Nothing is certain under this president – as seen in the inconsistent implementation of tariffs. And it has a longer-term economic cost

Minutes after Donald Trump unveiled a climbdown on tariffs, softening an extraordinary US attack on trade from much of the world, his press secretary scolded reporters at the White House.

“Many of you in the media clearly missed The Art of the Deal,” said Karoline Leavitt, referring to the 1987 bestseller which laid the foundations of the president’s reputation as a consummate dealmaker.

S&P 500 and Dow Jones rise sharply after extraordinarily volatile week as experts warn of continued turbulence

Donald Trump insisted his trade war with much of the world was “doing really well” despite mounting fears of recession and as Beijing hit back and again hiked tariffs on US exports to China.

As the US president said his aggressive tariffs strategy was “moving along quickly”, a closely watched economic survey revealed that US consumer expectations for price growth had soared to a four-decade high.