With stock markets plunging and US Treasury yields reaching new heights, US President Donald Trump finally reneged on parts of his widescale tariff plan on Wednesday, declaring a 90-day pause to the far-reaching “reciprocal” levies that he introduced just one week ago while leaving a 10% across-the-board duty in place. He also escalated the already-burgeoning trade war with China by increasing the tariff on their imports to 125%.
“I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump declared on Truth Social.
Trump’s announcement brought some much-needed relief to the countries facing these tariffs.
“This is a much smaller tariff wall. It is less disruptive. It has the potential for landing in a better place with most of the US trading partners,” said Eurasia Group’s geoeconomics expert Jens Larsen.
All in a day. The S&P 500 index surged more than 9% within a few hours of the announcement, bringing some rare good news to the American markets in an otherwise-tawdry week. The Nikkei jumped 9% on Thursday, recording its second-best ever day. As for China, Trump said the 125% tariff would be implemented immediately, before expressing optimism that the two superpowers could reach a deal. Beijing had announced earlier on Wednesday that it was imposing an additional 50% tariff on US imports, matching the extra duty that Trump had placed on Chinese imports on Tuesday and bringing the total levy to 84%.
Not out of the woods yet. Though stocks rose following Trump’s pause, Treasury yields haven’t fully recovered from the sharp moves of earlier this week, reflecting some potential damage to the US economic brand. The dollar has continued falling, too. The political ramifications of this are potentially more widespread than any market drops, as the higher yields make it more difficult for small businesses to access loans, with knock-on effects for the US economy.
“Fundamental uncertainty remains. Not only could tariffs be implemented in the future, but the predictability and credibility of US economic policy has taken a serious hit,” Larsen added. “And at the end, we still end up with a more rapidly fragmenting world.”
