Category Archives: Tariffs

Swiss president under fire after Trump call leads to US tariffs shock

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Karin Keller-Sutter accused of mishandling talks as shares dive after Switzerland hit with 39% tariff

The Swiss stock market has plunged, the cabinet has been holding emergency talks and President Karin Keller-Sutter has been accused of mishandling a vital phone call with the White House after Donald Trump hit the country with a shock 39% export tariff.

Switzerland, home to some of the world’s best-known luxury brands, was left stunned after the US president on Friday imposed one of the highest tariff rates in his global trade reset. Industry associations warned that tens of thousands of jobs were at risk.

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India to still buy oil from Russia despite Trump threats, say officials

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No pause on Russian imports by Indian oil firms who base decisions on ‘price, grade of crude, logistics and economic factors’

Indian oil refineries will continue to buy oil from Russia, officials have said, before threatened US sanctions next week against Moscow’s trading partners over the war in Ukraine.

Media reports on Friday had suggested India, a big energy importer, would stop buying cheap Russian oil. Trump later told reporters that such a move would be “a good step” if true.

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India to still buy oil from Russia despite Trump threats, say officials

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No pause on Russian imports by Indian oil firms who base decisions on ‘price, grade of crude, logistics and economic factors’

Indian oil refineries will continue to buy oil from Russia, officials have said, before threatened US sanctions next week against Moscow’s trading partners over the war in Ukraine.

Media reports on Friday had suggested India, a big energy importer, would stop buying cheap Russian oil. Trump later told reporters that such a move would be “a good step” if true.

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India to still buy oil from Russia despite Trump threats, say officials

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No pause on Russian imports by Indian oil firms who base decisions on ‘price, grade of crude, logistics and economic factors’

Indian oil refineries will continue to buy oil from Russia, officials have said, before threatened US sanctions next week against Moscow’s trading partners over the war in Ukraine.

Media reports on Friday had suggested India, a big energy importer, would stop buying cheap Russian oil. Trump later told reporters that such a move would be “a good step” if true.

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US adds just 73,000 jobs in July amid pressure from trade war and ‘increasing signs of fragility’ in labor market

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July jobs growth slowed amid rising signs that Trump’s tariffs are weighing on trade, prices and hiring

The US economy added 73,000 jobs in July, far lower than expected, amid ongoing concerns with Donald Trump’s escalating trade war.

Forecasters surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted the July jobs report would show a drop in added jobs to around 109,000. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1% in June.

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Canada braces as tariff deadline looms and talks with US ‘chaos machine’ drag

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Ottawa is still trying to find a trade deal with Washington to avoid heavy tariffs as 1 August deadline approaches

After months of tariff threats from the US and escalating trade tensions that have sowed anger in Canada and fractured a once-close alliance, the country is now fast approaching a 1 August deadline to reach a deal with the Trump administration – which has shown no signs of backing down.

And observers are keeping a close eye on negotiations this week to determine whether too large a chasm has grown between the countries, resulting in what could be an explosive end to what was decades of free-flowing trade.

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Trump threatens Canada on trade deal after Carney moves to recognise Palestine

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Trump says recognising Palestine statehood ‘rewards Hamas’ and US deal with Canada would now be ‘very hard’

Donald Trump has threatened Canada after it moved to recognise a Palestinian state, reacting to Mark Carney’s announcement by saying that signing a US trade deal would now be “very hard”.

The Canadian prime minister said on Wednesday that if the Palestinian Authority promised to meet certain conditions, including demilitarising and holding elections without Hamas, Canada would join France, the UK and other allies in formally recognising a state of Palestine at the UN general assembly in New York in September.

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White House to end US tariff exemption for all low-value overseas packages

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Under Trump order, parcels valued at or under $800 outside of international postal network to face ‘all applicable duties’

The United States is suspending a “de minimis” exemption that allowed low-value commercial shipments to be shipped to the United States without facing tariffs, the White House said on Wednesday.

Under an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Wednesday, packages valued at or under $800 sent to the US outside of the international postal network will now face “all applicable duties” starting on 29 August, the White House said.

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President Lula hits back as Trump tariffs threaten US-Brazil trade showdown

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he won’t be cowed by Trump ahead of 50% tariffs set to hit Brazil

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has said he does not fear getting on the wrong side of Donald Trump, as South America’s largest economy braces for the introduction of 50% tariffs.

Trump announced plans to slap Brazil with tariffs on 1 August earlier this month, partly in retaliation for a supposed political “witch-hunt” against his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro. The former Brazilian president faces decades in jail for allegedly plotting a military coup to stop Lula from taking office after the former lost the 2022 presidential election.

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US and China poised to extend tariff truce after failing to find resolution at talks

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Trump will need to approve pause, say US representatives after negotiations end with sides failing to break deadlock on trade terms

US and Chinese negotiators have agreed in principle to push back the deadline for escalating tariffs, although America’s representatives said any extension would need Donald Trump’s approval.

Officials from both sides said after two days of talks in Stockholm that while had failed to find a resolution across the many areas of dispute they had agreed to extend a pause due to run out on 12 August.

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John Swinney urges Trump to exempt scotch whisky from 10% tariffs

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First minister says there is ‘window of opportunity’ as he holds talks with US president at Aberdeenshire golf resort

Scotland’s first minister has urged Donald Trump to exempt scotch whisky from 10% tariffs as the leaders met before a lavish opening ceremony for a second golf course at the US president’s Aberdeenshire resort.

John Swinney said he believed there was “a window of opportunity” to look at the specific tariff, which is believed to be costing the scotch whisky industry £4m a week.

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Von der Leyen ducks Trump’s trade blitz – but deal exposes EU’s faultlines

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Europe may have staved off an economic clash, but the compromise leaves the bloc facing higher tariffs and internal discord

There is no doubt that Ursula von der Leyen was under intense pressure on Sunday when she sat next to Donald Trump in the ballroom at his Turnberry golf course before what EU officials knew would be a gruelling round of trade talks.

As the European Commission president emerged less than an hour later to announce that the worst of Trump’s tariff threats had been avoided, the recriminations from inside the EU began almost immediately.

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European Central Bank keeps interest rates on hold despite sluggish growth

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Central bank shuns calls to reduce borrowing costs as higher US tariffs loom

The European Central Bank has kept interest rates on hold as figures showed the eurozone economy maintaining a slow pace of economic growth.

In what was widely expected to be a pause before further cuts later in the year, the Frankfurt-based central bank shunned calls to reduce the cost of borrowing and held its main interest rate at 2% and the deposit rate at 2.15%.

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Trump announces Japan trade deal as doubt cast over future of PM Ishiba

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Tokyo’s failure to secure a US deal sooner had caused political unease and economic uncertainty in Japan

Donald Trump has announced a trade deal with Japan, potentially resolving weeks of fraught negotiations between the two allies which had caused economic uncertainty in Tokyo and mounting speculation about the future of the prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba.

“We just completed a massive deal with Japan,” the US president announced in a post online, adding: “Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 billion dollars into the United States.”

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Trump threatens to impose drug and chip tariffs as soon as 1 August

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US president talks of low tariff to give pharmaceutical firms a year or so to build, and then making it ‘very high’

Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical products and semiconductors as soon as 1 August, the latest deadline for the introduction of his “reciprocal” levies on individual countries.

The US president told reporters late on Tuesday the taxes on drug imports could be announced “probably at the end of the month, and we’re going to start off with a low tariff and give the pharmaceutical companies a year or so to build, and then we’re going to make it a very high tariff”.

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Trump says Indonesia to pay 19% tariffs, buy 50 Boeing jets under trade deal

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Rate is significantly below the 32% the US president had threatened but timeline for implementation of deal remains unclear

US President Donald Trump says he has struck a trade pact with Indonesia resulting in significant purchase commitments from the south-east Asian country, after negotiations to avoid steeper tariffs.

Indonesian goods entering the United States would face a 19% tariff, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. This is significantly below the 32% level the president earlier threatened.

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China’s economy beats expectations in face of Trump’s trade war

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GDP grows 5.2% in second quarter as world’s second largest economy ‘front-loads’ shipments before tariffs kick in

China’s economy grew more strongly than expected in the second quarter as it proved resilient in the face of Donald Trump’s trade war.

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.2% in April to June compared with a year earlier, slowing from 5.4% in the first quarter, but just ahead of analysts’ expectations for a rise of 5.1%.

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Macron calls on EU to ‘defend European interests resolutely’ from Trump tariffs

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French president says bloc should be ready for trade war after 30% tariff threat but other EU leaders call for calm

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called on the EU to “defend European interests resolutely” after Donald Trump threatened to impose 30% tariffs on nearly all imports from the EU.

It came as the EU moved to de-escalate tensions after the blunt move by Trump on Saturday. The bloc declared a further pause on €21bn of retaliatory tariffs until 1 August, dovetailing with the US president’s new deal deadline.

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Trump’s 10% tariff on most UK goods ‘here to stay’, says Lord Mandelson

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British ambassador to US believes universal levy unlikely to change but there is ‘scope’ for negotiations in some sectors

The 10% tariffs on most UK goods imported into the US are likely “here to stay”, according to Lord Mandelson.

The British ambassador to the US said the “universal 10% tariff” was unlikely to change but that there was “scope” for negotiations in different sectors and industries, such as technology.

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EU will be reeling over how to tackle trade talks after Trump’s 30% tariff threat

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Bloc had already backtracked from tough talk to seeking a bare bones deal – but US president has turned tables again

Second-guessing Donald Trump is a fool’s errand.

But Saturday’s shock threat to impose tariffs of 30% on the EU is a blow to the bloc’s confidence, which had already secretly capitulated during negotiations with diplomats revealing they had to sacrifice trade for the wider prize of security and defence of the continent.

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