US President Trump pledged to put America’s interests first to return the country to ‘a golden age’, reversing the US decline while taking on ‘a radical and corrupt establishment’ and ‘stop the weaponization of law enforcement’, UOB Group’s Senior Economist Alvin Liew notes.

Tariffs on hold for now but for how long

“Trump also lived up to his promise, kicking off his presidency right at the start with a flurry of executive orders, memoranda and proclamations, repealing many of the Biden administration mandates and executing his ‘America First’ policies.”

“Energy policies and immigration (border security) featured prominently on Trump’s Day 1, with markets relieved for now that there was an absence of concrete tariff measures. But a delay does not imply no tariffs.”

|We maintain our base case scenario (55%) for more measured imposition of tariffs (Additional 25% tariff on China, instead of the claimed 60%, 10% tariffs on economies that recorded increase in trade surplus with US due to trade diversion from China, and no blanket tariff on all US imports), with a staggered implementation pace from as early as 2Q 2025 and fully completed by 1H 2026.”