Are Markets Reacting to Trump’s Tariff Extension?

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00:00The U.N. is warning today that Trump's decision to delay major tariff hikes

00:04prolongs global trade uncertainty. So how significant is this extension and how are the

00:12markets reacting? Well, if you take the announcement we heard over the last 24 hours

00:20from the U.S. President Donald Trump that the deadline, in fact, will not be tomorrow,

00:25Wednesday, the 9th of July, for the reinstatement of the higher tariffs, the reciprocal tariffs

00:30that he had initially announced on so-called Liberation Day early April. So the extension

00:35of that deadline from tomorrow to the 1st of August, if you take that at face value, you

00:39could perhaps see why the United Nations is warning that this is indeed prolonging the uncertainty

00:43because we have a longer period in which we don't really know what deals will be struck

00:47and what impact they will have on the respective economies and the trading relationships. But

00:51if you take the announcement in the context of the other announcements we've heard from

00:57Donald Trump since he came into office, and if we look at the market reaction, you could

01:01read this in a positive way because actually the market reaction has been positive. So

01:05all throughout the session in Europe, markets were fairly steady. Markets opened higher in

01:09the U.S. They're slightly weaker now. But generally speaking, investors have welcomed the news because

01:14they have seen this as a net positive. Because at the end of the day, what it means, there is

01:19not going to be a cliff edge in the next 24 hours, i.e. the 9th of July tomorrow. And

01:24all the countries that are engaged in negotiation with the United States right now have a longer

01:28period to reach an agreement. So markets are viewing this positively. Perhaps in the wider

01:32context, yes, it does prolong the uncertainty. But if you think about the fact that we are

01:37just living in an uncertain period and Donald Trump's presidency is itself very uncertain in

01:43different ways. If that's the kind of wider context, then this is a positive development

01:48and markets are indeed welcoming it.