The initial 10% “baseline” tariff took effect at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12.01am ET (0401 GMT). Many other countries will see their tariff rates increase above that next week – including the EU, which will be hit with a 20% rate. A 25% tariff imposed on all foreign cars imported into the US came into effect on Thursday.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed it will “pause” shipments to the US in April as it works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, is expected to spend the weekend speaking to foreign leaders about the tariffs, after calls with the prime ministers of Australia and Italy on Friday in which the leaders agreed that a trade war would be “extremely damaging”.
Downing Street said that Starmer had “been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest”. A spokesperson said officials will “calmly continue with our preparatory work, rather than rush to retaliate”.
Ralph Goodale, the high commissioner for Canada in the UK, told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme on Saturday that “action taken by the US government is completely illogical”. He added: “It will damage the United States itself.”
The Italian economy minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, warned on Saturday against the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on the US in response to Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on trade partners. Speaking at a business forum near Milan, Giorgetti said Italy was aiming for a “de-escalation” with the US. “We should avoid launching a policy of counter-tariffs that could be damaging for everyone and especially for us,” Giorgetti said.
The stock market plunge has more to do with the emergence this year of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence tool than with Trump’s policies, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said in an interview released on Friday that signalled little concern about the ongoing nosedive. “For everyone who thinks these market declines are all based on the president’s economic policies, I can tell you that this market decline started with the Chinese AI announcement of DeepSeek,” Bessent told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Bangladesh’s interim leader called an emergency meeting on Saturday after textile leaders in the world’s second-largest garment manufacturing nation said US tariffs were a “massive blow” to the key industry. Trump on Wednesday slapped punishing new tariffs of 37 % on Bangladesh, increasing duties from the previous 16% on cotton and 32% on polyester products.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is expected to visit the White House on Monday to discuss recently announced tariffs with Trump, three Israeli officials said on Saturday. As part of a sweeping new tariff policy announced by Trump, unspecified Israeli goods exports to the US face a 17% tariff.
China has taken and will continue to take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests, the foreign ministry said on Saturday, citing a Chinese government stance on opposing US tariffs. The US should “stop using tariffs as a weapon to suppress China’s economy and trade, and stop undermining the legitimate development rights of the Chinese people”, the ministry said.
Nissan Motor is considering shifting some domestic production of US-bound vehicles to the US, the Nikkei reported on Saturday. As early as this summer, Nissan plans to reduce production at its Fukuoka factory in western Japan and shift some manufacturing of its Rogue SUV to the US to mitigate the impact of Trump’s tariffs, the business newspaper said, without citing the source of its information.
The president of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te, met tech executives on Saturday to discuss how to respond to new US tariffs, promising to ensure Taiwan’s global competitiveness and safeguard its interests. Lai met the executives at his official residence to discuss the response to “the global economic and trade challenges brought about by the reciprocal tariff policy”, his spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement. She did not say which companies were present, only that there were several representatives from the information and communications technology, or ICT, industry.
“Today, America is not only humiliating Iran, but also the world,” the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said on Saturday, in an apparent reference to recent policies adopted by Trump, including imposing tariffs on imported goods. Pezeshkian said his country was willing to engage in dialogue with the US as equals, without clarifying whether Tehran would participate in direct talks.
China has said “the market has spoken” in rejecting Trump’s tariffs, and called on Washington for “equal-footed consultation” after global markets plunged in reaction to the trade levies that drew Chinese retaliation. Trump introduced additional 34% tariffs on Chinese goods as part of steep levies imposed on most US trade partners, bringing the total duties on China this year to 54%.
Away from tariff news, left-leaning organisations in the US say that more than 500,000 people are expected to take to the streets to protest in Washington DC, Florida and elsewhere around the country on Saturday to oppose Donald Trump’s “authoritarian overreach and billionaire-backed agenda”. MoveOn, one of the organisations planning the day of protest they’re calling Hands Off along with dozens of labour, environmental and other progressive groups, said that more than 1,000 protests are planned across the US, including at state capitols.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed it will “pause” shipments to the US in April as it works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron discussed their “concerns about the global economic and security impact, particularly in South East Asia” in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs, Starmer’s office said. In a post on X, Macron, said: “A trade war is in no one’s interest. We must stand united and resolute to protect our citizens and our businesses.”
Elon Musk said he hoped in future to see complete freedom of trade between the US and Europe. He spoke via video-link at a congress in Florence of Italy’s right-wing League party, which is part of the ruling coalition, Reuters reports. “At the end of the day, I hope it’s agreed that both Europe and the United States should move, ideally, in my view, to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” said Musk.
Ralph Goodale, the high commissioner for Canada in the UK, told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme on Saturday that the “action taken by the US government is completely illogical”. He added: “It will damage the United States itself.”
The Italian economy minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, warned on Saturday against the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on the US in response to Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on trade partners. Speaking at a business forum near Milan, Giorgetti said Italy was aiming for a “de-escalation” with the US. “We should avoid launching a policy of counter-tariffs that could be damaging for everyone, and especially for us,” Giorgetti said.
The stock market plunge has more to do with the emergence this year of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence tool than with Trump’s policies, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said in an interview released on Friday that signalled little concern about the ongoing nosedive. “For everyone who thinks these market declines are all based on the president’s economic policies, I can tell you that this market decline started with the Chinese AI announcement of DeepSeek,” Bessent told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Bangladesh’s interim leader called an emergency meeting on Saturday after textile leaders in the world’s second-largest garment manufacturing nation said US tariffs were a “massive blow” to the key industry. Trump on Wednesday slapped punishing new tariffs of 37 % on Bangladesh, increasing duties from the previous 16% on cotton and 32% on polyester products.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is expected to visit the White House on Monday to discuss recently announced tariffs with Trump, three Israeli officials said on Saturday. As part of a sweeping new tariff policy announced by Trump, unspecified Israeli goods exports to the US face a 17% tariff.
China has taken and will continue to take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests, its foreign ministry said on Saturday, citing a Chinese government stance on opposing US tariffs. The US should “stop using tariffs as a weapon to suppress China’s economy and trade, and stop undermining the legitimate development rights of the Chinese people”, the ministry said.
Nissan Motor is considering shifting some domestic production of US-bound vehicles to the US, the Nikkei reported on Saturday. As early as this summer, Nissan plans to reduce production at its Fukuoka factory in western Japan and shift some manufacturing of its Rogue SUV to the US to mitigate the impact of Trump’s tariffs, the business newspaper said, without citing the source of its information.
The president of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te, met tech executives on Saturday to discuss how to respond to new US tariffs, promising to ensure Taiwan’s global competitiveness and safeguard its interests. Lai met the executives at his official residence to discuss the response to “the global economic and trade challenges brought about by the reciprocal tariff policy”, his spokesperson, Karen Kuo, said in a statement. She did not say which companies were present, only that there were several representatives from the information and communications technologyindustry.
“Today, America is not only humiliating Iran, but also the world,” the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said on Saturday, in an apparent reference to recent policies adopted by Trump, including imposing tariffs on imported goods. Pezeshkian said his country was willing to engage in dialogue with the US as equals, without clarifying whether Tehran would participate in direct talks.
China has said “the market has spoken” in rejecting Trump’s tariffs, and called on Washington for “equal-footed consultation” after global markets plunged in reaction to the trade levies that drew Chinese retaliation. Trump introduced additional 34% tariffs on Chinese goods as part of steep levies imposed on most US trade partners, bringing the total duties on China this year to 54%.
Donald Trump’s tariff blitz, amid growing concern in Downing Street that the US president’s trade war could do lasting damage to the UK, writes Toby Helm and Phillip Inman.
The prime minister believes, say allies, that “old assumptions should be discarded” in the UK’s response, suggesting he and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, may be preparing to raise taxes again – despite having promised not to do so – or even possibly change their “iron clad” fiscal rules to allow more borrowing and fire up economic growth at home in the event of recession.
Almost $5tn (£4tn) was wiped off the value of global stock markets after Trump launched his tariff offensive last Wednesday on the rest of the world, including a 10% base tariff on imports into the US from the UK.
On Friday, the FTSE 100 closed more than 7% lower than last Monday, after what was its worst week since the height of panic over the Covid pandemic in March 2020.
Underlining the potential impact on UK businesses of a global trade war, Britain’s luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said on Saturday that it would “pause” shipments to the US in April as it considered how to respond. “As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions, including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans,” said JLR.
This week, Starmer, who has refused to criticise Trump or his tariffs directly, will focus on how to frame an economic response to a global economic shock that protects working people, and their incomes and jobs – as well as the UK’s public services.
He believes that the last few days have ushered in a “new era”, that the “world has changed” and that a global trade war risks “undermining a proud, hard-working nation”.
Donald Trump.
“A trade war is in no one’s interest. We must stand united and resolute to protect our citizens and our businesses.”
Europe.
Musk spoke via video-link at a congress in Florence of Italy’s right-wing League party, which is part of the ruling coalition, Reuters reports.
“At the end of the day, I hope it’s agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America,” Musk said.
Under Trump’s plans announced on Wednesday, Italy, which has a large trade surplus with the US, will be subject to a general tariff of 20% along with other EU countries.
Interviewed by League leader Matteo Salvini, Musk, who has repeatedly expressed support for right-wing parties across Europe, said he also hoped to see greater freedom of movement between Europe and the US.
“If people wish to work in Europe or wish to work in North America, they should be allowed to do so in my view,” Musk said, adding that this “has certainly been my advice to the president”.
to impose a like-for-like 34% increase in import charges on US goods from 10 April, could be the start of a broader tit-for-tat that harms all major trading nations, including the UK.
Rachel Reeves cannot know the outcome for the UK because such sweeping protectionist policies have not been tried in the modern era. In the 1930s, most economic activity was generated by manufacturing and activities like mining, but today 75% of the UK economy is services, which are untouched directly by tariffs.
Still, there is the potential for economic growth to take a battering from the short-term shock and the uncertainty caused by the on-off tariff policy. Slower growth will undoubtedly force the government to review its tight spending rules.
What will happen to inflation?
If Keir Starmer rebuffs calls for retaliatory tariffs, inflation may fall. Oil and gas traders have already cut futures prices in the belief that there will be lower demand. Goods suppliers shut out of the US could look to redirect sales to the UK at a discounted rate. The government will be wary of allowing China and other badly hit countries in east Asia to dump goods, but it should, nonetheless, keep prices from rising.
Donald Trump, Reuters reports.
The impromptu in-person visit could mark the first by a foreign leader to meet with Trump and try to negotiate a deal to remove tariffs.
Netanyahu’s office has not confirmed the visit that would also include discussions on Turkey’s growing influence in neighbouring Syria, Iran, and Israel’s war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, one of the officials said.
The visit was first reported by Axios.
Donald Trump.
“I’ve been in London for two months and I like being over here because people think a little differently,” he said.
“They made a mistake over Brexit – but they didn’t fall over like the Americans have.”
A 37-year-old woman from Philadelphia was draped in the American flag that had been presented to her second world war veteran grandfather.
The woman, who did not wish to be named, told PA she was protesting because of the “absolute, mind-blowing insipidness” of Trump’s presidency.
“I don’t want to alienate the rest of the world,” she said.
“It’s not going to be useful for anyone in the long run. I felt powerless and I needed to come out and say something.
“I have friends in the United States who are marching in protest, and I wanted to march with them in solidarity.”
Brent Robertson, 56, from Albuquerque, criticised Trump’s tariffs.
Robertson said: “Stupid is not the word.
“He is shooting himself and all of us as Americans, just so he can make himself look like a tough guy.”
Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk since they launched a rapid-fire effort to overhaul government and expand presidential authority.
Thousands were streaming into downtown Washington DC as the protests got underway. Organisers told Reuters that more than 20,000 people were expected to attend the rally at the National Mall.
The protests in the US will give Trump opponents an opportunity to demonstrate their displeasure en masse in response to Trump’s raft of executive orders.
Some 150 activist groups have signed up to participate, according to the event’s website. Protests are planned in all 50 states, as well as Canada, Mexico and the UK.
Protesters were lining Connecticut Avenue in Washington DC, awaiting buses to take them downtown. They were carrying signs with slogans such as “No Kings in the USA” and “Deport Musk”.
Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist from Princeton, New Jersey, was among hundreds who gathered early in front of the stage below the Washington Monument.
She said she drove down to attend the rally to protest Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education”.
“I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is,” she added.
David Madden, a 75-year-old army veteran and retired trial lawyer, said he flew from Dayton, Ohio, to demonstrate against “the injustice that is dominating this country, the institutions that are being stolen from the American people, the confusion in the courts, the fact that we have a population that I believe is essentially racist”.
wider “baseline” 10% tariff on goods imported from around the world kicked in on Saturday morning. following the announcement of the US levies.
Issuing a readout of the call, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister spoke with President Macron following this week’s announcement that the US will impose additional tariffs. They agreed that a trade war was in nobody’s interests but nothing should be off the table and that it was important to keep business updated on developments.
“The prime minister and president also shared their concerns about the global economic and security impact, particularly in South East Asia.
“Following discussions between military planners in Ukraine this week, they discussed the good progress that has been made on the Coalition of the Willing.
“The prime minister and president agreed to stay in close contact over the coming weeks.”
Australia, Colombia, Argentina, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are also among the countries first hit with the 10% tariff.
The initial 10% “baseline” tariff took effect at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12.01am ET (0401 GMT). Many other countries will see their tariff rates increase above that next week – including the EU, which will be hit with a 20% rate. A 25% tariff imposed on all foreign cars imported into the US came into effect on Thursday.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed it will “pause” shipments to the US in April as it works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, is expected to spend the weekend speaking to foreign leaders about the tariffs, after calls with the prime ministers of Australia and Italy on Friday in which the leaders agreed that a trade war would be “extremely damaging”.
Downing Street said that Starmer had “been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest”. A spokesperson said officials will “calmly continue with our preparatory work, rather than rush to retaliate”.
Ralph Goodale, the high commissioner for Canada in the UK, told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme on Saturday that “action taken by the US government is completely illogical”. He added: “It will damage the United States itself.”
The Italian economy minister, Giancarlo Giorgetti, warned on Saturday against the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on the US in response to Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on trade partners. Speaking at a business forum near Milan, Giorgetti said Italy was aiming for a “de-escalation” with the US. “We should avoid launching a policy of counter-tariffs that could be damaging for everyone and especially for us,” Giorgetti said.
The stock market plunge has more to do with the emergence this year of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence tool than with Trump’s policies, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said in an interview released on Friday that signalled little concern about the ongoing nosedive. “For everyone who thinks these market declines are all based on the president’s economic policies, I can tell you that this market decline started with the Chinese AI announcement of DeepSeek,” Bessent told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Bangladesh’s interim leader called an emergency meeting on Saturday after textile leaders in the world’s second-largest garment manufacturing nation said US tariffs were a “massive blow” to the key industry. Trump on Wednesday slapped punishing new tariffs of 37 % on Bangladesh, increasing duties from the previous 16% on cotton and 32% on polyester products.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is expected to visit the White House on Monday to discuss recently announced tariffs with Trump, three Israeli officials said on Saturday. As part of a sweeping new tariff policy announced by Trump, unspecified Israeli goods exports to the US face a 17% tariff.
China has taken and will continue to take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests, the foreign ministry said on Saturday, citing a Chinese government stance on opposing US tariffs. The US should “stop using tariffs as a weapon to suppress China’s economy and trade, and stop undermining the legitimate development rights of the Chinese people”, the ministry said.
Nissan Motor is considering shifting some domestic production of US-bound vehicles to the US, the Nikkei reported on Saturday. As early as this summer, Nissan plans to reduce production at its Fukuoka factory in western Japan and shift some manufacturing of its Rogue SUV to the US to mitigate the impact of Trump’s tariffs, the business newspaper said, without citing the source of its information.
The president of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te, met tech executives on Saturday to discuss how to respond to new US tariffs, promising to ensure Taiwan’s global competitiveness and safeguard its interests. Lai met the executives at his official residence to discuss the response to “the global economic and trade challenges brought about by the reciprocal tariff policy”, his spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement. She did not say which companies were present, only that there were several representatives from the information and communications technology, or ICT, industry.
“Today, America is not only humiliating Iran, but also the world,” the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said on Saturday, in an apparent reference to recent policies adopted by Trump, including imposing tariffs on imported goods. Pezeshkian said his country was willing to engage in dialogue with the US as equals, without clarifying whether Tehran would participate in direct talks.
China has said “the market has spoken” in rejecting Trump’s tariffs, and called on Washington for “equal-footed consultation” after global markets plunged in reaction to the trade levies that drew Chinese retaliation. Trump introduced additional 34% tariffs on Chinese goods as part of steep levies imposed on most US trade partners, bringing the total duties on China this year to 54%.
Away from tariff news, left-leaning organisations in the US say that more than 500,000 people are expected to take to the streets to protest in Washington DC, Florida and elsewhere around the country on Saturday to oppose Donald Trump’s “authoritarian overreach and billionaire-backed agenda”. MoveOn, one of the organisations planning the day of protest they’re calling Hands Off along with dozens of labour, environmental and other progressive groups, said that more than 1,000 protests are planned across the US, including at state capitols.
Chloe Mac Donnell, has written about how from farmers to designers, the entire fashion supply chain will be hit. It is unclear what duties apply to a finished product, she writes in this piece:
Source: theguardian.com
