Time to get a Thesaurus
Removing tariffs just as quickly as President Trump thought to impose them is surely removing any elegance associated with Trump’s ‘favourite word in the dictionary’. On second thoughts, there likely never was any. In the two weeks that have passed since the President’s inauguration the tariff story goes something like this. On 20th Jan, the date of Trump’s inauguration, dozens of executive orders were signed. Tariffs are notably excluded allowing risk appetite and growth expectations to flourish.
Such an environment has proved to be positive for equities but negative to the US Dollar and bond prices. On Friday reports began to emerge that the White House was seeking to enact the foreshadowed tariffs on the weekend. On Saturday that happened – 25% a piece for Canada and Mexico and 10% for China. The time such tariffs was due to come into effect was just a few hours ago, at 5:01 GMT. As of that time this morning, only goods imported from China face new tariffs. This follows reports yesterday afternoon that the tariffs due to be imposed on Canada and Mexico would be delayed by one month.
There’s a lot to be read into these ‘concessions’, far too much in fact for this brief. In short, the market will be considering whether yesterday’s extension to the tariff impositions might evolve into a discontinuation of tariffs altogether. This is because the offers for which the tariffs were suspended – I.e posting (10,000) troops to respective borders and cracking down on the import of synthetic opioids into the United States – were already either in force or due to come into force. In other words, Trump appeared to be saying I’ll back down if you continue to do exactly what you’re already doing. Markets corrected following their gap lower with the Mexican Peso even recovering all ground lost to the Dollar over the weekend.
Discussion and Analysis by Charles Porter
Related Insights
Daily Brief – On course for Warsh?
Charles Porter
Thu 19 Mar 2026
On course for Warsh? The latest Federal Reserve decision concluded last night. Mirroring the prior decision, the FOMC voted to keep policy rates on hold within a band of 3.5-3.75%. Ordinarily, yesterday’s meeting could have been a lesser-event. After all, with the arrival of Chair Jay Powell’s successor on May 15th, this could have been […]
Daily Brief – Where’s the Beta
Charles Porter
Thu 12 Mar 2026
Where’s the Beta Amongst FX, there exist currencies known as ‘commodity currencies’. This isn’t a fixed basket of currencies, however, particular candidates spring to mind when the group are mentioned. The foremost amongst the G10 are the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Dollars. These currencies are so-called because they typically exhibit a positive correlation with […]
Daily Brief – The only way is $
Charles Porter
Tue 17 Mar 2026
The only way is $ The Dollar has served as the first-choice safe haven currency during this latest bout of geopolitical risk. Safe havens need to exhibit lower levels of volatility during times of elevated risk and, on balance, exhibit a negative price correlation with perceived risk. As geopolitical risk was on the rise over […]
