It was an extraordinary spectacle — an all-powerful president, surrounded by his gaudy golden trinkets, flags and ornaments, seemingly improvising in real time about a still-mysterious plan that could deliver untold economic consequences to billions of people worldwide.
One minute, Trump was flinging threats at trading partners he accuses of ripping off America. The next, he doused his fire with promises to be “kind,” in the latest in a string of contradictory signals that have sent global markets on a wild ride. “This is going to be an amazing — I call it a lot of different names — but it really in a sense is a rebirth of a country,” Trump declared of a policy that economists fear will hike already high-prices and could push the US toward a recession.
