The European Union member has voted in favour of imposing tariffs on some US imported goods, a statement from the European Commission confirms, with the new tariffs to come into effect from 15 April.
China has said it will impose 84 per cent tariffs on U.S. goods from Thursday, up from the 34 per cent previously announced.
They told the World Trade Organization on Wednesday that the situation has “dangerously escalated” and expressed “grave concern and firm opposition to this reckless move” from the U.S.
China had reacted with shock after the Trump administration called its workers “peasants” and slapped the country with an eye-watering 104 per cent tariff on almost all imports.
Donald Trump’s full list of “reciprocal” tariffs has now come into effect, causing Asian markets to tumble on Wednesday as even the US’s closest allies in the region were hit with hefty new duties.
JD Vance made the insulting “peasants” remark in an interview on Fox News last week, in which he complained that America “borrow[s] money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture”.
The escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies has shaken global markets, prompting a widespread sell-off and rattling investor confidence.
Tech shares lift Wall Street amid escalating U.S.-China tariff war
Wall Street’s main indexes inched higher on Wednesday as investors lapped up cheaper technology stocks in a choppy session that remained centered on tariff moves as China retaliated with more levies on U.S. goods.
Most megacap and growth stocks rose, with Apple and Nvidia adding nearly 2.5 per cent each and Microsoft up 1.2 per cent. The tech sector was up 1.5 per cent.
“The reflex to buy the dip is very strong and certainly the wipeout you’ve seen in tech stocks makes them cheap relative to where they were,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief strategist at IG.
Despite the early gains, all three benchmarks were down more than 10 per cent from the levels seen before the reciprocal U.S. tariff were announced last week.
EU describe Trump’s tariffs as ‘unjustified’ as they vote for countermeasures
The EU has voted to approve retaliatory tariffs on 23 billion dollars (£18bn) of U.S. goods, describing Trump’s tariffs as “unjustified and damaging”.
The tariffs will go into effect in stages, with some on 15 April and others on 15 May 1 and December. The EU executive commission did not immediately provide a list of the goods on Wednesday.
Members of the 27-country bloc repeated their preference for a negotiated deal to settle trade issues.
The commission said in a statement: “The EU considers US tariffs unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides, as well as the global economy. The EU has stated its clear preference to find negotiated outcomes with the US, which would be balanced and mutually beneficial.”
The head of the EU’s executive commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has offered a zero-for-zero tariffs deal on industrial goods including cars. But Mr Trump has said that is not enough to satisfy US concerns.
Retail firm Walmart aims to keep prices low amid Trump tariff woes
Walmart stuck to its full-year sales and income growth forecasts on Wednesday and vowed to keep prices low, even as U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs fuel fears of a global recession.
The company’s shares, which have fallen nearly 9 per cent since the announcement of a raft of tariffs on 2 April, rose about 5 per cent in early trading.
Walmart, which is the biggest U.S. importer of containerized goods, is at the risk of taking a hit from Trump’s tariffs, mainly on Asian countries that supply everything from clothing to toys to the retailer.
“We’ve learned how to manage through turbulent periods,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said at a two-day investor meeting in Dallas, Texas, that started on Tuesday.
“And while we don’t know everything that is going to happen. We do know what our priorities are, and we know what our purpose is, and we’ll be focused on keeping prices as low as we can,” he said. “And we’ll focus on managing our inventory and our expenses well.”
The company had in February forecast sales for the fiscal year ending January 2026 to rise between 3 per cent and 4 per cent, and annual adjusted operating income to increase between 3.5 per cent and 5.5 per cent.
Swiss president hopes to reach solution with Trump soon
Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter said on Wednesday she had spoken to U.S. President Donald Trump by telephone about trade and that she was looking forward to working out solutions in the very near future.
“In today’s phone call with President Donald Trump I conveyed both Switzerland’s stance on bilateral trade, and ways to address U.S. ambitions,” she said on X. “We agreed to continue talks in the interest of both our countries. Looking forward to working out solutions in the very near future.”
China issues risk alert for tourists travelling to US
China on Wednesday issued a risk alert for Chinese tourists travelling to the U.S., according to a statement from the culture and tourism ministry.
The ministry said it reminded Chinese tourists to assess the risks of travelling to the U.S. and travel with caution, citing recent “deterioration of China-U.S. economic and trade relations and the domestic security situation in the U.S.”.
‘BE COOL’, says Trump on social media
Shortly after the US markets opened in the US, Donald Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social: “BE COOL!
“Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!”
He followed that up with another message, all in capital letters: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.”
‘It’s a changing world’ with UK needing to step up, Starmer says
Doing a trade deal with the US or changing the rates of American tariffs will not be “enough”, Sir Keir Starmer has said, insisting the world has changed and the UK needed to act differently.
Asked by ITV’s Peston if the 10% tariff on importing goods to America would be in place forever, the Prime Minister replied: “Look, I don’t know.
“We are negotiating and we hope to improve the situation, but what I mean by this is that simply thinking that any change in the rates, or any deal is going to be enough, to my mind is wrong, because just as we’ve done with defence and security, where we’ve recognised it’s a changing world, we’ve got to step up and act differently.
“In that case with defence spend, co-ordinating better across Europe, so too with trade and the economy.
“We are actually, there’s a changing world, we’re entering a new era. We have to think and behave in a way that reflects that, and that’s why we’ve turbocharged what we’re doing on the economy.”
Mapped: Which UK cities could be hit hardest by Trump’s tariffs?
The 10 per cent tariff on all imports will see the cost of UK goods rise across the Atlantic, from artisan cheese and beer to cars and machinery.
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U.S. treasury secretary says tariff deals likely with allies
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that he thinks the Trump administration can reach tariff deals with U.S. allies as he prepares to lead negotiations with over 70 countries in the coming weeks, but China remains an outlier due to its retaliation.
Bessent, speaking to an American Bankers Association conference in Washington, said he would take a lead negotiating role in negotiations over President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
He added that despite financial market turmoil, “in general, the companies I’ve spoken to, people who have come, the CEOs, who have come into Treasury, tell me that the economy is very solid.”
Fiscal rules will continue in ‘calm way’ despite market upheaval
The Government’s fiscal rules will not change despite the market turmoil that saw 30-year gilt yields reach their highest point since 1998, the Prime Minister has said.
Sir Keir Starmer told ITV’s Peston: “The fiscal rules were put in for a purpose, they’re ironclad, they’re non-negotiable.”
He added: “They’re not going to change, we’re acting in the national interest.
“Those fiscal rules are foundational to the stability that we brought to our economy, so we go ahead in that calm way.”
Source: independent.co.uk
