Good morning. The next phase of President Trump’s trade war is here, as scores of trading partners and imported products now face significantly higher tariffs. That will raise costs for many companies — except for those who have placated Trump with acceptable-enough promises to invest in the U.S. — and continue to scramble the outlook for global business. We dive into the latest below.
Tariff tantrum
Bruising tariffs went into effect a few hours ago on more than 90 countries as President Trump’s trade war enters a new phase. The president has signaled that there’s more to come.
Trading partners are scrambling to negotiate better terms, while many of their industries — Japan’s automakers, for one — reel from the protectionist attack. Here’s a country-by-country tariff tracker.
But investors appear to be shrugging off the potential hit to global commerce. Stocks in Asia and Europe were trading mostly higher, helped by decent earnings that suggest that some companies are holding up. That’s in part because many deeply involved in international trade, like the shipping giant Maersk and Chinese exporters, have found resilient demand outside the U.S.
S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures are gaining, too.
The latest:
Shares in Toyota fell after the Japanese auto giant forecast a $9.5 billion hit from tariffs, and lowered its full-year profit guidance.
Several overseas chipmakers appear to have dodged a blow from a new 100 percent levy that Trump threatened on semiconductor imports. That tax would be waived for those companies already “building” in America, Trump said; shares in TSMC and Samsung, which have large U.S. manufacturing hubs, are rallying on Thursday.
The Magnificent Seven group of tech giants hit a record on Wednesday, buoyed by a surge in Apple shares. (More on that in a second.) Nvidia’s stock gained as Jensen Huang, the chipmaker’s C.E.O., met with Trump.
Is Apple out of Trump’s doghouse? Tim Cook separately joined Trump at the White House, announcing a commitment to invest an additional $100 billion in the U.S. Cook had a 24-karat gold gift for the president and said that “every single new iPhone and every single new Apple Watch sold anywhere in the world will contain cover glass made in Kentucky.”
It will be worth watching if the commitment will be enough to dissuade Trump from imposing tariffs on Apple products. (Remember that the iPhone maker has a history of pledging huge sums — in February it vowed to invest $500 billion domestically, drawing Trump’s praise — but hasn’t always followed through.)