Irish Examiner view: Bumbling Donald Trump backs down amid tariffs U-turn 

Despite the boot-licking spinning of his cabinet, it’s not clear if US president Donald Trump understands what he is doing 

US president Donald Trump’s swaggering boasts about his tariff plans now seem ludicrous in light of how quickly he has backed down from that policy. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP 

On Wednesday, it was easy to assume that the EU’s response to US president Donald Trump’s tariffs was the headline event of the day, an assumption that survived until Mr Trump changed his mind. Again.

The US president said on Wednesday that he would pause his reciprocal tariffs for most countries for the next 90 days, though he has kept high tariffs in place on China.