Gordon Brown calls for ‘economic coalition of the willing’ to tackle Trump tariffs

Former PM says it is also the moment for the UK to go even further in renewing ties with the EU

Gordon Brown has called for an “economic coalition of the willing” to respond to Donald Trump’s tariffs with coordinated economic policies, including a reduction of interest rates.

The former prime minister also said it was a moment for the UK to go even further in renewing ties with the EU, suggesting it should mean “collaboration that is even more extensive than removing post-Brexit trade barriers”.

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Conservative CDU/CSU and SPD form coalition government in Germany

Two of the country’s biggest parties freeze out rightwing AfD and prepare for impact of Trump’s new tariffs

Germany’s biggest mainstream parties have sealed an agreement to form a government keeping the far right out of power, as Europe’s top economy struggles to reverse a downturn and gird itself for the potentially catastrophic impact of new US tariffs.

The prospective chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU announced the breakthrough deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), which had led the ruling coalition since 2021.

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EU to impose retaliatory 25% tariffs on US goods from almonds to yachts

Bloc says it ‘considers US tariffs unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides’

The EU has agreed to impose retaliatory tariffs on €21bn (£18bn) of US goods, targeting farm produce and products from Republican states, in Europe’s first act of retaliation against Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The EU plans to introduce 25% tariffs on scores of goods from almonds to yachts, with the first duties being collected from 15 April, while the bulk apply from 15 May and the remainder from 1 December.

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UK must improve trade relations with Europe amid US tariff wars, warns Reeves

Chancellor rules out rejoining customs union but says Britain must bolster post-Brexit trade with partners

Donald Trump’s unfolding trade war makes it even more “imperative” for the UK to improve its post-Brexit trading relations with the European Union, Rachel Reeves has said.

The government has ruled out rejoining the EU customs union, but the chancellor has insisted the UK wants to improve its trade relationship with “partners in Europe”, given the difficulties British firms have found in exporting their products around Europe.

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Asian markets fall as Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, including 104% against China, due to take effect – business live

Stock markets down from Australia to Japan and Taiwan as Trump presses ahead with plans to hit China with huge retaliatory tariffs

Today’s tariffs follow Trump’s 10% tariff on all imports from many countries, including Australia, which came into effect at the weekend.

US customs agents began collecting the unilateral tariff at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses on Saturday. Today’s measures are higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners.

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How Trump tariffs could push Vietnam into the arms of China

The move has sent shock waves through a region of US strategic importance that had respected Trump as tough on Beijing

Vietnam had tried to appease Donald Trump: tariffs on US goods were reduced; regulations were passed to allow Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch its Starlink in the country. The prime minister, Pham Minh Chinh, even joked in January that he would happily “play golf all day long” at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida if it could “bring benefits to my country and my people”.

The strategies do not appear to have worked. Trump has inflicted an extraordinary 46% tariff on Vietnam that threatens to devastate its economic growth plans and undermine relations between the two countries. The tariff has sent shock waves through Vietnam, a manufacturing powerhouse where Trump has always been fairly popular, and across south-east Asia.

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China vows to ‘fight to the end’ against latest Trump tariff threat

Beijing accuses US of blackmail and adding a ‘mistake on top of a mistake’ as Wednesday deadline for latest levies looms

China’s government says it will “fight to the end” if the US continues to escalate the trade war, after Donald Trump threatened huge additional tariffs in response to China’s retaliatory measures.

On Tuesday, China’s commerce ministry accused the US of “blackmail” and said the US president’s threats of additional 50% tariffs if Beijing did not reverse its own 34% reciprocal tariff were a “mistake on top of a mistake”.

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UK politics: Starmer sticks by manifesto pledge not to raise taxes amid tariff turmoil – as it happened

Prime minister says ‘no one is pretending tariffs are good news’ during speech on car industry

In his Times article Keir Starmer describes the Trump tariffs as “the beginning of a new era”. He has been saying this at least since last Thursday, when he spoke about the tariffs at a Q&A with journalists at Labour’s local elections campaign launch. The speech this afternoon is being described as the PM’s most considered response so far to the global economic turmoil generated by the tariffs, but we have already heard quite a lot from Starmer on this topic already, in a Sunday Telegraph article yesterday and in No 10 briefings on the calls he had with world leaders about the situation over the weekend.

Is there a coherent strategy? On the basis of what he has said so far, there are at least five elements in the mix at the moment.

John Ryan is a local hero and we are truly humbled that he has publicly endorsed Reform UK ahead of May’s elections in Doncaster.

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Caribbean is friend of US, not an enemy, tariff-hit regional leaders tell Trump

Barbados PM and Caricom chair calls on Washington to engage in talks to ‘keep prices down for all of our people’

The Caribbean is a friend, not an enemy, leaders in the region have told Donald Trump after the US president’s imposition of worldwide import tariffs.

The prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, invited Trump to talk with leaders in the region and “work together to keep prices down for all of our people”, adding: “I say simply to President Trump: our economies are not doing your economy any harm in any way. They are too small to have any negative or distorted impact on your country.”

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Asian markets plunge further amid tariff fallout; Trump says ‘sometimes you have to take medicine’ – business live

Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbles nearly 9% on Monday as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 8% and South Korea trading temporarily halted amid Trump tariff concerns

Hong Kong stocks have plummeted more than 9% at open, while Singapore stocks dropped over 7%, according to reports.

Hong Kong and Chinese stocks dived on Monday as markets around the world crumbled in the face of the widening global trade war and fears it will unleash a deep recession, Reuters says.

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Asian markets plunge further amid tariff fallout; Trump says ‘sometimes you have to take medicine’ – business live

Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbles nearly 9% on Monday as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 8% and South Korea trading temporarily halted amid Trump tariff concerns

Hong Kong stocks have plummeted more than 9% at open, while Singapore stocks dropped over 7%, according to reports.

Hong Kong and Chinese stocks dived on Monday as markets around the world crumbled in the face of the widening global trade war and fears it will unleash a deep recession, Reuters says.

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Asian share markets routed in early trading as Trump says ‘you have to take medicine’

US president tells reporters the levies are ‘medicine to fix something’ as Nikkei tumbles nearly 9% in early trading, worsening huge losses from last week’s announcement

Donald Trump said foreign governments would have to pay “a lot of money” to lift sweeping tariffs that he characterised as “medicine,” as markets in Asia plunged in early trading on Monday.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One late on Sunday, the US president indicated he was not concerned about market losses that have already wiped out nearly $6tn in value from US stocks. “I don’t want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said.

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Asian share markets routed in early trading as Trump says ‘you have to take medicine’

US president tells reporters the levies are ‘medicine to fix something’ as Nikkei tumbles nearly 9% in early trading, worsening huge losses from last week’s announcement

Donald Trump said foreign governments would have to pay “a lot of money” to lift sweeping tariffs that he characterised as “medicine,” as markets in Asia plunged in early trading on Monday.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One late on Sunday, the US president indicated he was not concerned about market losses that have already wiped out nearly $6tn in value from US stocks. “I don’t want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said.

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Government will step in to support key industries amid tariff turmoil, says Starmer

Carmakers will be given more flexibility over targets on transitioning to electric vehicles

Keir Starmer has said the government will step in to support key British industries, as business grapples with the economic turmoil unleashed by Donald Trump’s global tariffs.

As the government attempts to counter the impact of the White House hitting the UK with a 10% base levy on exports to the US, the prime minister will promise to help shelter vulnerable sectors and will implement key parts of the industrial strategy months early.

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Starmer to hold talks with other global leaders to discuss response to Trump tariffs, says No 10 – UK politics live

UK prime minister to speak to international leaders this weekend to ‘maintain stability and strengthen our partnerships abroad’

Trump claims Starmer ‘very happy’ about tariffs

Downing Street has refused to confirm President Trump’s claim that Keir Starmer was “very happy” about the treatment the UK is getting under the new US global tariff regime. (See 9.32am.) Asked about the president’s words at the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson said that the government had already set out its position yesterday and that it was “disappointed” by the US tariff policy.

Livia Tossici-Bolt has been sentenced at Poole magistrates’ court to a conditional discharge for two years for two charges of breaching a “buffer zone” outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth, PA Media reports. See 11.22am.

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IMF warns of ‘significant risk’ to global economy from Trump tariffs as markets plunge

Fund boss Kristalina Georgieva says it is important that US and trading partners avoid escalating trade war

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Donald Trump’s implementation of swingeing tariffs poses a “significant risk” to the global economy, as stock markets were hit by a punishing worldwide sell-off by investors.

Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the IMF, said it was important that the US and its trading partners avoided further escalating Trump’s trade war, while stock markets plunged on Friday as China retaliated against the tariffs.

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UK ministers will respond to US tariffs with ‘calm heads’, Starmer tells business chiefs

Prime minister says tariffs will be ‘a challenge’ but UK is better placed with 10% rate than EU at 20%

Keir Starmer has told heads of business in Downing Street that “clearly there will be an economic impact” from US tariffs but that ministers would respond with “cool and calm heads”.

The prime minister gathered senior business figures in No 10 after Donald Trump announced he would introduce 10% blanket tariffs on imports from the UK, and 25% on car imports.

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Canada Trump tariff exemption ‘like dodging a bullet into the path of a tank’, says business leader

Automotive industry and prime minister Mark Carney note that 25% tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and automobiles will still come into effect within hours

Canada’s exemption from Donald Trump’s global tariffs was “like dodging a bullet into the path of a tank”, say business leaders as other levies are poised to hit key industries that drive the country’s economy.

In a theatrical unveiling of tariffs on countries with “unfair” practices on Wednesday afternoon, Canada was noticeably absent, alongside trade ally Mexico.

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Trump hits UK with 10% tariffs as he ignites global trade war

Britain gets off comparatively lightly but US president’s action could still cost billions in lost growth

Donald Trump has hit the UK with tariffs of 10% on exports to the US as he ignited a global trade war that could wipe billions off economic growth.

The US president accused other nations, including allies, of “looting, pillaging, raping and plundering” the US, as he announced tariffs on economic rivals including 20% on the EU and 34% on China as part of what he dubbed “liberation day”.

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Wednesday briefing: What the latest wave of tariffs mean for the US, UK, Europe – and you

In today’s newsletter: The administration’s sweeping tariffs have left markets bracing for volatility – but what impact will they have on an unsteady global economy?

Good morning. According to Donald Trump, it’s “liberation day”: the advent of a new trade order in which Americans reap the benefit of massive tariffs on imports, and the rest of the world picks up the tab.

Unsurprisingly, the United States’ trading partners tend to take a very different view. And they are doing everything they can to avoid being passive targets for the White House’s carnivorous vision of American exceptionalism.

Israel-Gaza war | Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced a major expansion of the military operation in Gaza on Wednesday, saying large areas of the enclave would be seized and added to the security zones of Israel. Follow the latest here.

Israel-Gaza war | Some of the bodies of 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, killed by Israeli forces and buried in a mass grave in Gaza, were found with their hands or legs tied and had gunshot wounds to the head and chest, according to two eyewitnesses. The accounts add to evidence pointing to a potentially serious war crime on 23 March.

UK news | More than 20 women have contacted police to say they fear they may have been attacked by the serial rapist Zhenhao Zou, with detectives fearing there may be even more victims to come. Zou, 28, was convicted last month of raping three women in London and seven in China between 2019 and 2024.

US politics | Cory Booker, the Democratic US senator from New Jersey, has broken the record for longest speech ever by a lone senator by spending 25 hours and five minutes inveighing against Donald Trump in the chamber. Booker’s speech was intended to highlight the “grave and urgent” danger that Trump poses to democracy.

Cinema | Val Kilmer, the actor best known for his roles in Top Gun, Batman Forever and The Doors, has died at the age of 65. His daughter Mercedes told the New York Times that the cause of death was pneumonia.

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