Why aren’t the stock markets spooked by Trump’s new tariffs?
As President Trump unveiled his latest round of tariffs last night, investors barely paid any attention. The stock markets barely moved. The currency markets remained sleepy. And most of the traders in the global financial markets went back to planning their summer holidays. Compared to ‘Liberation Day’ back in April, it was a damp squib. Have investors learned to shrug off Trump’s obsession with levies on imports? They certainly matter far less than he thinks they do. It was a typically eccentric performance. Yesterday afternoon, the White House fired off a series of letters imposing new tariffs on some of America’s main trading partners. Japan faces 25 per cent tariffs,