China says it will impose extra tariffs on the US – after Donald Trump put a 104% tariff on some Chinese imports to the US. Watch live below as the New York Stock Exchange opens.
Wednesday 9 April 2025 14:38, UK
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Live reporting by Mark Wyatt
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.
Many of us have been obsessively watching the stock markets since Donald Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” a week ago today.
And in a few minutes, at 2.30pm UK time, the New York Stock Exchange will open up for another day’s trading.
This time, it’s against the backdrop of Trump beefing up his tariffs on China – and Beijing responding with extra trade barriers of its own.
Fair to say, this is a trade war.
Watch live at the top of this page as the bell is rung to mark the opening of Wall Street.
And we’ll have the latest numbers on another day of economic uncertainty.
We’ve just had some reaction to China’s latest retaliatory tariff on the US from Professor Steve Tsang, a director of the SOAS China Institute.
He says the latest exchange of tariffs point to the “decoupling of the economic relationship between China and the United States”.
This will continue unless the two superpowers come to some kind of compromise, he says.
“We are talking about rates of tariff on both sides that it will be simply not very viable for a lot of the existing trading relationship to continue.”
How far will this go?
Professor Tsang says he doesn’t believe China wants to escalate the trade war with the US but also doesn’t want to appear weak on the global stage.
“Therefore China will reciprocate the kind of rage that Donald Trump is increasing to,” he says.
“So if Trump increased the rate again, we are going to see it go tit-for-tat on the Chinese side until either side sees that this is going to cause a huge problem for oneself and stops the process.
“I think we are probably still some way from that.”
Russia has accused the US of flouting international trade rules by imposing 104% charges on imports from China.
“Washington doesn’t seem itself binded by the norms of international trade law,” foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova says.
She adds the tariff decisions taken by Trump “violate the fundamental rule of the WTO”.
The US treasury secretary says the US is in a “pretty good shape” economically, despite markets tumbling as a result of Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Scott Bessent admitted there is a “little uncertainty” but claimed companies have told him the “economy is very solid”.
He said the White House has been “overwhelmed” by countries wanting to come and negotiate with Trump, adding he will be taking a lead in talks.
As a reminder, Wall Street suffered its worst week of trading since the pandemic last week and is expected to open with further drops later today.
Japan and Canada have agreed to cooperate to maintain stability in financial markets and the global financial system, Tokyo’s finance ministry says.
The Japanese finance minister and his Canadian counterpart shared concerns over the series of tariffs implemented by the US, according to a statement from the ministry.
The European Union plans to vote this afternoon on its first retaliation measures in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The 27-nation bloc is moving closer to placing increased duties on a range of manufactured goods and farm products that would take effect in phases starting next week.
EU officials have spent recent weeks consulting with policymakers and industries from across the bloc to minimise how much the countermeasures would harm Europeans.
The EU currently faces 25% US import tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars, as well as the new broader tariffs of 20% for almost all other goods.
Donald Trump has shared his first comments since China announced it will raise its tariff on US imports again.
“This is a GREAT time to move your COMPANY into the United States of America,” he says on Truth Social.
“ZERO TARIFFS, and almost immediate Electrical/Energy hook ups and approvals. No Environmental Delays. DON’T WAIT, DO IT NOW!”, he adds.
Markets across Europe already opened slightly down this morning but have fallen again following China’s latest tariff decision (see 12.02pm post).
The FTSE 100 index in the UK has dropped 3.3% so far today, while the German Dax is down 4% and the French Cac 40 is down 4%.
The US markets will open at 2.30pm. We’ll bring you the news on how Wall Street responds to the latest trade war developments then.
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