Trump’s Trade War Now Closer to Endgame As White House Loses Court Cases, According to Fundstrat’s Tom Lee

The chief investment officer of investment firm Fundstrat says that President Donald Trump’s trade war is nearing its end as courts rule against the White House.

In a new video update on the Fundstrat Capital YouTube channel, Tom Lee says that court rulings against Trump’s tariffs suggest that the White House is losing leverage.

“In our view, the tariff war and concerns have a bark worse than the bite. Let me explain, for instance… on May 28th, the international trade court ruled against the Trump tariffs. Now it didn’t remove all of them, but it ruled against them and on Thursday, May 29th, the DC District Court Judge Contreras ruled that [the] tariffs are illegal.

So it’s two cases ruling against White House tariffs, but on the same day, the Federal Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay which reinstates the tariffs – at least through June 9th – but you can see this is getting quite complicated and the White House is insisting nothing has changed after the tariff rulings.

And in fact, Goldman Sachs highlights that there’s many measures the White House can take to implement or re-implement tariffs. But ultimately, the White House is losing leverage, and it’s taking us closer to the endgame.”

Lee also says that due to the rulings, Trump will struggle to revamp the trade war, and that the White House will be looking for an exit strategy on the matter soon.

Lee goes on to note that tariff visibility and other factors have led to a better investment outlook for stocks now compared to earlier this year.

“The investment outlook is better for stocks now arguably than it was in February 2025 because you’ve got tariff visibility, you have tax and deregulation visibility, [and] the companies survived [a] fifth major stress test… and the Fed is arguably more dovish next year.”

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