Business

Stock markets plunge as China announces retaliatory 34% tariffs on US goods – business live
Posted on Friday April 04, 2025

Global trade war escalate as Beijing hits back against Donald Trump with new tariffs on US goodsIMF warns of ‘significant risk’ to global economy from Trump tariffs as markets slideGlobal markets in turmoil as Trump tariffs wipe $2.5tn off Wall StreetAnalysis: Trump’s ‘idiotic’ and flawed tariff calculations stun economistsNew Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative legal group, has filed what it says is the first lawsuit seeking to block Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, saying the US president overstepped his authority. Reuters reports:The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, alleges that Trump lacked the legal authority to impose the sweeping tariffs unveiled on Wednesday as well as duties authorized on February 1 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.“By invoking emergency power to impose an across-the-board tariff on imports from China that the statute does not authorize, President Trump has misused that power, usurped Congress’s right to control tariffs, and upset the Constitution’s separation of powers,” NCLA senior litigation counsel Andrew Morris said in a statement. Continue reading...

People in Solihull in the West Midlands, where a JLR plant employs 9,000 workers, fear for an ailing industry and wider communityFrom mountainsides to deserts, or even just to get around town, Land Rovers are used the world over. For a time however, many of the sturdy vehicles’ distinctive oval plates were branded with the name of a West Midlands town.“It’s an icon for Solihull and it was synonymous with Britain,” said Robert Mills, 70. The town is home to the 121-hectare (300-acre) Jaguar Land Rover car plant, which employs more than 9,000 people and is one of the last bastions of the UK’s waning automotive industry. Continue reading...

‘There are no winners’: global companies respond to Trump tariffs
Posted on Friday April 04, 2025

From UK tailors to Australian farmers to Irish whiskey distillers, firms reveal the impact of US measuresDonald Trump’s sweeping tariffs will upend global trade, adding costs and delays to businesses around the world and threatening a recession.The Guardian spoke to eight businesses about the impact. Continue reading...

From hormone-treated beef to tech taxes: what’s at stake in UK-US trade talks?
Posted on Thursday April 03, 2025

Ministers are considering how to secure an agreement that might exempt Britain from Trump’s tariffsUK ministers are redoubling their efforts to agree a trade deal with Donald Trump after he announced sweeping 10% tariffs on British exports to the US.Downing Street has said talks were at an “advanced stage” and officials have indicated that the broad outlines of a deal have been agreed. Continue reading...

Trump’s chaos-inducing global tariffs, explained in charts
Posted on Thursday April 03, 2025

The US president’s announcement has caused market chaos and threatens a trade war and US recessionDonald Trump’s announcement of a long slate of new tariffs on the US’s trading partners has caused chaos in global markets and threatens a global trade war and US recession.Long trailed on his election campaign, Trump’s plans were even more sweeping than many had predicted: a baseline 10% tariff on all imports and higher tariffs for key trading partners, including China and the EU. Continue reading...

Trump’s ‘idiotic’ and flawed tariff calculations stun economists
Posted on Thursday April 03, 2025

‘Willing sycophants’ came up with simplistic formula that has thrown global economy into disarrayUS politics live – latest updatesWaving a big chart as a prop in the White House Rose Garden, Donald Trump suggested his new tariff plan was simple: “Reciprocal – that means they do it to us, and we do it to them. Very simple. Can’t get simpler than that.”Perhaps a bit too simple. The method used to calculate the most important numbers in international trade, politics and economics has left some of the world’s leading experts shocked.Goods trade deficit: $291.9bnTotal goods imports: $438.9bnThose figures divided = 0.67, or 67%And halved = 34%Reciprocal tariffs are calculated as the tariff rate necessary to balance bilateral trade deficits between the US and each of our trading partners. This calculation assumes that persistent trade deficits are due to a combination of tariff and non-tariff factors that prevent trade from balancing. Continue reading...

Percy Pig’s US adventure may be short-lived as M&S responds to Trump tariffs
Posted on Thursday April 03, 2025

Retailer’s ‘gift to America’ could be hit by new taxes as it also adjusts to rules on advertising high fat, sugar and salt foodsPercy Pig’s US invasion could be called to a halt amid fears that Donald Trump’s tariffs could affect sales of Marks & Spencer’s popular confectionery brand which has just launched in Target stores across the Atlantic.Archie Norman, the chair of M&S, has described Percy as the retailer’s “gift to America” but he told the Retail Technology Show in London that “we might have to change our minds” as Trump imposes additional taxes on imported goods. While M&S is not considering withdrawing the sweets, tariffs could push up prices and make them less popular. Continue reading...