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US President Donald Trump said Sunday that China would have agreed to a deal on the sale of TikTok if it were not for the tariffs imposed by Washington on Beijing last week.Trump on Friday extended the deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United States, allowing 75 more days to find a solution — a day after imposing additional 34 percent duties on all Chinese imports.”The report is that we had a deal, pretty much for TikTok, not a deal, but pretty close, and then China changed the deal because of tariffs. If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they’d approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has more than 170 million American users, is under threat from a US law passed last year that orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or get shut down in the United States.Trump had insisted his administration was near a deal to find a buyer for TikTok and keep it from shutting down that would involve multiple investors, but gave few details.ByteDance, while confirming that it was in talks with the US government towards finding a solution, warned that there remained “key matters” to solve.”An agreement has not been executed” and whatever was decided would be “subject to approval under Chinese law,” the company added.

Vietnam has asked for a last-minute delay to colossal tariffs imposed by Washington as government figures showed on Sunday that its economy grew at a slightly slower pace in the first quarter.The Southeast Asian manufacturing powerhouse counted the United States as its biggest export market in the first three months of the year but its key customer has now hit it with a thumping 46 percent tariff.The move is part of a furious new global trade blitz announced Wednesday by US President Donald Trump that has sent markets around the world into a tailspin.However, top leader To Lam has asked Trump for a delay of at least 45 days to the new 46 percent tariff, according to a copy of a formal letter seen by AFP.In the letter, Lam said he had appointed Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc to serve as the primary contact with the US side on the issue, “with the aim of reaching an agreement as soon as possible”.He also said he hoped to meet Trump in Washington at the end of May to finalise the matter.Trump said on Friday he had had “a very productive” call with Lam, who he said wanted to make a deal on tariffs.Gross domestic product in Vietnam during the first quarter grew 6.93 percent year-on-year, down slightly from the 7.55 expansion in the final quarter of last year, Vietnam’s General Statistics Office said Sunday.Despite the challenge presented by US levies, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said a target of “at least eight percent” growth this year remains unchanged, the government’s official news portal said.To achieve its goal, Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has determined that the economy will need to grow between 8.2 and 8.4 percent in the remaining quarters, the government said.- ‘Significant damage’ -The US tariffs threaten to “significantly damage” Vietnam’s current growth model, which relies heavily on exports to the United States, said Sayaka Shiba, senior country risk analyst at research firm BMI.She said that, in the worst-case scenario, Vietnam could suffer a three-percent hit to GDP this year.Trump has claimed the Communist country charges the United States a 90 percent tariff, a figure based on Vietnam’s trade surplus with the United States, worth $123.5 billion last year.Experts believe the new tariffs will hit hardest in sectors such as seafood, garments, footwear, wood, electronics and smartphones.Major US corporations with manufacturing operations in Vietnam, including Nike and Adidas, are likely to see orders decrease and reductions in revenue, potentially leading to factory downsizing and job losses, Pham Van Dai, a lecturer in economics at Fulbright University Vietnam, told AFP.Business groups have also called on the Trump administration to delay the imposition of reciprocal tariffs.The American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that they sent a joint letter Saturday to the US commerce secretary expressing “deep concern” over the policy and urging a delay.Vietnam’s exports rose 10.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, official data showed, increasing significantly from 7.9 percent growth in the final quarter of 2024.Industrial production was up 7.8 percent year-on-year, slowing from an 11.5 percent expansion in the previous quarter.Experts believe investors are still holding a “wait and see” mentality amid the uncertainty caused by Trump’s tariffs.”Now is the worst time for investors to make long-term decisions,” said Dai, adding that they are waiting for “clearer policies from the United States and (other) countries’ responses”.

Bangladesh’s interim leader called an emergency meeting on Saturday after textile leaders in the world’s second-largest garment manufacturing nation said US tariffs were a “massive blow” to the key industry.Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 percent of exports in the South Asian country, and the industry has been rebuilding after it was hard hit in a revolution that toppled the government last year.US President Donald Trump on Wednesday slapped punishing new tariffs of 37 percent on Bangladesh, hiking duties from the previous 16 percent on cotton and 32 percent on polyester products.Bangladesh exports $8.4 billion of garments annually to the United States, according to data from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the national trade body.That totals around 20 percent of Bangladesh’s total ready-made garments exports.Interim leader Muhammad Yunus “convened an emergency meeting… to discuss the US tariff issue,” the government said in a statement.Sheikh Bashiruddin, who holds the commerce portfolio in the government, told reporters after the meeting that Yunus “will raise the issue with the US administration”.Bashiruddin said he believed Bangladesh would “not be severely affected”, adding that some other competitors faced “much higher than those on us”.Yunus’ senior advisor Khalilur Rahman said the government had been readying for the tariff hike, and had began talks with US officials in February.”I have already spoken with several State Department officials,” Rahman said on Saturday. “The discussions are ongoing. We will take the necessary steps based on these discussions.”Bangladesh’s tax authority, the National Board of Revenue, is also expected to meet to review the fallout from the tariffs.Rakibul Alam Chowdhury, chairman of RDM Group, a major manufacturer with an estimated $25 million turnover, said on Thursday that the industry would lose trade.”Buyers will go to other cost-competitive markets — this is going to be a massive blow for our industry,” he said.Several garment factories produce clothing for the US market alone.Anwar Hossain, administrator of the BGMEA, has told AFP that the industry was “not ready” for the tariff impact.Bangladesh, the second-largest producer after China, manufactures garments for global brands — including for US firms such as Gap Inc, Tommy Hilfiger and Levi Strauss.

US President Donald Trump doubled down Saturday on sweeping tariffs he unleashed on countries around the world, warning Americans of pain ahead, but promising historic investment and prosperity.The comments came as Trump’s widest-ranging trade measures took effect in a move that could trigger retaliation and escalating economic tensions, with the British and French leaders saying “nothing should be off the table” in response.Trump, acknowledging global turbulence, urged Americans to be patient.”We have been the dumb and helpless ‘whipping post,’ but not any longer. We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before,” he wrote on Truth Social.”This is an economic revolution, and we will win,” the Republican president added. “Hang tough, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic.”A 10 percent “baseline” tariff came into place just after midnight, hitting most US imports except goods from Mexico and Canada, as Trump invoked emergency economic powers.But in a potential sign of disagreement between Trump and close advisor Elon Musk, the tech billionaire on Saturday said he hoped the US and Europe could move eventually toward a “zero-tariff situation.” That could effectively create “a free-trade zone between Europe and North America,” Musk said in talks in Rome with Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini.The EU, Japan and China are among around 60 trading partners set to face even higher rates on April 9.Trump’s steep 34 percent tariff on Chinese goods, set to kick in next week, triggered Beijing’s announcement of a 34 percent tariff on US products from April 10.Beijing also said it would sue Washington at the World Trade Organization and restrict exports of rare earth elements used in medical and electronics technology.”China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close,” Trump said in his post. “They, and many other nations, have treated us unsustainably badly.”As other major trading partners eyed possible recession, the French and British leaders said “nothing should be off the table.”At the same time, “a trade war was in nobody’s interests,” French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed in a call, Starmer’s office said.- Markets collapse -Wall Street went into free fall Friday, following similar plunges in Asia and Europe as economists warn tariffs could dampen growth and fuel inflation.Trump’s latest tariffs have notable exclusions, however.They do not stack onto recently imposed 25 percent tariffs hitting imports of steel, aluminum and automobiles.Also temporarily spared are copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber, alongside “certain critical minerals” and energy products, the White House said.But Trump has ordered investigations into copper and lumber, which could soon lead to further levies.He has threatened to hit other industries like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as well, meaning any reprieve might be short lived.Canada and Mexico are unaffected by the latest move as they already face separate duties of up to 25 percent on goods entering the United States outside a North America trade agreement.- Retaliation risk -While Trump’s staggered deadlines allow space for countries to negotiate, “if they can’t get a reprieve, they are likely to retaliate, as China already has,” Oxford Economics warned this week.EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the bloc, which faces a 20 percent tariff, will act in “a calm, carefully phased, unified way” and allow time for talks.But he said it “won’t stand idly by.”France and Germany have said the EU could respond by imposing a tax on US technology companies.Japan’s prime minister called for a “calm-headed” approach after Trump unveiled 24 percent tariffs on Japanese-made goods.Since returning to the presidency, Trump has hit imports from Canada and Mexico with tariffs over illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling claims, and imposed an additional 20 percent rate on goods from China.Come April 9, the added levy on Chinese products this year will reach 54 percent.Trump’s 25 percent auto tariffs also took effect this week, and Jeep-owner Stellantis has paused production at some Canadian and Mexican plants.Trump’s new global levies mark “the most sweeping tariff hike since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, the 1930 law best remembered for triggering a global trade war and deepening the Great Depression,” said the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Oxford Economics estimates the action will push the average effective US tariff rate to 24 percent, “higher even than those seen in the 1930s.”

President Donald Trump goaded China on Friday after the United States’ chief economic rival retaliated against his tariffs, and he dismissed falling stock markets over the growing global trade war, touting it as a chance to “get rich.””China played it wrong, they panicked — the one thing they cannot afford to do!” Trump posted on Truth Social, writing the message in his trademark all-caps.For a second straight day, markets plunged, wiping vast sums off investment and retirement portfolios alike. US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned the tariffs were likely to spur “higher inflation and lower growth.”Wall Street went into free fall, following similar collapses in Asia and Europe. The Dow Jones dropped 5.5 percent and the S&P 5.97 percent. Losses in US financial markets were estimated at more than $6 trillion since Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs.Trump, who unveiled his barrage of import duties against dozens of countries Wednesday, was unrepentant, posting that “my policies will never change.””This is a great time to get rich,” he wrote.The 78-year-old Republican, who was spending a long weekend golfing at his course in Palm Beach, Florida, is banking on the theory that the might of the world’s biggest economy will force foreign companies to manufacture on US soil, rather than continue to import goods.”ONLY THE WEAK WILL FAIL!” Trump touted in one more Truth Social post Friday.And in yet another, he insisted corporations were unfazed. “Big business is not worried about the Tariffs, because they know they are here to stay,” he posted.China, however, responded by announcing its own new 34-percent tariffs on US imports starting April 10.Beijing said it would sue the United States at the World Trade Organization and also restrict export of rare earth elements used in high-end medical and electronics technology.Other big US trading partners held back as they digested the unfolding international standoff and fears of a recession.EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the European Union, which Trump hit with a 20-percent tariff, will act in “a calm, carefully phased, unified way” and allow time for talks.However, he also warned the bloc “won’t stand idly by.”- Europe eyes riposte -France and Germany have said the 27-nation EU could respond by imposing a tax on US tech companies.Economy Minister Eric Lombard urged French companies to show “patriotism” after President Emmanuel Macron argued it would send the wrong message if they pressed ahead with investments in the United States.Lombard said the EU’s retaliation would not necessarily involve tit-for-tat tariffs and could use other tools, pointing to data exchange and taxes instead.In Tokyo, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba called for a “calm-headed” approach after Trump slapped 24-percent tariffs on Japanese-made goods.Trump said he’d had a “very productive” call with Vietnam’s top leader after the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub was hit with extraordinary 46-percent US duties.Separate US tariffs of 25 percent on all foreign-made cars went into effect this week, and Canada swiftly responded with a similar levy on US imports.Stellantis — the owner of Jeep, Chrysler and Fiat — paused production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.But Japanese carmaker Nissan said Friday it would revise plans to reduce production in the United States. And Sweden’s Volvo, owned by China’s Geely, said it would increase its US production.- ‘He’s out golfing!’ -Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar lashed out at the tariffs, saying they would hurt regular Americans.Trump is “messing around with people’s lives… while he’s out golfing!” she said.And there was rare criticism from the right too, with Trump loyalist Republican Senator Ted Cruz worrying that the tariffs could “hurt jobs and hurt America.”The Federal Reserve chairman’s speech also highlighted concerns that the shockwaves will reach deep into the US economy.But minutes before Powell suggested the Fed will continue to hold off from cutting its benchmark lending rate, Trump pressured him to do so.”CUT INTEREST RATES, JEROME, AND STOP PLAYING POLITICS!” he posted — once again defying the longstanding White House custom of respecting the central bank’s independence.In a more concrete sign of how tariffs are impacting trade, Nintendo announced it was delaying preorders of its hotly anticipated Switch 2 gaming console while it assesses “evolving” conditions.burs-sms/mlm/tgb

Equities and oil prices extended a global rout for markets Friday after China hit back over President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz with its own mammoth levy on US goods, inflaming international trade war fears.The Chinese government said Friday it would impose an additional 34 percent tariffs on all imports of US goods, making it the first major nation to unveil retaliatory measures.Despite the market turmoil, Trump insisted that “my policies will never change” and urged the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.Meanwhile, Wall Street stocks endured another bruising round of selling, with the S&P 500 sinking six percent and the Nasdaq falling into a bear market, defined as a 20 percent drop from a recent high.”We’ve essentially got an escalating trade war,” said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital. “We’re at the beginning of a global slowdown if these tariffs remain in place.”The losses increased somewhat following remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday, who warned of the risk of higher unemployment and higher inflation due to tariff increases he characterized as “significantly larger than expected.”Wall Street investors shrugged off data showing the US economy added 228,000 jobs last month, much higher than analysts expected.”Sentiment is so fragile right now,” Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, told AFP.”Investors are firmly in the ‘get me to cash now’ phase, on fears that other nations will follow China’s lead, and of course that the US president will respond to China’s tariffs with even more charges,” he said.”This trade war is like nothing we’ve seen for years, perhaps decades.” European markets ended the day sharply lower, with Frankfurt and London sinking nearly five percent. The dollar rebounded against the euro and pound, having fallen sharply Thursday on fears of a recession in the United States.But oil futures plummeted around seven percent, having already plunged some six to seven percent Thursday on the prospect of weaker demand.News that OPEC+ had unexpectedly hiked crude supply more than planned added to the heavy selling.The price of copper — a vital component for energy storage, electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines — also fell sharply.Beijing on Friday also imposed export controls on seven rare earth elements, its commerce ministry said, including gadolinium — commonly used in MRIs — and yttrium, utilized in consumer electronics.”Another jolt of fear has shot through markets as China’s threat of retaliation has materialized,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. “The big concern is that this is a sign of a sharp escalation of the tariff war which will have major implications for the global economy,” she said.- Key figures around 2050 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 5.5 percent at 38,314.86 (close) New York – S&P 500: DOWN 6.0 percent at 5,074.08 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 5.8 percent at 15,587.79 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 5.0 percent at 20,641.72 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 4.3 percent at 7,274.95 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 5.0 percent at 8,054.98 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.8 percent at 33,780.58 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holidayShanghai – Composite: Closed for a holidayWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 7.4 percent at $61.99 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 6.5 percent at $65.58 per barrelEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0962 from $1.1052 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2893 from $1.2968Dollar/yen: UP at 146.98 yen from 146.06 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 85.01 pence from 85.22 penceburs-jmb/sla

California Governor Gavin Newsom said Friday that he will seek agreements with the rest of the world to avoid the expected retaliations against US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.”California is not Washington, DC,” Newsom said in a video posted to social media.”Donald Trump’s tariffs do not represent all Americans, particularly those that I represent here in the fifth largest economy in the world, the state of California.” The majority of goods that enter the United States from China pass through Californian ports, and the state has considerable trade with Mexico and Canada. These three countries represent 40 percent of California’s imports and are also the countries the state exports to most.”The Golden State will remain a steady, reliable partner for generations to come, no matter the turbulence coming out of Washington,” Newsom added in a statement.He did not specify how new agreements could bypass Trump’s protectionist policies.Newsom, 57, faces term limits that bar him from running for re-election in 2026. His political ambitions remain unknown, but the Democrat is seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.In a trade offensive that is unprecedented since the 1930s, Trump unleashed broad spanning global tariffs this week, sending markets into a record-breaking slump and resulting in retaliatory tariffs.Trump’s latest levies mean Chinese products must be taxed at a total of 54 percent, and those from the European Union at 20 percent.On Friday, China retaliated by announcing additional tariffs of 34 percent on American products starting April 10, “in addition to the currently applicable tariff rates.” “We will not stand idly by during Trump’s tariff war,” Newsom said on X.As the most populous state in the country, with nearly 40 million inhabitants, California accounts for 14 percent of the American GDP and would be the fifth-largest economy in the world if it were a country, Newsom said.The cradle of tech, California is also a leading manufacturer and agricultural producer in the country.After fires ravaged Los Angeles in January, California faces concerns that tariffs will hinder the city’s reconstruction by making frequently imported construction materials like wood, steel, aluminum, and drywall more expensive.

US President Donald Trump on Friday extended the deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United States, allowing 75 more days to find a solution.”My Administration has been working very hard on a deal to save TikTok, and we have made tremendous progress,” Trump said on Truth Social, just hours before the deadline was to expire.”A transaction requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days.”The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has more than 170 million American users, is under threat from a US law passed last year that orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or get shut down in the United States.Trump has insisted his administration is near a deal to find a buyer for TikTok and keep it from shutting down that would involve multiple investors, but has given few details.ByteDance, while confirming that it was in talks with the US government towards finding a solution, warned that there remained “key matters” to solve.”An agreement has not been executed” and whatever was decided would be “subject to approval under Chinese law,” the company added.Motivated by national security fears and belief in Washington that TikTok is controlled by the Chinese government, the ban took effect on January 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration, with ByteDance having made no attempt to find a suitor.TikTok temporarily shut down in the United States and disappeared from app stores, to the dismay of millions of users.But the Republican president quickly announced an initial 75-day delay and TikTok was restored to users, returning to the Apple and Google app stores in February.The new 75-day delay pushes the deadline to June 19.Trump has repeatedly downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app’s US business.The president added on Friday that he would “continue working in good faith with China,” whose government will need to sign off on the transaction.The president suggested TikTok could even be part of a broader deal with China to ease the stinging tariffs he imposed on Beijing as part of a worldwide blitz of levies.”We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark.’ We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the deal,” he added.According to reports, the solution in the works would see existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company.Additional US investors, including Oracle and Blackstone, the private equity firm, would be brought on to reduce ByteDance’s share in the new TikTok.Much of TikTok’s US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company’s chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally.ABC News reported on Friday that Walmart was also in the mix, spurred on by a late expression of interest by retail archrival Amazon to buy the app.Walmart and Oracle were previously rumored to be buying TikTok in the US when Trump tried to wrest the company from its Chinese owners during his first administration.Trump long supported a ban or divestment, but has lately defended TikTok, seeing it as a reason more young voters supported him in November’s election.- What about the algorithm? -Uncertainty remains, particularly over what would happen to TikTok’s valuable algorithm.”TikTok without its algorithm is like Harry Potter without his wand — it’s simply not as powerful,” said Forrester Principal Analyst Kelsey Chickering.Various media reports suggest the new company could license the algorithm from ByteDance, which would remain invested in TikTok.But such an arrangement would go against the spirit of the law, which is in part based on the premise that TikTok’s algorithm can be weaponized by the Chinese against US interests.

In unleashing global tariffs, President Donald Trump has vowed to remake the world to benefit US workers. One beneficiary could be the country he sees as the primary adversary — China.Asia’s largest economy promptly slapped identical tariffs on the United States and said it would impose export controls on rare earth elements vital in consumer and medical technology.But unlike during his first term, this time Trump is targeting not just China but the entire world — including American allies that had increasingly joined Washington’s firm line on Beijing.Just days before Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement, China moved to revive stalled free-trade talks with Japan and South Korea, both treaty-bound US allies with deep-rooted skepticism about Beijing.”If Trump’s unilateralism continues, I expect Beijing to court these capitals more aggressively, positioning itself as the steadier economic anchor in the region,” said Lizzi Lee, a fellow on the Chinese economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.”And let’s not forget the optics. China is very much framing Trump’s tariffs as proof of US decline — resorting to protectionism, bullying allies and retreating from global norms,” she said.Yun Sun, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, said she had expected China to be “a little more chill” in response to Trump’s tariffs but said Beijing did not appear as worried as during his first term.”I think the Chinese see this more as opportunity and believe the US is actively undermining itself,” she said.”There are a number of aggrieved parties that had been solid and loyal allies of the US,” she added. “Now their confidence in the approach that the US is taking around the world is — I wouldn’t say shattered — but at least in doubt.”- Burying US opening to China -To be sure, China will likely feel real pain from the US tariffs. It shipped more than $500 billion in goods to the United States last year, with the trade balance far in China’s favor.Critics of China hailed what they saw as a death knell for a former near-consensus in Washington on the value of integrating the Asian power into the global economy.”The idea that Communist China could be a responsible member of an international trade regime — the World Trade Organization — which should be premised on equal and fair trade, is a joke,” said Representative Chris Smith, a Republican who for decades has railed against Bill Clinton’s 1994 delinking of China’s trading privileges from human rights.”Unlike previous presidents, President Trump fully understands the nature and scope of the problem — and the existential threat posed by China — and what needs to be done,” Smith said.Jacob Stokes, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, noted that China still has a slew of issues with other countries, from territorial disputes with Japan, India and Southeast Asia to concerns in Europe over China’s embrace of Russia in the Ukraine war.”China has been adept at undermining its own positions, especially with its neighbors, through assertiveness and even aggression,” Stokes said.- Attention shifts from China -But Stokes said that former president Joe Biden had been effective in forming coalitions with other countries to put pressure on China, on issues from access to fifth-generation internet networks to security.”To the extent that Beijing was feeling a little bit isolated at the end of the Biden administration, I think that a lot of that pressure has come off as the locus of disruption is now clearly Washington,” Stokes said.While both Trump and Biden policymakers have identified China as the top US rival, Lee, of the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Trump fundamentally saw President Xi Jinping “not as a villain, but as a peer — another strongman.””For Trump, economic war isn’t about economics or even the stock markets — it’s about the optics of domination and strength,” Lee said.”And that leaves just enough room for a pivot — if Xi offers the kind of win Trump can brand.”

It took just one 50-minute speech by US President Donald Trump to undermine global economic stability and raise the prospect of a recession, with China’s countermeasures only amplifying the risk of a debilitating tit-for-tat trade war.The Wednesday White House event, billed by Trump as “Liberation Day”, unveiled levies on dozens of countries including all major US trading partners.These included the imposition of 20 percent levies on the European Union, 24 percent on Japan and an additional 34 percent on goods from China — bringing the new added tariff rate there to 54 percent. – What have been the first effects? -Trump’s sparked staggering selloffs on global stock markets as investors pulled out of shares of companies which will be strongly impacted by the measures.The S&P 500 index, which regroups the 500 largest US companies, saw $2.5 trillion in value zapped on Thursday as it sank 4.8 percent in its worst daily loss since the Covid pandemic.It fell by another five percent in morning trading on Friday.Shares in certain auto manufacturers have taken a big hit as separate tariffs of 25 percent on car imports into the United States went into effect on Thursday.Stellantis, which owns the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands, will pause production in certain of its Canadian and Mexican factories.Nissan went back on its plan to phase out production of its Rogue SUV in South Carolina, and will no longer sell two models of its luxury brand Infiniti that are made in Mexico.Volkswagen will pass on the cost of the tariffs to consumers by adding an “import fee” to cars it imports into the United States from Europe and Mexico.Shares in apparel firms also took big hits as they depend heavily on imported goods.- Will this provoke a recession? -“No one wins from a trade war, with the US economy set to be adversely impacted as much as, if not more, than Europe,” said analysts at Barclays bank.A spike in inflation from the tariffs and a drop in consumption by US consumers could choke off growth, in the United States and elsewhere.More and more economists and analysts are talking about the possibility of the US economy falling into recession.The OECD’s March forecasts already forecast a recession for Mexico this year and next. It also sharply lowered its outlook for the Canadian economy.IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday said new US tariffs “clearly represent a significant risk to the global outlook”.The IMF had until now expected the global economy to expand by 3.3 percent this year and next.”It’s a major shock for the global economy,” said Antoine Bouet, head of the French economic think tank CEPII.He expects the tariffs could shave 0.8 percent off global economic output by 2040.- Will global trade contact? -The first signals are worrying, particularly in Asia, which has become the globe’s manufacturing centre. While China had dominated, the tariffs imposed by Trump during his first stint in the White House encouraged companies to move some manufacturing to countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh.Economists at ratings agency Fitch said Trump’s “Liberation Day” measures take US tariffs back to levels last seen in 1909 and would likely sharply affect the economy.In a sign of fear of a sharp slowdown in trade, the price of transporting shipping containers from China to the United States has tanked since Thursday.The World Trade Organization said Thursday it estimated that the Trump tariffs would cut global trade by around one percent.But it said things could get worse if a tit-for-tat trade war began, and on Friday China announced retaliatory tariffs on US goods of 34 percent.- Is it the end of free trade? -The “Liberation Day” tariffs took the average US tariff rate from 4.99 percent to 27.17 percent, CEPII calculated.The measures are a fresh bump for the global economy that has faced shocks in recent years from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.But former WTO chief Pascal Lamy sought to put the situation into context.”Thirteen percent of global imports are affected by Trump’s follies,” he told AFP.”There’s no reason the other 87 percent become contaminated.” He said that he expects if the US economy closes up other countries would open theirs.Numerous nations have sought recently to breathe new life into trade deal talks in the hopes of compensating for lost business in the United States.Japan, South Korea and China called Sunday for their negotiations for a comprehensive trilateral free-trade agreement to be speeded up, and agreed to create “a predictable trade and investment environment”.