CNBC Daily Open: Markets appear to be unfazed by Trump U-turns

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Taken from CNBC’s Daily Open, our international markets newsletter — Subscribe today

The heaviest of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs — a full 145% on imports of Chinese goods — was, once again, delayed for another 90 days.

The move should be a huge relief not just to investors, but perhaps most of the population on Earth. The U.S. and China are the two largest economies in the world, according to World Bank data, and a trade war in which imports of each other’s goods double in price would probably stymie, if not cripple, the global economy.

But markets were mostly unmoved. Well, they did move — lower. The three big U.S. stock indexes retreated Monday as this outcome was more or less expected, since both sides had earlier telegraphed an extension of the tariff pause.