Unnamed official

But yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy. And so clearly this is the president conceding that he is at the mercy of the markets to a degree.

But yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy. And so clearly this is the president conceding that he is at the mercy of the markets to a degree.

$10 trillion in wealth wiped out.

$10 trillion in wealth wiped out.

I'm curious what it does to Trump's credibility going forward to have that pain threshold reached in such a short period of time, less than a week when it came to these tariffs. And so if you're the rest of the world looking at whether Trump and his administration can stand by these difficult positions like tariffs that he said were a long-term project to bring jobs back to the U.S.,

I'm curious what it does to Trump's credibility going forward to have that pain threshold reached in such a short period of time, less than a week when it came to these tariffs. And so if you're the rest of the world looking at whether Trump and his administration can stand by these difficult positions like tariffs that he said were a long-term project to bring jobs back to the U.S.,

Who's going to believe him the next time he wants to create leverage in one of these situations?

Who's going to believe him the next time he wants to create leverage in one of these situations?

Again, asking you to do something that perhaps is a little uncomfortable for you, which is to speculate on what happens next. But is there any sense that in 90 days the president would ever restore these tariffs, knowing the amount of trauma they inflicted on the U.S. and the global economy?

Again, asking you to do something that perhaps is a little uncomfortable for you, which is to speculate on what happens next. But is there any sense that in 90 days the president would ever restore these tariffs, knowing the amount of trauma they inflicted on the U.S. and the global economy?

Or is the sense that they have every incentive to do deals and not bring these tariffs back across the world?

Or is the sense that they have every incentive to do deals and not bring these tariffs back across the world?

Right, and we should just say the state of play at this moment is that tariffs that were varied based on countries, and in some cases extremely high, have gone down to a much, much smaller universal tariff of 10%. The rest have been paused, but not... when it comes to China, those originally very high tariffs remain.

Right, and we should just say the state of play at this moment is that tariffs that were varied based on countries, and in some cases extremely high, have gone down to a much, much smaller universal tariff of 10%. The rest have been paused, but not... when it comes to China, those originally very high tariffs remain.

And in fact, through tit for tat and back and forth, they've gone up past 100% from the U.S. as of Wednesday. And so therefore, we now have a trade war that has seemingly been narrowed down to China. And I wonder how you think about that and how far we think the president is willing to take that particular face off.

And in fact, through tit for tat and back and forth, they've gone up past 100% from the U.S. as of Wednesday. And so therefore, we now have a trade war that has seemingly been narrowed down to China. And I wonder how you think about that and how far we think the president is willing to take that particular face off.

Jonathan, thank you very much.

Jonathan, thank you very much.

After the break, Rachel Abrams talks to our colleague David Pearson about how China and its leader are likely to respond. We'll be right back.

After the break, Rachel Abrams talks to our colleague David Pearson about how China and its leader are likely to respond. We'll be right back.