🚀 Trump delays new tariffs

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Market Overview
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Year To Date Performances:

1. In a calculated pivot to open 2026, the administration has shifted from "tariff shock" to a "tactical reprieve," signing a New Year’s Eve proclamation that halts a massive escalation of levies on the American home. By freezing current furniture rates at 25% and shelving the looming 50% "cabinet wall" for another year, the White House is buying diplomatic leverage for ongoing trade talks while avoiding a self-inflicted inflationary spike in the already-stressed housing and renovation markets. This strategic retreat extends from the living room to the dining table, where a threatened 107% "pasta penalty" on Italian imports was abruptly slashed to near-negligible levels, signaling that even in an era of "National Security" protectionism, the political cost of doubling the price of a household staple remains a formidable check on executive power.

2. The first legal shot of 2026 has been fired across the bow of the American energy pivot as Danish wind titan Orsted launched a high-stakes court injunction against the Trump administration’s suspension of the $5 billion Revolution Wind project. This judicial showdown marks a definitive escalation in the collision between global green infrastructure and a resurrected domestic fossil-fuel mandate, with Orsted—and its 4% surging stock price—betting that "national security" claims cannot legally override billions in committed capital. As this 2.6-gigawatt hole in the Atlantic grid directly exacerbates the power shortages and rising utility costs already stoking populist anger from Bernie Sanders to Ron DeSantis, the battle for the Rhode Island coast has become the ultimate test case for whether the "orbital economy" and the green transition can survive a total administrative rollback of the American power sector.

3. The 2025 "Great EV Shakeout" has concluded with BYD officially surpassing Tesla as the world’s top electric vehicle seller, delivering a record 4.6 million units despite a sharp 18% December decline that signalled a cooling domestic market. While BYD leveraged its vertical integration to survive a brutal "anti-involution" price war, the year’s true protagonists were the "Affordable Disruptors"—Leapmotor and Xpeng—who both doubled their year-over-year volumes by targeting the mass market with high-tech, low-margin models. Conversely, the "Premium Plateau" claimed victims such as Li Auto, whose momentum stalled after marketing missteps, and Tesla, whose China market share eroded to just 4.6% as consumers pivoted toward domestic champions. As we enter 2026, the industry faces a "triple threat": the expiration of trade-in subsidies, a new 5% purchase tax, and a shift in competition from raw horsepower to AI-driven "Intelligent Driving" systems.

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