Unhedged The UK’s trade deal
49 snips
May 15, 2025 
Alan Beattie, a trade expert and Financial Times writer, joins to unravel the recent UK trade deal's details and its implications. They dive into the unpredictable nature of US-China trade negotiations, the informal aspects of the UK-US deal, and the significant challenges it poses to global trade norms. Beattie also discusses the resilience of global supply chains post-COVID and shares humorous insights on the effects of the UK's dry weather on gardening, blending serious trade analysis with light-hearted anecdotes.
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Trade Chaos: Nobody Knows
- Even experts and leaders don’t fully understand trade tariffs and policies either.
- Current trade actions are chaotic with no clear long-term plan or consistent motive.
U.S.-China Tariff Reduction Reality
- U.S. tariff reductions with China returned tariffs from insanely high levels back to high, not low.
- Markets cheer this as a de-escalation, mistaking it for a major positive shift.
Supply Bottlenecks Drive Tariff Rollback
- Trump stepped back from massive tariffs due to empty shelves and overwhelmed supply chains.
- Despite rhetoric, supply shortages forced a pragmatic retreat from extreme trade measures.