• Tariff deadline looms: The self-imposed midnight deadline is rapidly approaching for countries to strike a trade framework with the United States or face significantly higher tariffs. In one development, President Donald Trump announced today a 90-day pause on higher tariffs on Mexico.
• Court reviews tariff authority: A skeptical federal appeals court heard oral arguments about whether the US president overstepped his legal authority to impose many of his sweeping tariffs.
• Trump’s new tariff plan: The president is expected to announce the new baseline “universal” tariff that sets a minimum tax for most goods that enter the United States. It is currently at 10% but is expected to rise as high as 20%.
President Donald Trump has pulled off what few outside the White House predicted: A trade war victory of sorts that sets America’s taxes on imported goods higher than the infamous Smoot-Hawley era, without any of the damaging fallout so far. Customs revenue has increased sharply while inflation remains reasonably low. And America’s trading partners, for the most part, have been willing to accept the higher tariffs without significant retaliation.
But Trump’s early trade victory may be short-lived. In fact, it is already showing signs that it may not last.
