There's been a flurry of news in recent weeks on tariffs and it's been hard to keep track of, so I wanted to ask about where the tariffs stand currently and what is our collective best guess on what Trump will do with them next, while acknowledging that that's hard to do given that he seems to change his position on this topic rapidly, and how that will impact stock markets.
So my understanding is that there is currently a 10% tariff on all goods barring some exceptions like pharmaceuticals and chips. There are also reciprocal tariffs which he has currently paused for 90 days. The 125% Tariff on imports from China is still active (?).
So the idea is to negotiate deals with individual countries during this 90 day window?
What are those deals expected to be looked like? Is it safe to assume, given that Trump seems to find trade deficits unacceptable, that countries that previously had free trade deals such as South Korea will no longer have them?
As for the stock markets, is the expectation here that after the 90 day pause we will emerge with trade deals with most countries and they will feature tariffs rather than free trade and therefore stock markets will plunge again?