Donald Trump’s Liberation Day sure seems like a long time ago. In its place comes Capitulation Day, as the self-proclaimed “Tariff Man” caved in to China’s Xi Jinping faster than even the investment bulls had hoped.
Blinked. Flinched. Retreated. Quit. Swerved. Blanched. Forfeited. Wavered. All are words America’s most mercantilist leader in 125 years hates now that they’re being used to describe how China outmaneuvered his White House with the tariff truce announced Monday in Geneva.
Trump and his surrogates are pretzeling themselves trying to spin this as anything other than a disastrous climbdown. But there’s just no way to sugarcoat the popping of champagne corks in Beijing today as Trump’s 145% tariffs are collapsed to 30% for at least 90 days.