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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Commerce secretary insists on CBS that tariffs will ‘stay in place’ as treasury secretary tells NBC negotiation is possible
Senior officials within Donald Trump’s administration gave conflicting messages on Sunday about the US president’s global tariffs that have caused a meltdown in stock markets, prompted warnings of a world recession and provoked rare expressions of dissent from within his Republican party.
Cabinet members fanned out across Sunday’s political talk shows armed with talking points on Trump’s 10% across-the-board tariff on almost all US imports, with higher rates targeted at about 60 countries. If the intention was to calm nerves with a clear statement of intent, then it backfired as top officials gave starkly contrasting signals.
Continue reading...Commerce secretary insists on CBS that tariffs will ‘stay in place’ as treasury secretary tells NBC negotiation is possible
Senior officials within Donald Trump’s administration gave conflicting messages on Sunday about the US president’s global tariffs that have caused a meltdown in stock markets, prompted warnings of a world recession and provoked rare expressions of dissent from within his Republican party.
Cabinet members fanned out across Sunday’s political talk shows armed with talking points on Trump’s 10% across-the-board tariff on almost all US imports, with higher rates targeted at about 60 countries. If the intention was to calm nerves with a clear statement of intent, then it backfired as top officials gave starkly contrasting signals.
Continue reading...PM says he will use policy to shelter British businesses following the stock market turmoil prompted by Trump’s announcement
Starmer orders economic reset amid Trump’s tariff mayhem
Welcome back to our live coverage of the economic fallout from Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs last week.
Almost $5tn (£4tn) was wiped off the value of global stock markets after the US president made his shock announcement last Wednesday, which included a 10% base tariff on imports into the US from the UK.
Continue reading...Protesters gather at more than a thousand events across the US and in cities abroad, such as London, Berlin and Paris. This blog is now closed.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in central London on Saturday as part of global demonstrations against Donald Trump’s administration.
Crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square with banners that read “No to Maga hate” and “Dump Trump”. The rally is one of hundreds of so-called “Hands Off” demonstrations around the world – including in cities across the US, Paris and Berlin.
We see the foundations of our society, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, the very safety nets that people have fought for, for generations, to ensure that our country lives up to its promise, are being targeted by the billionaires and the oligarchs and the corporations.
This insidious rise of authoritarianism is fueled by corrupt billionaires and mega corporations who believe that they have the right to control every aspect of our lives, our healthcare, to our schools, to our thoughts, to our very free speech under the false banner of patriotism and freedom …
Continue reading...Texas senator’s comments another sign of Republican unease over ‘reciprocal tariffs’ and stock market plunge
Ted Cruz, the US senator from Texas, has warned that his fellow Republicans risk a “bloodbath” in the 2026 midterm elections if Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs cause a recession.
Cruz also warned that the president’s tariffs, if they stay in place for long and are met by global retaliation on American goods, could trigger a full-blown trade war that “would destroy jobs here at home, and do real damage to the US economy”.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Figure up from 117,000 jobs added in February, far higher than expected, as unemployment rose slightly to 4.2%
The US added 228,000 jobs in March, far more than expected, as the US economy shook off the blow from the Trump administration’s deep cuts to federal workers.
The figure was up from an adjusted 117,000 jobs added in February. Unemployment rose slightly to 4.2%.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Kristolina Georgieva warns against retaliation to US levies while US president insists ‘markets will boom’ after sweeping tariff announcement
In the Pacific, Fiji is the hardest hit by Trump’s tariffs. It has been levied with a 32% tariff, Vanuatu at 22% and Nauru at 30%.
Fiji prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka said the move was akin to a “trade blockade” that his country could not win.
Today was the worst stock market experience in five years. Usually when you have a terrible stock market experience, it’s because a bank fails, a pandemic, a hurricane or because some other country does something.
We don’t have these kinds of stock market responses in response to policies that the President of the United States is proud of. That is something that is entirely without precedent. It is extremely dangerous.
If any administration of which I was a part had launched an economic policy so totally ungrounded in serious analysis or so dangerous and damaging, I would have resigned in protest.
Continue reading...Canadian prime minister says country will impose taxes on US vehicles not compliant with continental free trade deal
Canada will retaliate against “unjustified, unwarranted” tariffs imposed by the United States with a 25% tax on US vehicles, says Mark Carney.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump announced wide-ranging tariffs on dozens of countries, but did not add new trade levies to Canada or Mexico. Despite the reprieve, however, the US has placed 25% taxes on Canadian steel, aluminum and vehicles.
Continue reading...Nasdaq futures tumbled 3.3% and in after-hours trade as $760bn was wiped from the market value of ‘Magnificent Seven’ technology leaders
Stocks dived and investors scrambled to the safety of bonds, gold and the yen on Thursday as Donald Trump unveiled a bigger-than-expected wall of tariffs around the world’s largest economy, upending trade and supply chains.
The technology sector was pummelled as manufacturing hubs in China and Taiwan faced new tariffs above 30%. In total, China now faces an eye-watering 54% in tariffs on its exports to the US.
Continue reading...Myanmar, which is reeling from a huge earthquake and civil war, faces 44% rate amid suspicions that the underlying target is China
Developing nations in South-east Asia, including war-torn and earthquake-hit Myanmar, and several African nations are among the trading partners facing the highest tariffs set by US President Donald Trump.
Upending decades of US trade policy and threatening to unleash a global trade war, Trump on Wednesday announced a raft of tariffs he said were designed to stop the US economy from being “cheated”.
Continue reading...The US president has announced new taxes on imports to the US starting at a baseline of 10% – here is the front-page reaction in Britain
Donald Trump’s tariff “day of liberation” arrived with the US president imposing markups on imports while accusing other nations, including allies, of “looting, pillaging, raping and plundering” the US.
The UK got off relatively lightly with the basic 10%. Here is how major British newspapers see it.
Continue reading...Resolution that would block tariffs passes 51-48 in Senate, in vote that shows Republican unease over president’s plans
Several Republican senators joined Democrats to pass a resolution that would block Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, a rare rebuke of the president’s trade policy just hours after he announced plans for sweeping import taxes on some of the country’s largest trading partners.
In a 51-48 vote, four Republicans – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and both Kentucky senators, the former majority leader Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul – defied Trump’s pressure campaign and supported the measure. Democrats used a procedural maneuver to force a vote on the resolution, which would terminate the national emergency on fentanyl Trump is using to justify tariffs on Canada.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...