Trump Softening?

U.S. President Donald Trump indicated earlier this week that he may soften his stand on imposing reciprocal tariffs against countries that, in his opinion, rip his country off by imposing huge tariff barriers against U.S. exports.

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Given the fact that the threatened duties are to kick in on April 2, less than a week from now, these indications are welcome. At a White House briefing, Trump said he may give a lot of countries breaks on tariffs but did not elaborate. It appears from U.S. media reports that Trump might narrow his approach to the broad spectrum of commodities that he had threatened to tax at U.S. borders. Media reports also suggested that Trump will focus his reciprocal tariffs on countries that have the biggest trade surplus with the U.S. and high tariff and non-tariff barriers. There were suggestions that these would be aimed at a group of 10 to 15 countries.