In a dramatic about-face, U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a 90-day pause on newly implemented tariffs for dozens of countries — a move that eased market turmoil but further escalated tensions with China.
The sudden shift came less than 24 hours after Trump’s sweeping tariffs took effect, sparking a days-long market selloff that wiped out trillions in global value. The S&P 500 surged 9.5% on the news, recovering ground after dipping below 5,000 for the first time in nearly a year.
While duties for most trading partners have been frozen, a 10% blanket tariff on all U.S. imports remains in effect. Canada and Mexico are still subject to 25% fentanyl-related levies unless their goods comply with USMCA rules of origin.
China, meanwhile, faces even steeper pressure. Trump announced the tariff on Chinese goods will rise to 125% — up from the 104% that came into force on April 2 — citing Beijing’s failure to back down and accusing it of currency manipulation.
“I thought people were jumping a little out of line,” Trump told reporters, hinting that the near-panic in markets influenced his decision. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the move as a planned strategy to pressure countries into talks.
“This was his strategy all along,” Bessent said. “And you might even say that he goaded China into a bad position.”
Still, businesses remain wary. Despite the market rally, Goldman Sachs lowered its recession forecast only slightly — from 65% to 45% — and warned of a 15% hike in overall tariff exposure.
Diplomatic efforts are underway, with U.S. negotiators now prioritising allies like South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Talks may also touch on foreign aid and military ties.
But China, the U.S.'s second-largest import source, is not high on the list. “They want to make a deal,” Trump said. “They just don’t know how to go about it.”
For now, uncertainty lingers. Trump’s repeated reversals — this time following the steepest four-day market drop since early COVID — have left global capitals guessing.
Said Daniel Russel of the Asia Society: “Other countries will welcome the 90-day stay of execution — if it lasts. But the whiplash from constant zigzags creates more of the uncertainty that businesses and governments hate.”
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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would pause attacks on Iran's energy plants for 10 days at Tehran's request and said talks with Iran were going "very well," although an Iranian official dismissed a U.S. proposal for ending nearly four weeks of fighting as "one-sided and unfair."
Iran is reviewing a U.S. proposal to end the war in the Gulf but has no intention of holding talks to wind down the widening Middle East conflict, the country's foreign minister said on Wednesday (25 March).
Both the United States and Iran are giving conflicting messages about trying to end the conflict in the Middle East as the rest of the world battle with the consequences of the war. Welcome to AnewZ's coverage of the tensions in the Middle East.
A flotilla carrying humanitarian aid arrived in Havana on Tuesday morning (24 March) amid a U.S. oil blockade that has dealt a major blow to the island's already ailing energy infrastructure.
Israel said it had killed Alireza Tangsiri, the Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Navy, on Thursday, as confict in the Middle East continued.
A drone has flown into Estonian airspace from Russia. It happened early on Wednesday morning and slammed into a chimney at a local power station, the Baltic country's Internal Security Service told public broadcaster ERR.
Iran has rejected a U.S. proposal to end the war, insisting any ceasefire will occur only on its own terms and timeline, according to a senior political-security official speaking to state-run Press TV on Wednesday.
Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Rally (RN), said on Wednesday that the U.S. had “clearly made a mistake” in launching strikes on Iran, arguing Washington misjudged the resilience of the Iranian regime.
NASA announced on Tuesday it has cancelled plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use components from the project to build a $20 billion base on the moon's surface, while also planning to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars.
U.S. paper currency will bear President Donald Trump's signature starting this summer, the first time a sitting president has signed American money, the Treasury Department said on Thursday. The change comes as the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary.
Mexico's navy said it had activated a search-and-rescue operation in the Caribbean to locate two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba after the vessels failed to arrive in Havana.
A powerful tropical cyclone in Western Australia has disrupted production at the country’s two biggest liquefied natural gas plants run by Chevron and Woodside, exacerbating a global supply crunch caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
France has rejected claims that South Africa was dropped from the guest list for this year’s G7 summit under pressure from United States, insisting the decision to invite Kenya was its own.
A U.S. federal judge raised concerns on Thursday about whether sanctions preventing Venezuela from funding the legal defense of Nicolás Maduro could violate his constitutional rights, though he did not dismiss the drug-trafficking charges against the former leader.
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