Markets rally after Trump pauses most tariffs for 90 days

Markets rally after Trump pauses most tariffs for 90 days.

France, UK push for Ukraine “peacekeepers” despite no US support.

After a week of market chaos and growing fears of a recession, President Trump announced today that he would pause his program of tariffs for most countries for 90 days. The only exception he specifically named was China, which will now have a tariff rate of 125%, effective immediately.

Trump said that he was pausing the tariffs because most countries reached out to negotiate rather than retaliating with new levies of their own. It’s unclear whether the pause applies to the European Union, which voted to impose fresh retaliatory tariffs but has not yet implemented them.

With undisguised bitterness, Trump also acknowledged that warnings from business leaders and economists factored into his decision to pause tariffs. “I thought people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy, you know. They were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,” Trump said, referring to predictions that Trump’s tariffs would tip the US and the world into a recession.

Separate tariffs on imported automobiles and aluminum will remain in place. The administration also plans to move ahead with tariffs for other items, including lumber and pharmaceuticals.

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France, UK push for Ukraine “peacekeepers” despite no US support

On Thursday, defense ministers from over a dozen countries will gather at NATO headquarters to discuss plans to move ahead with an international “peacekeeping” force in Ukraine. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are spearheading efforts to build a “coalition of the willing” to keep the peace in Ukraine in the event that a ceasefire is reached with Russia.

About 15 countries have expressed willingness to participate in the peacekeeping force. However, there are still doubts as to whether such an effort would be viable without security guarantees from the United States, what proponents of the peacekeeping plan are calling a “backstop”. Previously, Starmer has pressed President Trump for American air support to enforce any ceasefire.

So far, this is something Trump and others and his administration have been reluctant to commit to. Trump’s special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff recently dismissed Starmer’s plan as “a posture and a pose“.

Russia has also repeatedly rejected any suggestion that an international peacekeeping force should be part of the ceasefire plan. They argue that having international soldiers there, many of them from NATO countries, would only complicate the process by raising the possibility of NATO troops coming into direct conflict with Russia.

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