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President Donald Trump goaded China on Friday after the US’s 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 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 saw prolonged selloffs, both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 losing close to four percent. Frankfurt and London sank more than four percent, while Tokyo’s Nikkei closed 2.8 percent down.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.However, China 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 have held back as they digest the unfolding international standoff and fears of recession.EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the EU, 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, should we be unable to reach a fair deal.”- EU examines options -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.- Cars clash -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.Japanese carmaker Nissan said on Friday it would revise plans to reduce production in the United States.The company also said it would stop selling two vehicle models on the US market that are made in Mexico.Sweden’s Volvo Cars, owned by China’s Geely, said it would increase its production of vehicles in the United States and probably produce an additional model there.- Economy fears -Powell’s comments Friday reflected growing concern that the trade war shockwaves will extend deep into the US economy.”It is now becoming clear that the tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected,” Powell said in a speech. “The same is likely to be true of the economic effects.”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 custom in which the White House respects 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/bgs

TikTok on Friday was hours from a deadline to find a non-Chinese owner or face a ban in the United States.The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has more than 170 million American users, is under threat from a US law that passed overwhelmingly last year and orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or get shut down in the United States.US President Donald Trump on Thursday said his administration was “very close” to a deal to find a buyer for TikTok, adding that it involved “multiple” investors but giving no further details.Motivated by national security fears and widespread belief in Washington that TikTok is ultimately controlled by the Chinese government, the law took effect on January 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration.In the hours before that deadline, 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 a 75-day delay and TikTok subsequently restored service to existing users, returning to the Apple and Google app stores in February.That delay is set to expire at midnight (0400 GMT) on April 5, but 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 also 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.Asked Thursday if he was willing to make deals with countries on tariffs, he said: “As long as they are giving us something that is good. For instance with TikTok.””We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say we’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs. The tariffs give us great power to negotiate,” he added.According to reports, the most likely solution 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.Much of TikTok’s US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company’s chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally.- What about the algorithm? -But 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.”If the TikTok experience degrades, users, creators, and advertisers will spend more time and money on other media channels,” she added.The New York Times suggested the new company could license it from ByteDance.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.Amazon has also reportedly made a last-minute bid to buy TikTok.Other proposals include an initiative called “The People’s Bid for TikTok,” launched by real estate and sports tycoon Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative.Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity recently expressed interest in buying TikTok, as did a joint venture involving YouTube mega-celebrity MrBeast and another bid from adult content platform OnlyFans.Trump, though he supported a ban in his first term, has lately become a TikTok defender, seeing it as a reason more young voters supported him in November’s election.One of his major political donors, billionaire Jeff Yass, is a major stakeholder in parent company ByteDance.

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 global trade war fears.The Chinese government said it would impose 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.Wall Street stocks dropped sharply in morning trading, with the blue-chip Dow falling below 39,000 points briefly for the first time since August.The S&P 500 also briefly exceeded its Thursday loss — its largest drop since the Covid pandemic in 2020.”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.With Powell set to speak publicly, Trump posted on his Truth Social account that “This would be a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates.”XTB research director Kathleen Brooks said that with Trump doubling down on his tariffs despite feeling the heat from the market selloff “leaves the Fed to do the heavy lifting and try to calm financial markets”.But Powell said he expected the current economic uncertainty would decline, setting Wall Street stocks down further.The falls came despite data showing the US economy added 228,000 jobs last month, much higher than analysts expected.”There’s no question that the trade war is fuelling the current selloff, but the big question is if and when it will start to impact the economy in a meaningful way,” said eToro US investment analyst Bret Kenwell.The jobs report “again showed that we have yet to see a significant spike in jobless claims, and if the most recent payrolls report avoids a large revision lower like we saw for February, it bodes well for the US economy,” he added. 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 — tumbled more than five percent.Beijing on Friday also imposed export controls on seven rare earth elements, its commerce ministry said, including gadolinium — commonly used in MRIs — and yttrium, utilised in consumer electronics.”Another jolt of fear has shot through markets as China’s threat of retaliation has materialised,” 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 1530 GMT -West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 7.0 percent at $62.27 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 5.6 percent at $66.23 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 3.3 percent at 39,194.40 pointsNew York – S&P 500: DOWN 3.9 percent at 5,188.63 New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 3.8 percent at 15,915.69Frankfurt – 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 holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0986 from $1.1052 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2953 from $1.2968Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.82 yen from 145.99 yenEuro/pound: UP at 84.99 pence from 84.34 penceburs-rl/js

US hiring soared past expectations in March, government data showed Friday, but analysts warn this is “old news” as the full effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and federal cuts have yet to ripple through the country.The world’s biggest economy added 228,000 jobs last month, much more than the 130,000 economists anticipated and significantly above February’s revised 117,000 figure, said the Department of Labor.The jobless rate meanwhile edged up to 4.2 percent, from 4.1 percent in February.Trump called these “great job numbers” in a social media post, suggesting his policies were “already working.””The President’s push to onshore jobs here in the United States is working,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a separate statement, pointing to job growth in areas like transportation.Since January, the Trump administration has embarked on wide-ranging job cuts to the federal government, while the president also unleashed steep tariffs targeting allies and adversaries alike.Economists expect it will take time for their full effects to materialize, warning of higher consumer prices and lower growth.- ‘Old news’ -“The labor market was in good shape as of last month, but it’s old news considering the Trump Administration’s tariff announcement and ensuing global market rout,” said Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic in a note.Trump’s announcement this week of a 10 percent baseline tariff hitting US trading partners except Canada and Mexico from Saturday — and higher rates to come on most economies — was “larger and more complex” than expected, she said.Mike Fratantoni, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, warned: “In light of the tariff announcements this week and the sharp drop in stock markets around the world in response, these data are likely not capturing the moment with respect to the actual strength of the economy.”Sectors that saw job gains included health care and social assistance, alongside retail trade — “partially reflecting the return of workers from a strike,” the Labor Department said.But federal government employment declined by 4,000 in March, following the loss of 11,000 jobs in February.Average hourly earnings grew 0.3 percent in March to $36.00, picking up slightly from February’s pace.- Rate cut caution -“There is still substantial uncertainty of what the eventual import tariff rates will be and how long they will remain in place,” said Bostjancic.She added that “this is a very fluid situation with actions and counter actions” between Washington and trading partners.China announced Friday steep counter tariffs on its US imports, triggering a further warning from Trump that Beijing “cannot afford” to take such action.Trump could take further tit-for-tat measures. White House officials warned Wednesday that “if other countries retaliate,” that undermines the effectiveness of Trump’s order invoking emergency economic powers to impose the upcoming tariffs.”Of course, the President is going to respond to make sure that the order is not undermined,” the official told reporters.Fratantoni expects the US central bank to stay in “data-dependent mode” and “remain cautious with respect to any rate cuts so long as inflation is above target, and the job market data continues to come in strong.”Economists are monitoring the effects of sweeping tariffs Trump imposed on major US trading partners in March, alongside the even broader action taking effect in April.”Most economists would say this is a huge disruption,” said Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade North America.Uncertainty itself “is now a driving force economically,” he told AFP.Apart from adding to consumer costs in the near-term, North expects tariffs could also “put a damper on job growth.”

Hiring in the United States was stronger than expected in March, government data showed Friday, even as uncertainty brewed over the wider effects of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and other policies.The world’s biggest economy added 228,000 jobs last month, much more than analysts anticipated and significantly above February’s revised 117,000 figure, said the Department of Labor.The jobless rate meanwhile edged up to 4.2 percent, from 4.1 percent in February.Trump said in a social media post that these were “great job numbers, far better than expected.””It’s already working,” he added, referring to his policies.”The President’s push to onshore jobs here in the United States is working,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a separate statement, pointing to job growth in areas like transportation.Since January, the Trump administration has embarked on wide-ranging job cuts to the federal government, while the president also unleashed steep tariffs targeting allies and adversaries alike.But economists expect it will take time for the full effects of his policies to ripple through the economy, warning of higher consumer prices and an impact on growth.The hiring number showed that the jobs market remained robust for now, and it was notably above the 130,000 figure that analysts expected, according to Briefing.com.Sectors that saw job gains included health care and social assistance, as well as retail trade — “partially reflecting the return of workers from a strike,” the report said.But federal government employment declined by 4,000 in March, following the loss of 11,000 jobs in February.Average hourly earnings grew 0.3 percent in March to $36.00, picking up slightly from February’s pace.- Tariff shock -“In light of the tariff announcements this week and the sharp drop in stock markets around the world in response, these data are likely not capturing the moment with respect to the actual strength of the economy,” warned chief economist Mike Fratantoni of the Mortgage Bankers Association.Looking ahead, economists are monitoring the effects of sweeping tariffs that Trump imposed on some of the biggest US trading partners in March, alongside even broader action set to take effect in April.On Wednesday, Trump announced a 10 percent tariff on most US trading partners, set to take effect Saturday.”The impact of these tariffs is unknown but most economists would say this is a huge disruption,” said Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade North America.”It’s the uncertainty itself that is now a driving force economically,” he told AFP.Apart from adding to consumer costs in the near-term, North expects the tariffs could also “put a damper on job growth” and weigh on the labor market as well.

China has hit back against US President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs, slapping 34 percent levies on all imports of American goods.AFP looks at how an escalating trade war between the United States and China is playing out — and what impact it might have.- Why is China so vulnerable to tariffs? – Trade between the world’s two largest economies is vast.Sales of Chinese goods to the United States last year totalled more than $500 billion — 16.4 percent of the country’s exports, according to Beijing’s customs data.And China imported $143.5 billion in goods from the United States in 2024, according to the office of the US Trade Representative.But China has long drawn Trump’s ire with a trade surplus with the United States that reached $295.4 billion last year, according to the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.Beijing’s leaders have been reluctant to disrupt the status quo, in part because China’s export-driven economy is particularly sensitive to vicissitudes in international trade.US duties also threaten to harm China’s fragile economic recovery as it struggles with a long-running debt crisis in the property sector and persistently low consumption — a downturn Beijing had sought to slow with broad fiscal stimulus last year.But an intensified trade war will likely mean China cannot peg its hopes for strong economic growth this year on its exports, which reached record highs in 2024.”The US tariffs on Chinese imports announced so far this year could fully negate the lift from the fiscal stimulus measures announced so far,” Frederic Neumann, Chief Asia Economist at HSBC, told AFP.- What impact will the new US tariffs have? -Trump’s new tariffs slap 10 percent levies on imports from around the world.But China has been hit particularly hard — the latest salvo adds 34 percent to a 20 percent rate imposed last month, bringing the total additional tariffs on imports from the Asian economic powerhouse imposed by this Trump administration to 54 percent.The tariffs come into effect in stages — a 10 percentage point bump on Thursday, followed by the full levy on April 9.China is also under sector-specific tariffs on steel, aluminium and car imports.Analysts expect the new levies to take a significant chunk out of the country’s GDP, which Beijing’s leadership hope will grow five percent this year.Julian Evans-Pritchard, Head of China Economics at Capital Economics, said in a note he expects the economic hit to range from 0.5 to one percent of GDP.Likely to be hit hardest are China’s top exports to the United States — the country is the dominant supplier of goods from electronics and electrical machinery to textiles and clothing, according to the Peterson Institute of International Economics.And analysts also warn that because of the crucial role Chinese goods play in supplying US firms, the tariffs may also have major knock-on effects. “US imports from China are dominated by capital goods and industrial materials instead of consumer goods,” Gene Ma, Head of China Research at the Institute of International Finance, told AFP.”The tariff will hurt US manufacturers as well as consumers.””This trade war not only has a destructive impact on China but also on the global trade system,” Chen Wenling, Chief Economist at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges in Beijing, said.- How has Beijing responded? -Beijing made good on its vow of “countermeasures” against the United States on Friday, slapping 34 percent levies on all US products coming into the country in measures that will take effect next Thursday.It also said it would impose export controls on a number of rare earth elements used in medical technology and consumer electronics.US exports to China last year were dominated by agricultural products, primarily oilseeds and grains, according to the US-China Business Council.Oil and gas closely follows, with pharmaceuticals and semiconductors also among major exports.In 2022, the Council said, over 900,000 American jobs were supported by US exports of goods and services to China.Those measures come on top of tariffs imposed by Beijing last month — 15 percent on imports of coal and liquefied natural gas from the United States and 10 percent on crude oil, agricultural machinery, big-engined vehicles and pickup trucks.Analysts say those moves are designed to hit Trump’s support base — those in rural US heartlands that voted him into office last year.Beijing has called for “dialogue” to resolve the dispute, but any deal will take time.”There are still chances for the two parties to resume talks in the following months,” Betty Wang at Oxford Economics told AFP.”But historical experience suggests that tariffs are typically quick to rise and slow to fall.”

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Japanese goods are a “national crisis”, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday ahead of cross-party talks on mitigating the impact on the heavily export-dependent economy.Japanese firms are the biggest investors into the United States but Trump on Thursday announced a hefty 24 percent levy on imports from the close US ally as part of global “reciprocal” levies.The measures “can be called a national crisis and the government is doing its best with all parties” to lessen the impact, Ishiba said in parliament.He called however for a “calm-headed” approach to negotiations with Trump, who has also imposed 25 percent tariffs on auto imports which came into force this week.Local media reported Friday that Japanese officials were attempting to organise a call between Ishiba and Trump, who held apparently friendly talks at the White House in February.Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya “strongly demanded” to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in talks in Brussels on Thursday that the “extremely regrettable” measures be reviewed, Tokyo said.Japan’s main Nikkei 225 index fell 2.75 percent on Friday, adding to a 2.7 percent drop on Thursday after the S&P 500 on Wall Street dropped by the most in a day since 2020.Ishiba told ministers “to take all measures necessary including financing support” for domestic industries and protecting jobs, government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.Ishiba’s meetings with party leaders later Friday were aimed at laying the groundwork for the supplementary budget, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported.- ‘Extremely grave’ -The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) said Trump’s tariffs “would have an extremely grave impact on the Japanese economy”.”We strongly urge the government to continue its persistent negotiations for the exemption from tariff measures and to take all possible measures to minimise the impact on small and medium-sized enterprises and small businesses… by developing a detailed consultation system and strengthening cash management support,” the JCCI said Thursday.The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) also called for “comprehensive support measures to ensure that Japan’s automotive industry can maintain its foundation as a manufacturing base”.JAMA said its members have invested a cumulative total of more than $66 billion in US manufacturing as of 2024, generating over 110,000 direct US jobs and supporting more than 2.2 million others.Japanese carmakers ship about 1.45 million cars to the United States from Canada and Mexico, where they operate factories, Bloomberg News reported.By comparison, Japan exports 1.49 million cars directly to the United States, while Japanese automakers make 3.3 million cars in America.- ‘Incomprehensible’ -The US deficit with Japan was almost $70 billion last year. Japan mostly exports to the United States vehicles, auto parts, machinery, and electrical and electronic equipment.US imports the other way are mostly chemicals, plastics, rubber, and leather goods, as well as agriculture products and oil and cement.The White House has said that Japan has a 700 percent tariff on US rice imports, a claim Japan’s farm minister called “incomprehensible”, local media reported.In Japan, the auto sector employs about 5.6 million people directly or indirectly.Vehicles accounted for around 28 percent of Japan’s 21.3 trillion yen ($142 billion) of US-bound exports last year.BMI (Fitch Solutions) estimated that in a worst-case scenario, there could be a hit of 0.7 percentage points to Japan’s economy this year.Capital Economics was less pessimistic, predicting a “quite small” impact of perhaps just 0.2 percent, saying that “Japan isn’t all that dependent on US demand”.

US President Donald Trump unveiled the first “gold card”, a residency permit sold for $5 million each, aboard Air Force One on Thursday.Holding a prototype that bore his face and an inscription “The Trump Card”, the Republican president told reporters that the special visa would probably be available “in less than two weeks”.”I’m the first buyer,” he said. “Pretty exciting, huh?”Trump previously said that sales of the new visa, a high-price version of the traditional green card, would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit.The billionaire former real estate tycoon, who has made the deportation of millions of undocumented migrants a priority for his second term, said the new card would be a route to highly prized US citizenship.He said in February that his administration hoped to sell “maybe a million” of the cards and did not rule out that Russian oligarchs may be eligible.

Pacific island nations hit hardest by US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs are querying the “unfair” impost, and they are fearful of the impact.The United States has punished Fiji, Vanuatu and tiny Nauru for running trade surpluses with the economic superpower, slapping them with duties far above its new 10-percent baseline.Besides squeezing their finances, analysts say the US levies are making Pacific countries wary of their historic ally, which has already cut humanitarian aid programmes.”It’s just another reason to have less trust in the US, stacked on top of the US aid freeze,” said Blake Johnson, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank.It also creates opportunities for China to expand its ties from aid to trade, he said, as Beijing vies with the United States and its allies for influence in the geographically strategic region.Among the Pacific countries’ biggest sellers in the United States are the traditional narcotic kava drink, and spring water under the brand Fiji Water — owned by Los Angeles-based The Wonderful Company.The 22-percent tariffs on Vanuatu are expected to impact exports and hurt kava farmers, a spokesperson for the prime minister said.-‘Just suck them up’ -Vanuatu was hit by the tariffs after running a US$6.6 million surplus in its trade of goods with the United States last year, according to UN data. Jonathan Naupa, owner of Vanuatu kava exporter Mount Kava, said demand for kava was high and he had no plans to cut prices for the US market.”We are going to keep our prices right where they are — the American public can just suck them up,” he told AFP, adding that there was a growing global market for kava exports.He welcomed Trump’s move.”I actually think it’s a good thing that he’s done this because it will make the Americans realise that they need to treat our cultural product with a bit more respect,” he said.”With the shortage of kava in Vanuatu, I don’t see prices going down, and I hope my fellow exporters also try to follow suit and not drop their prices.”Nauru’s main exports include the remnants of its once-vast phosphate deposits and the sale of fishing rights, but it was not clear what made up its 2024 goods trade surplus with the United States of $1.4 million — about the price of a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan.It faces a 30-percent US trade tariff.Fiji runs a larger surplus in the trade of goods with the United States of about $252 million helped by exports of  Fiji Water, kava and fish, and it now faces a 32-percent tariff across the board.- ‘Unfair’ -The beach-fringed tourist magnet says it applies zero or five-percent duty on 96 percent of US imports.Trump’s levy “is quite disproportionate and unfair”, Finance Minister Biman Prasad said in a statement.”We are still trying to get more details on the exact rationale and application of the newly announced retaliatory tariff by the US and will work with our key stakeholders and US counterparts to get this,” he said.Roland Rajah, director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre at the Lowy Institute think tank, said the tariffs were based on the scale of US trade deficits with each country.But it makes economic sense to have a trade deficit with some countries and a surplus with others, he said.”It’s not necessarily driven by particular policy distortions,” Rajah added, making it hard for countries to find a basis for trade talks with the United States.”The other factor for the Pacific is that being small countries and quite small trading partners in the world it might be very difficult for them to get a hearing with the Trump administration, who will have bigger fish to fry at the current moment.”Papua New Guinea, the most populous Pacific island country, said it had no plans to retaliate against the US decision to impose a 10-percent tariff.”We will continue to strengthen our trade relations in Asia and the Pacific, where our produce is welcomed,” Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement.”If the US market becomes more difficult due to this tariff, we will simply redirect our goods to markets where there is mutual respect and no artificial barriers.”