Barney Macintyre

Edinburgh, London

Climate Reporter at Tortoise

Business/climate reporter @tortoise. Writing the Boardroom Sensemaker. Email me: [email protected]

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Articles

Farmers struggling under weight of Trump’s tariffs may get a bailout

1 week ago | tortoisemedia.com | Barney Macintyre

The Trump administration is considering giving more support to farmers because of fears the trade war it started with China could cripple food producers, many of them in Republican states. During his first trade scrap with Beijing in 2018, Trump gave $28 billion in bailouts to stabilise US agriculture, but some regions still haven’t recovered. Beef exports from Utah are down 15 per cent since 2018 due to reduced Chinese demand and shifts to Brazilian suppliers.
Trump’s tariffs turn boosts billionaires

2 weeks ago | tortoisemedia.com | Barney Macintyre

But the White House says it’s simply reassuring markets At 9.37am on Wednesday, shortly after the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, Donald Trump posted a message on Truth Social: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” he wrote, followed by his initials (DJT) and the ticker ID for his listed company, Trump Media & Technology Group. At 1.18pm he announced a 90-day pause on tariffs and sent the stock market soaring. Trump Media had its strongest day this year. So what?
Trump’s tariff climbdown meant he dodged his Truss moment

2 weeks ago | tortoisemedia.com | Barney Macintyre

But plenty of damage has already been done Donald Trump has announced a 90-day pause in additional tariffs for all countries except China. He said he made the decision because more than 75 countries called to “kiss his ass”. So what? Ego isn’t the only reason he backed down. A rout in US government bonds – the safety net for the global economy – forced his hand. So did opposition from his billionaire allies feeling pain on the stock market.
Trump’s tariffs on China could trigger protectionism everywhere

2 weeks ago | tortoisemedia.com | Barney Macintyre

Beijing vowed to “fight to the end” after Donald Trump responded to tit-for-tat tariffs – some of which take effect today – by threatening to nearly double taxes on Chinese imports. This escalation brings the effective tariff rate on China to 104 per cent and marks a new low in a relationship worth more than $500 billion to the world economy. Qui bono? On the face of it China stands to take a hit on the nearly $300 billion more in goods it exports, rather than imports, from the US.
Some companies have thrived in Trump’s market mayhem

2 weeks ago | tortoisemedia.com | Barney Macintyre

Stock traders’ screens have shown a sea of red for much of the past week. But a heatmap of the S&P 500 reveals some rare exceptions. he stock price of Lamb Weston, a distributor of value frozen potato products, is proving resilient to Trump’s tariffs. So is Dollar General. Citi analysts say the discount retailer may benefit from consumer penny pinching and that dollar stores breaking the $1 price point is a change that has become increasingly “accepted” by consumers.
Starmer scrambles after Trump knocks over the chessboard

2 weeks ago | tortoisemedia.com | Barney Macintyre

Keir Starmer will bring forward elements of the UK’s industrial strategy and ease regulation on electric car manufacturers in an attempt to support business in the wake of Trump’s trade war. In an op-ed on Sunday, the prime minister argued that the “world as we knew it has gone”, “globalisation has failed” and that Britain shouldn’t shy away from state intervention. He seems to be grasping the magnitude of the moment.
The philosophy behind Trump’s tariff mayhem

3 weeks ago | tortoisemedia.com | Barney Macintyre

In his “liberation day” speech, Donald Trump said the Great Depression of 1929 would not have happened if the US had stuck with a policy of high tariffs brought in at the turn of the century. So what? History sometimes rhymes, but in this case it’s horribly dissonant. When the US raised a wall of tariffs in the late 19th Century, prices and trade fell.
Donald Trump takes his trade war to every corner of the globe

3 weeks ago | tortoisemedia.com | Barney Macintyre

Donald Trump has launched a full-scale assault on global trade and imposed universal tariffs of 10 per cent on America’s trading partners, rising to additional tariffs of 34 per cent for China and nearly 50 per cent for developing countries such as Vietnam and Lesotho. During a blockbuster speech in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said America had been “looted” and officials added that he had “little appetite for haggling over lower tariff rates”.
Argentina poverty levels have plummeted - but things may not be what they seem

3 weeks ago | tortoisemedia.com | Barney Macintyre

Argentina’s poverty rate dropped markedly in the second half of last year as President Milei’s economic “shock therapy” began to take hold. The country’s national statistics agency reported that 38 per cent of the population was living below the poverty line, down from 53 per cent in the first half of the year when inflation was in the triple digits.
Stock markets take cover ahead of Trump’s ‘liberation day’

3 weeks ago | tortoisemedia.com | Barney Macintyre

Global markets have not had a worse month since 2022. In the first 50 trading days of Trump 2.0 the S&P 500 is down 8 per cent versus a gain of 4 per cent at this point during his first term. Ahead of the president’s “liberation day” on Wednesday, when investors hope the exact shape and extent of US tariffs will become clearer, many are voting with their feet. “Cover first, and assess the danger later,” says Tom Stevenson, director at Fidelity International.