This may be the shortest-lasting revolution in history. Just one week after US President Donald Trump imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs on the world as part of a plan to replace a global trading system based on most-favoured-nation status and national treatment with individually negotiated bilateral arrangements, he has effectively called off the experiment. Yes, there are still 10 per cent tariffs imposed on almost everyone, along with higher tariffs on autos, steel, and aluminium, but these are likely ceilings, and the only direction for these barriers to move is down.

The one exception, of course, is China, which – we must now always emphasise, as of this writing – faces US tariffs of roughly 150 per cent, if one includes the standard tariffs on trading partners, the penal tariffs imposed during Trump’s first term and left in place by President Joe Biden, the 20 per cent on fentanyl-related goods, and the duties announced on April 9.

Foreign Policy