, Irritates, Protectionism, Subsidies, Sustainable, Trading partners, Upgrades, Vulnerable, Xi
Freight Waves (February 26)
“Russia is not America’s largest trade partner by a long shot — representing less than 1% of the total imports — but many of our largest trading partners, like Germany and China, have strong economic ties to the country.” The conflict in Ukraine “will lead to more supply chain woes,” though there are obviously “many consequences much worse than continued supply chain disruptions and inflation.”
Tags: China, Conflict, Disruptions, Economic ties, Germany, Imports, Russia, Supply chain, Trading partners, U.S., Ukraine
Washington Post (June 8)
“Trump is waging a trade war in the dumbest way possible.” In the best of times, “trade wars are neither good nor easy to win…. Every side loses, experiencing lost jobs, crippled businesses and higher prices for consumers.” Trumps tariffs are now estimated to result in 16 lost U.S. jobs for every job gained in the aluminum/steel industry: a painful, self-inflicted wound. Moreover, the counterpunches of our trading partners “are likely to draw more blood.” With the “already announced $40 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made products,” Canada, the EU, Mexico, Russia, India, Japan and Turkey have “fine-tuned the art of minimizing their own pain — and maximizing ours.”
Tags: Aluminum. Steel, Businesses, Canada, Consumers, Counterpunches, Dumbest, EU, India, Japan, Lost jobs, Mexico, Prices, Russia, Tariffs, Trade war, Trading partners, Trump, Turkey, U.S.
Washington Post (May 30)
“Sudden policy shifts are amplifying an air of unpredictability that the president has said gives him an edge at the bargaining table, even as U.S. trading partners complain that it erodes American credibility. Adding to the confusion are divisions among Trump’s trade advisers and complaints from members of Congress, who fear that the president may be stumbling into a costly multi-front trade war.”
Tags: Advisers, Bargaining, Complaints, Confusion, Congress, Credibility, Divisions, Edge, Policy shifts, Stumbling, Trade war, Trading partners, Trump, Unpredictability
Bloomberg (November 2)
“The last time the Philippine peso neared 50 to the dollar, the global financial system was melting down and the central bank raised interest rates to defend it. This time, it has been driven by the president cursing his trading partners.”
Tags: Central bank, Dollar, Interest rates, Melt down, Peso, Philippines, President, Trading partners
