President Donald Trump’s tariffs on aluminum and steel put a number of nations on edge.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the assertion that the tariffs are a response to national security threats is “insulting and unacceptable.”

The European Union has opened a World Trade Organization case.

In the U.S., farmers fear the tariffs will hit them earliest and hardest.

But Wall Street seems calm.

As CNN reports:

Perhaps investors are shrugging it off as a negotiating ploy by an atypical president. Or maybe they’re just dizzy from the on-again, off-again trade war inside Trump’s divided economic team. After all, just two weeks ago, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declared the trade war was “on hold,” setting off a celebration on Wall Street.

But Wall Street may be minimizing — if not ignoring — the rising risks from Trump’s aggressive trade agenda. Analysts broadly agree that tariffs are bad for the economy, dent robust business confidence and can paralyze investment decisions. The Chamber of Commerce estimates that Trump’s trade policies threaten as many as 2.6 million American jobs.

Who’s afraid of a trade war, and who should be?

GUESTS

Adrian Morrow, U.S correspondent, Toronto Globe and Mail; @AdrianMorrow

For more, visit https://the1a.org.

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