With Trump's zigzag actions on trade, escalation appears to be toast of the day

A GOBSMACKED PLANET is wondering what's next from President Donald Trump on the tariff spree he's set in zigzag motion.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

In recent weeks, Trump has announced punishing tariffs against allies and adversaries alike, selectively paused and imposed them, doubled and then halved some, and warned late in the week that he'll tax European wine and spirits a stratospheric 200% if the European Union doesn't drop a 50% tariff on US whiskey.

His ultimate stated goal is clear: to revive American manufacturing and win compromises along the way. But people and nations whose fortunes rise and fall on trade are trying to divine a method to his machinations.

So far, he's spurred fears about slower growth and higher inflation that are dragging down the stock market and consumer confidence.

"His tariff policy is erratic, more erratic than April weather," Robert Halver, head of capital markets analysis at Germany's Baader Bank, said from the floor of the Frankfurt stock market. "So, there is no planning certainty at all." In Canada, generations of political leaders took it as a point of pride that their country and the US share the "world's longest undefended border", as they liked to say. No more.