i

Economic Weekly: All the President’s Men

  • The Trump tariff saga turned more into Trumpmageddon as tit-for-tat tariffs with China escalated and spooked markets
  • Trump has paused the ‘reciprocal’ tariffs for all except China, which is now up to a minimum 145% tariff rate in total
  • The assertions that tariffs were here to stay, also that they could be negotiated away, and then conflicting rationales for their pause given by differing Administration spokespeople have raised question marks over exactly what the plan is

Contact us

Mark Smith

Senior Economist

Mark joined ASB in 2017, with over 20 years of public and private sector experience working as an economist in New Zealand and the UK.

His resume includes lengthy stints at ANZ and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and he has also worked at the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the New Zealand Transport Agency. Mark's areas of specialisation include interest rate strategy, macro-economic analysis and urban economics.

Born and bred in the Waikato, Mark studied at Waikato University where he graduated with a Master of Social Sciences, majoring in Economics.

Mark's key strengths are the ability to use his extensive experience, inquisitive nature, analytical ability, creativity and pragmatism to dig a little deeper and to deliver common sense solutions to tackle complex problems.

When not at work Mark likes to travel, keep fit and spend time with his friends and family.