Trump paused tariffs for 90 days
U.S. stocks made steep gains yesterday after President Trump reversed course and said he would pause his reciprocal tariffs on most countries for 90 days.
But Trump said that China would not be included in the pause, raising tariffs on its exports to 125 percent. That decision came after Beijing raised its levies on U.S. goods to 84 percent in an escalating trade war between the world’s largest economies that showed no signs of cooling.
The White House said the blanket tariff level would be brought down to 10 percent, but would not apply to Canada and Mexico, two of the largest U.S. trading partners. We have live updates.
The abrupt change in course came after E.U. officials approved their first retaliatory measures and amid a sell-off in U.S. bonds, which are generally safer investments, on the heels of deep losses in markets around the globe.
Asked why he decided on a pause, Trump said, “Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy. They were getting a little bit afraid.”
“Nothing is over yet,” Trump said, “but we have a tremendous amount of spirit from other countries.” He added that there are “many more than 75” countries seeking trade deals. The Treasury secretary said that the reversal on tariffs was the president’s strategy “all along.”
The S&P 500 ended the day up 9.5 percent, its best day since October 2008.
More on the trade war
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