In the gardens of the White House on April 2, President Trump announced a “Liberation Day” to America and the world, unveiling his 90-country list of tariffs, intended to revive U.S. production and improve our standing in global trade markets.
Over the next week, the tariffs would lead to international and domestic diplomatic and financial crises. The stock market, both in the U.S. and the European Union, dropped to its lowest since COVID. Both single-day losses and extended losses spread over the week of tariffs, leading to economic panic.
In response, diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the European Union (EU) have become frayed in the aftermath of the tariffs, with various European leaders denouncing the tariffs and Trump and his administration.
Following stock market losses in domestic and foreign markets as well as mounting diplomatic pressure, Trump announced a pause to his tariff policy April 8. Supplanting his former stance on tariffs almost entirely, Trump has since declared a 90-day period of no duties or tariffs on trade goods, with the exception of those from China, who he kept tariff rates for.
Since the 8th, the U.S. and China have been engaged in an economic and diplomatic faceoff. In response to not having their tariffs dropped like the rest of the formerly tariffed nations, China raised its own tariffs on U.S. goods, prompting an even steeper tariff escalation from the United States. These tit-for-tat increases have resulted in, as of April 15, a U.S. tariff on Chinese goods of 145%, and a Chinese tariff on U.S. goods of 125%.
These exorbitant tariff prices have the potential to cause massive losses and a halt in both the U.S. and Chinese economies, with the latter facing a larger risk factor than the U.S. Despite this, neither side appears willing to negotiate or give any ground to the other.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy70yxdn8z6o
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/chaos-confusion-reversals-trump-second-term-rcna200649
