Washington – President Donald Trump delivered another discordant reversal in American commercial policy on Wednesday, 90 days Import taxes that had been imposed only 13 hours before in dozens of countries while increasing their commercial war with China. The movements activated a Powerful stock market rally In Wall Street, but left business, investors and business partners of the United States baffled what the president tries to achieve.
The U -turn occurred after the Browing Global Tariffs announced last week triggered a four -day route in the world financial markets, paralyzed companies and the fears of the economies of the United States and the world in the recession increased.
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, tried to characterize the sudden change in politics as part of a great negotiation strategy. But for those outside the Trump administration, it seemed like a cave of market pressure and the growing fear that the impetuous use of the president of import taxes, tariffs, would cause mass collateral economic damage.
“Other countries will welcome the 90-day execution stay, if it lasts, but the Cervical Ligozo de Zig-Zags constant creates more than the uncertainty than companies and governments hate,” said Daniel Russel, vice president of the Institute of Policy of the Asia Society. “The forceful force tactics of the administration have shaken the allies, who see sudden reversal as a control of damage after the market collapse, instead of an axis of respectful and balanced negotiations.”
Trump’s change on Wednesday limited a wild week in the United States commercial policy. On Wednesday, April 2, which Trump labeled “Liberation Day”, the President plans announced to impose rates In almost all countries of the land, alter the world commercial system. The first of its new rates, a “baseline” tax of 10% on imports from most countries, entered into force on Saturday.
At midnight on Wednesday, the commitment to slapping what he called “reciprocal” taxes that he accused of unfair commercial practices and adding to the commercial deficits of the United States was risen. Those are the rates that he suspended for 90 days, saying that the pause would give the countries time to negotiate with him and his commercial team.
There was an exception to relief: he raised the tariff on Chinese imports to an amazing 125%, punishing Beijing for Announcing retaliation rates In the United States. Meanwhile, the baseline rates of 10%, a substantial act of protectionism in their own right, remain in place.
Commercial war tactics in constant change of Trump, which include previous taxes on cars, steel and aluminumand Mexico and Canada, have already damaged, forcing the stunned companies to delay or cancel the plans while trying to discover what Trump was doing and how they should respond.
Some companies temporarily said goodbye to the workers after Trump’s generalized tariffs were announced, while there were signs that many companies retained when hiring in the midst of the generalized uncertainty that the tariffs created.
Stellantis automobile manufacturer Temporarily cut 900 jobs in factories in Michigan and Indiana after production stopped on two floors in Canada and Mexico following the 25% Trump tariffs in imported cars.
And the Cleveland Cliffs fired 1,200 workers in a factory in Michigan and a mineral mineral mine in Minnesota in response to a fall in the demand of automotive companies. Cleveland-Cliffs said it would resume production in the two facilities once cars production returned to the United States
The minutes of the meeting from March 18 to 19 of the Federal Reserve, published on Wednesday, showed that many of their policy formulators said their commercial contacts “reported to stop hiring decisions due to high uncertainty about politics.”
And Delta Air Lines said early Wednesday that the demand for national leisure trips and corporate trips has stagnated due to uncertainty about global trade. In a telephone conference with investors, the company said it was reducing capacity. He also refused to provide a financial prognosis of the whole year.
“At this time, it is difficult to know how this will develop, since this is something self -imposed,” said Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian. “I am hope that sanity prevails and we will advance in this period of time on the relatively fast global commercial front.”
Companies have sought greater clarity about Trump’s final rates policies for weeks. It is not clear that the 90 -day break has reduced its uncertainty.
Jeff Jaisli, CEO of the importer/exporter of New Jersey, Jagro, said that Trump’s social position in the truth on Wednesday had done things “even worse” and more confusing. He was trying to discover which tariffs applied to which countries.
“We are struggling to find correct information and procedures for the entries that we are processing now in real time,” he said by email. He could not find guidance on the websites of the White House or the Customs and Border Protection Agency, which collects rates. Previously, Jaisli called Trump’s rates “a grenade that was thrown into the room that will cause Chaos.” “
Trump’s tariffs have triggered a Tit -for-Tat commercial war with China, the second largest economy in the world. Even before Trump increased his taxes on China to 125%, the Chinese had established their own rates in the United States in 84%.
The general director of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, warned that growing tension could reduce the merchandise trade between the United States and China by 80% and “severely damage global economic perspectives.”
“Of particular concern is the potential fragmentation of global trade along the geopolitical lines,” he wrote in a statement on Wednesday night. “A division of the global economy into two blocks could lead to a long -term reduction in the world real GDP by almost 7%.”
Citing WTO projections, he warned that negative effects could review other economies, especially in development. He urged countries to guarantee an open global commercial system and resolve differences through cooperation.
Meanwhile, American companies fought to discover how to respond to large levies on the Chinese products they had trusted.
Jessica Bettencourt is CEO of Klem’s, a third generation store in Spencer, Massachusetts that sells everything, from grass and garden items to work clothes and gifts. She said that the escalation of China’s tariffs has made her stop ordering any new product of the fourth quarter that is vacations, gifts or toys. She is also reconsidering any autumn indicator and footwear orders that are not yet placed.
“The worst is uncertainty and we have a massive uncertainty,” said Jason Goldberg, director of Publicis Groupe’s trade strategy, a global marketing and communications company. “No one can make movements. Everyone is trying to save so much effective and differ any unnecessary expenditure. People are being fired. Orders are canceling. Expansion plans are being suspended.”
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Robert Bumsted and Anne D’Onnocezio in New York, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this story.
