Today’s imbecilic, pointless US tariffs outlook, with Tomasz Schafernaker

GOOD morning. Well, those tariffs that were forecast against Mexico and Canada have receded again and it should be a tariff-free day for them. But don’t relax.

Because while the threat of those tariffs may have retreated for now, we have an area of extremely low pressure over Washington DC where bluster and ignorance have created a very changeable tempest that could lash out in any direction.

Over Europe, we’re not expecting any tariffs immediately because the wind’s direction is very much about preparing for war. However that could cause a reciprocal effect across the Atlantic where the warmth for despots is at record highs.

In the East, we’ve got those reciprocal tariffs with China and they’re expected to stay constant, because they know all they have to do is wait and their rival will fall apart. So calm conditions there.

Back to the US, where there’s a gathering storm around Elon Musk who claims to be entirely unconnected to the firing of thousands of government workers. That’s pushed ahead of a bank of lawsuits on the horizon here, here and here.

Now earlier on today a woman rang the BBC and asked if that was what destroyed the SpaceX Starship. No, no need to worry, that was mechanical failure and hubris.

And what about Britain? Well, we’re hoping the cover provided by cringing and assiduously avoiding the issue will protect us from tariffs, but you might as well shout at the clouds. Thank you, and have a great day.