Donald Trump has revealed his package of tariffs, comparing the US to a “healing” patient. In the UK, the government is considering its response to a 10% levy – and has released a list of products it may include in retaliatory tariffs. Listen to Trump 100 analysis as you scroll.
Thursday 3 April 2025 16:08, UK
Live reporting by Mark WyattandAdam McGroarty
Danish jewellery maker Pandora has estimated the potential impact that Donald Trump’s tariffs could have on the company.
It said the total impact could be around 1.2bn Danish krone ($178.34m or £135.47m) per year.
The impact in 2025 is estimated to be around 700m Danish krone ($104.24m or £79.19m).
We’ve been reporting on how Trump’s tariffs will have a huge impact on the car industry in Canada.
Yesterday, the head of Canada’s Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association told Sky News correspondent Dan Whitehead that Trump will cause the “complete shut down” of the industry.
Today, the ramifications are being felt quickly.
According to local media outlets, the maker of Chrysler, Jeep and Ram vehicles has told union workers in Windsor, Ontario, it would shut down an assembly plant there for two weeks beginning on 7 April because of Trump’s tariffs on automobiles.
Stellantis manufactures the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and the all-electric Dodge Charger Daytona at the Windsor plant. The company said more changes are expected in the “coming weeks,” local media reported.
Trump’s 25% tariff on all vehicles produced outside the US went into effect today.
Some lines are now coming from Paris, where Emmanuel Macron is giving his forthright views on Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The French president says if Europeans work together in their response to Washington, they will “succeed in dismantling US tariffs”.
Trump revealed last night the EU will be hit with a 20% tariff.
During a meeting with French industry representatives, Macron describes that rate as “brutal and unfounded”.
US consumers will become poorer and weaker, he adds, while Asian countries may boost exports to Europe.
He says the EU will respond in an “organised” and “unified” manner – and it will be “more massive” than before.
That’s in reference to the European Commission’s response to US steel and aluminium duties last month – when it announced it would target goods worth around $28bn.
A premium British chocolate maker is hoping the higher duties imposed on European rivals could be an advantage for its US export ambitions.
The UK was hit with the lowest import duty rate of 10% compared to the European Union, which has been given a 20% rate.
Switzerland, a major exporter of premium chocolate, received more than triple the UK’s tariff at 31%.
“Part of our strategy is to move into export markets, so it was very disappointing to have any kind of trade block,” said Montezuma’s managing director Marlene Godwin, speaking at the company’s office and factory near England’s south coast, where it makes bars and truffles.
“However, the fact that it was 10%, and I’m not going to just say only 10% because it’s still a big deal, it gives us that tailwind over our European competitors.”
Montezuma’s was already having to cope with the challenge of a 400% rise in cocoa prices over the last five years, a major ingredient in its premium bars, which do not contain palm oil.
The US tariff will now impose another cost in paperwork, Godwin said, adding to the burden of bureaucracy that resulted from Brexit.
“Like every company, it’s one of the prices you pay to trade with our European partners now,” she said. “It’s more paperwork, more admin. But it’s one of those things. We’ll do it.”
We have some reaction to today’s Wall Street slump from the White House.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt, responding to the sharp drops in US stocks following Donald Trump’s tariff announcements, urged calm.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told CNN.
“This is a president who is doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term… this is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Escaping Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs is a bit like a game of Whack-a-Mole, our US correspondent Mark Stone says.
He’s been speaking to US treasury secretary Scott Bessent and asked him what the UK needs to do to get around Trump’s tariffs.
“I think a lot of UK companies start building factories here,” he replied, but that’s something Stone says doesn’t seem likely.
“I don’t really see the prospect of Britain building factories here,” Stone says. “If it does, it’s not really going to help the British economy.”
That’s when he described the situation like a game of Whack-a-Mole.
Watch: Will Trump’s tariffs save America?
But Britain remains optimistic it can agree a trade deal with the US, James Matthews adds, describing the mood music as being “positive”.
“Trump’s allies say he is a negotiator, and this ultimately is a process of negotiation.”
By James Sillars, business and economics reporter
It would seem that investors in America’s listed companies are more worried about the tariff fallout than those in Europe.
Some very big stock market declines are being witnessed at the open on Wall Street.
The tech-focused Nasdaq is down more than 4%, the S&P 500 by 3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by just under 3%.
The focus is largely on the impact that Donald Trump’s expanded tariff regime will have on the domestic economy.
Price rises are a certainty, prices that will add upwards pressure to inflation and potentially choke demand and hiring.
The president’s protectionist measures are seen by his critics as an unwarranted, and misguided, gamble.
Certainly the headlines from the financial market response will make for uncomfortable reading at the White House but they will not result in any sort of climbdown. Trump wants to do some deals first.
In Europe, the market response has been more measured so far but still negative.
The CAC 40 in France and German DAX remain down by more than 3% and 2.5% respectively but the FTSE 100 is 1.7% lower.
The more domestically relevant FTSE 250 is 1.8% in the red.
A weakening dollar saw the pound hit a six-month high against the US currency at $1.32.
Some reaction to bring you from Austria now, where the country’s economy minister has said the European Union’s countermeasures to Donald Trump’s tariffs should target Republican-led states.
“We have to hit Republican states and we have to hit Donald Trump’s friends, the tech companies,” Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer said.
The comments come after we heard from the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen earlier this morning (see 8.01am post).
She described Trump’s tariffs as a “major blow to the world economy” and said the EU is “now preparing for further countermeasures, to protect our interests and our businesses if negotiations fail”.
As we reported earlier, the UK has published a list of goods that could be included in any retaliatory response to Donald Trump’s imposition of import tariffs of 10% on the country.
The government has opened a four-week consultation with businesses on the implications of any retaliatory tariffs.
Any retaliatory tariffs would be a “last resort”.
You can see the full list here and find out more about how to contribute to the consultation here.
It runs to more than 400 pages, with more than 8,000 potential categories of goods – including whiskey and jeans.
There are some interesting items on this list – and some rather peculiar ones too.
We’ve sifted through the exhaustive list to bring you just a few examples of what goods could be included in a retaliatory measure.
Some of these items are close to Trump’s heart – such as golf clubs and gold balls.
Here’s just a few of them:
The indicative list of products encompasses around 27% of British imports of US-origin goods, based on 2024 data.
By Jenness Mitchell, Scotland reporter
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has said the tariffs imposed on the UK by US President Donald Trump was “not good news”.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions today, Swinney said: “It will be damaging for economic activity not just in Scotland, the United Kingdom, but across the world.
“And there will also be negative implications for the population of the United States with what was applied yesterday.”
Swinney said his government would continue to engage with the UK government, which carries the responsibility for international trade.
He added: “We will continue to do so as part of our efforts to promote and to protect Scottish business.”
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay noted Scotland exports about £4bn worth of goods to the US each year.
He highlighted the concern around the US market for Scotch whisky, which is said to be worth around £1bn per year.
In response, Swinney said there had been “extensive dialogue” with the Scotch Whisky Association and he would be engaging with the trade body while in the US in the coming days for Tartan Week.
He added: “And I can assure Mr Findlay that this government will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that we take forward the concerns of the industry – working with the United Kingdom government and the industry to protect the prospects [of] an industry that contributes very significantly to the economic wellbeing of Scotland.”
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