The EU has put its retaliatory measures against the US on hold for 90 days but issued a warning to Donald Trump over a trade deal.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement today after the US president announced a 90-day freeze on the hefty tariffs he had imposed on dozens of countries.
She said in a social media post: “We want to give negotiations a chance. While finalising the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our member states, we will put them on hold for 90 days.”
A relief rally washed over battered global stock markets after Mr Trump’s humiliating U-turn, the FTSE-100 soaring by more than 6 per cent shortly after trading began.
However, Mr Trump ratcheted up the pressure on China, immediately hiking the tariff on Chinese imports to 125 per cent from the 104 per cent level that kicked in on Wednesday.
Beijing slapped 84 per cent tariffs on US imports in return, and has now hinted at further counter-measures.
Meanwhile, the US is considering offers from 15 countries on tariff agreements and is close to deals with some, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said.
Tariffgate: How trade war blew up in Trump’s face
Tariffgate: How Trump’s trade war blew up in his face
Why US stock markets are down again
US stock markets are down again today, with a mix of reasons likely at play, writes Karl Matchett.
First, the wild buying yesterday sent some equities up more than 20 per cent – so some profit-taking would not be unexpected, especially if investors had locked in losses in the previous days’ falls.
Secondly, US inflation data is coming in and is surprisingly lower than expected; that, plus a slight restoration in markets, may change calls for cutting interest rates. Higher interest rates are (very broadly and basically) less-good for equities prices, so there’s a balancing act there.
And finally, as AJ Bell’s Russ Mould points out, is the actual question of whether share prices should be as high as they were or whether the tariff-induced sell-off just exaggerated something that was on its way anyway.
“There is an old market saying that stock market tops are a process, while bottoms are an event.
“The S&P 500 had been making heavy weather of it even before Donald Trump’s trade and tariff interventions and had already started to roll over in a classic example of that pattern, so the big issue now is whether Wednesday’s spike is a buy signal or simply a cruel bear trap for unwary bulls who are accustomed to ‘buy the dip’,” he said.
Starmer urged to accelerate global trade deals
UK must change with the world, says prime minister
Britain must not just “sit back and hope” but “rise to the moment” in the face of uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The Prime Minister said the UK should “recognise where our future lies”.
The 10% “baseline” levy on all goods entering America remains in place.
On a visit to Doncaster, Sir Keir said: “I’m not going to stand here and pretend that tariffs are good news. That is not true, and you wouldn’t believe me if I said it, but just as we’ve seen recently on defence and security across Europe, and with Ukraine, they do make one thing very clear, and that is that the world is changing, and we as a country must change with it.
“In other words, we’ve got to rise to the moment here, recognise where our future lies, renew Britain and deliver security for working people.”
Ministers still hope an economic deal with America can be reached.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will seek to negotiate with the US when she visits Washington at the end of April for the International Monetary Fund’s spring meeting of global finance ministers, she told the Financial Times.
She also said a UK-EU summit on May 19 would be a chance “to refresh our relationship and make it easier for businesses to trade”.
Trump ‘suspended tariffs because of victory over China’
Carsten Brzeski, Global Head of Macro at ING, said he believed Mr Trump’s U-turn was because he considered he had won against China.
He said: “US President Trump has decided on a 90-day reprieve for the “higher reciprocal tariffs” for countries that have not “retaliated” against his announcements from last week. That is, all countries except China.
“Apparently, this shift wasn’t because of the financial market carnage we have been seeing, but Trump declaring “a victory”.
“Given that next to Mexico and Canada, the most important trading partners of the US, China and the EU, have not gone into any negotiations, makes this ‘victory’ look like celebrating a big party when your favourite national soccer team just won against San Marino.
“In all honesty, the current situation is not only chaotic, it’s crazy.”
Euro rises against dollar
The euro has rallied against the US dollar following the suspension of tariffs, to stand at $1.11.
China tries to ally with other countries
China is reaching out to other nations as the US layers on more tariffs in what appears to be an attempt to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat.
Days into the effort, it’s meeting only partial success with many countries unwilling to ally with it.
China has so far focused on Europe, with a phone call between Premier Li Qiang and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “sending a positive message to the outside world”.
That was followed by a video conference between Chinese commerce minister Wang Wentao and EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič on Tuesday.
US close to deals with up to 15 countries, says Trump aide
The United States is considering offers from 15 countries on tariff agreements and is close to deals with some of them, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett says.
The US Trade Representative has said around 15 countries have made explicit offers that “we’re studying and considering and deciding whether they’re good enough to present the president,” Mr Hassett told reporters at the White House.
He said principals in the administration’s trade policy would meet later today to “make sure that the countries that are most important for getting this to the finish line are the countries that we bring in first”.
He said he expected a lot of movement on trade deals in the next three or four weeks. “This is a really, really fast process now that’s not beginning today or yesterday. It began long before,” he said.
“There’s a big inventory of deals that are right close to the finish line,” he told CNBC.
Global shares rise and bond sell-off eases
Global shares surged and a manic bond sell-off has eased.
“You’ve had a relief rally after the realisation that market pressure is something that resonates with the US president,” said George Lagarias, chief economist at Forvis Mazars.
European shares pushed higher today. The pan-continental STOXX 600 index was last up 5.3%, on track for its biggest one-day gain since March 2020.
Major indexes in London, Paris and Frankfurt were up between 4.6% and 5.7%.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei advanced more than 9%, while a broader gauge of Asia-Pacific stocks excluding Japan rose 4.5%.
German economy to stagnate even if Trump scraps ‘reciprocal’ tariffs, say forecasters
German economic institutes on Thursday cut their growth forecast for this year to 0.1 per cent from the 0.8 per cent expected in September, taking into consideration initial US tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars, confirming an earlier Reuters report.
Exports-dependent Germany is the only G7 economy that has contracted for the last two years.
The further “reciprocal” tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump on 2 April and suspended on Wednesday could still deal a major blow to Europe’s biggest economy, the institutes said, possibly “doubling the negative effects”.
This could put Germany on track for a third year of recession for the first time in post-war history.
Trump’s “aggressive trade policy [is] keeping the global economy on tenterhooks,” said Klaus Weyerstrass of the Vienna-based research institute IHS, which contributed to the forecast.
“The additional trade barriers are a significant burden on the global economy … especially because of their unpredictability,” he said.
“Changes to tariffs can occur practically daily, which has increased economic policy uncertainty to an unprecedented degree.”
