Donald Trump’s White House had grandly promised “90 deals in 90 days” after partially pausing the process of levying what the US president called “reciprocal” tariffs.
In reality, there won’t even be 9 deals done by the time we reach Trump’s first cut-off date on 9 July.
The revealing thing here, the poker “tell” if you like, is the extension of the deadline from Wednesday until 1 August, with a possibility of further extensions - or delays - to come.
Yes, but don’t count on it, countries are stupid and selfish.
Yeah but, a few or even a bunch of other countries “doing deals” won’t really change the calculus for us. It would really take most countries really grovelling to change the dynamic.
Let’s not forget, the status quo pre-Trump was the best everyone could achieve for everyone involved.
Everyone hates capitalism and that’s fine, there are many worthy criticisms but one benefit is it’s ability to find the most profitable balance (for those with the capital). Arbitrary rules (tariffs) are always going to be a net loss.
What I mean is, there’s not much incentive for anyone to make a deal because the situation will always be worse for them than it was pre-Trump.