Wishing upon a meteor that tariffs won’t cause inflation

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that copper and pharmaceutical imports will face tariffs of 50% and as high as 200%, respectively.

Following the news, the S&P 500, which hit multiple record closes last week, ground to a halt and closed mostly flat.

That said, it’s a muted response for such hefty tariffs, suggesting investors are either brushing off Trump’s tariffs as hollow threats, or discounting the effects they could have on inflation and the economy.  

Such complacency could be a mistake, as some market watchers have cautioned. It also mirrors the White House’s stance on the effects of tariffs, which might not be a position investors want to take.

On Tuesday, Stephen Miran, chairman of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the odds of tariffs leading to higher prices is a “rare event” like “pandemics or, or meteors or whatever.”

“I don’t mean to be dismissive,” Miran clarified. “All I mean to say is that prediction is difficult, and we should always speak in terms of odds and possibilities.”

For the record, there’s a 0.004% chance of an asteroid that will fly near Earth in 2023 striking our planet, according to NBC News.

Global stock markets’ best and worst performers in a Trump-fueled 2025 — and where they’re headed

Global stocks have surged in the first half of 2025, even as U.S. President Donald Trump announced steep tariffs on imports to the United States. The MSCI All Country World Index, which measures the performance of more than 2,500 stocks from both developed and emerging market equities, rose nearly 10% since the start of the year to hit a record high on July 4.

“The global trade war that the U.S. started has been, and will continue to be, the catalyst for this ex-U.S. outperformance,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Financial Group.

— Lee Ying Shan