Just some tariffs

We have all been battered with them. Tariffs. Right, left and centre. Was there one day in March where headlines didn’t feature tariffs or trade war?

Some related fragments of last month. Obviously, this list is far from complete, but you might get the idea (if you happened to miss them).

•  4 March: 25% tariff on general imports from Canada and Mexico. But Canada got a reduced 10% tariff on energy resources, including oil, natural gas, and electricity.

• 10 March: The S&P went from overbought to extreme oversold in just eight trading days recently.

  

  
  

• 11 March: CNN’s Fear & Greed index is approaching 2020 "Extreme Fear" levels.

  

  
  

• 12 March: A 25% tariff was imposed on global imports of steel and aluminium products. Notably, aluminium articles and their derivatives from Russia are subject to a higher tariff of 200%.
  

• 17 March: The OECD published its latest economic outlook on Monday, downgrading its global growth projections for 2025 and 2026 in light of various political and economic uncertainties.

  

  
  

• 18 March: The ratings agency cut its U.S. 2025 growth forecast to 1.7% from 2.1%, a level well below the growth rates of close to 3.0% in both 2023 and 2024. It also lowered its U.S. GDP forecast for 2026 to 1.5% from 1.7%.

  

  
  

• 19 March: The Bank of Japan held interest rates on Wednesday as the rising risk of a global trade war and potential downturn in the US weighed on Japan’s hope for a sustained economic revival.
  

• 20 March: Biggest risk? Trade war triggers recession.

  

  
  

• 21 March: “April 2nd is Liberation Day in America!!! For DECADES we have been ripped off and abused by every nation in the World, both friend and foe. Now it is really time for the Good Ol’ USA to get some of that MONEY, and RESPECT, BACK. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!”
  

• 22 March: France threatens trade retaliation if US goes ahead with tariffs. The U.S. is expected to impose sweeping new tariffs as early as April 2. Meanwhile, the US president says there will be “flexibility” on his reciprocal tariff plan.

• 25 March: US president: “I may give a lot of countries breaks on reciprocal tariffs.”

  

  
  

• 26 March: Tariffs on foreign cars: “new tariffs are in addition to existing tariffs and are expected to result in $100 billion in revenues”.

Sources: UKFT, Bespoke, CNN, OECD, Statista, James Glynn, Zerohedge, Yahoo!Finance, Blossom, Truth Social, FT, Not James Powell on X, CHATGPT