In the end, President Donald Trump got exactly what he wanted.
The 120 days since Trump’s Rose Garden “Liberation Day” announcement rocked financial markets weren’t exactly pretty.
From the Washington to Wall Street and across foreign capitals far and wide, seemingly every day featured a disorienting burst of TACOs (trades based on the notion that “Trump Always Chickens Out”) and turbulence, theater and threats, carveouts and looming fear of an imminent rupture to the backbone of 70 years of global commerce.
Even today, an explicit declaration of victory would seem shortsighted in the face of economic data that has presented steady stream of contradictory signals and warning signs that in many ways mirror the disorienting nature of a trade policy without modern historical precedent. The executive authority Trump triggered to underpin a wide swath of his tariffs faces an acute risk in court. Trump’s tariff approach remains deeply unpopular in public polling.
But as the world approached Trump’s August 1 “reciprocal” tariff deadline, Trump and his economic advisers share an unmistakable sense of vindication.
