President Donald Trump's on-again-off-again tariffs on key US trading partners have upended global markets and spooked investors
A worker rests in a factory making steel bike rims for export to the U.S. in Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang province Friday, April 11, 2025.
Image: Feature China/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Uncertainty surrounding US trade policy is weighing on the world's biggest economy, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.
President Donald Trump's on-again off-again tariffs on key US trading partners have upended global markets and spooked investors.
"The outlook in several districts worsened considerably as economic uncertainty, particularly surrounding tariffs, rose," said the Fed's Beige Book survey of economic conditions.
It added that "uncertainty around international trade policy was pervasive across reports" from the Fed's 12 districts.
Since returning to the presidency this year, Trump has imposed broad additional 10 percent tariffs on most US trading partners. Goods from China in particular face a staggeringly high added rate of 145 percent.