Donald Trump has started another day of his trade war with a social media post addressing China. Meanwhile, Elon Musk has branded his tariff adviser “truly a moron”. And UK markets closed up. Listen to the Trump 100 podcast as you scroll.
Tuesday 8 April 2025 17:23, UK
By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business and economics reporter
Watching stock markets today has been like night and day compared to how last week ended and how this one started off. Share prices have surged.
The FTSE 100 – the UK’s benchmark, made of the most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange – saw gains of 2.71%. Ditto the larger FTSE 250 – comprising more British companies, it rose 3.29%.
The rises weren’t so massive, however, to recover from three trading days of falls. The impact of Trump’s tariffs on the markets has not been reversed.
But there is a sense now that deals could be made. US treasury secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that countries who have not retaliated will get priority to talk to Trump. The White House has a long call sheet of countries it’s been dealing with, he said.
Wall Street’s most watched gauge of investor anxiety – the Cboe Volatility Index, known as Vix – has retreated after rising to its highest level since August last year yesterday.
Data shows the index – otherwise known as the “fear gauge” -fell by nearly 20% today.
Yesterday, it jumped as much as 14.82 points to 60.13, its highest since 5 August last year.
Starting now, we have a panel of experts answering your questions on what Trump’s tariffs and the chaos that’s engulfed the global economy means for your finances.
You’ll be able to follow along in Sky’s Money blog (below) and on Business Live on Sky News.
You can also follow the live Q&A in the stream at the top of this live page.
Exemptions to Donald Trump’s global tariffs are not expected in the near-term, US trade representative Jamieson Greer has said.
Speaking to the senate finance committee, Greer said: “The president has been clear, again, that he’s not doing exemptions or exceptions in the near-term.”
The trade representative, who oversees the implementation of the tariffs, said that “Swiss cheese” in the process would undermine the goal of trade reciprocity.
He also said there is no particular timeline for trade negotiations.
Countries are currently scrambling to figure out how to respond to the tariffs at the moment, with China and others retaliating
But others have so far avoided criticism of Trump as they seek to secure a trade agreement with America, which they hope could secure some exemption from the tariffs.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had little to say on the spat between Elon Musk and Peter Navarro, according to our US partner network NBC.
Asked about Musk’s comments on X, in which he called the senior Trump aide a “moron” (see post at 3.15pm), she said: “Whatever.”
She added: “We are the most transparent administration in history, expressing our disagreements in public.”
In 2017, during the last Trump presidency, Politico suggested Navarro was “the most dangerous man in Trump world”.
Navarro – whom Musk has just called a “moron” (see more in our previous post) – is a long-time aide and confidante of Donald Trump and a true loyalist.
His economic views are well beyond mainstream economic thought.
He is a long-time advocate of tariffs with upfront plans to upend the post-Second World War economic system of free trade and international institutions.
Establishment economists consider him to be fringe.
That’s precisely why he appeals to Trump.
He was jailed in 2024 for defying a congressional subpoena. He was told to appear before the House Select Committee investigating the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol. He refused to comply.
The committee alleged that he developed plans to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.
The subpoena was motivated by a plan Navarro revealed in a book published in 2021. Green Bay Sweep was a plot by he and other Trump loyalists to overturn the 2020 election.
He described it as “last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats’ jaws of deceit.”
I had a run-in with Navarro last month as I challenged hm on tariffs – watch the moment he told me to ‘stop that crap’ here…
Elon Musk has taken a swipe at senior Trump counsellor Peter Navarro, calling him a “moron” in a sign of splinters in the president’s administration.
In an interview with CNBC, Navarro said when it came to tariffs and trade, Musk was a “car assembler” not a “manufacturer”.
“Musk wants cheap foreign parts but we want them home,” he said.
The comments clearly got under the skin of the Tesla chief executive, as this reply on X shows…
Earlier, the Washington Post reported Musk had directly asked Trump to reverse his tariffs, citing two sources (see our 7.44am post).
And yesterday, we covered how Musk shared a video on X in support of free trade, in a not-so-subtle sign of his disagreement with the president. Read about that here.
Donald Trump has been offering more words on Truth Social this afternoon.
He has once again singled out China and said the country “wants to make a deal badly but they don’t know how to get started”.
Here is what he’s said…
Yesterday, the US president said Washington will impose additional 50% tariffs on China if the nation does not withdraw its 34% retaliatory tariff.
He unveiled an additional 34% tariff on all Chinese goods imported into the US last Wednesday, bringing duties on all Chinese imports to the US to well over 54%.
China in turn unleashed 34% retaliatory tariffs on imports of US goods.
By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business and economics reporter
Like peers in Asia and Europe, US stocks have opened on a positive but are nowhere near the highs before Trump announced his tariffs.
The S&P 500 index of companies, often relied on to be stable and profitable, rose 3.3%.
The tech-company-heavy NASDAQ grew 3.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index of 30 major companies listed on US stock exchanges was up 3.3%.
Another day, another anxious wait for Wall Street to open.
The New York Stock Exchange will open for trading at 2.30pm UK time.
It’s expected to be a more encouraging day, from what we’ve heard so far.
Watch the stream at the top of the page as the US markets open.
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