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      ‘Go Trump’: Florida shoppers back tariffs – but others are worried

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      In Gainesville, Florida, a small city in the north-central part of the state, small businesses and shoppers are bracing for the impacts of Trump’s sweeping tariffs.The Trump administration announced a baseline of 10% tariffs on nearly every country in the world last week, with much higher rates on countries such as China, Taiwan and Vietnam, and 20% tariffs on European Union countries.The tariffs are expected to increase prices on household goods, clothing, electronics and groceries; the Budget Lab at Yale University reported the tariffs could cost the average US household $3,800.As criticism of the tariffs has mounted, the White House has touted support for the tariffs from “everyday Americans”. And in Gainesville, that message seems to have worked – for now.“Make America great again,” said Justin Godwin, an electrical contractor in Ocala, Florida, just south of Gainesville. “We are not the world police, nor are we the global providers of welfare.”Kim Roberts Rogel, a retiree in Lakeland, Florida, added: “Go, Trump. He’s a businessman and knows exactly what he is doing.”Samantha Gore, a stay-at-home mom in Interlachen, Florida, just west of Gainesville, repeated a claim from Trump that Canada has 250% tariffs on some products, though the truth is more complicated: there are also zero tariffs on thousands of metric tons of US dairy that Canada imports, thanks to a deal brokered by Trump in his first administration, and the US dairy industry isn’t reaching the levels of import quotas on any dairy products to receive the maximum tariffs from Canada.“Why is it OK for the rest of the world to charge us, but when we start doing the same, everyone has a fit? This is a short-term sacrifice for long-term gain,” Gore said. “The gain will be for the American people because this will bring back better-paying jobs, better-quality goods, not China-sweatshop or slave-labor goods, and it will keep our money in our economy instead of sending it overseas.”But others are worried. And nationally, consumer and small-business confidence is falling as the tariffs loom.Gainesville, home to the University of Florida, with a population of just more than 145,000, is a blue dot surrounded by counties that voted for Trump. Trump won the state in 2024 by 13.1% points.View image in fullscreenGainesville, along with Tallahassee, Orlando, Broward and Palm Beach counties in southern Florida, had among the last vestiges of Democratic support in the 2024 election, as the state trended from a swing state that Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012 to a Republican stronghold.“As far as shopping goes, we have cut back considerably on spending for several months,” said 74-year-old Cynthia Bertelsen of Gainesville, who is fearful of a looming economic recession and anticipating price increases on coffee, olive oil, paper products, wine and other food items.“Trump’s unyielding stance on the tariffs has caused my family to lose money we can ill afford to lose.”Grocery prices in Florida are among the highest in the US, ranking fifth out of 50 states in a 2024 analysis of US Census Bureau data.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“Prices are already too high,” said Sammie Bartz of Gainesville, who said they’ve been pre-buying their kids’ clothing for the next school year from Shein, as well as some electronics. “I’m done spending for a while on anything that is not absolutely essential.”Sweetwater Organic Coffee Company, a coffee-roasting company based in Gainesville that supplies coffee to several grocery stores, coffee shops and restaurants in the area, was already anticipating having to hike prices as coffee costs had just hit a record high before the tariffs were enacted.“All of our fellow importers with whom I have spoken will be passing the cost of tariffs along to their roastery clients. Our margins at the importing and roasting point in the supply chain are quite slim in normal times, and I know no one who will or can absorb these tariff costs on behalf of the next point in the supply chain,” said Bill Harris, chief financial officer of Sweetwater.Harris explained the company had been in the process of adding $0.60-$1.20 per pound of coffee to wholesale prices before the tariffs, noting the tariff taxes will have to be passed along, with at least $1-$3 per pound added for high-tariff origin coffees from Indonesia, Laos and Nicaragua.Coffee can only be grown in tropical climates and is often sourced from developing countries, several of which have received higher tariff rates, such as Indonesia at 32%, Nicaragua at 18% and Laos at 48%.“Everyone that I have spoken to about these tariffs in our industry feels that this administration’s chaotic ‘liberation day’ tariff rollout is only hurting importers, roasters and thousands of coffee shops across the country, which were already struggling due to the unprecedented rise in coffee prices and the uncertainty and disruptions created by this administration’s first three months in office,” added Harris.“The net result of our president’s short-sighted tax grab is inflation for consumers, destabilizing our supply relationships and added stress on thousands of coffee businesses that were already struggling.” More

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      in UK Politics

      Tariffs live: Trump insists China wants trade deal ‘badly’ as Beijing plans US imports block

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      Rachel Reeves to meet US treasury secretary to negotiate trade tariffsDonald Trump has insisted that China wants a trade deal “badly”, while Beijing says it is planning a US imports block.In the post on Truth Social, the US president claimed China just “don’t know how to get it started”.Mr Trump said Washington will impose an extra 50 per cent levy on top of the existing 54 per cent tariff on Chinese imports if Beijing does not withdraw the 34 per cent tariffs it had imposed on US products last week. The total new levies could climb to 104 per cent on Chinese goods imported into the US this year.The Chinese foreign ministry vowed its country would “fight till the end”, amid reports it is preparing for a US imports block, as it accused America of “typical unilateralism and protectionist economic bullying”.It is not yet clear what counter-measures Beijing is planning to impose, although the BBC reported, citing state media, that the US agricultural sector could be impacted, including a potential total ban on poultry. There are also reports the cooperation between the two countries on tackling the fentanyl trade could end. And a possible ban on US films being shown in cinemas in China has also been suggested, according to the broadcaster.Labour sister party calls for focus on communities in response to Trump tariffsLabour’s hugely influential sister party has called for the government to ramp up its focus on communities in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs.The Co-op Party, represented by 41 Labour MPs including business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, said community and member-owned businesses must be central to the government’s response to the unfolding trade war.Labour committed in its manifesto to doubling the size of the co-operative sector. But Co-op general secretary Joe Fortune said Mr Trump’s tariffs are an opportunity for a “new economic settlement for communities”.“Now is the time for the Government to back what works: putting power and resources in the hands of communities to shape their own future,” Mr Fortune said.He added: “Co-operative businesses keep wealth local – they are more resilient, more long-lasting and more equitable. And crucially, they put both power and wealth in the hands of working people.”Political correspondent Archie Mitchell8 April 2025 15:43What happens next on the stock market after ‘bloodbath’ of Trump’s tariffs?Even Stateside, where the stock market rout has been so pronounced following the escalation of Trump’s potential trade war, S&P 500 futures were showing a rise of more than 1.3 per cent.Investors were finally getting some relief from the sharp drops and some were even cautiously looking to buy back in. But is this really the end of the stock market’s reaction to the tariffs? Business and money editor Karl Matchett reports:Tara Cobham8 April 2025 15:36FTSE 100 on track for best day in more than three yearsThe FTSE 100 is on track to having its best day in more than three years.The gains are set to bring some relief to investors after stock prices around the world plunged in value since US President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement last Wednesday.People pass the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange this week More

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      Trump’s very beautiful tariffs will fix America, masculinity and the family. It said so on Fox News | Arwa Mahdawi

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      There’s been a lot of doom-mongering about tariffs recently, hasn’t there? Oh no, my life savings are going to get wiped out and I’m never going to be able to retire! Oh no, grocery prices are going to triple! Oh no, it looks suspiciously as if Donald Trump has used ChatGPT to guide his fiscal policy and now we’re going to see another Great Depression! Moan, moan, moan.While it might be true that much of these predictions are coming from highly credentialed economists and people who tend to know what they’re talking about, I’d like to remind you that there are two sides to every story – and it’s always worth looking at both of them. You’ve already heard from voices who reckon Trump’s tariffs are misguided and dangerous. Now it’s time to focus on the people who support the president’s assessment that tariffs are a “very beautiful thing” that will usher in a new golden age.Where do we find such people? Fox News, of course. The place where up is down, left is right, and Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia if King Trump says that’s the case. As the stock market plunges, Fox News has wheeled out a bunch of pundits and anchors to explain how your savings getting obliterated is a good thing, actually.First, there’s Fox News host Jesse Watters, who is known for making thoughtful and nuanced statements such as: “When a man votes for a woman, he actually transitions into a woman”; and announcing that men shouldn’t eat soup in public because it isn’t “manly”. In a recent segment, Watters said that these tariffs – which will make life more expensive – are actually “going to make it easier for people to start families”. He added: “These tariffs are for the children.” I polled my own child, who is three, on this, and she would rather have an Elsa doll than a tariff, but what does she know, eh?While Watters believes the children are our future, and tariffs will help them lead the way, Free Press columnist Batya Ungar-Sargon reckons Trump’s economic policy is going to fix the “crisis of masculinity”. On Sunday, Ungar-Sargon told Fox News that the US had “shipped jobs that gave men who work with their hands for a living, and rely on brawn and physicality, off to other countries … and imported millions and millions of illegals to work in construction, manufacturing, landscaping, janitorial services – jobs that used to give men access to the American dream.”Ah yes, as the old adage goes: if you’ve got nothing intelligent to say, go on Fox News and demonise immigrants. There are in fact plenty of jobs available in the US that rely on “brawn and physicality”; the problem is many of them wreck your body and don’t pay a living wage. You know the workers who cut quartz slabs for kitchen countertops, for example? They’re predominantly young Latino men who are said to be suffering from lung disease because of the silica dust created by cutting said slabs. Meanwhile, construction workers are more likely to die of a drug overdose than those in any other occupation because the physical nature of the work results in an increased likelihood of injury and the subsequent prescription of addictive opioids. Romanticising these sorts of jobs – particularly when your own job consists of typing on a computer – does absolutely nothing to help men.As I said, it’s always important to look at both sides, even if one side of an argument appears completely demented. Still, I’m squinting very hard and I’m afraid that, despite Ungar-Sagon and Watters’s very persuasive arguments, I can’t see an upside to tariffs. Let’s say that more manufacturing jobs do open up in the US (a process that would take years). It seems unlikely Trump would fight for them to come with decent wages – he recently rescinded one of Joe Biden’s executive orders that raised the minimum wage for federal contractors. I’m not sure doing hard labour for a low salary gives you access to the American dream, unless your dream is going bankrupt from medical bills.But look at me: moan, moan, moan. You know what I’ve just realised my problem is? I think I need to watch more Fox News. And, if you’re feeling down about the state of the world, then you may need to, too. Now that Trump has started posturing over Iran, I can’t wait for Fox pundits to explain how accidentally inviting a nuclear war is going to be great, actually. Nothing like a little bit of radiation poisoning to fix the crisis of masculinity. More

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      in US Politics

      Trump threatens additional 50% tariffs on China over retaliatory levies

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      Donald Trump has threatened to impose an additional 50% tariff on imports from China on Wednesday unless the country rescinds its retaliatory tariffs on the United States by Tuesday.The news comes on the third day of catastrophic market falls around the globe since Trump announced his trade war last Wednesday with tariffs on the US’s trading partners.As part of that move the White House announced it would impose a 34% tariff on Chinese imports. In response, Beijing announced a 34% tariff on US imports.In a statement on Truth Social on Monday morning, the US president said that China enacted the retaliatory tariffs despite his “warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs” would be “immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set”.“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump wrote.“Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!” he added. “Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately.”China’s US embassy said on Monday it would not cave to pressure or threats over the additional 50% tariffs. “We have stressed more than once that pressuring or threatening China is not a right way to engage with us. China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” Liu Pengyu, an embassy spokesman, told Agence France-Presse.A senior White House official told ABC News that the increased tariffs on China would be on top of the 34% reciprocal tariff Trump announced last week and the 20% already in place.Trump’s new ultimatum to China marked the latest escalation from the White House and came as US stocks swung in and out of the red on Monday morning as a report circulated that Trump was going to pause the implementation of his sweeping tariffs for 90 days, but then was quickly dismissed by the White House as “fake news”.Not long after Trump threatened China with additional tariffs on Monday morning, he participated in a White House visit from the Los Angeles Dodgers to celebrate their World Series title. More

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      Rightwing group backed by Koch and Leo sues to stop Trump tariffs

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      A libertarian group backed by Leonard Leo and Charles Koch has mounted a legal challenge against Donald Trump’s tariff regime, in a sign of spreading rightwing opposition to a policy that has sent international markets plummeting.The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a suit against Trump’s imposition of import tariffs on exports from China, arguing that doing so under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) – which the president has invoked to justify the duties on nearly all countries – is unlawful.The group’s actions echo support given by four Republican senators last week for a Democratic amendment calling for the reversal of 25% tariffs imposed on Canada.Last Wednesday’s amendment passed with the support of Mitch McConnell, the former Republican Senate majority leader, and his fellow GOP members Rand Paul, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who argued that tariffs on Canada would be economically harmful.The action from the alliance has the potential to be even more emblematic, given its backing from Koch, a billionaire industrialist, and Leo, a wealthy legal activist who advised Trump on the nomination of three conservative supreme court justices during his first presidency, which has given the court a 6-3 rightwing majority. The group received money from organisations affiliated with Leo and Koch in 2022.The alliance has tabled its action on behalf of Simplified, a Florida-based home goods company whose business is heavily reliant on imports from China. It argues that the president has exceeded his powers in invoking the IEEPA to justify tariffs.“This statute authorizes specific emergency actions like imposing sanctions or freezing assets to protect the United States from foreign threats,” the alliance said in a statement. “It does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. In its nearly 50-year history, no other president – including President Trump in his first term – has ever tried to use the IEEPA to impose tariffs.”The alliance also argues that power to impose tariffs lies not with a sitting president, but with Congress, and warns that those imposed by Trump could run afoul of US supreme court rulings.“His attempt to use the IEEPA this way not only violates the law as written, but it also invites application of the supreme court’s major questions doctrine, which tells courts not to discern policies of ‘vast economic and political significance’ in a law without explicit congressional authorization,” its statement said.Mark Chenoweth, the alliance’s president, said the court in Pensacola – where the suit has been filed – would have to observe this legal precedent.“Reading this law [IEEPA] broadly enough to uphold the China tariff would transfer core legislative power,” he said. “To avoid that non-delegation pitfall, the court must construe the statute consistent with nearly 50 years of unbroken practice and decide it does not permit tariff setting.”The suit argues that there is no connection between the fentanyl epidemic – which Trump has cited as a reason for invoking the emergency powers – and the tariffs.“The means of an across-the-board tariff does not fit the end of stopping an influx of opioids, and is in no sense ‘necessary’ to that stated purpose,” the complaint filed on behalf of Simplified argues.“In fact, President Trump’s own statements reveal the real reason for the China tariff, which is to reduce American trade deficits while raising federal revenue.”The legal case adds to rumbling disquiet on tariffs among some of Trump’s usually vocal supporters, including the billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.Paul, a senator from Kentucky who has been one of the most consistent congressional anti-tariff voices, told the Washington Post that other Capitol Hill Republicans shared his concern.“They all see the stock market, and they’re all worried about it,” Paul said. “But they are putting on a stiff upper lip to try to act as if nothing’s happening and hoping it goes away.”Speaking in support of last week’s Democratic amendment, sponsored by the Virginia senator Tim Kaine, Paul said: “I don’t care if the president is a Republican or a Democrat. I don’t want to live under emergency rule. I don’t want to live where my representatives cannot speak for me and have a check and balance on power.”Trump attacked Paul and the three other Republican senators who backed the amendment and suggested they were driven by “Trump derangement syndrome”.In another sign of Republican concern, the GOP senator from Iowa Chuck Grassley – along with a Washington Democrat, Maria Cantrell – introduced a bill that would limit Trump’s ability to impose or increase tariffs by requiring Congress to approve them within 60 days. The White House budget office said on Monday that Trump would veto the bill. More

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      in US Politics

      Volatility grips global stock markets as Trump insists on tariff ‘medicine’

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      Extreme volatility plagued global stock markets on Monday, with Wall Street swinging in and out of the red as Donald Trump defied stark warnings that his global trade assault will wreak widespread economic damage, comparing new US tariffs to medicine.A renewed sell-off began in Asia, before hitting European equities and reaching the US. It was briefly reversed amid hopes of a reprieve, only for Trump to threaten China with more steep tariffs, intensifying pressure on the market.On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 dropped by as much as 4.1% – entering bear market territory after falling more than 20% from its most recent peak, in February – before launching an extraordinary reversal to turn positive.While markets were fleetingly boosted after Kevin Hassett, director of the White House national economic council, signaled that Trump was open to considering a 90-day pause on tariffs for all countries but China, the relief did not last long.After hours of turbulent trading, the S&P closed down 0.2%. The Dow Jones industrial average finished down 0.9%.“We’re not looking at that,” Trump told reporters, when asked about the prospect of a pause. Pressed on whether the tariffs set the stage for negotiations with countries, or were permanent, he replied: “Well, it can both be true. There can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations.”The FTSE 100 closed down 4.38% in London at 7,702.08 – the lowest close in more than a year – after the Nikkei 225 slumped 7.8% in Tokyo. Other major European also ended the day sharply lower, including Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC which both fell more than 4%.Trump, who has previously used market rallies as a barometer of his success, tried to brush off the sell-off this weekend. “I don’t want anything to go down,” the US president said on Sunday. “But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”He stood firm on Monday. “The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid!”As China prepares to retaliate, Trump threatened to further increase US tariffs on the country – an additional rate of 50% – if it hits back. All talks with Beijing over potential meetings have been “terminated”, he said.Major share indices have fallen dramatically since he unveiled his controversial plan to overhaul the US economy last week. The Trump administration imposed a blanket 10% tariff on imported goods this weekend, and is set to follow with higher tariffs on products from specific nations from Wednesday.While senior figures in corporate America have been reluctant to criticize Trump since his inauguration in January, a handful have started to sound the alarm in recent days.Larry Fink, CEO of the investment giant BlackRock, expressed concern on Monday over the threat of a downturn. “The economy is weakening as we speak,” he said at the Economic Club of New York, according to Bloomberg. “Most CEOs I talk to would say we are probably in a recession right now.”The JPMorgan Chase boss, Jamie Dimon, one of the most influential executives on Wall Street, warned that Trump’s tariff plan was “likely” to exacerbate inflation. “Whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth,” he wrote in his annual letter to shareholders.Dimon added: “The quicker this issue is resolved, the better because some of the negative effects increase cumulatively over time and would be hard to reverse.”The billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman, who backed Trump’s campaign for the presidency, has also demanded the administration reconsider its plan. “We are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.Even Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, currently leading the so-called “department of government efficiency” inside the government, appeared to break with the administration on the issue. Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade adviser, “ain’t built shit”, Musk wrote on X, which he owns, this weekend.Navarro, for his part, insisted in a television interview on Monday morning that the stock market would find a bottom. Less than hour later, when New York opened for trading, the search continued.The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite started the day down 4.3%, before switching in and out of the red. It ended the day broadly flat, up by 0.1%. The VIX “fear index” of volatility rose as high as 60 for the first time since August.Oil prices also came under pressure, with Brent and WTI benchmarks stooping to their lowest levels in four years, as growing economic tensions between Washington and Beijing stoked fears that a global downturn would challenge demand.Sir Richard Branson, co-founder of Virgin Group, argued the “predictable and preventable” market chaos would have “catastrophic” implications for people in the US and around the world, and claimed companies were already going bankrupt as a result of the weaker dollar and higher costs.“This is the moment to own up to a colossal mistake and change course,” Branson wrote on X. “Otherwise, America will face ruin for years to come.” More

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      Here’s one key thing you should know about Trump’s shock to the world economy: it could work | James Meadway

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      It’s less than a week since Donald Trump’s sensational announcement that he was unilaterally ending the world’s trading system with the imposition of a 10% minimum tariff for trading with the US – and a very much higher rate for those countries unfortunate enough to have the US as a major export partner. Long-term allies such as Japan and South Korea have been hammered with tariffs of around 25%, while export-dependent poorer countries such as Vietnam, which sells about a third of its exports to the US, have been hit with tariffs in excess of 45%. A further round of global debt crises is possible as heavily indebted countries face the sudden loss of export earnings.Global stock markets have tumbled as panicked investors dump shares, and political condemnation has been near-universal. China has already retaliated with 34% tariffs, threatening an escalating trade war. Right now, it looks and feels like disastrous overreach by a uniquely erratic administration at the behest of a president with a terrifyingly limited grasp of how the modern economy works.Trump has talked about imposing tariffs on the world since he first rose to prominence in the 1980s, when his target was Japan. In a political career notable for its jack-knifes in policy and direction, tariffs – “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” – have been a constant. But this is about far more than his long-cherished whims. However inconsistent or even confused Trump may sometimes appear to be, those around him have a clear-eyed view of what they want to achieve.His Treasury secretary, hedgefund billionaire Scott Bessent, has spoken of a “global economic reordering” that he intends to shape to the benefit of the US’s elite. Trump’s new chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Stephen Miran, wrote a lengthy paper, A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System, shortly before his appointment. The latter is particularly ambitious – detailing how the US should use not only tariffs but also the threat of withdrawing its security support to compel its friends and allies to accept cuts in payments due from the Federal Reserve on their US Treasury bills. This would be a potentially massive loss to them, akin, in reality, to a US debt default. But it is tariffs that are the cutting edge of the plan – leveraging the US’s power as the world’s largest consumer and greatest debtor to compel other countries into a negotiation on terms.After decades winning in an international trading game it wrote and refereed the rules for, the US is now facing serious competition – primarily from China, but with Europe as an expensive irritant. The response of this administration is to kick over the table, and demand everyone starts again. What it ultimately wants is a cheaper dollar to revive US manufacturing and Chinese competition held off, all the while keeping the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. And the rest of the world will pay the price.There are precedents. In October 1979, Paul Volcker, newly appointed as chair of the Federal Reserve, drove up interest rates to a remarkable 13% in a bid to tackle inflation, later raising them to 17%. Soon the US was in recession. Millions lost their jobs over the next two years, notably in manufacturing, where soaring interest rates had driven up the value of the dollar, making US exports less affordable on the world market. After a light easing of interest rate hell by the Fed, Volcker applied a second dose of the medicine, driving interest rates up to 19% and forcing the economy back into a double-dip recession. Unemployment peaked at around 10% in late 1982.View image in fullscreenBut by mid-1983, inflation had come down to 2.5%. For the rest of the 1980s, the US economy boomed. The “Volcker shock” appeared to have worked. Volcker is today a folk hero among central bankers: Ben Bernanke, chair of the Federal Reserve during the 2008 crisis, praised Volcker’s “independence” and willingness to brazen out the political storm.More decisive than lower inflation, however, was the reshaping of the US economy Volcker’s interest-rate shock accelerated: with manufacturing in freefall, investment flooded into finance and property, firing up what became the great credit bubble of the 1990s and 2000s. The world economy was reordered around a US that acted as a giant sink for its output – swallowing exports from the rest of the world on seemingly limitless borrowing. China’s extraordinary boom was the flipside of US debt and deindustrialisation. The Volcker shock, more than any other single action, created the globalised world system that Trump is now bent on destroying.Few would have bet on Volcker’s world-shaping capacity at the time. The stock market response to the shock was immediate and unanimous. US shares plunged by a record 8% in the two days after his announcement. The S&P 500 lost 27% of its value before August 1982 – two years of grinding decline. Manufacturers and unions hated it, understandably: they were on the wrong side of an epochal reconfiguration of US capitalism. But they were not the only losers: rising interest rates in the US meant less developed countries had to spend more on servicing debts, just as recession squeezed their major export markets. The result was the so-called “third world” debt crisis, as heavily indebted countries across the global south plunged into spirals of economic decline and soaring indebtedness.Over the weekend, Bessent and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick were doing the media rounds, insisting that there would be no climbdown on the tariffs. Trump is not for turning on what is clearly for him a personal crusade. Already, countries such as Vietnam are promising to cut all their tariffs on US goods – a clear and brutal demonstration of the US’s continuing economic power. The administration has claimed 50 other countries have also asked to open negotiations. By the end of the week, expect Trump to be triumphantly announcing more such concessions from economies in the global south. His real target – China – will be a far tougher nut to crack, if it breaks at all.Perhaps the rolling market chaos will become too much. Perhaps the administration will blink first. There is no guarantee this extraordinary gamble will work, not even for those in the clique around Trump. But it would be a mistake to assume it cannot work – and however the pieces now land, they will not return to their old places.

      James Meadway is the host of the podcast Macrodose More

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      in UK Politics

      Trump tariffs live: US stocks plunge on opening as EU ‘finalising’ plan to hit back in trade war

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      Starmer vows UK won’t be cowed by Trump’s tariffsUS stocks have plunged on opening today as markets plummeted across the globe and the EU warned it is “finalising” plans to hit back in Donald Trump’s global trade war.After the US president announced his sweeping tariffs last week, Wall Street is sinking again, with the S&P 500 down 3.8 per cent in early trading on Monday, coming off its worst week since Covid-19 began crashing the global economy in March 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,200 points, and the Nasdaq composite was 4 per cent lower.EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said the bloc’s list of countermeasures is being finalised tonight, with a view to them being implemented on 15 April if struggling negotiations with the US fail.The panicked mood was felt across Europe, with the UK’s FTSE 100 index plunging to a one-year low on Monday, while Germany’s Dax index recorded a drop of around 6.5 per cent.Asian markets also tumbled, as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed more than 13 per cent in morning trade.The US president said overnight on Monday that he did not want global markets to fall, but also that he was not concerned about the major sell-off, adding: “Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”The impact of the tariffs prompted major banks to hike the probability of a global recession. JP Morgan raised its odds for a US and global recession to 60 per cent up from 40 per cent before the tariff rollout. Other major banks including Goldman and Barclays also warned of higher risks.White House describes reports Trump is considering 90-day pause in tariffs as ‘fake news’The White House has described reports that Donald Trump is considering a 90-day pause in tariffs as “fake news”.Tara Cobham7 April 2025 15:47EU warns it is finalising its list of countermeasures tonightThe EU has warned it is finalising its list of countermeasures tonight.EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said: “When it comes to the volume of counter measures, when it comes to steel, aluminium and derivatives, we are finalising the list tonight.”Tara Cobham7 April 2025 15:44Farage calls Trump’s tariffs ‘excessive’Nigel Farage has called Donald Trump’s tariffs a “bit excessive”.”I think it’s a bit excessive. Yes, I really do,” he told the PA news agency.”Although he promised he’d do it in the run-up to the American election.”So you can’t say he’s breaking his promises, but I think the impact of it – my own view, is the impact of it has been bigger than he could have predicted.”He said he speaks to Mr Trump “far less” now than he did during his first term as US president.Nigel Farage has called Donald Trump’s tariffs a ‘bit excessive’Tara Cobham7 April 2025 15:42EU’s countermeasures on US tariffs to start next week if negotiations fail, warns bloc’s trade commissionerEU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic has said that the EU’s own countermeasures on US tariffs would start next week if negotiations fail.Sefcovic said on Monday that if negotiations failed to yield an agreement, the EU’s own countermeasures on US tariffs, which will start on 15 April, could not be delayed.He said EU negotiators had not seen engagement that would lead to a mutually acceptable solution, after US President Donald Trump’s administration announced last week a sweeping round of tariffs for most imported goods.He added on Monday that the European Union would not change its VAT system, which he described as an important source of income for member states.US president Donald Trump’s administration has said that VAT – value-added taxes – are an additional trade barrier.Tara Cobham7 April 2025 15:40Stocks turn positive on Wall Street in sudden reversalStocks have turned positive on Wall Street in a sudden reversal and the Dow Jones index has jumped 300 points, erasing a loss of 1,700.Tara Cobham7 April 2025 15:29Netanyahu to seek tariff relief in talks with TrumpIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek to limit the sting of tariffs imposed on his country when he meets US President Donald Trump on Monday, a visit likely to be closely watched by world leaders as global markets spiral downward.Netanyahu will be the first foreign leader to meet face-to-face with Trump since he announced a sweeping tariff policy last Wednesday.Under the new policy, Israeli goods face a 17 per cent US tariff. The United States is Israel’s closest ally and largest single trading partner.During midday talks in the Oval Office, the two leaders are also expected to discuss the 18-month-old war in Gaza and the fate of hostages taken from Israel and still held in the Palestinian enclave.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek to limit the sting of tariffs imposed on his country when he meets US President Donald Trump on Monday More