Tariffs reside: Global markets brace as US confirms China to be hit with 104% levies in a single day

Rebuilding relations with the European Union will be key to protecting Britain’s national interest during the “very turbulent” global economic headwinds unleashed by Donald Trump’s tariffs, a government minister has said.

Health minister Stephen Kinnock told Sky News’s Politics Hub: “It is very turbulent. Nobody benefits from a trade war. We live in an incredibly deeply integrated global economy with very integrated supply chains and hugely interdependent commercial relationships, so nobody benefits from a trade war.

“We are seeing a prime minister who is really showing leadership, he is engaging with Donald Trump and seeking to negotiate the best possible deal that we can in terms of economic prosperity.

“He’s also rebuilding the bridges that were burned by previous Conservative governments in terms of our relationship with the European Union.

“And we’re also developing an industrial strategy to help Britain stand firmly on its own two feet, investing in our own industries, boosting domestic demand, investing in skills in infrastructure rebuilding our manufacturing sector.

“So I think the combination of those three things is going to help us to weather the storm.”

In his latest column, The Independent’s chief business commentator James Moore writes:

At times like these, any port in a storm will do. In the modelling and role-playing currently underway around the globe, the UK suffers in Donald Trump’s trade war, like everyone else. But, cross fingers and toes, things might turn out to not be so bad here as elsewhere.

The reasons for this are laced with irony. Britain is not in the EU any more, thanks to Brexit, so the hit from the White House is reduced. They’re being clobbered with 20 per cent, the British penalty is 10 per cent. That is a sizeable difference.

So, exiting the EU, which has damaged the UK economy, has come good in the end. That, at least, is the Brexiteer interpretation of events. They ignore the first part and focus on the second. They prefer not to dwell on the fact that businesses miss the customs bloc terribly, that companies would dearly love to return to the free movement of goods and people.

Still, let us concentrate on this unexpected “Brexit dividend”, and give thanks.

The White House is attempting to paper over an ugly online spat between two of Donald Trump’s close confidantes over the tariff policies that have roiled stock markets and disturbed investors over the last six days as Trump himself is doubling down on increasing the taxes Americans will pay on Chinese imports.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday dismissed an online war of words between Tesla and SpaceX chief executive turned White House adviser Elon Musk and Peter Navarro, the longtime Trump aide and China hawk who has pressed Trump to tax Americans as a way of punishing foreign countries for trade deficits that are the result of market forces and decades-long trends in globalization of supply chains.

The Independent’s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg has the full story:

The availability of around 85 per cent of NHS medicines could be at risk unless the UK government strengthens its supply chains to prepare for worsening geopolitical tensions, ministers have been warned.

Manufacturers in Britain have urged the government to treat it as a defence issue, with the supply of drugs such as antibiotics under threat if global tensions continue to rise as a result of Donald Trump’s decision to ramp up tariffs across the world.

If pharmaceutical and medical suppliers are hit by a US-led tariff war, the NHS could have to pay more for medicines, another expert has said.

Read the full report:

Donald Trump believes that China has to make a deal with the United States concerning additional tariffs that are set to go into effect on Wednesday, the White House press secretary has said.

“The Chinese want to make a deal. They just don’t know how to do it,” Karoline Leavitt told a news briefing on Tuesday.

“He believes China has to make a deal with the United States.”

If China reaches out, she added, Trump would be “incredibly gracious, but he’s going to do what’s best for the American people.”

When asked if the additional 50 per cent tariff would be imposed on China tonight, the White House press secretary said: “It will be going into effect at 12.01am tonight. So effectively tomorrow.”

She added: “The president believes that China wants to make a deal with the US. China has to make a deal with the US.

“It was a mistake for China to retaliate. When America is punched he punches back harder.”

The White House has confirmed that the US will impose a 104 per cent tariff on China from 12:01am ET on Wednesday.

Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that the measures will come into place after Beijing did not lift its retaliatory tariffs on US goods by a noon Tuesday deadline.

Elon Musk has launched an extraordinary attack on Donald Trump’s economic adviser Peter Navarro earlier, calling him “truly a moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” on X over the administration’s controversial tariff policy.

When asked if Trump was concerned about the comments, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the comments.

She told reporters: “These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs.

“Boys will be boys and will let their public sparring continue and you guys should all be very grateful that we have the most transparent administration in history.”

The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is holding a press briefing now.

She said nearly 70 countries have reached out to Donald Trump following his tariff announcement and are “falling over themselves” to secure a deal with the US.