Editorial: The first of two homes for survivors of domestic abuse, built with contributions from readers of The Independent, is ready to welcome its residents. The government should now honour its election commitment to the thousands of women and children affected by violence behind closed doors
© Joel Goodman/The Independent
Editorial: Market forces have shown that the US president, for all his self-belief, is not invulnerable. The undoing of his foolhardy fiscal strategy is a wake-up call for the American establishment, which needs to recover its nerve and offer some checks and balances of its own
© Dave Brown
The US president blinked first, but this is just a time-out. The threat to the global economy remains real.
It was Donald Trump who blinked first. Never forget that. China is unlikely to overlook its importance. A week after launching an all-out global trade war, the US president paused significant parts of it for 90 days. Having insisted that he would stick with the random tariffs he imposed on most trading nations, Mr Trump suddenly decreed that he would reduce most of them to 10%. It was a major humiliation.
Yet 10% is still a significant tariff to bear for nations exporting to the US. This is also only a pause until July, not a withdrawal, so the uncertainty remains. And huge tariffs still remain on China (now hiked to 145%), Canada and Mexico (both 25%), as well as on all US imports of steel, aluminium and cars (also 25%). Mr Trump is now substituting a US-world conflict with a US-China one. The two largest economies in the world – which between them have generated around half of global economic growth in the 21st century – are, in effect, no longer doing business with each other.
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© Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Editorial: With the US and China busy raising tit-for-tat tariffs, the two largest economies in the world have effectively ceased trading with one another – but the president’s pause gives hope for a rethink
© Dave Brown
Beijing is braced for turbulence due to swingeing tariffs. But it sees a bigger, more promising story of US hegemonic decline
No one, least of all consumers and workers, will win the ferocious trade war that Donald Trump has unleashed. This is “a game of who can bear more pain”, in the words of one analyst. And because trade is at the heart of US ties with its biggest tariff target, China, the rest of the bilateral relationship is likely to deteriorate. That too is concerning.
Yet China, despite the economic struggles of recent years, may see a longer-term opportunity in the current crisis. Beijing’s response to the initial US tariff announcements was measured. Now it vows to “fight to the end” and has imposed an additional 50% tariff on US goods – taking the total to 84% – in retaliation for tariffs that Mr Trump now says will hit 125%.
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© Photograph: Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images
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