Trump Mocked for Accidentally Turning Tariff Plan Into a Meme
Donald Trump is once again the laughingstock of the internet after his shocking decision Wednesday to issue a 90-day pause on some of his sweeping tariffs—with the exception of China—after the White House insisted for days that the president had no intention to hit the brakes.
'Many of you in the media clearly missed The Art of the Deal,' said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, as she tried to spin Trump's sudden reversal as part of a long-unfolding plan to either boost domestic manufacturing or something else entirely—actually, it's become kind of unclear.
Online people were quick to make what have now become running jokes about Trump's so-called 'art,' and the Trump administration's mind-boggling insistence that his tariffs are at once a brilliant negotiation tactic and a legitimate policy meant to bolster the U.S. economy.
'Oh my god she did the meme,' wrote Tahra Jirari, the director of economic analysis at the Chamber of Progress, on X.
'The Art of the Deal is panicking and reversing course less than 24 hours after tariffs go into effect?' wrote Aaron Reichlin-Melchick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, in a post on X.
Pod Save America host Jon Favreau also took aim at Trump's deal-making prowess, writing, on X, 'Art of the Deal: 1) Impose massive tariffs on nearly every country that crash the markets and create the conditions for global economic collapse 2) Make zero deals with zero countries 3) Pause tariffs 4) VICTORY!!'
While Trump bragged about the scores of foreign leaders who'd come to kiss the ring, many foreign officials said that they'd received no reply to their requests to make a deal with the Trump administration, according to Politico.
With Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's hollow claims that Trump's decision was not a response to the last week's tumultuous stock market, many struggled to understand Trump's rationale in power-checking foreign countries.
Meanwhile, others suggested that Trump, having urged his followers on Truth Social that it was a 'great time to buy' earlier Wednesday, was attempting to create a window for his allies to buy low, knowing he was about to rescind his tariffs.
But Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz pointed out that there was likely no method to Trump's madness at all.
'OUR PLAN IS WORKING PERFECTLY AND IS JUST A NEGOTIATING TACTIC BUT IT IS ALSO GOING TO BE PERMANENT AND WE WILL BE THE WORLD LEADER IN TEXTILES AND NOW THERE IS A PAUSE AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO CHILL BUT ALSO WE WILL NEVER BACK DOWN AAAAAAHHHHHH,' Schatz wrote in a hilariously candid post on X.
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Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump tariffs live updates: EU weighs 10% tariff deal as Trump's July deadline looms
Brussels negotiators hope that by agreeing to a 10% US tariff on all European Union exports, they can avoid higher tariffs on cars, medicines, and electronics, according to a report in German newspaper Handelsblatt on Monday. Citing senior EU officials, the paper said the offer to the US would come with conditions and would not be permanent. President Trump and other heads of state are preparing to gather in Canada this week for the annual G-7 summit. Tensions in the Middle East, following Israel's strike on Iran, are expected to dominate discussions, along with another hot topic: trade. Trump told reporters last week that he would send letters to trading partners setting unilateral tariff rates. 'At a certain point, we're just going to send letters out. And I think you understand that, saying this is the deal, you can take it or leave it,' the president said. Soon after introducing steep new tariffs that roiled markets, Trump instituted a pause on his most punishing duties that expires July 9. His latest comment, however, only muddies the waters about what could happen next as the deadline approaches. Earlier last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Congress that it is "highly likely" that the tariff pause would be extended for countries that are negotiating with the administration "in good faith." The diverging signals came as the US made key progress with China, as the nations agreed to a framework and implementation plan to ease tariff and trade tensions. Trump and other US officials indicated the deal should resolve issues between the two countries on rare earth mineral exports. Trump said the US would impose a total of 55% tariffs on Chinese goods. Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reports, citing a White House official, that Trump arrived at that figure by adding together an array of preexisting duties and not any new tariffs. Meanwhile last week, a federal appeals court held a decision saying his tariffs can temporarily stay in effect. The US Court of International Trade had blocked their implementation last month, deeming the method used to enact them "unlawful." Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet Here are the latest updates as the policy reverberates around the world. According to reports in the German newspaper Handlesblatt, senior Brussels negotiators are considering whether to accept US tariffs of 10% on all EU exports into the US, in hopes it will prevent higher duties on cars, drugs, and electronics. Per Reuters, EU officials said the offer would come under certain conditions and would not be permanent. Handelsblatt reported that the EU is ready to cut tariffs on US-made vehicles and may ease technical and legal hurdles to make it easier for US manufacturers to sell their cars in Europe. Reuters reports: Read more here. CNN reports: Read more here. As President Trump's tariff deadline looms, what will happen when the countdown ends on Liberation Day 2.0? Yahoo Finance's Washington Correspondent Ben Werschkul looks into Trump's plan of action: Read more here. Despite a trade truce between the US and China last week in London, a key area remains unresolved. Export restrictions tied to national security are still being discussed, and Beijing has not committed to grant export clearance for some specialized rare earth magnets, according to two sources. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. China reported mixed economic performance for May on Monday, as retail sales jumped while factory output slowed due to higher US tariffs. AP reports: Read more here. Thailand's commerce minister has expressed confidence that he will be able to negotiate tariffs as low as 10% with the US. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. As part of tariff negotiations, the US has requested that Vietnam reduce the use of Chinese tech devices that are assembled in the country before exporting to America, according to several people familiar with the matter. Reuters reports: Read more here. South Korea has launched a task force to help handle tariff and non-tariff negotiations with the US. The group will manage discussions across industry and the energy sector, a statement from the Industry Ministry for South Korea revealed on Monday. Reuters reports: Read more here. Canada will host world leaders from across the globe at the G7 summit this week in Kananaskis. Among the many goals for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney: Demonstrate he can handle US President Donald Trump, the Financial Times reports, with one Canadian official characterizing the gathering as "preparing the red carpet for Godzilla." Read more here (premium) As leaders gather this week in Canada for the G7 summit, Israel's strike on Iran is sure to be a topic of discussion among the gathering. But as CNN reports, world trade and President Donald Trump's tariffs will also be top of mind: Read more here The Trump administration's 50% steel tariffs will soon apply to consumer appliances like refrigerators and dishwasher, CNN reports: Read more here A delegation of US lawmakers and other state officials will attend the Paris Airshow this week to shore up economic partnerships with the US's allies in aerospace and aviation, Reuters reports. The group, which includes about a dozen governors — Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders among them — is expected to make the case for greater investments in US aerospace companies amid concerns the Trump administration will raise tariffs on aircraft, jet engines, and parts. Aerospace companies and airlines face 10% tariffs on imported planes and parts as part of President Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs, and the Commerce Department is looking into additional Section 232 imported goods, which could lead to higher tariffs for the industry. Read more here. In case you missed it, bank executives gathered at a Morgan Stanley conference this past week, where they shared their views on the path forward for tariffs. And as Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith noted, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon sounded a little more optimistic about the effect tariffs may have on the US economy over the next several months. "Maybe in July, August, September, October, you'll start to see 'did it have an effect?'" Dimon said of tariffs. "My guess is it did, hopefully not dramatic. May just make the soft landing a little bit softer as opposed to the ship go down." Dimon also guessed that tariffs will cause inflation to rise and employment to "come down a little bit." Meanwhile, clients at Citigroup's (C) global investment bank are evaluating a baseline level of tariffs of between 10% and 20%, according to Viswas Raghavan, Citigroup's head of banking. Read more here. The summer travel season is underway, and many foreign visitors are steering clear of the US amid ongoing trade tensions. Yahoo Finance's Ines Ferré reports: Read more here. Canada's trade-focused industries are starting to slow down as a result of US President Trump's tariffs. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. The EU's goods trade surplus with the US expanded in April, despite US tariffs, according to data released on Friday. Reuters reports: Read more here. US chip curbs on China have forced Nvidia to exclude the Chinese market from its revenue and profit forecasts, Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jenson Huang told CNN on Thursday. CNN reports: Read more here. On a company earnings call Thursday, RH (RH) CEO Gary Friedman shared a frank account of how the furniture retailer navigated a "chaotic and unpredictable" quarter due to tariffs, market volatility, and a weak housing market. "Everywhere got rocked from the reciprocal tariff announcements," Friedman said. "When the market went down, our business went down. You had to pull forward, give back. It's like a noisy, noisy time right now to run your business." Friedman emphasized that President Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement, which took tariffs on China to 54% and then to over 100%, rattled the supply chain, as did the subsequent pause on most tariffs. "What happened when the reciprocal tariffs hit, we stopped shipments," the CEO said. "People stopped producing. ... I mean, it created disruption for several weeks in the supply chain, and when you try to ramp back up quickly in a chaotic time like that, things are just — things are late. Things get backed up." RH expects the tariff disruption will negatively impact Q2 revenues by 6 points but that revenue will recover in the second half of the year. The company continues to shift sourcing out of China and said it projects 52% of its upholstered furniture will be made in the US and 21% will be produced in Italy by the end of the year. Despite the noisy environment, RH reported an unexpected profit in Q1, sending shares 19% higher in premarket trading on Friday. Friedman added that RH's vendor partners absorbed a "meaningful portion" of the tariffs and that the trade wars may allow the company to take share from smaller competitors. "I mean there's a lot of people going bankrupt," he said. "A lot of the ankle-biter businesses, the little online things, ... they can't raise capital. ... A lot of them are blowing up. They're going away." "The businesses that I think don't make it through the rest of this year, they don't have the scale to deal with the tariffs," he continued. "They don't have the leverage. They don't have the strategic flexibility. So you want to position yourself for the other side. The other side's where all the upside is." According to reports in the German newspaper Handlesblatt, senior Brussels negotiators are considering whether to accept US tariffs of 10% on all EU exports into the US, in hopes it will prevent higher duties on cars, drugs, and electronics. Per Reuters, EU officials said the offer would come under certain conditions and would not be permanent. Handelsblatt reported that the EU is ready to cut tariffs on US-made vehicles and may ease technical and legal hurdles to make it easier for US manufacturers to sell their cars in Europe. Reuters reports: Read more here. CNN reports: Read more here. As President Trump's tariff deadline looms, what will happen when the countdown ends on Liberation Day 2.0? Yahoo Finance's Washington Correspondent Ben Werschkul looks into Trump's plan of action: Read more here. Despite a trade truce between the US and China last week in London, a key area remains unresolved. Export restrictions tied to national security are still being discussed, and Beijing has not committed to grant export clearance for some specialized rare earth magnets, according to two sources. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. China reported mixed economic performance for May on Monday, as retail sales jumped while factory output slowed due to higher US tariffs. AP reports: Read more here. Thailand's commerce minister has expressed confidence that he will be able to negotiate tariffs as low as 10% with the US. Reuters reports: Read more here. Reuters reports: Read more here. As part of tariff negotiations, the US has requested that Vietnam reduce the use of Chinese tech devices that are assembled in the country before exporting to America, according to several people familiar with the matter. Reuters reports: Read more here. South Korea has launched a task force to help handle tariff and non-tariff negotiations with the US. The group will manage discussions across industry and the energy sector, a statement from the Industry Ministry for South Korea revealed on Monday. Reuters reports: Read more here. Canada will host world leaders from across the globe at the G7 summit this week in Kananaskis. Among the many goals for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney: Demonstrate he can handle US President Donald Trump, the Financial Times reports, with one Canadian official characterizing the gathering as "preparing the red carpet for Godzilla." Read more here (premium) As leaders gather this week in Canada for the G7 summit, Israel's strike on Iran is sure to be a topic of discussion among the gathering. But as CNN reports, world trade and President Donald Trump's tariffs will also be top of mind: Read more here The Trump administration's 50% steel tariffs will soon apply to consumer appliances like refrigerators and dishwasher, CNN reports: Read more here A delegation of US lawmakers and other state officials will attend the Paris Airshow this week to shore up economic partnerships with the US's allies in aerospace and aviation, Reuters reports. The group, which includes about a dozen governors — Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders among them — is expected to make the case for greater investments in US aerospace companies amid concerns the Trump administration will raise tariffs on aircraft, jet engines, and parts. Aerospace companies and airlines face 10% tariffs on imported planes and parts as part of President Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs, and the Commerce Department is looking into additional Section 232 imported goods, which could lead to higher tariffs for the industry. Read more here. In case you missed it, bank executives gathered at a Morgan Stanley conference this past week, where they shared their views on the path forward for tariffs. And as Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith noted, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon sounded a little more optimistic about the effect tariffs may have on the US economy over the next several months. "Maybe in July, August, September, October, you'll start to see 'did it have an effect?'" Dimon said of tariffs. "My guess is it did, hopefully not dramatic. May just make the soft landing a little bit softer as opposed to the ship go down." Dimon also guessed that tariffs will cause inflation to rise and employment to "come down a little bit." Meanwhile, clients at Citigroup's (C) global investment bank are evaluating a baseline level of tariffs of between 10% and 20%, according to Viswas Raghavan, Citigroup's head of banking. Read more here. The summer travel season is underway, and many foreign visitors are steering clear of the US amid ongoing trade tensions. Yahoo Finance's Ines Ferré reports: Read more here. Canada's trade-focused industries are starting to slow down as a result of US President Trump's tariffs. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. The EU's goods trade surplus with the US expanded in April, despite US tariffs, according to data released on Friday. Reuters reports: Read more here. US chip curbs on China have forced Nvidia to exclude the Chinese market from its revenue and profit forecasts, Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jenson Huang told CNN on Thursday. CNN reports: Read more here. On a company earnings call Thursday, RH (RH) CEO Gary Friedman shared a frank account of how the furniture retailer navigated a "chaotic and unpredictable" quarter due to tariffs, market volatility, and a weak housing market. "Everywhere got rocked from the reciprocal tariff announcements," Friedman said. "When the market went down, our business went down. You had to pull forward, give back. It's like a noisy, noisy time right now to run your business." Friedman emphasized that President Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement, which took tariffs on China to 54% and then to over 100%, rattled the supply chain, as did the subsequent pause on most tariffs. "What happened when the reciprocal tariffs hit, we stopped shipments," the CEO said. "People stopped producing. ... I mean, it created disruption for several weeks in the supply chain, and when you try to ramp back up quickly in a chaotic time like that, things are just — things are late. Things get backed up." RH expects the tariff disruption will negatively impact Q2 revenues by 6 points but that revenue will recover in the second half of the year. The company continues to shift sourcing out of China and said it projects 52% of its upholstered furniture will be made in the US and 21% will be produced in Italy by the end of the year. Despite the noisy environment, RH reported an unexpected profit in Q1, sending shares 19% higher in premarket trading on Friday. Friedman added that RH's vendor partners absorbed a "meaningful portion" of the tariffs and that the trade wars may allow the company to take share from smaller competitors. "I mean there's a lot of people going bankrupt," he said. "A lot of the ankle-biter businesses, the little online things, ... they can't raise capital. ... A lot of them are blowing up. They're going away." "The businesses that I think don't make it through the rest of this year, they don't have the scale to deal with the tariffs," he continued. "They don't have the leverage. They don't have the strategic flexibility. So you want to position yourself for the other side. The other side's where all the upside is."
Chicago Tribune
31 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Daywatch: Two detained on Father's Day at Broadview immigration center
Good morning, Chicago. As climate change scorches many regions responsible for growing the country's produce, Illinois farms will become even more important for local — and national — food security. But though it's the fifth-largest agricultural state, Illinois largely relies on others for the fruits and vegetables that go into salads, sandwiches and smoothies. It begs the question: Why doesn't Illinois — with its nutrient-rich soil and relative abundance of water — grow more fresh produce? 'There's just not enough farmers to fill institutional grocery stores,' said Marty Travis. 'We are supply challenged.' Travis is one of the farmers trying to fix that. For the last two decades, he's been building a local food system from the ground up, serving as a middleman between specialty crop farmers and nearby markets. Read the fourth and final part of our series 'Cash Crops, Hidden Costs.' And in case you missed them, catch up on Parts 1 through 3. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: what happened at 'No Kings' protests from Chicago to Naperville to Orland Park, how the ex-Speaker's trial testimony was 'a tale of two Mike Madigans' and what to know about the James Beard Awards tonight. Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History Natalia Cardenas, 28, cried on Father's Day. The Cardenas family arrived in Chicago from Colombia three years ago and believed Jose Manuel, 49, was reporting for a routine appointment as part of the asylum process. 'We don't know where he is … whether he's OK,' Cardenas said in tears, in front of an immigration processing center in Broadview after watching her dad go inside. Manuel was detained with a woman, also from Colombia, according to an immigration attorney who was with them during their appointment. 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The sounds of one of Chicago's largest protests in recent memory reverberated throughout downtown streets Saturday afternoon, as tens of thousands gathered in a united admonishment of President Donald Trump and then marched through the center of the city, pausing in front of the tower bearing his name to direct their ire. The man suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and wounding another crawled to officers in surrender yesterday after they located him in the woods near his home, bringing an end to a massive, nearly two-day search that put the entire state on edge. Vance Boelter was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and two of attempted murder. He is accused of posing as a police officer and fatally shooting former Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their home early Saturday in the northern Minneapolis suburbs. Months before a federal judge sentenced former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to prison on Friday, the once-mighty state Democratic Party chairman took the witness stand in his corruption trial in an attempt to save himself. The only politician in America to serve 36 years as a House speaker guided jurors through his version of a complex personal and political life where few have gone before. For Salsabeel ElHelou, it's difficult to come up with the words to fully describe the 'primitive' living conditions in Gaza for her and her three children. There's no fuel for cooking, she said, and the drinking water is dirty. She spends much of her time desperately searching for flour to make bread because food is so scarce. ElHelou, an American citizen, said she's unsuccessfully pleaded with the U.S. government since the war broke out about a year and a half ago to help her entire family return to downstate Carbondale, the town where she grew up. A confluence of big events Saturday in Chicago fueled conversations all over town about our favorite topics: sports, politics, religion and weather. It's always a great day to be in Chicago in the summer, but some days are better than others, writes Paul Sullivan. This was one of those days. Ten of thousands of Chicagoans gathered together in various locations to do what we arguably do best — party, protest and pray. On June 20, 1975, Weldon Whisler's phone rang at 1 in the morning. Instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, he answered it. That is the mark of a journeyman reporter. 'Have you got a paper and pencil handy?' the caller asked. 'I'm going home now and to bed, and I will not answer the telephone; no one else will get the information I am giving you for several hours.' Wolf & Company — from the owners of Little Bad Wolf, Gretel and The Good Wolf — will open a 10,000-square-foot, two-story space with the first and only patio directly accessible to The 606 elevated trail in Chicago. The James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards are at 6 p.m. tonight at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the awards and the 10th anniversary of the ceremony taking place in Chicago. This year's ceremony will be hosted by chefs Nyesha Arrington and Andrew Zimmern. On a recent Saturday, Sketchbook Brewing Co.'s Evanston taproom was filled to standing-room capacity by an enthusiastic crowd that clapped and danced along to performances of music by Christina Aguilera, Avril Lavigne, Lady Gaga and more. The artists who garnered such a warm response are collectively known as True Colors, a local drag troupe featuring individuals with a range of developmental, intellectual and physical disabilities.
Forbes
33 minutes ago
- Forbes
Why Capital Flows To The U.S. Could Slow
A stack of 250$ and 1000$ dollar bills, US, 1987. (Photo by) U.S. financial markets are calm now, with stocks rallying in the past two months and bond yields stabilizing following a 90-day reprieve in tariffs that expires on July 8. However, the U.S. dollar is more precarious, as it sank to its lowest level in three years on Thursday, according to the Financial Times. The dollar's weakening occurred after President Donald Trump told reporters he would send letters to trading partners outlining new tariff rates in the next few weeks. This occurred as investors were digesting a trade truce between the U.S. and China announced on Wednesday and rising tensions between Israel and Iran. The dollar has now depreciated by nearly 10 percent on a trade-weighted basis against key currencies this year. Moreover, it remains under pressure against the euro, even though the European Central Bank has lowered official interest rates by two percentage points over the past year while the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates unchanged. This development indicates that global investors are now requiring a greater interest-rate premium to hold dollars than before. Looking ahead, the ECB is nearing the end of its easing cycle while the Fed could lower rates if the U.S. economy succumbs to the higher tariffs and supply chain disruptions that are now in effect. If so, it could weaken the dollar further, although the impact on financial markets would likely be benign. Two other possibilities, however, could be more troubling for U.S. financial markets. One risk is that global investors are now questioning whether America is a reliable partner on trade and security issues, and they are assessing whether the U.S. is as attractive an investment haven as in the past. The change in perception is occurring when the net international investment position of the U.S. is at an all-time low (see chart below). This metric captures the difference between U.S. residents' foreign financial assets and liabilities (including stocks, bonds and tangible assets). For example, The Economist reports that at the end of 2024, foreigners owned $62 trillion worth of American assets (including derivatives) compared with $36 trillion owned abroad by Americans. This represents a net deficit position for the U.S. of $26 trillion, equivalent to 90 percent of GDP. U.S. Net International Investment Position (trillions of dollars) US International Investment Position ($ Trillions) This does not necessarily mean the U.S. will encounter difficulty attracting international capital to finance its trade and budget imbalances. As the FRED Blog of Oct. 7 explains, the deficit in the U.S. net international investment position widened steadily since the 2008 Financial Crisis, yet the dollar was strong throughout most of the period. The primary reason is that U.S. equity valuations increased substantially than for international equities. Consequently, the dollar strengthened as foreign investors were attracted by the favorable performance of U.S. stocks. Recent developments, however, suggest global markets may be at a turning point: Foreign equities have outperformed U.S. stocks while the dollar has weakened so far this year. This became a concern in early April, when U.S. stocks and bonds plummeted along with the dollar after Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on America's trading partners. As I noted in a previous commentary, it forced President Trump to grant a 90- day waiver in implementing the tariffs and it incented him to strike a trade deal with China. While these actions were well received by investors, a new issue has surfaced recently. Namely, a provision in the budget bill House Republicans passed last month could lower returns foreign investors earn on their U.S. assets. Section 899 of the House bill would authorize the U.S. Treasury to impose penalties on 'applicable persons' from 'discriminatory countries' by increasing U.S. federal income tax and withholding rates incrementally from 5% up to 20% on their U.S. investments. The tax would apply to dividends paid to foreign shareholders, profits from foreign firms based in the U.S., and proceeds earned by foreigners on property sales in the U.S. The provision targets countries with 'unfair foreign taxes' such as digital services taxes imposed by some EU members and the U.K. that mainly impact U.S. tech giants. It could also apply to countries that tax U.S. multinationals that have operations in tax havens. This represents an attempt by the Trump administration to undo the OECD Global Tax Deal that established a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% for large multinational corporations. Because the Section 899 provision penalizes investment and business income earned by foreigners, critics view it as a 'revenge tax' that President Trump could use to bully countries in trade negotiations. In his congressional testimony last week, Scott Bessent supported the proposal on grounds that it was necessary to defend U.S. fiscal sovereignty. He said, 'This bill will allow us to prevent our corporate revenues from being drained into foreign treasuries, and that is in the hundreds of billions of dollars.' According to the scoring for the tax bill, the provision could raise $116 billion in federal revenues over 10 years. U.S. Treasuries probably will be exempted from Section 899. However, foreign buyers, who collectively hold $9 trillion of Treasury bonds, could be wary of the rules being changed in the future. If so, the cost of financing the massive federal budget deficit could be higher. Financial markets have not reacted to the provision thus far partly because it is obscure, and the Senate could modify it. However, other proposals reportedly are under consideration that include taxing sovereign wealth funds and possibly invoking Section 891 of the tax code. The latter would grant the President authority to double tax rates on citizens and corporations of foreign countries that are deemed to be subject to discriminatory or extraterritorial practices. Amid this, investors are left wondering whether, after launching a global trade war, the U.S. government is opening a new front on taxes that could impact the flow of international capital. While it is too soon to tell, it has added to the uncertainty about U.S. international policies.
