On April 9, 2025, US President Donald Trump released a heavyweight message through social media: Based on over 75 countries actively contacting US representative agencies to negotiate trade disputes, tariff barriers, and currency manipulation, he decided to implement a 90-day tariff suspension policy for these countries. This measure would reduce the overall tariff level to 10% and take immediate effect, with a special note that existing tariff arrangements with Mexico and Canada would not be included. Upon this announcement, global financial markets quickly responded, with US stocks surging that day, with the Nasdaq index, led by tech stocks, soaring over 9%, and tech giants like Apple and NVIDIA seeing stock prices rise by over 10%. Meanwhile, this policy shift by the Trump administration sparked widespread discussion among economists, investors, and policy analysts, with its underlying motives and future impacts becoming the focus.
Policy Shift: From Hard Pressure to Strategic Concession
Trump's announced tariff suspension policy stands in stark contrast to his previously hardline trade stance. In recent weeks, he had repeatedly emphasized using "reciprocal tariffs" to apply extreme pressure on trading partners to make concessions at the negotiating table. However, in just 13 hours, the policy direction dramatically changed from comprehensive tariff escalation to announcing a suspension and reduction to 10%, a dramatic turn that caught the outside world off guard. Treasury Secretary Besant subsequently explained that this was not surrendering to market pressure, but rather creating a time window for subsequent negotiations. Commerce Secretary Lutnick optimistically stated that "the world is ready to cooperate with Trump". However, market and analyst interpretations varied, with some seeing it as a pragmatic adjustment by the Trump administration facing market turbulence, while others questioned whether it was merely a short-term strategy with ongoing long-term uncertainty.
...Overall, Trump's tariff suspension policy temporarily eased market tension, but did not fundamentally eliminate uncertainty. As Summers said, "Credibility has been almost completely lost," and rebuilding trust requires time and action. After 90 days, whether the global economy will experience a brief calm or fall into deeper turbulence remains unknown. This financial wave triggered by tariffs may just be a prelude to greater changes.
