Moreover, Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal with Asian trading partners.
“The market might want to see tax cuts and infrastructure spending first, but this shouldn’t be a surprise. Renegotiation of trade agreements is what he campaigned on,” Mike Lorizio, senior fixed-income trader at Manulife Asset Management, told Reuters.
However, investors were concerned that these protectionist policies would hurt U.S. exports and push up prices on imported goods. The America First mantra could also lead to retaliation from other countries and add to further friction between trading partners.
Tom di Galoma, managing director of government trading and strategy at Seaport Global Holdings, argued that the risk is that the U.S. growth “will soften dramatically” on a slowdown in global trade driven by Mr. Trump’s policy, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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