TRUMP’S BIG MOVE: IT WASN’T BUNGLING. IT WASN’T 4D CHESS. IT WAS BEING FLEXIBLE ENOUGH TO GET WHAT HE WANTED. As a week of intense tariff mania ends and a new period of negotiations begins, President Donald Trump has 1) started a trade war with China, imposing a 125% tariff on all imports from that country; 2) imposed a 10% global baseline tariff on the world; 3) imposed tariffs on steel, aluminum, some autos, and auto parts; and 4) paused for 90 days a long list of higher “reciprocal” tariffs on many countries.

And here’s the kicker: After all that, the world, in the words of many analysts, is “breathing a sigh of relief.” Trump has imposed a tariff regime that would have horrified much of the political and financial establishment just a few months ago, and now, they are happy that he did not do more.