Trump prices: the markets in Asia make the gains after us, a higher break, but the increase in the rate of China

Anthony Zurcher
Correspondent in North America in Washington DC

Image source, Reuters

For days, Donald Trump and his White House team insisted that they were fully committed to their decision to impose radical “reciprocal” prices on dozens of countries. They even ridiculed a report on Tuesday which said that the president was considering a 90 -day break – news that sparked a brief increase in the stock market.

But now, this break on higher rate rates, with a few notable exceptions, is a reality. The reorganization of world economic order is pending, and Trump’s promise of a golden age of American manufacturing will have to wait.

The White House said that lengthening on the prices and then pressing the break button, before entering negotiations with individual countries, was the plan from the start.

“We had more than 75 countries contact us, and I imagine, after today, there will be more,” the journalists told the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shortly after the announcement.

This white house framing is not surprising, of course. And it is difficult to ignore the panic of investors, the market for guilt and the disapproval of the growing public which preceded the announcement.

So, was it a strategic retirement in the face of unexpected resistance, or another example of Trump’s art negotiation strategy at work?

In the end, the process of reflection behind Trump’s decision may not really matter.

The reality is that the United States is now making beautiful – or at least more pleasant – with nations that had faced their commercial reprisals. He lets the stock market bounce back and look at a trade war with China that the president struck with 125%prices.

This will have its own global economic repercussions, but it is more in line with the recent American foreign policy – including that of Democratic President Joe Biden – because it seeks to limit Chinese ambitions.

The great stranger, however, is whether Trump’s actions during last week – define allies who rush and threaten the established world order – will have made such a strategy more difficult to continue.

And in 90 days, when Trump’s break expires, the economic drama and this week’s uncertainty could start again.