Trump’s early weeks in office have been marked by a raft of tariffs including 25% on Australian steel and aluminium imports. Canada and Mexico have also been hit with 25% tariffs on everything except energy (which is 10%) and he has imposed a 10% tariff on China. Since then, Trump has agreed to a one-month delay on the tariffs to Canada and Mexico subject to border and drug conditions. With Governments around the world responding in a multitude of ways, the uncertainty and threat of more tariffs means market volatility will likely remain high. What does this mean for Australia and investors?
While times like these can be stressful, for superannuation members and most investors, the best approach is to turn down the noise around economies and investing and stick to a long-term investment strategy to take advantage of the rising long-term trend in share markets given the difficulty in trying to time short-term swings.
Dr Shane Oliver, Head of Investment Strategy and Chief Economist at AMP provides some sensible commentary on the Trump factor here.
