Trump’s hardline trade agenda spooks markets and allies

President Donald Trump isn’t scheduled to appear in public on Tuesday until after markets close. But by midday, his words had already spooked investors. After threatening a new round of tariffs in a social media post, markets sank again.

President Donald Trump isn’t scheduled to appear in public on Tuesday until after markets close. But by midday, his words had already spooked investors. After threatening a new round of tariffs in a social media post, markets sank again. As he pursues a hardline trade agenda and announces plans for new tariffs on a near-daily basis, Trump is sending jitters through the economy and drawing blowback even from some of his allies, who see their political or financial fortunes in the balance. Some Republicans, along with business executives and economists, have warned that Trump’s harsh approach toward the United States’ largest trading partners could risk major damage to what had been an improving economy. “This market is just blatantly sick and tired of the back-and-forth on trade policy. It feels as though the administration continues to move the goal posts,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management, told CNN in a phone interview Tuesday. “With that much uncertainty, it’s impossible for investors to have any confidence.” When the president comes face-to-face with some of America’s top business leaders late Tuesday in Washington as he addresses the Business Roundtable, he will have another chance to explain his market-roiling trade policies. It’s an open question whether any CEOs will aggressively press the president on tariffs, as they have in private conversations. It’s not clear how carefully Trump’s combative approach to tariffs has been planned out. His Tuesday threat to ramp up duties on steel and aluminum on Canada, which were set to go into effect Wednesday, was not drawn up into formal paperwork ahead of time, officials said.