China says it will impose extra tariffs on the US – after Donald Trump put a 104% tariff on some Chinese imports, in an escalating trade war. Listen to The World podcast below, on how things could change for Trump, as you scroll.
Wednesday 9 April 2025 16:40, UK
Live reporting by Narbeh Minassian and (earlier) Mark Wyatt
By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, economics and business reporter
If there were hopes that stock market plunges were behind us, the performance of the UK’s benchmark stock index put that idea to bed.
The FTSE 100 – the index of most valuable companies listed on the London Stock Exchange – dropped a large 2.9%.
Following closely behind was the FTSE 250 – the bigger index made of more companies based in the UK- which lost 2.5%.
People’s pensions and stock-based ISAs are likely lower as a result.
More fallout from Donald Trump’s tariffs to bring you now.
A textile industry official in Madagascar has warned that 60,000 jobs could be lost because of the levies.
The formula used to calculate the tariffs meant that low-income countries like Madagascar which import a small amount of US goods faced some of the highest rates.
Madagascar’s textile and clothing sector employs around 180,000 people and accounts for a reported fifth of the island’s GDP.
“We estimate that around 60,000 jobs will be affected by the decision to raise tariffs to 47%,” Rindra Andriamahefa, the executive director of an industry lobby group, said in a statement.
“The pandemic was one thing. What we are facing now is quite another,” Beatrice Chan Ching Yiu, the president of an industry lobby group said.
She added: “Unfortunately, measures such as temporary layoffs or dismissals may prove unavoidable.”
The economy impacts virtually everything – and that includes the state of geopolitics.
And one thing to note is how this ongoing tariff stand-off could play into China’s hands when it comes to Taiwan.
Our military analyst Michael Clarke, speaking in a live Q&A this afternoon, said the Chinese are getting a “great opportunity” to solve what they see as the “Taiwan issue”.
“Their message now to Taiwan is that the US will let them down and that this is the best time to make a peace deal,” he said.
“They will say ‘do a deal with us now while you still can, because in a few years time we will just invade’.”
You can catch up on more from that Q&A in the link below…
China has issued a risk alert for any travellers heading to the US.
The culture and tourism ministry said it wants to remind Chinese tourists to assess the risks in travelling to the US and travel with caution.
It cited the “deterioration of China-US economic and trade relations and the domestic security situation in the US”.
Airlines haven’t escaped the impacts of Donald Trump’s tariffs unleashed earlier this month.
They’re feeling the pinch caused by the levies, with the NYSE Arca Airline index declining 31% so far this year.
Other indicators are signalling more pain ahead, with air tickets sold through third-party travel agencies for summer flights to Europe dropping 13% according to one analytics firm.
With demand slowing, US airlines have started culling flights to avoid lowering fares and protect margins.
Today, Delta Air Lines announced lower-than-expected profit in the current quarter, saying growth had “largely stalled” due to uncertainty caused by the tariffs.
“With broad economic uncertainty around global trade, growth has largely stalled,” Delta chief executive Ed Bastian said in a statement.
“Given the lack of economic clarity, it is premature at this time to provide an updated full-year outlook.”
Last week, JP Morgan put the chances of a US recession at 60%.
Speaking today, the investment bank’s chief executive said his view hasn’t changed.
Jamie Dimon told Fox Business: “I think probably that’s a likely outcome, because… when you see a 2000-point decline [in the Dow Jones Industrial Average], it sort of feeds on itself, doesn’t it?”
He added: “It makes you feel like… you’re losing money in your pension. You’ve got to cut back.”
Recession fears have been on the rise on Wall Street, as Donald Trump’s tariffs spur uncertainty over how far the trade war will escalate.
EU member states have backed countermeasures against the US, on the day Donald Trump’s 20% tariff was imposed on the bloc.
This European vote is in response to earlier US tariffs made on imports of steel and aluminium from the EU, announced last month and amounting to a 25% levy.
In a statement, the European Commission said: “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 countermeasures – mostly duties of 25% on a range of imports to Europe from the US – will come into force next week, on 15 April, and can be suspended “at any time”, the commission said, if the US agrees to a “fair and balanced negotiated outcome”.
The bloc is still weighing up how to respond to Trump’s latest tariffs.
Around three minutes after markets opened in the US – showing slight drops again – Donald Trump was back on social media.
Posting on his social media site Truth Social, he wrote: “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 and signing off with his initials: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.”
By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, economics and business reporter
It will be no surprise that in the midst of another day of global stock sell-offs US markets followed suit.
But not all major stock indexes opened down.
The S&P 500 index of companies, relied on to be stable and profitable, lost 0.07%.
The tech-company-heavy NASDAQ was up 0.72%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index of 30 major companies listed on US stock exchanges dropped 0.7%.
The stock markets are open, and Dow Jones is slightly down in the opening minutes.
It began at a 0.9% drop, but is steadily climbing and is now hovering at about 0.5%.
Figures can fluctuate almost by the second, but we will bring you any major developments.
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