New Delhi, April 24 -- For all his grandstanding, barely three months since taking office, US President Donald Trump has virtually reversed his headline-grabbing tariffs, barring the de minimis 10% on all countries and 20-25% on steel, aluminium and automobiles. Item-specific tariffs on computers, smartphones and electronic peripherals from China have also been reversed for the moment, with a promise of "more to come!"

It was not too difficult to predict some of these reversals. It is now well known that financial markets were spooked by a fall in US Treasury bond prices, with their rise in yields indicating a lack of faith in the US economy as buyers of this paper turned sellers. This was huge, as US trade deficits are financed by inflo...