“Business is my art form. Others paint magnificently or write poems. I like to do business, preferably great business. This is how I enjoy it.” It is not the motivational phrase of a fuffaguru, but a tweet published in 2014 by Donald Trump. But mind you: it is not a random caught post in the past of the current American president, considering that in the past few hours it has been relaunched directly by the White house. The reference is obviously to duties and the climate of international tension triggered by the possible war of rates.
The message of Trump and the White House is clear, clear, crystalline: nobody wants the global disaster, it is a negotiation. In a nutshell, the stars and stripes administration wants to get something. And to obtain it, he entrusted himself to a muscle choice. By fading that tweet, the United States in fact discovered the cards: we don’t want to make war, but we want to achieve our goals. This is also the key to reading in relation to the stop of the duties of 90 days announced by Trump, with the White House ready to emphasize that the president “reward” the lack of “retaliation” to the duties: “Do not do retaliation and you will be rewarded”.
The temporary suspension of mutual duties towards the countries that have expressed their will to open commercial negotiations indisputably represents a change of courseeven if a basic rate of 10% for everyone remains in force. China, on the other hand, is penalized with new rates up to 125%, in response to the countermeasures adopted by Beijing, which had announced 84% duties on US products. The announcement had an immediate impact on the markets: after a period of strong oscillations, the New York Stock Exchange returned to climb. Speaking to the White House, the President defined his effective strategy “faster than expected”, while admitting that the initial impact had generated concern. Trump said he was open to “Usque intended with all countries”, including the European Union, and has hypothesized that Beijing also wants an agreement, but is braked by national pride and by the indecision of President XI.
According to the politician, several governments that had expressed their intention to negotiate still await one formal response from Washington. Even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, so far the only foreign leader received from Trump, has returned home without concrete results, despite having promised to reset the commercial deficit with the United States.
Trump, in his design to obtain results, has relaunched his offensive by announcing the imposition of “important duties” on pharmaceutical products, with the aim of reporting production at home and reducing prices. The measure, if implemented, could also damage countries such as Italy, with a strong pharmaceutical sector and a large share of exports to the USA. Trump’s intervention at the Republican dinner also had the aim of appealing internal tensions on the issue of rates and federal budget. Some party hawks are in fact threatening to block the bill in the Senate, judging the cuts to public spending insufficient.
Just before the announcement, Trump had tried to reassure Wall Street Writing on Truth: “Stay serene! Everything will go for the best. The United States will be bigger and better than ever! This is a great time to buy !!!”. In the meantime, his Treasury Secretary, Scott Beesent, has sent two clear messages. The first: Wall Street has had enormous earnings and can continue to grow, but for the next four years the goal will be the real economy, with attention to small businesses and Main Street investors. The second: to align with China on trade would mean damaging itself, since Beijing continues to produce excess and flooding global markets with low -cost goods. A warning to the European allies, who today voted to adopt countermeasures against American duties, and above all to Spain, whose premier Pedro Sánchez is directed to Beijing to face the crisis.
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