The United States and China have agreed to pause most of the tariffs between the two nations. They will attempt to renegotiate a comprehensive trade deal. Specifically, the 90-day moratorium will drop American tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%, while China has agreed to slash retaliatory duties from 125% to 10%. It was a positive development in the ongoing trade war, which has functionally been equivalent to an embargo, with few shipments moving...

The U.S. economy contracted in the first quarter. The Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product (GDP) decreased slightly, at an estimated annualized rate of 0.3% during the three-month period. This was the first negative reading in three years. Consumption, which accounts for two-thirds of the nation’s economic output, slowed considerably, as consumers started to show fatigue amid the burgeoning concerns about the Trump Administration’s tariff policy. The stockpiling of goods ahead of potential tariffs...

The U.S. economy is beginning to slow. A confluence of factors, including weakening consumer sentiment amid the ongoing global trade war; inflation still for the most part running above the Federal Reserve’s comfort level; and uncertainty about fiscal and monetary policies, exacerbated by President Trump bickering with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over the direction of interest rates, are hurting domestic output. These events have roiled the global equity and fixed-income markets, and pushed the...