Category Archives: Tariffs

Jon Voight defends Trump’s film tariff plan: ‘Something has to be done’

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Oscar-winning actor gives first interview to Variety since working with Trump on plan to shake up Hollywood

Jon Voight, the actor who inspired Donald Trump’s surprise statement about placing a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, has given his first interview on the supposed plan to “give people back their dignity and their jobs”.

“Something has to be done, and it’s way past time,” the 86-year-old actor told Variety while he was, according to the magazine, “driving through what sounded like a car wash”.

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Has UK-India trade deal ‘sold out British workers’ as Farage and Badenoch claim?

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Row over exemption of national insurance contributions for Indian short-term workers overshadows deal

A multibillion-pound free trade agreement with India has long been touted as a big Brexit boon.

Cheaper clothes and shoes for British shoppers, a huge market for scotch whisky producers and luxury carmakers, and billions of pounds worth of extra trade are among the benefits of the agreement, which was finalised this week.

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China to cut interest rates in response to trade war with US

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Half-point cut to be made to banks’ reserve requirement ratio and 1tn yuan released into banking system

China will cut interest rates and inject some much-needed liquidity into the domestic economy, as the country steels itself for a bruising trade war with the US.

The People’s Bank of China said on Wednesday it would make a half-point cut to the banks’ reserve requirement ratio, its benchmark interest rate, and release 1tn yuan (£103.6bn) into the banking system.

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Starmer beats Trump to the line in race for trade deal with India

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India has made concessions in trade negotiations, leaving UK heralding deal as ‘most significant’ since Brexit

It is not exactly the deepest and most comprehensive trade deal the UK has ever entered, but the timing of the announcement that Keir Starmer has clinched a free trade deal with India could not be more fortunate.

Over the weekend, the US president, Donald Trump, hinted he was on the verge of announcing his first trade deal, prompting speculation it could be with Japan, South Korea or India.

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US media stocks slide on Wall Street after Trump threatens movie tariffs

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Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount shares fall as studios reel from announcement

Shares in US streamers and production companies fell on Monday, after Donald Trump said he would introduce 100% tariffs on films made abroad, a move that couldsharply raise costs for Hollywood studios.

Trump’s announcement on his Truth Social platform, revived worries about the US president’s trade policy and its impact on the world economy.

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China ‘evaluating’ US offer to engage in trade negotiations

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Comments come a week after Trump claimed talks were already taking place

Beijing is “evaluating” an offer from the US to engage in trade negotiations, the Chinese government has said, a week after Donald Trump claimed talks were already under way.

China’s commerce ministry said on Friday: “The US has recently taken the initiative on many occasions to convey information to China through relevant parties, saying it hopes to talk with China.”

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Why is Trump ending the ‘de minimis’ tariff loophole on low-value imports?

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Goods worth less than $800 will be subject to 120% levy meaning prices on Chinese exports will probably increase

At one minute past midnight on Friday, eastern time, a US tariff exemption that has fuelled the rise of companies such as Shein and Temu, and stocked the wardrobes of millions of Americans with cheap fast fashion and other household goods, closed. As part of Donald Trump’s flurry of tariffs on China, the US is closing a loophole that allowed low-value goods to be shipped into the US without paying any import fees. The “de minimis” loophole, known by the Latin phrase for “of little importance”, was “a big scam going on against our country”, the US president said on Wednesday. “We put an end to it.”

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Amazon reports better-than-expected earnings despite tumult of Trump tariffs

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Company exceeds expectations for third quarter in a row as chief executive Andy Jassy admits uncertainty over tariffs

Amazon reported strong first-quarter earnings for the 2025 fiscal year on Thursday after the New York stock exchange closed – results that will be seen in the context of consumer resilience in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff wars.

Amazon reported $1.59 in earnings-per-share (EPS) and revenue of $155.67bn. Analysts had estimated that the company’s EPS would come in at $1.36 on revenue of $155bn. In particular focus: Amazon’s advertising business, which grew 19% in the first quarter of 2025, handily exceeding analyst expectations as well. The company has exceeded Wall Street’s expectations for the previous two quarters.

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Trump tariffs cause fastest slump in British factory export orders in five years

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Decline in output and new orders in April allied with rising uncertainty is prompting layoffs, survey finds

Britain’s factories suffered a slump in export orders last month as Donald Trump’s globally unsettling tariff regime sent overseas demand for UK goods tumbling at the fastest pace in five years.

Manufacturers reported rising economic and trade uncertainties in April as some tariffs took effect and other threatened border taxes loomed, forcing them to lay off workers for a sixth consecutive month.

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Chinese e-commerce exports to US plummet by 65% in face of tariffs

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Temu and Shein among fast-fashion sites affected by drop in first three months of this year but sales in rise to EU

Exports to the US from Chinese online shops such as Temu and Shein have plunged in the face of Donald Trump’s trade war, as shipping from China to the EU has increased.

Official Chinese data showed its total e-commerce shipping to the US dropped 65% by volume in the first three months of the year, but rose by 28% in Europe.

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China manufacturing activity plummets amid Trump tariff war

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Index of activity drops to lowest reading since December 2023 as a result of ‘sharp changes’ in international trading

China’s factory activity slowed in April, with Beijing blaming “sharp changes” in the global economy as it fights a mounting trade war with the United States.

Punishing US tariffs that reached 145% on many Chinese products came into force in April, and Beijing responded with 125% duties on imports from the US. Chinese exports soared more than 12% last month as businesses rushed to get ahead of the punishing tariffs.

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HSBC sets aside more cash for bad loans amid Trump tariff war

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UK-based bank warns that trade tensions will lead to lower investment, consumer spending and GDP growth

HSBC has sounded the alarm about the impact of higher trade tariffs on economic growth, unemployment and inflation around the world, as it set aside more money to cover bad debts and reported lower profits.

The UK-based bank reported a $200m (£149m) rise in expected credit losses to $900m in the first quarter, as it increased allowances to “reflect heightened uncertainty and deterioration in the forward economic outlook due to geopolitical tensions and higher trade tariffs”.

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Adidas warns Trump tariffs will put up US shoe prices

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Company had strong first quarter but says it cannot raise outlook for this year owing to tariffs uncertainty

Adidas has said the price of its popular trainers, including the Samba and Campus models, is likely to rise as a result of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The German group said the uncertainty around US import tariffs had prevented it from raising its outlook for sales and profit this year despite reporting strong first-quarter results.

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Drugmaker AstraZeneca shifts more production to US amid Trump tariffs

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UK and rest of Europe risk losing out to US and China unless they ramp up spending on new medicines, says CEO Pascal Soriot

AstraZeneca said it was shifting the production of some medicines sold in the US from Europe to the US, to counter the impact of Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.

Speaking as the company reported higher sales and profits for the first quarter, the FTSE 100 pharma company reiterated that the UK, and the rest of Europe, risked losing out to the US and China unless they ramped up spending on new medicines. Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca’s chief executive, warned that well-paid advanced manufacturing and research jobs could move to the US in the long run.

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Trump reveals plans to ease tariff impact on US carmakers

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US president will curb some duties on foreign parts in domestically manufactured cars, administration says

Donald Trump unveiled plans to water down his sweeping tariffs for US carmakers on Tuesday by curbing some duties on foreign cars and parts, granting a reprieve to an industry that warned his strategy would increase costs for American manufacturers by tens of billions of dollars.

Carmakers subject to a 25% tariff on imports will not be subject to other levies Trump has imposed, for example, on steel and aluminum. US automakers will also be allowed to apply for tariff relief on a proportion of the costs imposed for imported parts, although that relief will be phased out over the next two years.

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UK banks brace for first-quarter reports after Trump tariff turmoil

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Lenders expected to split into two camps: those focused on domestic customers and those with large operations in the US, China and the EU

UK banks’ earnings reports will be studied this week for signs of turmoil linked to Donald Trump’s tariff drama, with uncertainty over global growth likely to weigh on lenders with heavy exposure to China, including HSBC.

First-quarter profits only reflect the January-to-March period that preceded the US president’s “liberation day” tariff announcements on 2 April. But investors will be concerned about any hints of caution around earnings forecasts, as well as an uptick in money put aside for defaults by tariff-hit borrowers.

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US consumer sentiment sees largest drop since 1990 after Trump tariff chaos

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Experts warn of slowing economy after score based on Americans’ financial outlooks fell by 32% since January

US consumer sentiment plummeted in April after Donald Trump’s trade war threw the global economy into chaos, according to a new report.

The index of consumer sentiment, a score based on a monthly survey asking Americans about their financial outlooks, fell by 32% since January – the largest drop since the 1990 recession, according to the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research.

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Xi announces plan for Chinese economy to counter impact of US trade war

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Beijing will ‘strengthen bottom-line thinking’ as reports say it could drop tariffs on some US products

Xi Jinping has announced a plan to counter China’s continuing economic problems and the impact of the US trade war, as reports swirl that it could drop tariffs on some US products, including semiconductors.

Friday’s meeting of the politburo was convened to discuss China’s economy, which since the pandemic has faced difficulties fuelled by a housing sector crisis, youth unemployment and Donald Trump’s tariffs on all Chinese imports to the US.

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Boeing hopes to find new buyers for up to 50 planes returned by China

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Airplane manufacturer says it is lobbying Donald Trump over ‘unfortunate’ decision to impose tariffs

Boeing will try to divert as many as 50 planes ordered by Chinese airlines to customers elsewhere after steep tariffs prompted by Donald Trump’s trade war.

The US manufacturer said it was confident it could find other buyers for the planes, but said it was lobbying Trump personally to resolve an “unfortunate situation”.

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UK manufacturers to cut jobs ‘within weeks unless ministers can strike trade deal’

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Bosses from automative, manufacturing and energy warned MPs about effect of Trump tariffs

Britain’s manufacturers will start cutting jobs “within weeks” unless the government can strike a deal to safeguard the UK economy from Donald Trump’s trade war, industry leaders have told MPs.

Senior executives from the UK’s automotive, manufacturing and energy sectors warned a committee of MPs to expect job losses this summer if the US moves ahead with a swathe of global trade tariffs set out by Trump earlier this month.

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