Nicholas Gordon
Thu, April 17, 2025 at 11:44 AM GMT+33 min read
- In today’s CEO Daily: Nicholas Gordon, Fortune’s Asia Editor, on how the U.S. may be more dependent on trade with Asia than President Trump realizes.
- The big story: Fed chair Jerome Powell warns that Trump’s tariffs could lead to “higher inflation and slower growth.”
- The markets: U.S. down, Asia up, Europe struggling, but U.S. futures look sunny.
- Analyst notes from JPMorgan on the budget, Wedbush on Nvidia, Apollo on recession, and UBS on the trade war.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs spared no country: U.S. allies, emerging markets, and even those countries that ran trade deficits with the U.S. all got hit. China has garnered much of the attention. But dig deeper and you’ll find a mix of confusion and disappointment among U.S. allies.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba talks about needing to understand the “emotional elements” behind Trump’s views on trade. Australia is blasting the tariffs as having “no basis in logic” as some of its exporters step up trade with China. Lawrence Wong, prime minister of Singapore—perhaps the country that benefits most from free trade—now warns of a “more arbitrary, protectionist, and dangerous” world. Here are three things U.S. CEOs can expect to see from Asia as this trade war plays out.
ADVERTISEMENT
China has options. The White House is arguing that China needs the U.S.’s giant consumer market more than the U.S. needs cheap Chinese manufacturing. But the reverse is likely true. U.S. retailers and manufacturers rely on Chinese (and, by extension, Asian) supply chains. Steep 145% tariffs will mean massive price hikes for U.S. consumers and increased costs for U.S.-based manufacturers. China will be hurt from losing the U.S. market, but Beijing is likely betting that Trump will be hurt more. They may be right: Trump exempted smartphones, laptops and other electronics from most of his China tariffs.
And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.
Joshua 11 : 5
We shall be attacked on every point; we shall be tried to the utmost. We do not want to hold our faith simply because it was handed down to us by our fathers. Such a faith will not stand the terrible test that is before us. We want to know why we are Seventh-day Adventists, what real reason we have for coming out from the world as a separate and distinct people….
The powers of darkness will open their batteries upon us; and all who are indifferent and careless, who have set their affections on their earthly treasure, and who have not cared to understand God’s dealings with His people, will be ready victims. No power but a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, will ever make us steadfast; but with this, one may chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. Mar 217.6 – Mar 217.7
Asian countries may start to work closely together. Even as Asian leaders frantically fly to Washington to start trade negotiations, they’ve started to build relationships with each other. Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is calling for ASEAN to take a united front in trade negotiations with the U.S. Xi Jinping is in the middle of a three-country tour of Southeast Asia. China, Japan and South Korea are talking about promoting trade. New Zealand is calling for a new rules-based trade bloc. Europe, too, is tentatively communicating more with China. Southeast Asia may now move towards “greater economic integration that it long aspired to, but was unmotivated to swim hard towards,” says Devadas Krishnadas, founder of Future-Moves Group, a Singapore-based public policy consultancy.
Decoupling is coming—because the U.S. seems unreliable. A lot of countries in Asia really did pin their hopes on an open and stable U.S. Take Vietnam: It ran the third-largest trade surplus with the U.S. last year, behind China and Mexico, and relies on U.S.-bound exports for 30% of its GDP. Betting on the U.S. to be reasonable is a much less of a sure thing post-April 2. Even if Vietnam could get a deal, what evidence is there that Washington will stick with it? The China narrative has also changed. For years, China’s economy was slumping, its markets were uninvestable, and its “wolf warrior” diplomats undermined foreign policy. Now, China appears to be catching up in key sectors like EVs and AI. It looks like a bastion of stability in light of the U.S.’s policy flip-flops. Many countries would prefer not to choose between the U.S. and China. But if they are forced, they might not choose Washington.
Our people have been regarded as too insignificant to be worthy of notice, but a change will come. The Christian world is now making movements which will necessarily bring commandment-keeping people into prominence.94
The whole world is to be stirred with enmity against Seventh-day Adventists, because they will not yield homage to the papacy, by honoring Sunday, the institution of this antichristian power. It is the purpose of Satan to cause them to be blotted from the earth, in order that his supremacy of the world may not be disputed. Mar 217.2 – Mar 217.3
More news below.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Adventist Angels Watchman Radio 