Despite markets tumbling today, Donald Trump has insisted his tariffs package will make the US “boom”. Much of the world doesn’t agree, with the UK considering potential retaliatory tariffs and Emmanuel Macron vowing a “massive” response. Listen to Trump 100 analysis as you scroll.
Thursday 3 April 2025 21:59, UK
Live reporting by Mark Wyatt
Away from tariffs for a moment (but staying firmly within the drama of the Trump administration), we have an update on the fiasco surrounding the cabinet’s use of the Signal messaging app.
Last month, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffery Goldberg said he was added to a group chat on the platform by national security adviser Mike Waltz called “Houthi PC small group”, where plans to launch a strike on the Yemen militants were discussed.
Now, the Pentagon’s acting inspector general said he will review US defence secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the app.
The review will also look at other defence officials’ use of the publicly available encrypted app – which is not able to handle classified material and is not part of the US government’s secure network.
We can now bring you some more comments from Donald Trump, who has been speaking to reporters while en route to Florida.
He says the UK is happy with its tariff treatment after it received the lowest levies possible of 10% during yesterday’s announcement.
Trump also said he would be open to tariff negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
One of those negotiations could involve China, who Trump hit with 34% tariffs yesterday. The US president said he would consider a deal where Beijing approves the sale of TikTok in exchange for tariff relief.
TikTok faces a 5 April deadline to reach a deal to find a non-Chinese buyer under threat of being banned from the US.
If you missed it earlier, here’s the moment Donald Trump spoke about his tariffs to members of the media on the White House lawn.
Defending his levies, he said the US is “going to boom” and “it’s going to be unbelievable” (see 19.49 post).
Watch his comments in full below…
Wall Street trading is now over for the day, and all three benchmarks have suffered heavy slumps in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariff plans.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 4.85%, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.99%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.98%.
It’s Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of the COVID pandemic. It’s the largest drop for Dow Jones since June 2020.
Earlier (see 19.49 post), Trump defended his tariffs despite the tumbling markets, telling reporters: “I think it’s going very well.”
“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country’s going to boom,” he added.
One of Donald Trump’s key economic advisers has dismissed the idea that China might retaliate to US tariffs by cutting off supplies of drugs.
Kevin Hassett was asked on Fox News if he was concerned Beijing might stop exporting pharmaceuticals as a result of the 34% levies on Chinese goods announced by Trump yesterday.
“There are lots of other places to get pharmaceuticals,” Hassett replied.
“The problem is there aren’t a lot of pharmaceutical plants here in the US and that’s why we have this policy to fix that.
“I don’t think people need to be worried about that and I don’t think that they would do that.”
An Apple iPhone could soon become much, much pricer thanks to Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Big tech stocks have been hit across the board by the new US levies, but Apple is one of the hardest hit, losing about 8%.
The company makes most of its phones in China, which was hit with a 54% tariff.
The question will now be whether Apple passes on the new levies entirely to customers. If they choose to do so, analysts estimate new iPhones could cost 30% to 40% more.
That would make an iPhone 16 Pro Max (with 1 terabyte of storage and a 6.9-inch display), which currently retails at $1,599 (£1,220) cost nearly $2,300 (£1,750).
As one of the world’s most valuable companies, Apple’s losses today along with other giants like Nvidia and Amazon have seen massive amounts of shareholder value go up in smoke.
Companies that make up the S&P 500 index are on track to see a combined $1.8trn in stock market value evaporate in today’s session.
In dollar terms, that loss would be the fourth-largest on record for a single day for the S&P 500, exceeded only by three days in March 2020 when the COVID pandemic threw global markets into a tailspin.
By Paul Kelso, business and economics correspondent
Donald Trump flourished his list of tariffs like a gameshow host in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday – but there were no winners from the president’s made-for-TV show of economic strength.
The price was wrong for everyone and there is jeopardy for all, the US included.
From Asian nations in the engine room of global consumer manufacturing, facing tariffs above 40%, to the UK, handed the base rate of 10% alongside a host of nations including a group of uninhabited Antarctic islands, the terms of trade have fundamentally changed.
The question now is what impact the tariffs will have locally, regionally and globally; and what nations should do in response.
Donald Trump has given some very brief remarks to the media before departing the White House on his way to Florida a little while ago.
He defended his tariff plans, despite the markets tumbling today.
“I think it’s going very well,” he said. “It was an operation, like when a patient gets operated on. And it’s a big thing, I said this would exactly be the way it is.”
“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country’s going to boom and the rest of the world wants to see is there any way we can make a deal,” he adds.
“They’ve taken advantage of us for many, many years. Many years we’ve been on the wrong side of the ball and I tell you what, I think it’s going to be unbelievable.”
“You’ll see how it’s going to turn out – our country’s going to boom,” he adds.
After his comments on the White House Lawn, Trump departed Washington on board Marine One, heading to Joint Base Andrews.
There, Air Force One is taking the president to Miami for LIV Golf’s first domestic event of the season. Trump will later attend a special dinner at the Trump National Doral Golf Club.
After he rubs shoulders with the stars of the golf world, he is scheduled to head to his base in Mar-a-Lago.
It’s not just the major markets – digital currencies have also been hit by today’s sell-off.
Bitcoin prices fell as much as 6% today to around $81,500 (£62,000), its lowest level in nearly a month, according to token price tracking sites.
Ethereum, the next-most-valuable digital token, was off as much as 7% to about $1,700 (£1,350).
For Trump’s own meme coin – $TRUMP – prices dropped more than 14% to less than $9.
By Gurpreet Narwan, business and economics reporter
Economists immediately started scratching their heads when Donald Trump raised his tariffs placard in the Rose Garden yesterday.
On that list, he detailed the rate the US believes it is being charged by each country, along with its response: a reciprocal tariff at half that rate.
So, take China for example.
Donald Trump said his team had run the numbers and the world’s second largest economy was implementing an effective tariff of 67% on US imports. The US is responding with 34%.
How did he come up with that 67%? This is where things get a bit murky.
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