Is the Trump Put Back? Markets React to Economic Shockwave

"Trump threatened to raise his China tariff to 104% that was if Beijing didn't rescend a 34% tariff that it had introduced in retaliation for Liberation Day"

"Trump then clarified that his tariff rate was actually 145%"

"China has called his government's actions a quote joke and said it no longer considers them worth matching"

"tariffs this high are likely to halt most of the $700 billion in trade that China and the US would otherwise be conducting this year."

"US customs and border protection announced that smartphones laptops semiconductor devices solar cells flash drives and other tech products from China would be exempted from tariffs introduced since liberation day"

"Boeing has been awarded a contract to develop a sixth generation fighter jet expected to enter service sometime in the 2030s"

"the White House just announced that it will look into putting tariffs on imports of Chinese rare earth metals"

"President Trump is waiting for a call from President Shei who is giving him the silent treatment"

"watch this video to find out why some people fear a war over Taiwan is coming in 2027"

"on the 7th of April Bessant told Fox Business quote "We are at a maximum tariff level." But he was soon contradicted by the White House when Trump threatened to raise his China tariff to 104% that was if Beijing didn't rescend a 34% tariff that it had introduced in retaliation for Liberation Day china responded the same day reiterating its position that while it doesn't want to fight tariffs and trade wars it's not scared of them it urged dialogue rather than further escalation but vowed to quote "Fight to the end if Washington chose the latter.""

"why would they do this well it's because the US has a large amount of debt that needs refinancing this year and with interest rates still elevated from the 2022 inflationary environment refinancing up here would be expensive if bond yields could be lowered however the debt could be refinanced at a lower cost and herein lies the hypothetical motive for engineering a recession"

"on Liberation Day yields did indeed take a tumble the yield on the allimportant 10-year Treasury dropped from a high of 4.22% 22% to a low of 3.86% on Friday the 2nd of April"

"as that night saw a dramatic sell-off of US dollar assets yields on 10-year treasuries jumped to a high of 4.5% and 30-year yields climbed to above 5% in just 2 days the 10-year yield had jumped by 50 basis points"

"the Trump put is alive and well this is the idea that Trump can be relied on to U-turn if stocks or bonds react poorly to his policies investors came to rely on the Trump put during his first term but it was feared missing this year after Trump stuck to his guns in Q1 against plunging markets secretary Bessant insisted in March quote there's no put and yet here it is in 2025 the Trump put is the bond market and based on recent events the strike is when yields on the 10-year Treasury rise 50 basis points in 48 hours"

"China holds somewhere between 700 and $900 billion in US treasuries and around 3 trillion USD in cash reserves of course dumping significant branches of these holdings quickly is a nuclear option that would have severe consequences for the US dollar but this is unlikely because it would devalue China's remaining reserves of US dollar assets and that's certainly not in China's interests however a slow dumping is more plausible and with China being the second largest holder of US bonds there is always the option of causing trouble for the US Treasury market"

"also on the 9th of April China responded to Trump's 104% tariff rate by raising its own tariff on US imports to 84% but confusingly this announcement seems to have been made at around the same time as Trump's tariff pause announcement which also included another China tariff hike to 125% by the look of it Trump's hike from 104% to 125% wasn't even retaliatory he just threw it in there because you know you need a little stick to make up for the carrots that everyone else is getting"

"trump then clarified that his tariff rate was actually 145% now because of the fentinel inspired 20% levy he introduced earlier this year this means that Trump has had the last laugh for now because China has called his government's actions a quote joke and said it no longer considers them worth matching"

"each side will be trying to secure alternative supply chains but there will be certain imports that are hard to replace and this appears to be the case with electronics from China after Trump settled on a 145% tariff US customs and border protection announced that smartphones laptops semiconductor devices solar cells flash drives and other tech products from China would be exempted from tariffs introduced since liberation day these abrupt exemptions cover almost a quarter of US imports from China and were made unilaterally without Beijing having made any concessions"

"historically speaking US fighter jet development is prone to delays at the best of times the current fifth generation F-35 was first conceived in the early90s first flew in 2006 and finally entered service with the US Air Force in 2016 and the Navy in 2019 this was despite the ready availability of rare earth metals from China during this period recent announcements indicate that Boeing has been awarded a contract to develop a sixth generation fighter jet expected to enter service sometime in the 2030s it's not clear though if this ambitious timeline has accounted for any material supply shocks but as China is already flying prototypes of its own sixth generation fighters it's no wonder Washington is prepared to take such drastic measures to develop new supply chains"

"and at the time of making this video the White House just announced that it will look into putting tariffs on imports of Chinese rare earth metals we understand this is a gesture towards Trump's desire to reduce US dependency on China but tariffing stuff that is already subject to a US export ban is an interesting strategy nonetheless"

"while you're waiting for all of this to blow over why not watch this video to find out why some people fear a war over Taiwan is coming in 2027"