White House officials are currently reviewing trade proposals from about 15 different countries, and they are close to finalizing agreements with some of them, according to National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett. His comments came just one day after President Trump unexpectedly paused reciprocal tariffs for 90 days on over 75 countries while raising tariffs on Chinese goods. Hassett said several deals had already been in progress before Trump’s announcement and are now close to being completed, though he didn’t name any specific nations.
Hassett told CNBC that “there’s a big inventory of deals” close to being finalized. Later, he told reporters that the U.S. Trade Representative’s office is analyzing the offers to determine if they’re strong enough to bring to the president for approval. A high-level meeting was scheduled for Thursday to decide how to move forward on the proposals. These potential trade agreements are part of the administration’s effort to manage the fallout from the recent wave of tariffs.
Interestingly, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, President Trump has privately admitted that his trade strategy might lead to a recession. However, he is focused on avoiding a full-blown depression. The comment shows that the administration does have some concerns about the economic impact of the growing trade tensions. While the 90-day pause has helped calm some market fears, the long-term effects of the tariff policy remain uncertain as negotiations continue behind the scenes.
Is QQQ a Buy or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on the Nasdaq 100-tracking Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) based on 90 Buys, 12 Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average QQQ price target of $530.85 per share implies 22.14% upside potential.
