Last week, President Donald Trump imposed double-digit tariffs on imports from nearly every nation on the planet. The move spooked investors, and the markets plummeted in response. Then this week, Trump announced a 90-day pause on most of the tariffs, at which point the market immediately rallied.
As both Wall Street and Main Street struggle to follow what's going on at any given moment, it's a perfect time to ask whether a president should have this much power over the global marketplace.
On April 2, Trump announced that nearly all imports would soon be subject to tariffs between 10 percent and 49 percent. In response, the stock market saw the largest two-day decline in history, shedding $6.6 trillion in value. At the same time, the value of the American dollar also tumbled, while U.S. Treasury bond yields spiked, a sign of higher interest rates to come.
