Capital Economy, Business and Finance
It took all of two days for Donald Trump to postpone 25 per cent tariffs on the vast majority of imports from Mexico and some from Canada.
Trump said he wasn’t “even looking at the market”, but this should be taken with a grain of salt.
When tariffs on Mexico and Canada kicked in on Tuesday, the S&P 500 said goodbye to its ‘Trump bump’ and gave up its post-election gains.
Some of those losses were restored on Wednesday after Trump said he would exempt carmakers following pressure from the likes of Ford and General Motors.
Then on Thursday Trump said he would postpone tariffs until 2 April on any Mexican or Canadian imports falling under the USMCA trade pact between the three countries.
A study of history would show Trump that tariffs are self-defeating. Failing that, the markets.
