{"id":132434,"date":"2025-04-04T11:21:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T11:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-tariffs-live-china-to-impose-additional-34-levy-on-us-imports-bbc\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T11:21:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T11:21:55","slug":"trump-tariffs-live-china-to-impose-additional-34-levy-on-us-imports-bbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-tariffs-live-china-to-impose-additional-34-levy-on-us-imports-bbc\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump tariffs live: China to impose additional 34% levy on US imports – BBC"},"content":{"rendered":"

China hits back against Donald Trump's tariffs, saying it will impose an additional 34% tax on US goods<\/a> from next week
European markets fall further in response<\/a>, with indexes in London, Berlin and Paris all down more than 3%
Trump announced a 54% import tax for China – one of the highest rates for any country
Need catching up on the basics? <\/i>Read our summary here<\/i><\/a>
Meanwhile, a treasury minister tells the BBC the UK is working "at pace"<\/a> to secure a deal on trade with the US
How could the tariffs affect you and your money? <\/i>Our business reporter breaks down the UK impact<\/i><\/a>
Edited by Tinshui Yeung and Rorey Bosotti
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Paul Kirby<\/strong>
Europe digital editor<\/span>
Shares in some of Europe's biggest companies have nosedived in response to China's 34% tariff on US goods.
The Milan<\/b>stock market <\/b>has fallen 7%, with banking and insurance shares well down: financial group Unipol has plummeted 13%, Unicredit and Bper are down 11%, and Intesa and Banca Popolare di Sondrio have both lost 10% of their value.
The DAX in Germany<\/b> lost hundreds of points in a matter of minutes as banking shares and industrials tumbled. Deutsche Bank was down over 10%, while Daimler, Mercedes-Benz and MTU Aero Engines have slipped by between 5% and 7.5%.
In France<\/b>, banking groups Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale and BNP Paribas were down 10.8% and 8.6% respectively while car group Stellantis lost 8.5% of its value and steel firm ArcelorMittal was down 10%.
In Amsterdam<\/b> Dutch insurer Aegon and banking group ING are both down by more than 9%.
Tom Espiner<\/strong>
Business reporter<\/span>
After a shaky start on Friday, European markets are falling further after China said it would impose retaliatory tariffs of 34% on all US goods<\/a> from 10 April.
Indexes in the UK, Germany and France are all down more than 3%. Asian markets also dropped earlier.
The sweeping new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump on Wednesday sparked a global stock market sell-off, with US markets suffering their worst day since the Covid pandemic hit in 2020.
Traders are worried the tariffs will push up prices and slow growth both in the US and around the world.
We\u2019ve got more now on China\u2019s response to US tariffs, after Beijing says it\u2019s hitting back with a 34% tariff on American goods<\/a>.
A spokesperson at the ministry of commerce says China has also filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The US-imposed tariff "seriously violates WTO rules, damages the legitimate rights and interests of WTO members, and undermines the rules-based multilateral trading system and the international economic and trade order," the spokesperson says.
"It is a typical unilateral bullying practice that endangers the stability of the global economic and trade order. China firmly opposes this."
China has just said it will add a 34% tariff on US goods starting from 10 April.
Its finance ministry says the US tariffs on Chinese products are "not in line with international trade rules".
US President Donald Trump has announced 54% tariffs on China, which include previous duties already in place. That makes China one of the hardest-hit countries on America's tariff list.
As the UK continues talks with the US to reach a deal<\/a>, some countries are bringing in measures \u2013 either to get ahead or in response.
Let's take a look at a few of them:
Oliver Smith<\/strong>
Business producer<\/span>
A 10% tariff will hurt UK businesses exporting to the US \u2013 but it could have been worse.
Still, some are seeing possible upsides.
I've been speaking to a UK electric motorbike manufacturer. The US is a growing market for him, and with his bikes seen as luxury items, he\u2019s understandably worried.
But with Chinese rivals now facing a 34% tariff, his prices suddenly look more competitive.
A chemicals firm also tells me he\u2019s lost some US business to companies in China and India over the years. With both countries now facing higher tariffs than the UK, he\u2019s hoping American customers might take another look at his products.
But he\u2019s also cautious. If Chinese and Indian goods become harder to sell in the US, they could be diverted to the UK \u2013 undercutting his business here.
That might be good news for UK buyers, but not for him.
As we've mentioned earlier, Nato foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels<\/a>.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been speaking to reporters, saying the UK is "a nation that believes in open trade".
He says the UK is "engaged in discussions with the United States to strike an economic agreement and an economic deal".
He adds that the national interest will come first, and "it's in their national interests to be negotiating with the United States an economic agreement at this time, but keeping all options on the table".
Farmers in the US are "disappointed" by Donald Trump's new tariffs, the head of a farmers union has told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"We're disappointed that they are so widespread and affect so many products," says Chad Franke, president of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union.
He says the farmers he represents are worried about retaliatory tariffs from other countries, as agricultural goods are often the first to be hit.
All tariffs are likely to cause disruption to the industry, he adds, as farmers need to plan "years in advance", making it "really difficult to change quickly".
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Faisal Islam<\/strong>
Economics editor<\/span>
All the chips have been thrown up in the air by the American actions. All assumptions about how global trade functions will have to change.
Some of the seasoned market observers I\u2019ve spoken to suggest that even the sharp falls we saw in the US markets yesterday are underpinned by the idea that this full tariff package won\u2019t actually happen.
But if it does, it raises serious questions about whether the US government\u2019s approach is undermining the strategies of some of America\u2019s biggest blue-chip businesses.
Their current supply chain strategies involve finding the most cost-effective places in the world to make their goods. Now, they\u2019re being told to \u201cmake American\u201d.
There\u2019s another factor here. Most of the world\u2019s trade doesn\u2019t happen through America. I've been struck by a lot of the comments from around the world \u2013 with many nations not wanting to be seen to give in to what they see as coercion from the US.
We\u2019ve already seen the Canadians try to join forces with the EU. Some of Trump\u2019s proxies on social media are saying world leaders should strike a deal with the US president<\/a> now \u2013 get to the front of the queue \u2013 because they\u2019re worried, I think, about a co-ordinated response.
As we mentioned earlier, US President Donald Trump spoke to reporters on board Air Force One yesterday after announcing new tariffs.
Let\u2019s recap what he said:
If you scan across Donald Trump\u2019s tariff chart, you'll see that the value in the second column equals roughly half of the number in the first column for most countries. There's a reason for that.
The two columns represent:
Initially, it was assumed that the figures were based on existing tariffs plus other trade barriers (like regulations and licensing rules) which make trade harder.
But, the White House has now published its official methodology, and it turns out there is a simple equation behind it.
The calculations are based on a country\u2019s goods trade deficit with the US. In other words, how much more the US imports than it exports. This number is then divided by the total value of imports from that country.
Let's use China as an example: The US buys more goods from China than it sells to them – there is a goods deficit of $295bn<\/b> and the total amount of goods it buys from China is $440bn<\/b>.
Then, we find the percentage difference between those two numbers, which = 67%<\/b> – that's the number which appears in the first column of Trump\u2019s chart.
And to work out column two – the tariff the US wishes to impose – you simply divide that number by two.
So in China\u2019s case, the result is 34<\/b>, and there you have the tariff.
Ottie Mitchell and Tiffanie Turnbull<\/strong>
BBC News, Sydney<\/span>
Two tiny, remote Antarctic outposts home to penguins and seals have also ended up on the list for Trump\u2019s new tariffs.
Heard and McDonald Islands \u2013 a territory about 4,000km (2,485 miles) south-west of Australia \u2013 can only be reached by a week-long boat trip from Perth, and haven\u2019t seen human visitors in almost a decade.
\u201cIt just shows and exemplifies the fact that nowhere on Earth is safe from this,\u201d Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday.
Read more about how an island of penguins found itself on Trump\u2019s tariff list.<\/a>
Some Canadians may be angry about Trump's policy, but others are finding it amusing.
One of the targets of Trump\u2019s tariffs is Norfolk Island \u2013 a tiny Australian territory with about 2,200 residents.
The island\u2019s been hit with a 29% tariff.
Locals say the economy relies on tourism and they don\u2019t export anything to the US \u2013 so the tariff has become something of a running joke.
\u201cEveryone's laughing about it,\u201d Gye Duncan, a former resident, tells Reuters news agency. \u201cThey're either laughing about it or confused why because there's no real reason, or no logical reason why he (Trump) would do that.\u201d
People on the island are hoping the sudden international attention will give them a much-needed publicity boost and attract more visitors to the rugged volcanic island in the southern Pacific.
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Robin Levinson King<\/strong>
Reporting from Toronto, Ontario<\/span>
At her local grocery store, Benedykta Mazur has taken on the role of a bit of a sleuth.
Since Donald Trump launched a trade war with Canada, she's been doing her best to buy Canadian wherever she can.
She refuses to buy anything grown or made in the US.
"It's a no, an absolute no," she tells me. "This is something that is not going to be just kind of wishy washy."
Mazur says that while Canadians are known for being "really nice", it's time to focus that friendliness elsewhere and build ties with countries that "share commonalities in regards to how you treat another person, because countries are made of people".
Nato foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels today to talk about Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine \u2013 but some are also reacting to Trump\u2019s sweeping tariffs.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy says he regrets the "return to protectionism in the US", while Canadian Foreign Minister M\u00e9lanie Joly says Canada\u2019s relationship with the US will never be the same again.
Joly also says Canada is putting maximum pressure on the Trump administration.
We\u2019re expecting to hear from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who\u2019s also in Brussels, a bit later today.
Just a reminder \u2013 Canada wasn\u2019t on <\/i>the list of new tariffs<\/a> announced this week, but Trump had already imposed a 25% tariff on goods coming into the US from Canada. He\u2019s also previously called for Canada to become the US\u2019s 51st state.<\/i>
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Ali Abbas Ahmadi<\/strong>
Reporting from Windsor, Ontario<\/span>
Carmaker Stellantis says it will temporarily shut down its assembly plant in Windsor, a Canadian city on the US border, next week because of car tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump.
Derek Gungle, who works on the assembly line at the plant, says the news was \u201ckind of expected\u201d after the tariffs were announced \u2013 but still \u201cscary, very scary\u201d.
Speaking quietly after giving several interviews, Gungle says Windsor depends heavily on cross-border trade, and any threat to that could have devastating consequences.
If the shutdown becomes permanent or he loses his job, Gungle says he has \u201cno idea\u201d what he\u2019ll do.
The boss of construction giant JCB has urged the UK government not to hit back at Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs, warning it could lead to \u201ca trade war we can only lose\u201d.
It comes after the UK published a 417-page list of US goods<\/a> that could face tariffs in response.
JCB has announced it will double its investment in a new factory in Texas, but chief executive Graeme McDonald says this won\u2019t affect jobs in the UK.
\u201cWe can\u2019t ignore the biggest market in the world,\u201d he tells BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme, adding the best way to deal with the tariffs is to \u201cmake in America\u201d.
Trump has said companies producing in the US won\u2019t face tariffs, but McDonald says it\u2019s still unclear what \u201cmake in America\u201d actually means, given global supply chains.
His message to the UK government: \u201cdo not retaliate, negotiate\u201d \u2013 as there\u2019s \u201ca deal to be done\u201d with the US.
Jim O\u2019Neill, former chief economist at Goldman Sachs and treasury minister, says the UK should think about what it can gain from and offer to the rest of the world in response to US tariffs.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme, O\u2019Neill suggests the UK should talk to other G7 countries about lowering trade barriers, especially for cross-border services, \u201cwhich is what the UK has a marginal advantage in\u201d.
\u201cThe most important thing is to try to more seriously pursue the obvious things elsewhere in the world that would be to our benefit \u2013 I\u2019d include China and India in that too,\u201d he says.
O\u2019Neill also says that if the US wants to impose tariffs, it\u2019s \u201cin the bounds of feasibility\u201d for other big economies to restructure and stop their \u201caddiction to the US consumer\u201d.
The UK government is "working at pace" to secure a trade deal with the US, a treasury minister tells the BBC.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme, James Murray says the government is "disappointed" global tariffs have been introduced, but it will keep a "cool head" and take a "pragmatic approach".
The focus is on getting a trade deal, says Murray, but the government is keeping "everything on the table" when it comes to its response.
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Chris Mason<\/strong>
Political editor<\/span>
President Trump's lament about the consequences of deindustrialisation in America and his reaction to that is prompting the UK and others to have to think nimbly and devote considerable bandwidth to preparing contingencies for what might happen next.
How should we understand and grapple with the magnitude of what we are witnessing?
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is not a man known for flights of rhetorical fancy.
So it is instructive to see how he is articulating this moment.
He claimed it was "the beginning of a new era for trade and the economy" and not just this, but was the second such paradigm shift we have witnessed just in the last few months.
There was already the beginnings of a new era for defence and security, he suggested, with the UK, Germany and others committed to ramping up spending on the military.
Copyright \u00a9 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.<\/a><\/p>\n

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