Tariff Gambit Puts Markets on Edge, StoneX’s Rooney Vera Warns on CNN
Key takeaways
- Wall Street braces for inflation as tariffs take effect
- De-globalization seen reshaping supply chains and pricing power
- Recession risk is high without matching spending cuts, Rooney Vera says
StoneX Chief Market Strategist Kathryn Rooney Vera used her seat at CNN’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip on April 29 to deliver a stark assessment of the White House’s escalating tariff policy.
Rooney Vera told the panel that the sheer uncertainty around proposed duties, pegged as high as 145% on Chinese goods, has already rattled investors. “Uncertainty is what kills sentiment and the market,” she noted, adding that the de-globalization is “irrefutably … inherently inflationary” and this new world order combined with steep tariffs will keep inflation sticky.
Rooney Vera argued that tariffs are more than a negotiating tactic; they amount to a once-in-a-generation restructuring of trade flows. While the policy could ultimately rebuild domestic “precision manufacturing,” she cautioned that the path is binary. “I do think there’s short-term pain. I do think there’s a good risk of recession in the near term”.
Fiscal policy, she stressed, will determine whether the gamble pays off. Cutting taxes without trimming spending could “blow out the fiscal deficit” and trigger “a run on the risk-free asset, which is the U.S. Treasury”. Success, according to Rooney Vera, would require striking fresh accords—first with India, then Japan, and finally a “cosmetic bridge with China” to reduce supply-chain vulnerabilities exposed during the Covid era.
Rooney Vera’s bottom line: tariffs can realign global trade, but only if paired with disciplined budgeting and targeted diplomacy. Otherwise, consumers face higher prices, and markets may have to price in a policy-driven downturn.
Written by Gus Farrow
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