With Washington kicking the tariff can down the road for another week, analysts agree that there is a widely recognised pattern pertaining to the current US tariff issue – President Donald Trump’s knack for employing aggressive negotiation tactics.
It entails the issuing of dramatic trade threats, often followed by a selective softening or delay of those threats, according to various reports.
This behaviour is likened to “shaking the cage to see what falls out,” serving both as leverage and a means of testing what concessions can be extracted from trade partners, The Guardian reports.
Reports from July and August indicate that while the Trump administration has announced steep and sweeping tariffs (for example, raising average tariffs from 2.5% to 27% early in 2025, then adjusting to 18.4% by July), the practical outcome has often been a subsequent softening.
Usually, it results in reduced tariffs and extended deadlines, especially as economic pain or diplomatic risks mount.
For instance, after markets reacted negatively and US businesses and consumers bore significant costs, Trump repeatedly delayed or suspended high-profile tariffs.
There is also evidence of selective truce periods with countries like China, as well as ad hoc deals that dilute the initial threat.
Apart from The Guardian, authoritative titles such as the Wall Street Journal have described this as a distinct negotiation style, combining high-stakes threats with last-minute reprieves or narrowed targets, to secure “deals” or symbolic concessions.
Markets and foreign officials have learned to anticipate this “shake the cage” approach, so the announcement of extreme measures is often met with scepticism, on the expectation that there will be some eventual pullback as realities set in.
