Walking in Crowds.

Secondary tariffs.

“I start every day pretty much the same way: Coffee and News Items.” — Richard Haass, president emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations.

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1. Barriers to open trade are rising across the world at a pace unseen in decades, a cascade of protectionism that harks back to the isolationist fervor that swept the globe in the 1930s and worsened the Great Depression. It isn’t just President Trump’s extensive new tariffs, which have set off a barrage of retaliatory measures across Europe, China and Canada targeting hundreds of U.S. goods. Even before Trump retook the White House, many countries were increasing trade barriers, often against China, as they tried to beat back a flood of electric cars, steel and other manufactured goods pressuring their homegrown industries. Now those efforts are proliferating as countries brace for a new wave of goods redirected across the globe by the U.S.’s rising tariff shield. The European Union said this month it plans to toughen measures to protect its steel and aluminum producers from imports diverted from the U.S. by Trump’s 25% tariffs on those two metals. (Source: wsj.com)

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2. President Trump appeared to invent a new weapon of economic statecraft yesterday by threatening what he dubbed “secondary tariffs” on countries that buy oil from Venezuela to choke off its oil trade with other nations. The threat, delivered via Truth Social post then confirmed in an executive order, said countries could face 25% tariffs on trade with the US if they purchase oil and gas from Venezuela, which is already under heavy US sanctions. The move was meant to pressure Venezuela for the “tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals” that Trump said Venezuela has sent to the US. The novel approach adds to a growing list of weapons that Trump has been eager to deploy as part of a push to use America’s economic clout as leverage in achieving its foreign and domestic policy goals. (Source: bloomberg.com)

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3. A Trump administration proposal to impose stiff levies on Chinese-made ships entering US ports is sowing panic in the country’s agriculture industry, with farmers saying the added cost threatens to upend exports of wheat, corn and soyabeans. The US Trade Representative has recommended imposing fees of up to $1.5 million per port call on ships built in China or operated by companies with Chinese-built vessels, and hearings on the matter are scheduled for this week. Exporters said that they largely stopped receiving bids on their commodity shipments from freight operators and those that remained were “very, very highly priced”. The sudden inability to sell bulk products threatens to halt their businesses, they said. Bulk grain exporter United Grain Corporation said it had already seen a 40 per cent increase in freight costs, in a letter to US trade officials asking them to reconsider. (Source: ft.com)