President Donald Trump has announced a 90-day pause on new tariffs for most countries and a steep increase to tariffs on China.
The 125% tariff rate on China comes after China retaliated in an escalating trade war between the two largest economies in the world.
For most other countries, a 10% tariff remains in place, but higher tariffs were paused just hours after they went into effect, causing global stock markets to shoot back up after a historic plunge.
Democracy Now! speaks to two economists, Nancy Qian and Joseph Stiglitz, about the “chaos” of the week since Trump’s initial unveiling of his tariff plan on 2 April, which he termed “Liberation Day”.
There is “no economic theory behind what he is doing,” says Stiglitz. He calls Trump a “schoolyard bully” who is upending international markets based on a flawed understanding of the role of trade deficits and the feasibility of reintroducing manufacturing to the US economy.
“We’ve just never seen anything like this before,” says Qian, who adds that China appears to be digging in for the long, drawn-out trade war that Trump has now ignited.
Produced by: Democracy Now!
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