| Photo: Getty Images (Chip Somodevilla) |
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Good morning, Quartz readers! |
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Cease and assist. The U.S. and China just announced they’ll pause and roll back most of their sky-high reciprocal tariffs for 90 days while negotiations continue. |
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Tariffic news. Trump claimed that China has agreed to “open itself up to American business” and that this trade deal’s framework represents a “total reset” for the two countries. |
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Buy bye, tariffs. The pause in the U.S.-China trade war is a “dream scenario” for tech stocks, according to one analyst. Amazon, Apple, Nvidia, and Tesla stocks all surged Monday morning. |
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An Apple a day. Trump said that he spoke to Apple CEO Tim Cook after the announcement of the tariff pause because Cook plans to build “lots of plants” in the U.S. |
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iPay more. Apple might be hiking some of the prices of its iPhones — although the company tied the potential rise in prices to new features, not tariffs. |
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Pillowed profits. Pharma stocks rose after it turned out that the full details of Trump’s executive order reveal that it just calls for voluntary price reductions. |
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A trade war that started with fireworks is quietly winding down. Trump — who once claimed tariffs were “good and easy to win” — has seemingly walked back his economic shock-and-awe campaign against China. No choreographed Rose Garden moment. No “Mission Accomplished” banner. Just a muted de-escalation framework announcement and a 90-day timer on what now looks more like a pivot than a power play. |
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After the president torched U.S.-China trade with eyebrow-raising tariffs (145% at their peak) and fanning the flames on Truth Social, Trump’s team — led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — emerged from Geneva with 30% tariffs on China, vaguely defined commitments, and a big ol’ market sigh of relief. Beijing? Calm, collected, and claiming victory on state-run socials. Wall Street? Euphoric at the chance to breathe again. And Trump? Already spinning this as an “opening up” for American business — conveniently ignoring the fact that he may have just climbed down from a ledge he built himself. |
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Still, Trump gets to say “deal,” even if the details are more smoke than substance. The market’s reacting positively for now, even as some analysts are already questioning the long-term impact of a 30% tariff, especially when they’re waiting for the 90-day clock to run out. The real question: Is this the first step toward stability? Or is it just a ceasefire dressed in camouflage? |
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Big Tech stocks just got a $700 billion sugar rush from the 90-day ceasefire in the U.S.-China trade war that was announced Monday. The Nasdaq leapt 3.5%, leading a market rally that investors spun as a peace dividend — even if the war’s effects still linger in supply chains. |
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The agreement prompted Wedbush to call the deal a “dream scenario” for Wall Street. But some analysts say the market’s optimism is doing cartwheels over a policy pothole. “It just seems like it’s a different story every day,” one former Morgan Stanley analyst said. As The Kobeissi Letter pointed out, tariffs were at 145% just last month, recession fears were trending, and now — poof! — sentiment has been flipped. |
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