This morning, there are some encouraging signs on the tariff/trade deal front. The stock markets are showing signs of recovery; as of this writing, the Dow is up almost 600 points (1.5 percent), the Nasdaq is up 387 (two percent), and the Nikkei is roaring back, being up almost 2,000 points (six percent). Those are good signs; it's early, yet, but the trend is in the right direction. So far.

Better, more nations are calling up the White House, looking to make a deal. And, of course, making deals is what President Trump does best. On Monday, we covered the initial proposals by the European Commission, to which President Trump responded, in effect, "Try harder." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also visited the Oval Office and promised to drop all of Israel's trade barriers - but President Trump, notably, has not yet committed to dropping tariffs on Israel.

See Also: Art of the Deal: Trump and Netanyahu Agree on Trade Barriers

Europe Scrambles to Make a Deal: Ready to Talk Tariffs With Trump

So, what happens now? First, the markets. They opened higher and remained higher.

Stocks climbed on Tuesday on optimism of progress on tariff deals with U.S. trading partners.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 800 points, easing from the 1,400 point jump at the opening bell. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were each up about 2%.

There's still a long way to go to a complete recovery, but we should also bear in mind that the losses are, by and large, unrealized losses; there is no actual loss until a stock or bond is sold. Patience would seem to be the order of the day, and there are also opportunities to be had; I know I went shopping on Monday, and with any luck, my modest investment account will see a boost if/when things come back up - and I'm betting they do. Think of this as an opportunity.

Second, more countries are indicating their willingness to come to the table. Earlier on Tuesday, President Trump took to his Truth Social account (re-posted on X at the Rapid Response 47 account) about South Korea's overtures; Seoul wants to make a deal.

🚨 🚨 🚨 pic.twitter.com/o3kZCQnbQ3

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 8, 2025

The president's post says:

I just had a great call with the Acting President of South Korea. We talked about their tremendous and unsustainable Surplus, Tariffs, Shipbuilding, large scale purchase of U.S. LNG, their joint venture in an Alaska Pipeline, and payment for the big time Military Protection we provide to South Korea. They began these Military payments during my first term, Billions of Dollars, but Sleepy Joe Biden, for reasons unknown, terminated the deal. That was a shocker to all! In any event, we have the confines and probability of a great DEAL for both countries. Their top TEAM is on a plane heading to the U.S., and things are looking good.

The president is also talking about a deal with Japan, and the Land of the Rising Sun is a major trade partner:

Trump has asked his administration to start negotiations with the Japanese government, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday, after Trump said he spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and the leader was “sending a top team [to the U.S.] to negotiate” on tariffs. Ishiba previously said he would urge Trump to drop his 24% tariffs on Japanese imports and would present a negotiation “package” that could include concessions to the U.S. on liquefied natural gas, cars, agriculture and national security.

Put all of these things together, and it starts to look a lot like winning.

Donald Trump didn't just come up with this idea yesterday. He has been talking about the imbalance of trade and trade barriers that the United States has with the rest of the world, literally, for decades. He has, for those same decades, said precisely what he would do about it if he had the chance - and now he has the chance. So, nobody should be surprised by any of this.

Here's what's missing from the picture, at least, so far: China. China is the elephant in the room, and so far all they've seemed willing to do is match us, tariff-wise, tit for tat. China exports over $500 billion in various products and goods to the United States annually, and losing that would put a significant dent in their economy. The trouble is, we are likewise dependent on China for, frankly, far too much - for example, China controls far too much of the generic pharmaceutical production.

I can't claim to be an expert on China in particular, but I did have the opportunity to spend a few days in Shanghai - specifically in Pudong, the newer industrial center of Shanghai. My impression of the place was that it was like a beehive; everything was buzzing. There were factories everywhere, and every person you saw during the day was hurrying, as though they were on their way somewhere. While we were being driven from the hotel to the site we were auditing one morning, our driver pointed to a big factory on one side of the big, six-lane highway and said, "That's where they make iPhones." He pointed to a nearly identical factory on the other side of the highway. "That's where they make fake iPhones. Same guy owns both factories." I have no idea if that was true or not, but both factories appeared to be going full blast.

That's what we're dealing with. That's the elephant in the room. All the nations coming to us for deals, that's great, that's winning, there's no two ways about it. But sooner or later, something is going to have to happen with China; President Trump's winning won't be complete until that happens.

The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.

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