Despite the announced 90-day pause on tariffs, it only applies to "reciprocal" tariffs and all others are still in place. There is nothing to celebrate here.
Contrary to what investors desperate for positive news and MAGA faithful want to believe after the market rallied today, Donald Trump is not some genius playing 28-dimensional chess. He is a fraud and supervillain playing games with the lives and finances of hundreds of millions of Americans. His announced 90-day pause on tariffs only applies to the "reciprocal" tariffs that went into effect today, not to any other tariffs that were in place prior to these. There remains a 10% base global tariff and a now 125% blanket tariff on China, among other tariffs like on steel and autos.
These tariffs are still going to create inflation and are a massive tax increase on the American people far in excess of what "experts" on the economy expected from Trump. Too bad they are not experts in the dangerous psychology of Donald Trump, because many of them and many Americans are showing signs of Stockholm Syndrome. Instead of seeing Trump's capitulation on enforcing his own tariffs as an admission he was wrong, many people are heaping praise on him for his supposed negotiating prowess (thought no agreements have been made) and slightly undoing the massive damage he has already unleashed upon the American and global economies.
Please do not fall into the trap where you give Trump any credit after he creates a disaster, reverses course to make it less worse, and then he declares victory because the disaster is not as bas as everyone expected. This is an ongoing disaster (except for the billionaires), the Trump Recession is coming, and it is not going to be pretty. Trump is a dangerous narcissistic bully and Americans are his hostages. Stay strong and do not succumb to Stockholm Syndrome.