The tariff bomb that hasn't exploded yet

Summary: Markets have brushed off Trump’s tariff agenda, but can they afford to? As global trade tensions simmer, India faces both risks and opportunities. Will creeping tariff hikes stay a non-event or shake markets and exporters alike? This analysis unpacks the calm, the cracks and what it could mean for investors. How vulnerable are stock market exposures to global economic developments? Wall Street has pretty much shrugged off, at least for now, the threat of Trump tariffs hitting global growth and business. Stock markets around the world had plummeted after April 2, the day US President Donald Trump announced his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs on imports into America from a host of countries, including remote islands inhabited only by penguins and seagulls, and therefore unlikely to account for much commercial cross-border trade. The sweeping tariffs announced plunged stock prices around the world that day. In the US, the stock indices lost more than $3 trillion in value, which was the biggest single-day meltdown since the Covid-19 pandemic financial crash. Stock markets have recovered since April 9, the day Trump paused most of the April 2 tariffs for a period of 90 days to bring countries to the negotiating table. This offers limited relief. The basic 10 per cent tariffs on imports into the US from most countries remain. This is much higher than the less than 3 per cent average before April 2. Plus, the White House has announced tariffs as high as 50 per c

This article was originally published on August 01, 2025.