U.S. President Donald Trump’s big raise in tariffs has triggered an escalating trade war and sent global markets plummeting.
The S&P 500 fell 6% Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 5.5% and the Nasdaq composite dropped 5.8%.
China announced Friday that it will impose a 34% tax on all U.S. imports next week, part of a flurry of retaliatory measures to Trump’s new tariffs.
Trump has doubled down on his commitment to tariffs, maintaining that his new levies will bring trillions of dollars of investment to the U.S. while also criticizing other countries’ retaliatory measures.
Here’s the latest:
Billionaire Elon Musk told Italy League leader Matteo Salvini on Saturday that he hoped in the future the U.S. and Europe could create “a very close, stronger partnership” and reach a “zero-tariff zone.”
Musk spoke to Salvini in a video conference during the League’s congress in Florence. Salvini is the leader of the far-right, anti-migrant League party and vice premier of the Italian conservative government led by Premier Giorgia Meloni.
He said that, ideally, there will be a “zero-tariff zone in the future with a free trade zone between Europe and North America.”
Musk, an adviser to President Donald Trump who owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has played a key role in government downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed Saturday that a trade war was in no one’s interest as they discussed the fallout from the sweeping tariffs announced earlier this week by President Donald Trump.
Starmer and Macron discussed the global economic and security impact of the tariffs, particularly in Southeast Asia, Starmer’s office said in a statement released after a phone call between the two leaders.
“They agreed that a trade war was in nobody’s interests, but nothing should be off the table and that it was important to keep business updated on developments,” the statement said.
The leaders also discussed efforts to build a coalition of countries willing to support Ukraine in its war against Russia and provide peacekeeping forces in the event a ceasefire is reached.
“Following discussions between military planners in Ukraine this week, they discussed the good progress that has been made on the Coalition of the Willing,” the statement said.
The baseline 10% levy announced by Trump this week kicked in at 12:01 a.m. Saturday ET (0401 GMT), triggering customs agents’ collections at ports of entry across the U.S.
Countries targeted by Trump for higher tariffs are due to go in effect on Wednesday. Those include assessments as high as 50% for Lesotho, 49% for Cambodia and 47% for Madagascar.
In an all-caps social media post Saturday, Trump insisted: “THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN.”
Public reaction hasn’t been so confident, with stock markets slumping since the tariff announcement.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun posted on his Facebook page a screen saving showing the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all declining by more than 5% on Friday, with the commentary, “The market has spoken.”
“The trade and tariff war started by the U.S. against the world is unprovoked and unjustified,” Guo wrote. “Now is the time for the U.S. to stop doing the wrong things and resolve the differences with trading partners through equal-footed consultation.”
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
