Weekend Edition.

A much more existential question.

News Items is “the most valuable newsletter out there.” — Peggy Noonan.

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1. President Donald Trump said he plans to unveil reciprocal tariffs next week in a major escalation of his trade war with US economic partners. Trump made the announcement during a meeting with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday and said the action would affect “everyone,” without specifying exactly what measures he plans to take. “I’ll be announcing that next week — on reciprocal trade — so that we’re treated evenly with other countries. We don’t want any more or any less,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that he planned to hold a press conference on the matter. He said he planned to hold a meeting on the issue Monday or Tuesday. At a White House press conference later on Friday Trump suggested that the reciprocal tariffs could come in lieu of the 10-20% universal import duty plan at the center of his economic message during the campaign. He said he was inclined to do “mostly” reciprocal tariffs over global import duties. (Source: bloomberg.com)

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2. Americans are deeply divided over Donald Trump’s plans and the way he is handling his job in the early weeks of his return to the presidency. Overall, 47% of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling his job as president, while 51% say they disapprove. And most of these views are strongly held: 37% strongly approve of his performance, while 40% strongly disapprove. Roughly a third (35%) say they support all or most of Trump’s policies and plans, with 17% saying they support some of them. Nearly half of adults (47%) say they support only a few or none of his plans. (Source: pewresearch.org)

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3. The Trump bump in consumer confidence is already over. Tariff threats, stock market swings and rapidly reversing executive orders are causing Americans across the political spectrum to feel considerably more pessimistic about the economy than they did before President Trump took office. Consumer sentiment fell about 5% in the University of Michigan’s preliminary February survey of consumers to its lowest reading since July 2024. Expectations of inflation in the year ahead jumped from 3.3% in January to 4.3%, the second month in a row of large increases and highest reading since November 2023. “It’s very rare to see a full percentage point jump in inflation expectations,” said Joanne Hsu, who oversees the survey. (Source: wsj.com)

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