Analyzing Economic Indicators and Shifting Consumer Trends

US President Trump announced the start of a new wave of taxes on US consumers, with a 25% tax on US citizens who want to buy products from South Korea and Japan. Other countries’ exports also received higher tax rates, but it seems a wasted effort to analyze every Trump social media post when investors understandably anticipate future retreats. Japan and South Korea accounted for around 8.5% of US imports last year, so this tax increase adds 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points to consumer price inflation.