The president has backtracked repeatedly on his tariff policies, creating a whiplash with downsides and few clear benefits so far.

The Trump administration has made moves to ease tariff tensions with China, but the situation remains uncertain in the longterm.

The curtain came down on the first phase of President Trump’s tariff and trade war earlier this week, when the U.S. announced a huge reduction in levies with China. Washington and Beijing agreed to take 115 percentage points off the tariffs they had imposed upon each other’s exports at the apex of the brief