Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices traded higher early Monday, continuing the climb triggered this weekend by comments from President Donald Trump honing the administration's tariffs strategy
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Bitcoin on Monday traded above $88,000, up from its late Friday level around $84,000. Ethereum rose to $2,090 by Monday morning from around $1,960 on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, Trump on Friday modified his stance on tariffs, saying "there'll be flexibility" on the so-called reciprocal tariffs that he's expected to impose on April 2. The Trump administration may exclude some countries from the upcoming reciprocal tariffs, while also not imposing new, separate sector-specific tariffs on automobiles, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, according to multiple reports.
However, Trump's current tariff pause on many Canadian and Mexican goods also expires on April 2. Even if Trump follows through with a more muted tariff position, April 2 will still see U.S. duties on foreign goods jump substantially again.
Earlier last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the base case for the Trump tariffs is that they will have a "transitory" effect, and raise inflation this year, but not in the long term. Powell also penciled in a half-percentage-point cut in rates later this year.