Morning from Copenhagen.

The long-awaited message on reciprocal tariffs was released yesterday—and it was more or less a nothing burger. From the looks of it, Trump used the opportunity to state the obvious: he wants to fix the negative trade balance of the US through tariffs on a long list of countries. However, the exact scope of these tariffs remains unclear.

He mentioned tariffs on cars and pharmaceuticals, sure, but there was no timeline, no specific countries mentioned for exclusion, and, more importantly, no concrete implementation schedule. This leaves the impression that the tariff threats will most likely serve as a negotiation tool to secure more LNG exports and other “favors” from trade partners—potentially even to incentivize countries to lower tariffs on US goods.

Could this entire reciprocal tariff exercise be a ploy to get Europe, India, Brazil, and others to lower their tariffs toward the US? In our view, it’s not unlikely. Risk assets seem to agree, with markets off to a solid start this morning and the Hang Seng index up more than 3.5%.