European markets open higher and major Asian markets make gains following days of losses in the wake of Donald Trump's tariffs
The UK's FTSE 100 opens 1% up, with France's Cac 40 index up 1.8% and Germany's Dax opening 1.3% higher
China says it will "fight to the end" after Trump threatened to hit Beijing with an extra 50% tariff if it doesn't withdraw its retaliatory levy on Tuesday
Beijing's commerce ministry accuses the Trump administration of blackmail and says his tariffs are "a typical unilateral bullying practice"
The new tariffs could leave some US companies bringing in certain goods from China facing a 104% tax – here's a timeline of how the tit-for-tat tariffs have unfolded
Trump appears locked in a high-stakes game of chicken, with the world's economy hanging in the balance, writes Anthony Zurcher
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Watch: World leaders react as higher tariffs due to take effect
Edited by Marita Moloney and Jamie Whitehead
Nick Edser
Business reporter
Well the dust has settled after the first few minutes of trade and the major European markets are still trading higher.
The FTSE 100 is up 1.1%, Germany's Dax is 0.6% higher and the Cac 40 has risen 1.3%.
However, while analysts have welcomed the rises, they warn that sentiment remains fragile.
"This should hardly be seen as the end of the trouble, especially with President Trump showing no signs of easing his stance on perceived trade imbalances, having doubled down on China," says Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
However, signs of possible trade talks between the US and Japan offer "a glimmer of hope", he says.
"The sooner deals are reached; the quicker companies and investors can gain some clarity on the lay of the land."
Henry Wang, founder of the think tank Center for China and Globalization, has been speaking to the BBC’s Today programme on Radio 4 this morning.
He says the US should invite China to the negotiating table so it can explain why it has launched what he called an "unjustified" and "immoral" trade war.
"They should invite China, because they launched this trade war and they should give China an explanation for that," he says.
Wang says Trump's policy overlooks many of the US's strengths, including on service trade and harvesting global talents, before adding that the US is not in a position to complain about losing manufacturing jobs to other nations because it "abandoned" the industry.
Trading has just restarted in Europe and all the main stock markets are showing a slight rebound from the previous falls.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 has opened up 1%.
In France, the Cac 40 rose 1.8%.
Germany's Dax is up 1.3%.
Yesterday, Europe's biggest stock markets all opened – and closed – significantly down with some falling up to 10% on the day.
Ahead of the UK's stock market opening at 08:00 BST, here is a recap of what happened across Europe on Monday:
The FTSE 100 is the UK's biggest stock market index. Listed on the London Stock Exchange, it is made up of the largest firms listed in the UK. On Monday it opened at 2.4% down but then slumped to -4.4% at close.
Germany's Dax opened trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with a stark drop of nearly 10%. However, the index managed to regain some ground, eventually closing at 4.1% down.
The French Cac40, a stock market index made up of the 40 most prominent listed companies in France,opened at around 7% down. It did manage to recover some of those losses, closing at 4.8% down.
The UK stock market will be opening in a few minutes, stay with us.
We've just been hearing from Republican House representative for Texas Pete Sessions, who tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme Trump's policy on tariffs has "ignited many capitalists" who are against it.
He says many ordinary Texans are also "concerned" but he believes it is a negotiating tactic from the Trump administration.
"All Texans believe that a tariff is a tax and it's not in America's best interest, nor people in the free world, to pay that extra money," he says.
"I think many people believe it is a negotiating tactic, certainly the administration has signalled he [Trump] is willing to negotiate with other countries and it is my hope that he continues to do that and we find an end to this that will be mutually good not just for Texas but for everyone."
He says Trump must look at the reaction in the markets and listen to the concerns being raised, saying he is hopeful this will play out within three to four weeks.
But he adds: "Once a play like this is made, getting the toothpaste back in the tube is hard."
Henry Zeffman
Chief political correspondent
As the trade war between China and the US intensifies, on the other side of the world the UK continues to pursue its own strategy of seeking a bilateral deal with President Trump.
For weeks in the run-up to the tariffs being imposed by the US, the UK sought to negotiate an economic agreement with Washington which would, among other things, mean the tariffs being reduced.
Yet in the days before Trump’s big announcement last week it became clear that the president was set on imposing blanket global tariffs.
The government still hopes that deal could be signed.
In fact, those close to the negotiation say it is essentially there, focusing on technology co-operation but covering various other parts of the economy too. What they admit remains something of a mystery is when, or whether, President Trump might actually sign it.
The longer he does not, the more questions you will hear here in the UK about the government’s approach.
Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent, Washington DC
A day before Donald Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs are scheduled to kick in, the US president appears locked in a high-stakes game of chicken, with the world's economy hanging in the balance.
So if this is about the start of broader systemic change – what is the desired end goal worth potentially tanking the global economy?
One theory is that Trump has a plan with several of his top advisers – the "Mar-a-Lago accord", it is called – with the ultimate goal of compelling America's trading partners to weaken the US dollar on the international currency exchange.
Such a move would make American exports more affordable to foreign markets and diminish the value of China's large reserves of US currency.
That's just one of the possible explanations for the current stock market mayhem that Trump has purposefully instigated – one that many other prominent economists warn is risky. It is far from the only one.
Is is all a negotiating tactic, or is he playing a longer game aimed at permanently restructuring the global economy and America's place in it?
On Monday, US President Donald Trump threatened additional tariffs on Chinese goods.
Writing on Truth Social, external, he said that unless China withdrew the 34% retaliatory tariff announced by Beijing last week, he would impose an additional 50% tariff on Wednesday.
Trump had already imposed a 20% tariff on China before announcing a further 34% rate last week. An additional 50% would take the total tariff rate on China to 104%.
He also opened the door for negotiations with other countries, which included meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington yesterday, but said he was not considering pausing new tariffs.
Asked directly about a potential pause, he told reporters in the Oval Office: "We're not looking at that. We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us, and there are going to be fair deals."
After a more positive performance from Asian markets, there are indications that European shares will also see a rebound when trading starts at 08:00 BST this morning.
Rachel Winter, a partner and investment manager at Killik & Co, tells the BBC's Today programme that "it’s looking to be very much a better day".
The futures market – which gives an indication of how markets will perform – suggests the UK's FTSE 100 share index will open about 2% higher.
However, the futures market can be volatile, so can change quite a bit before the market opens officially.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee says President Trump's "reckless imposition" of tariffs has far-reaching effects on global trade.
Lee says the levies "will disrupt the world economic and trade order, bring great risks and uncertainties to the world".
He adds that Hong Kong will look to deepen trade with South East Asia and the Middle East, and sell more to mainland China in response to tariffs.
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Mariko Oi
Asia business correspondent
After three days of a sharp sell-off, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index opened 6% higher today.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up about 2% – after plunging yesterday by more than 13%, its biggest fall in decades.
The markets in South Korea and Australia have also edged up – while in Taiwan and Singapore there have been more losses.
The key index in mainland China, the Shanghai Composite, was broadly flat in morning trading.
One trader described what was happening across Asia as a "natural market bounce following Monday's calamities".
Chris Mason
Political editor
As if the economic picture in the UK wasn't shaky already, it has now got shakier still.
The cost of living is continuing to bite for many and people will worry about the prospect of recession.
It is the last thing the government could do with. It is the last thing millions of families could do with.
New polling for More In Common suggests two-thirds of people in the UK are worried about America's tariffs, with just over half fearing it will make cost-of-living pressures even greater.
And nearly twice as many people in the UK would support the government retaliating with its own tariffs on America as those who oppose the idea.
For now, the prime minister and senior ministers are doing what plenty of governments around the world are doing: scrambling to work out how to respond and hitting the phones to ask each other just that.
Stephen McDonell
China correspondent, Beijing
Beijing has indicated that it will hold firm in the face of renewed threats from Donald Trump.
China’s Commerce Ministry said that any more tariffs from the US would trigger extra “countermeasures” targeting American goods.
In a written statement it accused the Trump administration of blackmail and said that “if the US insists on this way, China will fight it to the end”.
It also ridiculed Donald Trump’s claim that his tariffs are “reciprocal” saying that they were “groundless” and “a typical unilateral bullying practice”.
It seems hard to believe that Donald Trump would have really expected China to reverse last week’s “countermeasures” in the face of his promised next round of retaliation.
Apart from losing face, if the Chinese government is describing Donald Trump as a bully, it is hardly going to back down to this person.
By taking a firm stand against the Trump-instigated global trade chaos, China may also hope to attract not only international political support but also extra trade volumes from new partners, which might make up for some of the loss of sales into America.
But the Communist Party doesn’t really need a trade war now. It comes at a time of high economic pressures at home.
Policymakers had already been struggling to increase increase domestic consumption, with a sluggish economy reeling from years of a major property crisis and persistent youth unemployment. Now it is facing a potential collapse in trade with the world’s other superpower.
Still, the Chinese Communist Party has sent a confident message to the Chinese population today, in the form of an editorial in the mouthpiece People’s Daily newspaper.
“China has the courage and confidence to deal with the impact… it is fully capable of meeting these challenges,” it said.
Good morning to our readers in Europe and the UK. If you're just joining us, here are the latest developments:
Peter Hoskins
Business reporter, Singapore
Shortly after coming back to the White House Donald Trump returned to one of his favourite themes – lashing out at China over trade. But his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is showing no signs of backing down.
In February, Trump imposed a new 10% tariff on all goods from China.
Beijing immediately hit back with a number of countermeasures, including duties on US coal, liquefied natural gas and agricultural machinery.
The following month, Trump doubled the tariff on Chinese goods to 20%.
Again, China retaliated with more tariffs of up to 15% on key US agricultural products and tightened controls on American firms operating in the country.
Last week, on the US president's so-called Liberation Day, he unveiled plans to raise the import tax on Chinese goods to 54%, although some items, like pharmaceuticals and computer chips, were exempted.
Yet again, Beijing responded with new measures, including additional export controls on rare earth minerals and suspended imports of more farm goods from some US firms. It also filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization, added 27 American firms to lists of companies facing trade restrictions and started an anti-monopoly investigation into DuPont China Group Co.
On Monday, Trump threatened a massive hike to tariffs, which if actually imposed would mean almost all Chinese imports will be subject to a 104% tariff.
China has said it will "fight to the end".
All of which suggest that we probably won't see an end to this trade war any time soon.
Bangladesh's interim government has formally asked the US to pause its tariff plans for three months.
This will allow the South Asian country to "smoothly implement its initiative to substantially increase US exports to Bangladesh," the office of interim leader Muhammad Yunus said.
The office added that it has already agreed to buy more US goods including energy, cotton and wheat.
Bangladesh is the third largest supplier of clothing to the US, after China and Vietnam. It faces a 37% levy on its exports later this week.
Bangladesh's economy heavily relies on the clothing industry
By Gerry Georgieva
US President Donald Trump has claimed several times that the United States is running a $1tn trade deficit with China.
But we can’t find any evidence for this.
The US does run a trade deficit with China, meaning that it imports more in goods from that country than it exports to it. But the figure was just over $295bn for 2024, external.
Globally, in 2024, China exported nearly $1tn more goods, external than it imported – so it’s possible that Trump may have been mistakenly referring to this figure.
Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh says the country will buy more goods from the US, including products used for security and defence.
He added that it will also seek for faster deliveries of America-made planes.
Vietnam is set to be one of the hardest hit by Trump tariffs – it faces a rate of 46%.
It has a large trade deficit with the US and has been a beneficiary of firms moving factories out of China to avoid measures announced during his first term in office.
Read more on how Pham is also trying to take a diplomatic approach with the US – including golfing with Trump.
Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh
Thailand's stock exchange, which was closed yesterday for a national holiday, has seen stocks fall more than 4% when it opened this morning.
The stock exchange has banned short-selling this week in anticipation of the chaos that hit global markets in the wake of Trump's tariff announcements. It has also lowered the ceiling and floor limit on stocks from 30% to 15%.
Thailand has been hit by a 36% tariff, among the highest in the region.
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has said that she was seeking negotiations with the US. Authorities have also pledged to increase imports of energy, aircraft, and agricultural products from the US.
Annabelle Liang
Business reporter, Singapore
The numbers are eye-watering – with just over 24 hours left until tariffs are due to be imposed.
China was already facing a 54% levy on its imports to the US. Trump has threatened to almost double this, in response to Beijing's plan to retaliate.
The war of words is also heating up. But China is unlikely to back down on both fronts, even though tariffs could cripple its exports sector, according to analysts.
"I believe that China means it when it says it will fight to the end. It will be tit-for-tat if the US really raises the tariffs again, China will match it," said Dan Wang from the Eurasia Group consultancy.
This is despite the fact that proposed tariffs will "wipe out the entire profit margin for [the Chinese] export sector".
Alfredo Montufar-Helu from The Conference Board think tank believes it would be "a mistake to think that China will back off" as Beijing will not want to "appear weak".
"Unfortunately, we've now reached an impasse that will likely lead to long term economic pain," Mr Montufar-Helu said.
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