PRESIDENT Trump will today pummel China with a 104 per cent tariff — sparking an all-out trade war with the US’s rival economic superpower.
The confirmation of the extra levy led to Wall Street giving up the gains it had made on another tumultuous day for shellshocked traders.
US President Donald Trump and his rival, China’s Xi Jinping[/caption]
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted China would be hit by an extra 50 per cent tariff[/caption]
Stock markets, including London’s FTSE 100, had started to recover in the hope a deal could be reached to ease some of Trump’s tariffs.
But in a briefing last night, his press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted China would be hit by an extra 50 per cent tariff from today, taking the total to 104 per cent.
She said: “Countries like China who have chosen to retaliate and try to double down on their mistreatment of American workers are making a mistake.
“President Trump has a spine of steel that he will not break and America will not break under his leadership.”
China, under leader Xi Jinping, is now expected to retaliate — with its rulers vowing to “fight to the end”.
Beijing branded the White House’s midnight ultimatum “a mistake on top of a mistake, once again exposing the American side’s blackmailing nature.”
Retaliatory measures reportedly being drawn up include a ban on US films being shown in China, a market worth £438million last year.
It could see upcoming movies such as Jurassic World: Rebirth and Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning miss out on the Beijing box office.
The economic row between the two countries escalated into a diplomatic spat after China hit back at Vice President JD Vance for referring to “Chinese peasants”.
Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian branded Mr Vance “ignorant and impolite” for saying: “We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
The US President insisted China “wants to make a deal, badly but they don’t know how to get it started. We are waiting for their call. It will happen!”
Global markets had started the day mounting an astonishing early comeback after £8.6trillion had been wiped off the world’s biggest companies.
However, by the afternoon the biggest rally in three years had fizzled out as traders reacted to US companies’ cost of doing business with Asia doubling overnight.
Ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers warned the trade war with China meant the US was now “more likely than not” headed towards a recession which could put two million Americans out of work.
The Nasdaq had bounced by as much as four per cent, adding $2trillion back in value to the US stock market.
However, at the end of trading the S&P Index, Nasdaq and Dow had slumped again, wiping all the $2trillion gains back off US markets in a matter of hours.
One Wall Street trader had likened the early bounce to “a good day in a hospice”.
Traders said the wild swings in markets highlighted how volatile and chaotic the situation is and signalled that a confident recovery was still someway off.
PM ‘won’t knee-jerk’
THE UK should not “jump in with both feet” to retaliate against Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
And the PM told a group of senior MPs that he was not open to “trading away” the NHS as part of an economic agreement with the US.
Sir Keir was also “very clear” that a digital tax on big tech firms should stay in place, despite pressure from America to bin it.
The PM told the MPs: “Obviously we have to keep our options on the table and do the preparatory work for retaliation if necessary.
“But I think that trying to negotiate an arrangement which mitigates the tariffs is better.”
There are now fears that the London stock market will face more turbulence today.
Asian markets had turned green yesterday morning. Traders felt encouraged by hopes that Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were negotiating with Trump, and the optimism spilled into Europe.
The FTSE 100 closed yesterday up by 2.71 per cent, or 208.45 to 7,910.53, as big banks such as Barclays bounced back.
Traders noted that the rebound was not enough to make up the 11 per cent plunge since Liberation Day which had wiped off £250billion from London listed companies.
Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, called it a “magic bounce-back day” that marked the end of a market bloodbath but there was already caution about how long it would last.
Trump has refused to water down his worldwide tariff blizzard despite warnings from top business execs.
Most nations will today be slapped with higher levies. The UK, already hit with a ten per cent tariff, has been spared additional charges.
Musk’s ‘moron’ blast at adviser
By Noa Hoffman
ELON Musk launched a blistering attack on White House trade adviser Peter Navarro yesterday, branding him a “moron” and “Peter Retardo”.
The billionaire Tesla boss also accused his fellow Donald Trump ally of spreading “demonstrably false” claims about his electric car empire.
It came after Mr Navarro, on Monday, told US network CNBC that Mr Musk “isn’t a car manufacturer — he’s a car assembler”.
He argued the tech mogul’s criticism of US tariffs stemmed from his reliance on supply chains in China and Japan.
But the Department of Government Efficiency chief hit back, saying: “Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false.
“Tesla builds the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks.”
The spat has exposed simmering tensions among the US President’s inner circle, as divisions grow over his hardline tariff policies.
But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shrugged off the name-calling last night, saying: “Boys will be boys.”