US government debt sinks as pivotal $39bn Treasury auction looms
Investors contend with fallout as Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs come into effect
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I’ve seen many phoney trade wars come and go. This is the real thing | Larry Elliott
This battle between the US and China goes far beyond market turmoil – it has killed off the liberal dream of a borderless world
Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 104% tariff on Chinese imports into the US has spooked the financial markets. The response is entirely rational.
Over the past few decades, phoney trade wars have been commonplace. Rival nations have squared off against each other, indulged in a bit of sabre-rattling, but eventually agreed on a deal. Headlines that screamed “trade war looms” were quickly replaced by those that read “trade war averted”.
This time it’s different. The battle between the US and China prompted by Trump’s tariffs is no pretend trade war. It is the real deal – and it will have real consequences. Tariffs operate as a tax, adding to the costs of doing business and raising prices for consumers. Growth will slow and inflation rates will rise. The global economy was already growing only slowly. As things stand, it is now heading for recession.
Trump seems prepared for this, making it clear that he is ready for some short-term pain for what he thinks will be long-term gains: a revitalised US industrial base and higher exports. This also represents a shift in approach. In the past, US policymakers have tended to take fright at big falls on Wall Street and have eased policy to limit the damage.
Not this time, it appears. Or at least not yet. Trump promised to impose swingeing tariffs when he was running for president last year, but the expectation was that this was just campaign rhetoric. Instead, he has delivered on his pledges – and then some.
Despite the obvious parallels, this is not Trump’s Liz Truss moment, where he can be forced into a policy U-turn by a sell-off in US assets. Important though they are, the market turmoil and the heightened risk of recession are only part of the story. Trade will continue despite Trump’s tariffs and China’s tit-for-tat response to them. Talk of the end of globalisation is exaggerated. Rather, the dawn of a new protectionist era represents the end of a particular model of globalisation, an imagined liberal nirvana in which all barriers – to movement of goods, people and money – would be dismantled.
This hyper-liberalised dream world has been on its way out ever since the global financial crisis of 2008, and all that was needed was a final shove, which Trump has just administered. From now on, migration will be restricted, supply chains will be shorter, hands-on industrial strategies will be back in favour, trade barriers will be removed only slowly.
Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist
China and EU retaliate against tariffs as Trump says ‘great time to move companies to the US’ – business live
Stock markets down in UK and across Europe after steep declines in Asia, while turmoil spreads to bond market
- China announces 84% tariffs on all US goods in response to Trump’s 104%
- Bank of England warns Trump tariffs threaten global growth and raise risk of ‘severe shocks’
Today’s tariffs follow Trump’s 10% tariff on all imports from many countries, including Australia, which came into effect at the weekend.
US customs agents began collecting the unilateral tariff at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses on Saturday. Today’s measures are higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners.
What is behind the Treasury sell-off?
The double whammy of falling bond and equity prices could partly be hedge funds unwinding so-called ‘basis trades’