Today was another wild day for the stock market after trillions of dollars were wiped off financial markets in the run-up to US President Donald Trump's "explosive" tariffs.
This morning, Ireland was among the many countries facing higher "reciprocal" tariffs.
However, this afternoon President Trump would temporarily lower new tariffs on many countries, even as he raised them further on imports from China, in a sudden reversal that sent US stocks sharply higher.
Here are five takeaways after a rollercoaster few hours.
1. Markets Soar
European stocks slumped and major Asian markets slid in the morning as Donald Trump's grand tariff plan came into force.
However, his tariff pause has clearly brought a sense of relief to investors worried about the global economic impact of US trade policies.
Canada and Mexico’s key stock market indexes welcomed the news that both are included in the flat rate of 10% tariffs from the United States.
After starting the day at 0.4%, Canada’s TSX jumped to 3.78%. While Mexico’s IPC moved to 2.90% from 0.22%.
The "Magnificent Seven" stocks could gain more than $1 trillion in market value which will ease pressure on tech giants.
"The stock market right now is beautiful," said Donald Trump from the White House after his tariff u-turn.
2. The Art of the Deal?
So, was this really the plan all along? Or did the Trump administration blink?
Many world leaders rushed to negotiate with Donald Trump after he revealed his radical tariff plan.
The Trump administration would argue that dozens of countries have now come to the table to negotiate free and fair trade for the United States.
This was the "strategy all along", according to the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who spoke to the media from the White House.
While President Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News that "all the nervous nellies" on Wall Street underestimated the power of the president to negotiate.
However, Donald Trump admitted to reporters at the White House that he put the pause on tariffs because people were "‘jumping out of line and getting a bit yippy".
The President had been coming under increasing pressure from many directions with a volatile market, US Treasury bond concerns, recession fears and Congressional Republican efforts to reclaim tariffs power.
All genuine and legitimate worries that clearly became too significant and serious to ignore.
3. United States v China
During the pause, there will be a universal tariff of 10%. However, there is no relief for one country.
China is the exception. That’s because China decided to fight back.
It imposed additional levies of 84% on all US goods - up from the 34% previously announced.
That followed US levies of 104% on its imports as China hit out at President Trump’s "bullying behaviour".
Now Donald Trump is going further. He said he was increasing tariffs on Chinese imported goods to 135%, "effective immediately".
However, making a deal with China isn’t off the table for Mr Trump.
It's as the World Trade Organization warned that the goods trade between the United States and China could fall as much as 80% which could amount to over a $400bn drop in trade between the countries.
A showdown between the world’s two biggest economies continues. Nobody will escape the crossfire of a trade war between them.
4. Uncertainty Remains
What happens next? What happens after 90 days?
Oh, the million (trillion?) dollar questions.
It is going to be a long three months of uncertainty for businesses, consumers and investors as Donald Trump’s ultimate tariff policy remains unclear.
To add to that uncertainty, President Trump said he may consider exempting some US companies from the tariffs over the 90-day pause period.
He said a deal can be made with everyone, and there will be "fair deals for everybody".
Tánaiste Simon Harris, who met Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Washington, welcomed the 90-day reprieve but he said that "whether it's enough remains to be seen".
While Goldman Sachs said that it was no longer forecasting a recession as a result of President Trump’s announcement, experts continue to sound the alarm that this debacle is certainly not over.
Chief economist at KPMG Diane Swonk told the New York Times: "This is nuts. Damage done. Market relief is a head-fake unless the administration makes a major course correction. Uncertainty is its own tax on the economy," she said.
We also shouldn’t forget that the Trump administration said that it will announce a "major" tariff soon on pharmaceutical imports to incentivise drug companies to move their operations to the US.
A pharma tariff would come as a major blow to the Irish Government as the pharmaceutical sector is a huge part of the Irish economy, providing thousands of well-paid jobs and contributing billions of euro in Corporation tax.
While we don’t know if this move is now on or off the table, the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association today warned that there are "very significant risks" to future capital and research and development investments as a result of the tariffs.
5. Where are the Democrats?
The Democrats have been struggling to find their voice of opposition to a Republican White House and Congress since last year’s election.
Their message of resistance hasn’t grabbed headlines in what could have been an opportunistic moment for them during self-inflicted economic instability.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who was initially scheduled to speak to the media about the impact of tariffs, responded to what happened.
"Let me be clear, Donald Trump is feeling the heat from Democrats and across America about how bad these tariffs are" he said.
With President Trump hitting pause amid market turmoil and mounting backlash, Democrats now have a rare opening to seize this moment, if they can finally rally around a united message.
