Volte-face Retreat reveals turmoil of presidency

Donald Trump's climbdown on Wednesday from the most draconian aspects of his tariff regime has uncovered a damning picture of chaos at the heart of his presidency without necessarily alleviating their most painful effects.

- Robert Tait

The president's "liberation day" unveiling of tariffs in the White House Rose Garden on 2 April was supposed to be a symbolic gateway to his promised "golden age of American greatness". Instead, it triggered a cascade of global market crashes that prompted warnings of a recession, or even a 1930s-style depression, while Trump brushed it all off as temporary "disruption".

Time will tell how much damage has been inflicted on the credibility of Trump's economic policy and his entire administration by the ditching of nearly 80 years of US economic and free trading architecture, only to be followed by a sharp, if partial, U-turn.

The president's sudden and unheralded retreat from a signature policy that he has advocated for more than four decades has placated Wall Street and international bond markets, which rallied at the news of his 90-day pause on tariffs that rose to above 50% on the goods from some countries deemed to have been "ripping off" the US.

But left untouched was a 10% across-the-board duty levied on all foreign imports - not to mention a further tariff hike on all goods from China - meaning that higher consumer prices are on the way for Americans no matter how relieved the masters of the universe on Wall Street and other international trading centres are feeling.