In another in a series of erratic shifts in U.S. trade policy, tariffs on imports from China were raised for the second time this week, while tariffs on many other countries were "paused" for 90 days, according to the New York Times.  The 90-day pause includes new tariffs announced last week on imports from Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and the EU (see "Worst Case Tariffs"), and comes after large declines in stock prices and pushback from CEOs concerned the new policy will trigger a global recession.

The situation with China remains fraught, however.  After increasing import taxes on goods from China to 104% earlier this week from 54% last week (see "Worst Case Gets Worse"), new taxes on Chinese imports were raised again on Wednesday, to 125%, for a 145% total.