May 17, 2019

Trump's cooler trade war

Axios

Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Friday marked a cool down on the non-China trade war front, providing a glimmer of hope that the global economy can avoid the worst-case scenario of global trade wars.

Driving the news: The White House delayed its auto import tariffs for 6 months, which would have hit Japan and Europe especially hard. The U.S. is also preparing to lift its steel and aluminum tariffs that Trump imposed on Mexico and Canada. The three will focus on preventing cheap imports to North America, the U.S. and Canada said in a joint statement.

Why it matters: It's really hard to manage a worldwide trade war without blowing up the stock market or causing political chaos.

  • A source familiar with Trump’s thinking told Axios' Jonathan Swan he knows that neither Congress nor the markets will tolerate a multi-front trade war right now.
  • "United States officials believed it was not the right time to pursue the tariffs, given fractious trade negotiations with China, which have nearly collapsed, as well as a continuing effort to pass the revised North American trade agreement into law." [NYT]

The other side: China is making clear its intent to fight a prolonged trade war with the U.S.

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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 3 a.m. ET: 1,484,811 — Total deaths: 88,538 — Total recoveries: 329,876 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 3 a.m. ET: 432,132 — Total deaths: 14,817 — Total recoveries: 23,906 — Map.
  3. Federal government latest: Top Trump administration officials had been developing a plan to give cloth masks to huge numbers of Americans, but the idea lost traction amid heavy internal skepticism.
  4. States latest: New York has reported more cases than the most-affected countries in Europe. Chicago's Cook County jail is largest-known source of coronavirus in U.S.
  5. Business: One-third of U.S. jobs are at risk of disappearing, mostly affecting low-income workers.
  6. World: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to put politics aside "if you don’t want to have many more body bags.”
  7. Environment: COVID-19 is underscoring the connection between air pollution and dire outcomes from respiratory diseases.
  8. Tech: A new report recommends stimulus spending to help close the digital divide revealed by social distancing.
  9. What should I do? Pets, moving and personal health — Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — Q&A: Minimizing your coronavirus risk.
  10. Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it.

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