Trump steps back from cliff edge of global trade war

The US is now making nice – or at least nicer - with nations that had faced their retaliatory trade fire, writes Anthony Zurcher.

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But now that pause on higher tariff rates, with a few notable exceptions, is a reality. The reordering of the global economic order is on hold, and Trump's promise of a golden age of American manufacturing will have to wait.

The White House has said that going big on tariffs and then hitting the pause button, before entering negotiations with individual countries, was the plan all along.

"We've had more than 75 countries contact us, and I imagine, after today, there will be more," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters shortly after the announcement.

That framing from the White House is not surprising, of course. And it is difficult to ignore the investor panic, tumbling bond market and growing chorus of Republican criticism and public disapproval that preceded the announcement.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx255d13w13o

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