Investors were relieved at the apparent easing of pressure in President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging but often chaotic attempt to reorder the world economy by using tariffs to force manufacturers to relocate to the United States.
Wall Street stocks finished solidly higher on Monday as markets greeted more conciliatory signs from the Trump administration on exemptions for key electronics. Asian and European markets were also boosted.
Trump remains firm that the tariffs will bring critical manufacturing back, with White House spokesman Kush Desai telling AFP Monday that “the entire administration is committed to working on Trump Time” — apparently referring to moving quickly — on the matter.
Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China this year rise to 145 percent, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125 percent barrier on US imports.
Late Friday, US officials announced exemptions from the latest duties against China and others for a range of high-end tech goods such as smartphones, semiconductors and computers.
But Trump suggested Sunday that the exemption would be only temporary and that he still planned to put barriers up on imported semiconductors and much else.
In response, South Korea — a major exporter to the United States and home to the world’s largest memory chip maker Samsung — announced on Tuesday plans to invest an additional $4.9 billion in its semiconductor industry.
The South Korean finance ministry said “growing uncertainty” over US tariffs had left the country’s powerful industry clamoring for support.
On Monday, Trump once again pivoted to suggesting possible compromise, saying in remarks at the White House that he was “very flexible” and “looking at something to help some of the car companies” hit by his 25 percent tariff on all auto imports.
“I don’t want to hurt anybody,” he said.
China’s Xi, who kicked off a Southeast Asia tour with a visit to Vietnam, warned Monday that protectionism “will lead nowhere” and a trade war would “produce no winner.”
