To call the first two months of tariff policy under President Donald Trump turbulent would be an understatement. First, he announced 25% tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico and then delayed them for a month. Then, a month later, he reinstituted the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, only to exempt auto-related goods the next day and then all goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which he had negotiated the day after that.

All this time, the president has steadily bumped tariffs on Chinese goods by 10% each month.