After Trump’s ‘tactical retreat’, analysts warn ‘crazy’ week is just the beginning

While US President Donald Trump’s Wednesday announcement of a 90-day pause on the punitive levies he had aimed at most other nations is “a tactical retreat”, analysts said “no one should relax” as this does not augur any shift in his overall objectives.

“When the dust settles, we’ll be in a much higher tariff world than we were when Trump walked into office,” he said.

“This is a scary moment. You’re also talking about the supply chain completely out of whack now in the coming weeks and months,” said Victor Gao, vice-president of the Beijing-based think tank Centre for China and Globalisation. “It will cause a lot of pain not only to China and the US, but to other countries.”

A report by ING noted the current tariffs on Chinese products could provide tax revenue of US$835 billion, calling the current situation “not only chaotic, [but] crazy.”

However, the financial services firm added that figure would drop to zero if “China simply stops exporting” the way several European companies had already announced.