America’s trading partners around the globe reacted with a mixture of relief and bewilderment to U.S. President Donald Trump’s eleventh-hour decision to pause some of his most aggressive tariffs.
As government officials worldwide try to divine what would convince Trump to grant them permanent waivers, his newly demonstrated willingness to abruptly reverse course — or in China’s case, to apply additional pressure by hiking tariffs to 145% — inserts another layer of uncertainty. That’s left a sense of trepidation at what might come next, and the risk that it spills out from the economic sphere into other arenas.
One Asian official said they were now in a guessing game to figure out what Trump wants. To many Europeans, the week’s U.S.-written drama underlines their determination to tough it out, show unity, and deploy the trade heft that comes with membership of the 450 million-strong European Union. It was the U.S. that blinked, not Europe, was one refrain.
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