U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has indicated that President Trump might roll back tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods as early as tomorrow. This follows a day of intense negotiations with both nations, suggesting a potential compromise in U.S. trade policy.
The move could scale back some of the recently imposed 25% tariffs. Right away, the largest tech stock ETF rose nearly 1% in late trading, and index futures bounced back from their lows. These remarks came right after the U.S. stock market faced sharp declines for the second day, driven by fears that Trump’s tough trade policies could spark a full-blown trade war.
Specifics Not Revealed!
The Cabinet secretary didn’t reveal the specifics of Trump’s plans but hinted that the president would be open to meeting Canada and Mexico “in the middle.” He also suggested that Trump would not completely remove the tariffs.
“Both the Mexicans and the Canadians are on the phone with me all day today, trying to show that they’ll do better,” Lutnick said Tuesday afternoon. Lutnick hinted that any deal would need Canada and Mexico to address on issues Trump has criticised. He noted, “The President is fair and reasonable,” but added that Mexico and Canada must “do more” before any relief happens.
The comments came just hours before Trump was scheduled to give a primetime speech to Congress.
Trump Threatens For EU Tariffs
Trump has always defended tariffs as a negotiation tool, claiming that Canada and Mexico haven’t done enough to stop drugs and crime from entering the U.S. Now, with the economic impact being felt, the administration seems ready to adjust its approach, but not entirely.
Tariffs on China began in February, and China retaliated. Trump then raised tariffs on Chinese imports to 20%, and China will impose 15% tariffs on U.S. farm goods starting Monday. Trump also threatened new tariffs on the EU, possibly extending the trade war to Europe.
Impact On The Crypto Market
The tariff announcement yesterday had caused havoc in the crypto markets as well with Bitcoin dropping over 9% to $83K levels, while Ethereum plunged 15% and altcoin saw a steep decline as well.
Bitcoin is now trading at $87,723, up over 4% in the past 24 hours. Altcoin like Ethererum, XRP, SOL and Cardano have also experienced slight increase as they are up over 5%, 9%, 5%, and 22% respectively over the past day. The crypto market cap is close to $4 trillion today, with an increase of 4% in the past day.
Crypto-related stocks also have seen gains: MicroStrategy (MSTR) is up 9.55%, Coinbase (COIN) is up 3.22%, and Marathon Digital (MARA) has gained 1.34%. These increases reflect market reactions to recent policy changes affecting the cryptocurrency sector.
