Trump announces economic deal with UK

— This is the first agreement, and it emphasizes the status of Great Britain as the “favorite wife” of the United States. That is, the British were the first to receive an agreement that reduces tariffs. In fact, they are returning to the 10% level compared to the promised 25-27.5%. This is a very advantageous topic for Trump, since it immediately has such a stabilizing effect on the stock exchange and on the mood of businessmen and creates a very important precedent in terms of relations with other countries. It sends very important signals to the American market, American consumers, but at the same time sends a clear signal to others that if you make some compromises, some agreements, then a reduction in tariffs is quite possible. And we will see how this will really affect the situation. It was specifically emphasized that tariffs on the first 100 thousand British cars exported to the United States will be reduced to 10%. And, given the structure of British automobile exports to the United States, this creates very favorable opportunities for the British to replace luxury brands from Germany and Japan on the American market. So it also sends a signal to others that you need to try to come to some kind of agreement quickly, so as not to lose your niches in American imports. Well, we'll see how it goes. In any case, it's an opportunity for Trump to loudly proclaim his successes. What the practical result will be in terms of trade volumes - the fairly near future will show.

— Should we then expect other trade agreements with other countries in the near future?

— Yes, I think that now, of course, there will be such a fever among the main suppliers of goods to the United States and attempts to obtain some priority rights, privileges in comparison with others. Trump will use this very actively. But, in principle, we must remember that there are two tasks, two planes of this tariff war. On the one hand, to obtain more favorable terms of trade with most countries, to force them to open their markets for American goods, to stimulate the return of the real sector of the economy to the United States, to simply get money through tariffs. This is one block. And a completely different block is relations with China. Even though Trump said today that he is ready for negotiations on a mutual reduction of these new tariffs with the Chinese, and they seem to be sending such signals, it is clear that this tariff war with China has completely different goals. They are long-term, they are aimed at cutting China off from many important markets, including the American one. And thus to begin to put pressure on the Chinese economy in order to weaken both the economic and political positions of China.