Historic shift
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Historic shift

Hello from the FT newsroom. Yesterday was a historic day, as Donald Trump declared. But what he dubbed “liberation day” could well be the trigger for economic mayhem. The US president unveiled steep new tariffs on all imports into the US. This explainer sets out in brief what levies have been announced. It is undoubtedly a historic shift in US international economic policy, and one that is inextricably intertwined with geopolitics.

One of the most remarkable things seems to have been how the levels were calculated and we explained the method behind the madness here.

The key question now is whether Trump will hold his nerve, or if he will buckle under the potential economic, market, political and even legal pressure. The FT’s US national editor Edward Luce considered how the next few weeks and months might play out.

My choices this week

  1. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was sentenced this week to a five-year ban on standing for election, jeopardising her political career. In response, she’s gone on the offensive, breaking with a long-held strategy to “detoxify” her party’s movement.
  2. Trump is using executive orders to target some of America’s biggest law firms that he fears are hostile or advancing progressive causes. Our reporters in the US spoke to dozens of legal insiders to understand how the US president is threatening Big Law and exploiting an industry culture clash. (Free to read)
  3. Two years ago, UBS was handed what one politician called “the deal of the century”. But now things don't look so rosy. What has gone wrong at the Swiss bank?
  4. As countries around the world work out what the seismic shift in the White House means for them, our chief economics commentator Martin Wolf explains why China senses an opportunity in the US cultural revolution.
  5. Are governments addicted to debt? Investors are starting to ring alarm bells as the cost of borrowing rises; this new FT Film examines what some are calling the biggest issue in global finance today. (Free to watch)
  6. And some good (or not?) news for a bit of light relief . . . shoulder pads are back.

Thanks for reading,

Roula Khalaf, FT editor

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Everyone is talking about how the world is putting tariffs on US imports. But has anyone stopped and thought how US is the foremost economy in this world? US economy is not driven by the inbred obese dumb as a door knob incel scummy native population, ie the likes of Trump and Majorie Taylor Greene (aka Majorie Toilet Garbage). It is the white collar immigrants who hold that economy together and drive it forward. Has it occurred to anyone that US pouches the world's best talent - talent other countries invested in through the ages, until US pouches them. Does US repatriate the countries for stealing their talent? Maybe we need to address how US is draining the world of the great talent and leave the other countries behind in their advancement..... US has been committing the biggest daylight robbery for decades and they want to play the victim now? Scumbags.

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Alex Umbdenstock

Manufacturing/Industrial/Process Engineer/New Vehicle Development & Launch Japan-Tennessee/New Bus Launch Minnesota-Alabama/New Military Aerospace Repair & Facility Development

3d

I think the best thing Trump can do now is give all the tariff money back to ALL the taxpayers each couple months in stimulus checks. At least in the short run. Think Win-Win.

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Alba Caushi

Senior Fund Accountant, Private Equity

3d

I have been fortunate enough to have very good male and female leaders in my career, I had this habit of taking mental notes in the meetings and in the past few months I cannot help but recollect the advise of one of them “when you get into new project, entity etc, never a good idea to disrupt past relations, or at least measure, consider, calculate, calculate some more If you have to, then get into action plan”

Lencens KENGBANGBA

Broker & Trade Finance international

4d

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