“The vast majority of imports to the US are now covered by formal trade agreements or inter-governmental understandings. This has helped stabilize markets, but tariffs’ potential impact on sectors continues to pose narrow risks and the legal foundations of US trade policy itself will be tested. More than 85% of US imports are now governed by formal trade agreements or inter-governmental understandings. This broad coverage has helped stabilize markets following disruptive trade policy shocks earlier this year. Notably, the US has established a fragile equilibrium with its largest trading partners that are the sources of the majority of its imports—including the EU, China, Japan, UK, South Korea, and most of Southeast Asia. It has a partial understanding with Mexico and Canada, too. The residual uncertainty that persists involves issues that are far less significant than those that ignited the initial wave of US tariff-led volatility in April, including:”
Morten W. Langer
