TRANSCRIPT:
After 48 hours of uncertainty over Trump's tariffs, little is resolved, but one thing is clear: the global trade war is far from over.
The White House is announcing multiple new trade deals are on the way, this news breaking in a whirlwind of conflicting headlines as the Trump Administration fights the Federal Court over an attempt to block tariffs on international imports.
White House economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, has described the court order to Fox News as an attack.
"This trade negotiation season has been really, really effective for the American people. And it's unfortunate that people would attack it, as the journalists did or the way the judges just did. You know, these activist judges are trying to slow down something right in the middle of really important negotiations."
Overnight, the White House made a successful appeal against the Federal Court order blocking the President's international tariff order.
It's used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to press pause on the U-S Court of International Trade's decision to block tariffs.
That means the trade penalties are still in play - for now.
The block on tariffs could be reinstated, but White House Trade Advisor Pete Navarro says whatever roadblocks are thrown in their way - he and his colleagues will overcome them.
"So look, the tariff, the tariffs remain in place. The court told us, they didn't all but tell us, they told us go do it another way. So you can assume that even if we lose, we will do it another way. And I can assure the American people that the Trump tariff agenda is alive, well, healthy, and will be implemented to protect you, to save your jobs and your factories, and to stop shipping foreign wealth, our wealth into foreign hands."
Market analysts, including Ballast Rock Private Wealth's [[Portfolio Manager]] Jim Carroll, are reporting to investors with this assurance: if you're confused, so are we.
"It's just impossible to decipher all of these shenanigans. You really either need to be a long-term investor and just turn off the television, or you have to be a very active trader. Anything in between, you're really setting yourself up for problems. We have tried to communicate to clients that this is an environment in which discipline is going to be tested."
Mark Spindel is chief investment officer of Potomac River Capital.
"I think markets are just going to continue to be caught in this pinball machine of court decisions, executive orders and judicial reviews."
50 Park Investments' Adam Sarhan has urged investors to keep calm and carry on.
"It's a secondary thing even, though it's capturing the headlines right now. Investors are looking forward. Trump has already rolled back most of these tariffs anyway, so these court rulings are just headlines. Trump probably prepared an appeal before the ruling even came out."
U-S tariffs remain a bargaining chip as trade talks continue on the world stage.
Australia has continued its push for an exemption to the penalties, with Australian goods currently subject to a 10 per cent baseline tariff and all steel and aluminium imports to the U-S hit with 25 per cent tariffs.
Australia brings more American products on-shore than it exports to the U-S - a factor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously said should mean it is exempt.
But President Trump's so-called' best friend' Britain is in a similar position - and did not manage to shake off 10 per cent penalties on most of its imports to the U-S.
Bill Reinsch is a senior advisor to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, and says countries hoping for reprieve may be disappointed.
"You know, tariffs are on, they're off, they're up, they're down. They're large, they're small. They're exemptions. There are no exemptions. Every few days there's a new thing, so it's very hard to predict. Although we're beginning to see a pattern. And the pattern is big demands, big threats. And then a postponement, and then, sometimes, as with the UK, which is the only agreement so far that's actually finished, a fairly modest outcome."
