Tariffs: Global markets brace as US confirms China to be hit with 104% levies overnight
Trump’s total new levies climb to 104% on Chinese goods imported into US this year
The White House has confirmed China will be hit with a 104 per cent tariff rate from 12:01am ET on Wednesday.
Donald Trump’s press secretary confirmed that the measures will come into place after Beijing did not lift its retaliatory tariffs on US goods by a Tuesday noon deadline.
Earlier, the US president threatened to impose an extra 50 per cent levy on top of the existing 54 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, bringing the total levies on Chinese products imported to the US to over 100 per cent.
The Chinese foreign ministry vowed its country would “fight till the end”, amid reports it is preparing for a US imports block, as it accused America of “typical unilateralism and protectionist economic bullying”.
It is not yet clear what counter-measures Beijing is planning to impose, although the BBC reported, citing state media, that the US agricultural sector could be impacted, including a potential total ban on poultry.
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Comment | Whisper it, but UK plc is nearly ready for Trump’s new world order
In his latest piece for Independent Voices, business journalist James Moore writes:
At times like these, any port in a storm will do. In the modelling and role-playing currently underway around the globe, the UK suffers in Donald Trump’s trade war, like everyone else. But, cross fingers and toes, things might turn out to not be so bad here as elsewhere.
The reasons for this are laced with irony. Britain is not in the EU any more, thanks to Brexit, so the hit from the White House is reduced. They’re being clobbered with 20 per cent, the British penalty is 10 per cent. That is a sizeable difference.
So, exiting the EU, which has damaged the UK economy, has come good in the end. That, at least, is the Brexiteer interpretation of events. They ignore the first part and focus on the second. They prefer not to dwell on the fact that businesses miss the customs bloc terribly, that companies would dearly love to return to the free movement of goods and people.
Still, let us concentrate on this unexpected “Brexit dividend”, and give thanks.
Whisper it, but UK plc is nearly ready for Trump’s new world order
Rebuilding bridges with EU key to weathering economic storm, says UK minister
Rebuilding relations with the European Union will be key to protecting Britain's national interest during the “very turbulent” global economic headwinds unleashed by Donald Trump’s tariffs, a government minister has said.
Health minister Stephen Kinnock told Sky News’s Politics Hub: “It is very turbulent. Nobody benefits from a trade war. We live in an incredibly deeply integrated global economy with very integrated supply chains and hugely interdependent commercial relationships, so nobody benefits from a trade war.
“We are seeing a prime minister who is really showing leadership, he is engaging with Donald Trump and seeking to negotiate the best possible deal that we can in terms of economic prosperity.
“He’s also rebuilding the bridges that were burned by previous Conservative governments in terms of our relationship with the European Union.
“And we're also developing an industrial strategy to help Britain stand firmly on its own two feet, investing in our own industries, boosting domestic demand, investing in skills in infrastructure rebuilding our manufacturing sector.
“So I think the combination of those three things is going to help us to weather the storm.”
UN chief worries about ‘devastating’ impact of trade war on poor countries
United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres has said that he is particularly worried about the most vulnerable developing countries in a trade war unleashed by Donald Trump’s tariffs – warning that the impact would be “more devastating”.
“Trade wars are extremely negative. Nobody wins with a trade war, everybody tends to lose,” Mr Guterres told reporters.
Watch: Liz Truss blames Canadian PM for market chaos which sparked her downfall
As commentators liken Donald Trump’s new tariffs policy to the disastrous mini-Budget that sparked her own downfall after just 49 days at Downing Street, Liz Truss has sought to blame the Canadian prime minister for causing the economic meltdown which defined her historically short period in office.
In an interview with conservative American commentator Glenn Beck, Ms Truss said she was “puzzled” that the former central banker had been picked as leader of Canada’s Liberal Party.
The former prime minister said Mark Carney “did a terrible job” as governor of the Bank of England between 2013 and 2020 and “created a lot of the problems that blew up on my watch and that I got blamed for.”
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has more in this report.
Wall Street sinks as hopes wane for tariff delays
The S&P 500 closed down below 5,000 for the first time in almost a year on Tuesday.
Stocks tumbled at their fastest pace since the pandemic in the last three days, but investors showed some signs of hope early in the day that Donald Trump would soften his stance or postpone an April 9 deadline for tariffs.
However, investor hopes soon faded for any imminent US delays or concessions on tariffs ahead of a midnight deadline.
Market participants "were optimistic this morning that we would get some sort of sign that we're moving closer to a deal or a compromise with some of these bigger countries or that there would be a delay coming given that so many people wanted to negotiate," said Lindsey Bell, chief market strategist at Clearnomics in New York.
"That doesn't seem to necessarily be the case as we are quickly approaching the midnight deadline and investors are losing confidence."
Don’t ‘Panican’! Republicans are finally waking up to Donald Trump
As the US president coins a new term for the growing army of critics speaking out about his tariffs policy, Sean O’Grady says that ‘Panicans’ everywhere should rise up and wear the label with pride – ideally, on red baseball caps.
Read the full comment piece here:
Trump says US taking in $2 billion a day from tariffs
Donald Trump has said the US is taking in $2 billion per day from tariffs after his sweeping measures.
He made the comment without providing details during an event at the White House on Tuesday.
Watch: White House says additional tariffs on China go into effect at midnight
World bracing for market turmoil after US hits China with 104% tariffs in midnight ultimatum
Global markets are bracing for a trade war between the world’s two largest economies, as the White House confirmed Donald Trump’s 104 per cent tariffs on China are set to take effect.
Stock indexes in Europe and Asia finally returned to green on Tuesday, after nearly a week of turmoil – sparked by Mr Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement – wiped close to $10 trillion (£7.8 trillion) off the value of global markets.
But Wall Street continued its downward trend as Washington and Beijing traded increasingly stormy rhetoric, and the White House confirmed that tariffs of 104 per cent would start to be collected on Chinese goods from midnight in Washington DC (5am BST) on Wednesday.
Read the full report here:
World bracing for market turmoil as US hits China with 104% tariffs
Global trade friction sparked by Trump tariffs could put 85% of NHS medicines at risk, ministers warned
The availability of around 85 per cent of NHS medicines could be at risk unless the UK government strengthens its supply chains to prepare for worsening geopolitical tensions, ministers have been warned.
Manufacturers in Britain have urged the government to treat it as a defence issue, with the supply of drugs such as antibiotics under threat if global tensions continue to rise as a result of Donald Trump’s decision to impose hefty tariffs across the world.
Read more details in this report:
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