• D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG
  • D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
Semafor Logo
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG


Flagship newsletter icon
From Semafor Flagship
In your inbox, Every weekday
Sign up

Trump’s tariffs inject fresh uncertainty into global markets

Aug 3, 2025, 6:03pm EDT
PostEmailWhatsapp
An anti-tariff protest in Brasilia, Brazil
An anti-tariff protest in Brazil. Mateus Bonomi/Reuters

US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff hikes injected fresh uncertainty into international markets, underscoring Trump’s remaking of the global economic order.

In just months, Washington’s effective tariff rate has risen by more than 15 percentage points, as Trump wielded economic and geopolitical power to exert his protectionist will on other nations, which were “willing to quickly ditch the rules-based trading order that just a few years ago many professed was the bedrock of international economic prosperity,” an Atlantic Council expert wrote.

Expect further shuffling of supply chains with less trade overall, a Financial Times commentator argued.

The world’s economy has been resilient, but cracks are emerging, and the US’ recession risk is elevated, Goldman Sachs economists warned.

AD