Trump 2.0 tariffs. Part III
trade-wars
A chaotic four days: tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico trigger swift retaliation, then a stock-market slide forces a partial climbdown within days.
Covers a chaotic four-day stretch, March 3–7, 2025. On March 3, Trump implemented 25% tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico, drawing immediate retaliation: China hit $21 billion of US agricultural exports, Canada announced $155 billion in countermeasures. After the resulting market turbulence wiped out post-election gains, Trump backed down by March 6, delaying tariffs until April 2 for USMCA-compliant goods and exempting roughly half of Mexican and 62% of Canadian imports. The piece calls the episode “a mess that destroys the credibility” of the policy, noting that odd additions like potash to the tariff list look driven by specific lobbying rather than strategy.
Originally published on Substack, March 7, 2025.