Weekly Buzz: What you should know about Trump’s tariffs 🌎

The US president moved to enact 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports – and then negotiated a month’s pause across both. So, what comes next?

Why the focus on tariffs?

In making imports more expensive, the president hopes to make American-made wares more appealing. The theory is that this could boost sales for US companies and bring back jobs. But the reality is more complex – relocating global supply chains and building new production facilities is easier said than done.

Higher tariffs also mean higher costs for American businesses. They’ll likely pass these costs on to customers through higher prices, running the risk of stoking inflation at a time when the US Federal Reserve is working to keep things stable. There's also the risk of retaliation: America’s trade partners have already signaled they're prepared to respond with counter-tariffs.

What’s the takeaway here?

As we’ve learned from the last Trump administration, expect plenty of noise – and with it, market volatility. But for long-term investors, it's important to separate that noise from the real signals. Unless the economic data show a real threat to growth, it’s simply better to stay the course.

A diversified portfolio remains your best bet – this means investing in a mix of growth assets, like stocks, and balancing assets, like gold. Our General Investing portfolios, for example, have allocations to gold across every risk level, an asset that’s climbed 9% year-to-date amid the volatility.

Our Group CIO, Stephanie Leung, shared her insights on navigating market uncertainty – watch her full interview on Bloomberg.

💡 Investors’ Corner: Why 2025 could be a good year for gold

Gold hit several all-time highs in, and the precious metal's momentum shows no signs of slowing – here’s what’s driving the shine:

• The US dollar may weaken

Gold and the US dollar have a seesaw-like relationship. Since the precious metal is priced in dollars, its value tends to move in the opposite direction of the currency. When the dollar weakens, gold becomes more attractive, pushing its price higher. In the past few years, the US dollar has gained strength, buoyed by an inflation crisis and an aggressive run of interest rate hikes. But inflation has now cooled in the US and rate cuts have begun, so the dollar might start to lose some ground.

•  Gold is less affected by real yields

Real yields are the returns on bonds after adjusting for inflation. When inflation speeds up faster than interest rates, real yields fall, and vice versa. Gold tends to shine when real yields are low, because in that scenario, holding gold doesn’t come with the opportunity cost of missing out on bonds. But that relationship has shifted: despite aggressive rate hikes, gold has remained resilient. It now seems to move asymmetrically – falling less when yields rise and climbing more when yields fall.

• There is growing demand for gold

One of the most powerful factors supporting gold’s price is the sustained demand from central banks. They've been on a historic gold-buying spree, snapping up record amounts over the past few years. A recent World Gold Council survey found that 81% of central banks plan to continue increasing their gold holdings – so don’t go looking for demand to fall anytime soon.

These articles were written in collaboration with Finimize.

🎓 Simply Finance: Tariffs

Tariffs are taxes that governments place on imported goods and services. Think of them as a toll gate: just as you pay to use certain roads, companies pay tariffs to sell their products in a country. Governments may use tariffs to protect local industries or raise revenue – but like with most economic policies, there are tradeoffs: they lead to higher prices, and can spark retaliation from trading partners.