The recent announcement of a pause in the rollout of reciprocal tariffs has created some confusion — and some hope — for multinationals and importers around the world. While the announcement hopefully presages a bit of calm and the potential lowering of tariffs in what has become a rapidly escalating trade war,

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Tuesday that Trump's threatened additional 50% tariff on China will go into effect early Wednesday, bringing the total tariff rate against Beijing to 104%. "They will be going into effect at 12:01 a.m.," she said.

South Florida businesses and consumers are feeling the impact of tariffs​, leading to increased prices and cautious spending.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Friday he was blindsided by the scope of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs — and joined other Wall Street bigwigs in warning that a trade war could push the economy into recession.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday that his nation will be reciprocal on tariffs announced by the United States, but noted the Latin American country will "use every word for negotiation that is in the dictionary" first.

The president's global raft of tariffs was dubbed "worse than the worst-case scenario" by experts, but the most alarming parts of the plan were delayed on April 9.

Trump abruptly reversed course on the "reciprocal" tariffs he had begun to impose on scores of America's leading trading partners and other countries. He dictated a 90-day pause in those tariffs, while simultaneously raising tariffs on Chinese goods to 125% — effectively shutting off the flow in bilateral trade.

German economic institutes on Thursday cut their growth forecast for this year to 0.1% from the 0.8% expected in September, taking into consideration initial U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars,