07/04/2025 – 17:50Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said her country, which is the top US trading partner and has been hit by tariffs on its automobiles, steel and aluminum, would “not rule out” imposing reciprocal tariffs on US goods.
“As much as possible we would like to avoid imposing reciprocal tariffs,” she said. “We won’t rule it out, but we prefer continuing with talks.”
Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard would continue negotiations with US officials in Washington, said Sheinbaum said at her regular morning press conference.
07/04/2025 – 17:41Workers at a factory in Vietnam that makes Nike sneakers are worried about their jobs after US President Donald Trump slapped 46% tariffs on the southeast Asian country.
Nike is one of several sportswear brands heavily reliant on Vietnam as a production site and higher tariffs would force the company to absorb higher costs or hike its prices.
Nike produced 50% of its footwear and 28% of its apparel in Vietnam in its 2024 financial year, according to its annual report.
07/04/2025 – 17:20US President Donald Trump threatens more tariffs on China if Beijing does not withdraw retaliatory measures, increasing trade war concerns.
“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,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!
07/04/2025 – 16:56African Union has said US tariffs threaten “mutually beneficial trade and cooperation”.
07/04/2025 – 16:51Wall Street’s main indexes fell back into the red in choppy trade on Monday after CNBC reported White
House officials were not aware of US President Donald Trump considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China.
The White House denial came after stocks rose on a CNBC report about Trump considering a tariff pause.
07/04/2025 – 16:46The EU’s countermeasures on a list of US items that will be hit with tariffs will not total €26 billion ($28.46 billion) because the commissioners have been listening to member states, EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic has told reporters.
Sefcovic also said the EU would not change its VAT system, which he described as an important source of income for member states.
The Trump’s administration has said that VAT – value-added taxes – are an additional trade barrier.
Sefcovic said EU negotiators had not seen engagement that would lead to a mutually acceptable solution and he added that if negotiations failed to yield an agreement, the EU’s own countermeasures on US tariffs, which will start on April 15, could not be delayed.
07/04/2025 – 16:40Peter Navarro, President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser, has dismissed tech-billionaire Elon Musk’s push for “zero tariffs” between the US and Europe, calling the Tesla CEO a “car assembler” reliant on parts from other countries.
Navarro, widely seen as the architect of Trump’s tariff plans, told CNBC that Musk had done a good job with his work to streamline government, but his comments on tariffs were not surprising given his role as “car person,” the latest salvo in a growing feud between the Trump advisers.
“When it comes to tariffs and trade, we all understand in the White House – and the American people understand – that Elon is a car manufacturer. But he’s not a car manufacturer. He’s a car assembler,” Navarro said, adding that many Tesla parts came from Japan, China and Taiwan.
Musk, speaking by video link at a congress of Italy’s right-wing, co-ruling League Party just days after Trump announced hefty reciprocal tariffs against nearly 60 countries, said he hoped Europe and the US agreed to “a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone”.
07/04/2025 – 16:34Stocks are sharply swinging down, up, then down again on Wall Street as markets try to assess the potential damage from President Donald Trump’s global trade war.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly erased a morning loss of 1,700 points, shot up more than 800 points, then went back to a loss of 414 points.
The S&P 500 likewise made sudden up-and-down lurching movements and was down 1.3% in the first hour of trading. The Nasdaq composite was down 0.8% .
It followed sharp drops around the world as worries rise about whether Trump’s trade war will torpedo the global economy.
07/04/2025 – 16:32Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has said he spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the early conclusion of a bilateral trade deal, adding that they had agreed on its importance.
07/04/2025 – 16:12EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic has said the European Union would start collecting a first tranche of duties on US imports from April 15 and a second wave from May 15.
The EU is willing to deploy “every tool” to protect itself from the impact of Trump’s stinging new tariffs should negotiations fail, Sefcovic said.
“We are prepared to use every tool in our trade defence arsenal to protect the EU single market, EU producers and EU consumers,” Sefcovic told reporters after a meeting of the bloc’s trade ministers in Luxembourg.
07/04/2025 – 16:02UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said Britain will fight to secure a trade deal with the US while working with key partners around the world to lower trade barriers.
Starmer, who has avoided some of the more angry responses of world leaders to US President Donald Trump’s tariff plan, said the levies were a “huge challenge for our future, and the global economic consequences could be profound”.
“We will keep calm and fight for the best deal with the US, and we’ve been discussing that intensely over the last few days,” he told workers at a factory in Britain.
“But we are also going to work with our key partners to reduce barriers to trade across the globe, trade deals for the rest of the world, and champion the cause of free and open trade right across the globe.”
07/04/2025 – 15:55The losses are only worsening for financial markets worldwide as Wall Street opened after the weekend break.
The S&P 500 was down 3.8% in early trading, coming off its worst week since the Covid pandemic began crashing the global economy in March 2020. The index, which sits at the heart of many investors’ 401(k) accounts, has lost more than 20% since setting a record less than two months ago.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,343 points, or 3.5, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 4.2% lower.
07/04/2025 – 15:37
Dow drops 1,200 and global markets tumble as worries deepen about impact of Trump’s trade war
07/04/2025 – 15:34
US stocks join global selloff, S&P 500 opens 3.2% lower
07/04/2025 – 15:34President Donald Trump remained defiant on Monday as global markets continued plunging and fears of a recession grew after his tariff announcement last week.
“Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!” he wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.
Trump accused other countries of “taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA!” on international trade and said “our past ‘leaders’ are to blame for allowing this.”
07/04/2025 – 15:26US-listed shares of crypto companies tumbled before the markets were set to open after the weekend, mirroring a sharp drop in bitcoin as escalating tariff tensions and fears of a global trade war triggered a broad retreat from risk assets.
Bitcoin fell as much as 5.5% on Monday to hit its lowest in 2025, and was last trading 2.1% lower.
Corporate bitcoin holder Strategy fell more than 10% in premarket trading, while crypto exchange Coinbase
dropped 7%. Online brokerage Robinhood slid 10.5% after Barclays slashed its price target, citing concerns the crypto market turmoil could drag down the company’s transaction revenue this quarter.
07/04/2025 – 15:23Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said he held a call with President Donald Trump in which they agreed to more talks on the latest US tariffs.
“President Trump presented his honest understanding of the current situation of the United States in the international economy. Based on today’s exchange… both sides decided to designate cabinet members to take charge and continue discussions,” Ishiba told reporters in Tokyo.
07/04/2025 – 15:16Canada has requested WTO dispute consultations with the US over President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 25% duty on cars and car parts from Canada, said the World Trade Organization.
“The request for consultations formally initiates a dispute in the WTO. Consultations give the parties an opportunity to discuss the matter and to find a satisfactory solution without proceeding further with litigation. After 60 days, if consultations have failed to resolve the dispute, the complainant may request adjudication by a panel,” said a WTO statement released Monday.
Canada claims the measures are inconsistent with US obligations under various provisions under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, added the WTO.
07/04/2025 – 15:13The EU had offered the US “zero-for-zero” tariffs on flows of industrial goods, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as the bloc works to avert an all-out transatlantic trade war.
“We stand ready to negotiate with the United States. Indeed, we have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods, as we have successfully done with many other trading partners, because Europe is always ready for a good deal,” she said, adding that the offer was made before Trump’s announcement last week of sweeping new tariffs.
07/04/2025 – 14:46White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett played down economic concerns over Donald Trump’s tariffs, saying the US president has talked to world leaders all weekend and will listen to proposals for great deals.
“He’s doubling down on something that he knows works, and he’s going to continue to do that,” Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said on Fox News. “But he is also going to listen to our trading partners, and if they come to us with really great deals that advantage American manufacturing and American farmers, I’m sure he’ll listen.”
