100 Days Into The Trump Presidency, And Things Seem To Be Calming Down!

I guess in a perfect world the profound shift in our management of world trade would have been planned perfectly on Day One.

But it's not a perfect world, and observing initial effects and then adjusting the tariffs is a reasonable approach.

It scares the snot out of financial markets, and the degree of indecision forces companies to minimize spending and hold off on planning until the tariffs are set.

But...is there a better way to do it? Sure. Incremental tariffs over many months or years, but that introduces the same total uncertainty, just spread out over a much longer time frame.

Tariff Relief Coming for Automakers Producing in the US, Says White House

President Donald Trump will sign an executive order later today to cushion the impact of his automobile tariffs, the White House said.

Earlier this month, the president’s 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles to the United States went into effect. The tariffs are intended to bolster domestic car manufacturing.

Senior Commerce Department officials confirmed that car companies will continue to pay a 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles, but they will not be subjected to other tariffs, such as the 25 percent levy on steel and aluminum or 10 universal baseline duties.

Trump’s executive action is meant to prevent certain tariffs from stacking on top of each other.

One huge advantage of the Trump technique is that it is showing the markets that the bombastic speeches and red hot rhetoric is being tempered by a rational and flexible approach that adjusts to the appearance of unpredicted events and responses.

It's probably the best anyone can hope for, and the markets and manufacturers seem to be reacting positively.

posted by CBD at 04:00 PM

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