Two weeks on from Donald Trump's big tariff announcement, an occasion the President hailed as

America's Liberation Day, it's as difficult as ever to work out precisely what's going on.

Why did Trump do what he did? Why did he change course? And where's he heading next? And of course,

his direction of travel will inevitably impact heavily on the world's economies, not least the EU,

Ireland, the UK and Northern Ireland.

Deciphering at all is a challenge. The good news, though, is that Red Lines has brought together three experts to help us pick our way through the morass.

Jodie Carson is Professor of Strategic Policy in Practice at Ulster University.

Martina Lawless is a research professor at the Dublin-based Economic and Social Research Institute, Esri.

And Will Harath worked for the UK government during the Brexit negotiations and is now a trade expert at the advisory firm Flint Global.

So welcome to Red Lions, everyone.

Thank you for making time for us today.

The first question I think we need to ask is,

where are we now?

Where do you think we are now? Because as we speak on Wednesday afternoon,

things have calmed down a little bit, relatively speaking,

but that could be about to change.

Jodie, what are your thoughts as of this

moment as where we are? Yeah, I think actually things are particular, worse than ever, nearly, in the

sense that we know that there's the 90-day pause on the tariffs. What that does is solidify and

embed 90 days of chaos and uncertainty. So yeah, I think

things are doubly unclear. My understanding also is that the tariff on China is now 245% as

opposed to 145%. I think that that has happened just today. So it's just, it's chaotic.

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