Meanwhile, Donald Trump whose influence was scattered all throughout the budget, but never namesd (he and Putin draw a long dark shadow) is happily dancing towards April 2, which he calls ‘Liberation day’ because that’s when all his tariffs will come into play.

It’s a short term strategy that is going to maybe give the US a little domestic bump if all goes well and then plunge it into an economic abyss. Which Trump and his acolytes wouldn’t care about, but we should, because it’s people.

Interestingly, the Financial Times (and as Noam Chomsky says in Manufacturing Consent, you should always read the business papers because that is where the people who control the economy talk to each other and tell the truth) has put together an article showing that most of the world (Mexico not included for obvious reasons) could probably untangle itself from the US economy and after some pain (again, that’s people suffering so should not be dismissed) would manage to carry on just fine.

As to the tariffs, here is what AAP is reporting:

Reuters reported on Tuesday that India is open to cutting tariffs on more than half of US imports, valued at $23 billion, in the first phase. India has among the highest trade-weighted average tariff rates at 12.1 per cent, compared to 2.5 per cent for the US, according to the World Trade Organisation.

A US delegation led by Assistant US Trade Representative Brendan Lynch is in New Delhi this week for trade talks with Indian officials from Tuesday through Saturday, the US embassy in New Delhi said.

Trump said on Monday he may give “a lot of countries” breaks on tariffs, but provided no details. Trump also said that separate tariffs on autos, pharmaceuticals and aluminium were coming in “the very near future”.

EU officials have struggled to talk Trump back from a trade war as he embarks on a multi-front tariff offensive expected to draw strong retaliatory measures.

Maros Sefcovic (the EU trade commissioner) said last week that little progress has been made in talks with Washington after Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports earlier this month.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in Halifax that Canada was prepared to add retaliatory trade measures against the US, depending on Trump’s April 2 trade actions.

Trump has also threatened to end a month-long tariff reprieve for goods compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.

But Carney said Canada was not rushing to the negotiating table with Trump, with whom he has not spoken since taking office, adding he wants “substantive discussions” between sovereign nations – a reference to Trump’s frequent demands Canada should be annexed by the US.

White House officials have cautioned that countries rushing for early tariff relief were unlikely to avoid them completely, because Trump’s reciprocal duty calculations will include non-tariff barriers, currency policies and other factors that are harder to roll back.