Trump praises Italian PM and accepts invitation that could present chance for him to meet other European leaders
Giorgia Meloni said Donald Trump had accepted her invitation for an official trip to Rome, as the pair met in Washington in an attempt by the Italian prime minister to bridge the gap between the EU and US amid trade tariff tensions.
Meloni said Trump’s trip could happen “in the near future” and could present an opportunity for him to meet other European leaders.
Continue reading...Jensen Huang causes stir on social media and is reported to have met founder of AI company DeepSeek
The chief executive of the American chip maker Nvidia visited Beijing on Thursday, days after the US issued fresh restrictions on sales of the only AI chip it was still allowed to sell to China.
Jensen Huang’s surprise visit was on the invitation of a trade organisation, according to a social media account affiliated with state media.
Continue reading...Government seeks ways to shield industry from possible US levies amid concern over effect on medicine supply
Ministers are having an “active conversation” with UK pharmaceutical firms about the potential impact of US tariffs, amid calls for an emergency taskforce to make sure the supply of medicines is not disrupted.
The UK government has been trying to head off the threat of tariffs to the pharmaceuticals industry, which exports about £7bn of goods to the US – just behind the £8.3bn of car exports.
Continue reading...E-tailers also hiking prices after Donald Trump ends ‘de minimis’ exemption for cheap shipments from China and Hong Kong
Temu and Shein are cutting back their spending on US social media advertising as they lose an exemption on tariffs for many of their shipments from China and Hong Kong.
The online e-tailers, both of which ship low-priced China-made goods direct to US shoppers, had been on an ad spree until recently. But under an executive order from Donald Trump, as of 2 May their sales valued at under $800 will no longer be exempt from US tariffs.
Continue reading...President also claims inflation is falling as Chinese state media tells US to ‘stop whining’ amid escalating trade war
Joe Biden on Tuesday accused Donald Trump and his billionaire lieutenant, Elon Musk, of “taking a hatchet” to the social security administration as they moved at warp-speed to dismantle large swaths of the federal government.
In his first public remarks since leaving office, the former president avoided any explicit mention of Trump – his predecessor and successor – but he was sharply critical of the new administration for threatening social security, which Biden called a “sacred promise” that more than 70 million Americans rely on each month.
Continue reading...Post office says it ‘definitely’ won’t collect tariffs on Washington’s behalf and Hongkongers should prepare to pay exorbitant fees
Hong Kong Post said on Wednesday it had suspended goods mail services by sea to the US and will suspend its air mail postal service for items containing goods from 27 April due to “bullying” US tariffs.
When sending items to the US, people in Hong Kong “should be prepared to pay exorbitant and unreasonable fees due to the US’s unreasonable and bullying acts”, Hong Kong Post said in a statement.
Continue reading...Notices show Trump administration setting stage for levies on both sectors on national security grounds
The Trump administration is kicking off investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as part of a bid to impose tariffs on both sectors on national security grounds, notices posted to the Federal Register on Monday showed.
The filings scheduled to be published on Wednesday set a 21-day deadline from that date for the submission of public comment on the issue and indicate the administration intends to pursue the levies under authority granted by the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Such inquiries need to be completed within 270 days after being announced.
Continue reading...Unctad says many countries targeted with high tariff rates are unlikely to be a threat to US
The UN’s trade and development arm, Unctad, is calling on Donald Trump to exempt the world’s poorest and smallest countries from “reciprocal” tariffs, or risk “serious economic harm”.
In a report published on Monday, Unctad identifies 28 nations the US president singled out for a higher tariff rate than the 10% baseline – despite each accounting for less than 0.1% of the US trade deficit.
Continue reading...Xi Jinping expected to present China as reliable partner in contrast to US, which imposed – then suspended – tariffs over 40% on some countries
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, warned there would be “no winners” in a trade war and that protectionism “leads nowhere”, as he began a three-nation trip to south-east Asia, starting in Vietnam on Monday.
Xi’s tour, which started in Hanoi, also includes rare visits to Malaysia and Cambodia and will seek to strengthen ties with China’s closest neighbours amid a trade war that has sent shock waves through global markets.
Continue reading...Chinese customs official says trade has diversified away from US in recent years and plays up its ‘vast domestic market’
China has played down the risk of damage to its exports from Donald Trump’s tariffs, with an official saying the “the sky won’t fall”, as stock markets rose on Monday amid signs of a retreat on electronics restrictions.
The world’s second-largest economy has diversified its trade away from the US in recent years, according to Lyu Daliang, a customs administration spokesperson, in comments reported by state-owned agency Xinhua.
Continue reading...Ray Dalio’s comments come after rocky week across stock markets after policies including 145% tariff raise on China
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio said that he is worried the US will experience “something worse than a recession” as a result of Donald Trump’s trade policies.
Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, the 75-year-old hedge fund manager said: “I think that right now we are at a decision-making point and very close to a recession. And I’m worried about something worse than a recession if this isn’t handled well.”
Continue reading...Exemption, seen as a climbdown, includes laptops and chips, and is likely to help firms such as Apple and Nvidia
US stock markets were expected to stage a recovery on Monday after Donald Trump excluded imports of smartphones and laptops from his tariff regime late on Friday night.
Shares in Apple and chip maker Nvidia were on course to soar after tariffs on their products imported into the US were lifted for 90 days.
Continue reading...President’s first stop is Vietnam as China urges US to end trade war and return to ‘right path of mutual respect’
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will visit Vietnam on Monday as he begins a tour of south-east Asia where he will seek to strengthen ties with neighbouring countries amid an escalating trade war.
Xi will visit Vietnam from Monday before travelling to Malaysia and Cambodia, a high-profile tour that Chinese officials have described as being of “major importance”.
Continue reading...Announcement says tariffs – including those imposed on China – will also not apply to other electronic devices
Donald Trump’s presidential administration has exempted smartphones and computers from the 125% levies imposed on imports from China as well as other “reciprocal” tariffs, which experts had cautioned might cause electronic consumer prices to spike dramatically in the US.
The announcement was made late on Friday in a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) notice that said the devices would be excluded from the 10% global tariff that Trump recently imposed on most countries, along with the much heftier import tax on China.
Continue reading...Trump’s tariffs were sometimes played down, sometimes cheered but rarely seriously questioned by the right
While Donald Trump recently instituted and paused hefty tariffs, sparking a trade war and chaos in financial markets, most of the country’s conservative media either applauded the US president or critiqued the policy but not the person behind it, according to journalists and observers of conservative media.
Meanwhile, economists, business leaders, Democrats and even some Republicans warned that the tariffs, which prompted the largest American stock market drop since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, could cause a recession.
Continue reading...Casual attitude as markets fall suggests man detached from anxieties of ordinary voters – and surrounded by yes men
After lighting a fuse under global financial markets, Donald Trump stepped back – all the way to a Florida golf course. A week later, having just caved to pressure to ease his trade tariffs, the US president defended the retreat while hosting racing car champions at the White House.
Trump had spent the time in between golfing, dining with donors and making insouciant declarations such as “this is a great time to get rich”, even as the US economy melted down.
Continue reading...Nothing is certain under this president – as seen in the inconsistent implementation of tariffs. And it has a longer-term economic cost
Minutes after Donald Trump unveiled a climbdown on tariffs, softening an extraordinary US attack on trade from much of the world, his press secretary scolded reporters at the White House.
“Many of you in the media clearly missed The Art of the Deal,” said Karoline Leavitt, referring to the 1987 bestseller which laid the foundations of the president’s reputation as a consummate dealmaker.
Continue reading...Lasting damage has been done not only to Trump’s political credibility but to globalisation as a system
At the beginning of this helter-skelter week, Downing Street was declaring globalisation not only dead but a failure. Now, only five trading days later, the autopsy is still under way but the victim may instead be economic populism, strangled by Wall Street, the citadel of globalisation. Donald Trump’s so-called liberation day may in fact have been the anti-globalist’s entombment day.
In an effort to deny even a tactical retreat, Trump’s aides insist the White House goal all along was not to weaken globalism, or even to protect the US economy with tariffs, but instead to get into a negotiation to lower tariffs around the world and to punish China. As cover stories go, it is hardly credible, partly because the tariffs were repeatedly lauded by Trump as a macroeconomic revenue-raising measure, or a means to bolster US manufacturing.
Continue reading...Call to prioritise reset with Europe comes after top adviser to Trump downplays prospect of US tariffs being reduced
Ministers should focus on rebuilding bridges with the EU, Labour politicians have said, after a senior adviser to Donald Trump downplayed the prospect of a breakthrough with the US.
MPs said the government should “prioritise our trading relationship with the EU” and “get a sugar rush of growth” instead of banking on the prospect of preferential treatment from Washington.
Continue reading...Carmaker removes ‘order now’ buttons for Model S saloon and Model X SUV on its Chinese website amid tariffs war
Tesla has stopped taking orders in China for two models it previously imported from the US, as companies scramble to adapt to prohibitive tariffs imposed in Donald Trump’s trade war.
The manufacturer, run by Trump’s close ally Elon Musk, removed “order now” buttons on its Chinese website for its Model S saloon and Model X sports utility vehicle.
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