How to describe Donald Trump’s tariffs agenda, let alone explain the gameplan? When the US president held up his scorecard of percentage levies on 2 April, a date he dubbed “liberation day”, stock markets trembled and governments panicked. But then a promised date for penalties on imports to the US was postponed, not once but twice, while a deal or two was done, but not the 200 Trump had said would be signed ahead of the 9 July deadline. So last Wednesday letters began to go out with newly calculated levies now postponed to 1 August. As our economics editor, Heather Stewart, explains, enduring confusion is the only certainty when it comes to Trump’s tariffs. While a threatened 30% is not the worst deal on offer, the EU – which thought neogotiations with Washington were on track – was, as Jennifer Rankin reports, momentarily blindsided but Brussels, like European markets, soon rallied. While the world may need to hold on to its hair in the face of Trump’s tariff tornado for a while yet, it’s very much, as Malaysia’s prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, put it, “the weather of our time”.
As Trump continues to bluster, I hope some of my other selections from this week’s issue provide shelter from the storm.
