For five months, I've been hearing economists and mainstream news pundits explain how threatening to raise tariffs won't work, likening the practice to the Smoot Hawley Bill that ignited the Great Depression.
Of course, I've said that Voldemort is simply being the first President in decades to grow a pair and ask for fair reciprocal treatment. He's also the first to recognize that we have all the leverage and our foreign trade partners will quickly back off and negotiate something reasonable.
That was tough. It will probably take less than 72 hours.
How did I see this coming? Not being a complete jackass?
Stocks Edge Higher; Trump, Canada's Trudeau Talk Tariffs on Call
Canada and Mexico tariff compromise could come this afternoon, Commerce Secretary Lutnick said earlier Wednesday
March 5, 2025 at 1:37 PM EST
WSJ
President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke Wednesday on tariffs with no apparent breakthrough in the trade tensions between the two countries.
In a social-media post Wednesday afternoon, Trump said he had told Trudeau that Canada's efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. wasn't good enough.
Earlier, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said a decision was expected this afternoon on the newly instated 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and hinted at a possible compromise involving exemptions for some products.
"My thinking is it's going to be somewhere in the middle. So not 100% of all products and not none," he said on Bloomberg TV early Wednesday.
Trump hasn't, so far, indicated he plans to roll back either the taxes on Canadian and Mexican imports, or the extra 10% tax on Chinese goods. These all went into effect Tuesday, shaking up financial markets.
U.S. stocks gyrated Wednesday as investors monitored the rapid tariff developments. In afternoon trading, they tilted moderately higher, clawing back some of the losses from earlier this week.
Trump made a brief reference to the prospect of higher consumer prices because of his tariffs in a Congressional speech late Tuesday. “There will be little disturbance,” he said. “We’re okay with that.”
The president also said he would move forward with his plan on reciprocal tariffs, adjusting U.S. levies to match those of other countries.
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