Time to play The Dog That Didn’t Bark. In this version of the media game, we try to find that strangely silent and altogether unmentioned dog, who had been barking plenty until yesterday.
The Wall Street Journal did a deep dive last night into Donald Trump’s decision to pause ‘reciprocal’ tariffs against 75 trading partners yesterday while escalating the trade war with China. Trump himself attributed his change to the reaction in the bond markets, which had turned dangerously sour by Tuesday. However, the WSJ credits Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with convincing Trump to take some wins and focusing on building a trade coalition to marginalize China:
In this case, the extraordinary reversal was announced via Trump’s social-media platform just hours after so-called reciprocal tariffs officially went into effect. He tapped out the post in the Oval Office…
