As the markets continued to slap around retail investors and gave them, as elann over on the Mechanical Investors board called it, the "all time biggest dead cat bounce" ever, what exactly is the difference that drove the Dow to a nearly 3,000 point gain with the 90-day pause? Have tariffs vanished? Are they way less burdensome then they were a few days ago?

The Washington Post took a look and found this:

                   BEFORE THE PAUSE              AFTER THE PAUSE

         EU            20% tariff                      10%

         MEXICO          25%                           25%

         CHINA           54%                          145%

         CANADA          25%                           25%

         JAPAN           24%
         VIETNAM         46%                           10%
         SOUTH KOREA     25%
         TAIWAN          32%
         Others

         AVG EFFECTIVE   26.8%                         27.0%
         TARIFF RATE

Note: Rates for Mexico and Canada exclude USMCA-compliant trade.

So basically, Mad King Donald reshuffled the deck and dealt the same losing hand: tariffs at world economy crippling record levels.

No wonder the US Economic Policy Uncertainty Index just hit such a historic high under Trump that it’s literally exploding off the chart.

washingtonpost.com - Trump tariff rate china imports