Trade Deals and Ceasefires
Deals are being struck between countries all around the world. The question now is which ones will last.
- India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire after weeks of escalated fighting along the border region of the two countries, but the truce appeared immediately fragile and Indian Prime Miniter Narendra Modi called it simply a “pause” in the fighting.
- The U.S. and the UK struck a deal scaling back a significant portion of the tariffs in place between the two countries. Both U.S. President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed the deal as an economic win for their respective countries.
- The U.S. and China announced a 90-day “pause” in what has been a rapidly escalating trade dispute. The centerpiece of the temporary agreement leaves in place a 30% (down from 145%) tariff on most Chinese goods imported into the U.S. and a 10% (down from 125%) tariff on U.S. goods imported into China.
Analysis and eternal perspective: It is hard to keep up. News of both economic and military dealmaking is perhaps only exceeded by news of newly forming economic or military disputes. It can be next to impossible to determine which announcements will stand the test of time, not to mention evaluate the underlying merits of each announcement.
Even so, we as Jesus followers can be confident in continuing to pursue peace (Ps. 34:14) in a temporary world where there will always be strife and conflict until the day Jesus returns to set all things right (Jn. 16:33).
The furious pace—not to mention the up and down nature of the details—of negotiations and dealmaking between world leaders is a lot to take in. But no deal, war, or rumor of war changes your primary mission of taking the Gospel into all the world (Matt. 28:16-20)!
The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.