Tariffs dwell: FTSE 100 opens excessive as UK restoration from Trump’s tariffs continues

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has compared good friend Donald Trump’s trade war to Liz Truss’s disastrous 49-day stint as prime minister.

“Do you know what, I think Trump did too much too soon, rather like Liz Truss did a couple of years ago,” he told LBC.

“I’ve never in my life before seen stock markets fall quickly and bond markets fall at the same time.

“As for the slugging it out with China, who’s going to win? Right now? I just don’t know.”

In Europe, both the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX in Frankfurt are up too, around 0.6 per cent each, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is set to close shortly as remains up 1.5 per cent.

The latter was hard-hit at the start of the tariff worries, mind, so remains down eight per cent across the week and 11 per cent over a month.

On the Euro STOXX 50 this morning, the biggest riser is Dutch chipmaker ASML, showing a 2.7per cent change to the green as we head toward the weekend.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is visiting China on Friday, as his government seeks to boost investment from the Asian giant amid global economic uncertainty caused by a chaotic US tariff policy.

Mr Sanchez met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and was also expected to meet with business leaders from several Chinese companies, many of which produce electric batteries or renewable energy technologies.

“A trade war favours no one. We all will lose,” Mr Sanchez said after meeting with Vietnamese leaders in Hanoi before his trip.

Spain’s government spokeswoman Pilar Alegria said earlier this week that Mr Sanchez’s trip “has special importance” and is an opportunity to “diversify markets” – Spain could see as much as 80% of its exports to the US impacted by Trump’s tariffs.

The FTSE 100 has opened 0.76 per cent up in early trading, easing any worries that it would follow last night’s S&P 500 into the red.

The US-based sell-off served ass a reminder that all is not fixed in terms of the tariffs and global trade, but it’s a fairly calm picture on the London Stock Exchange today so far with just nine companies in negative territory.

Mining is a strong early sector with each of Glencore, Endeavour and Fresnillo showing gains of more than two per cent – the latter almost double that number – and financials are generally strong across the board too.

February’s boost followed several months of almost flatlining, but came before Donald Trump sparked market volatility by placing – and then delaying – tariffs on nations around the globe.

Chinese president Xi Jinping on Friday urged the EU to join Beijing in opposing “unilateral bullying” from the US on trade, state media reported, referring to the steep tariffs imposed by US president Donald Trump.

Mr Xi made the appeal to Europe a day after Australia refused to “join hands” with China amid escalating global trade tensions.

French president Emmanuel Macron has described Donald Trump’s suspension of tariffs as merely a “fragile pause”.

In a post on X, Mr Macron wrote: “The partial suspension of American tariffs for 90 days sends out a signal and leaves the door open for talks. But this pause is a fragile one. Fragile, because the 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles and the 10% tariffs on all other products are still in place.”

He added: “This 90-day pause means 90 days of uncertainty for all our businesses, on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond.”

Mr Macron said France and the EU would “stay strong” and maintain a united front in negotiations aimed at getting the tariffs removed.

Tariffgate might be on pause for now, but there’s still uncertainty ahead over whether it’s in 90 days’ time or sooner than that, given the incredible frequency with which he has changed tack so far.

Here are three reasons outside the stock market that Donald Trump ultimately had to backtrack – two of them which applied pressure – but the third, once again, was the real deciding factor at play.

Read the full piece here:

If you’ve avoided the news over the past week surrounding stock markets plummeting and then phoenix-like rises, you’ve done well.

However, those who have investments in an ISA or other share-dealing account, would likely have seen a significant drop compared to even a few weeks ago – and the same goes for those who don’t actively invest themselves, but have been casting a worried eye over their pensions.

Read the full piece here:

A week of turmoil triggered by US president Donald Trump’s tariffs showed few signs of abating on Friday, as markets continued to slide and foreign leaders grappled with how to respond to the unravelling of the global trade order.

President Trump’s 90-day pause on some tariffs has done little to calm markets or reduce global recession fears.

Despite US claims that 75 countries are seeking trade talks, financial markets continue to plunge, with the S&P 500 down 15 per cent from its peak.

Trump told reporters at the White House he thought the United States could make a deal with China, but he reiterated his argument that Beijing had “really taken advantage” of the US for a long time.

“I’m sure that we’ll be able to get along very well,” Trump said, adding that he respected Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“In a true sense he’s been a friend of mine for a long period of time, and I think that we’ll end up working out something that’s very good for both countries.”

China rejected what it called threats and blackmail from Washington and pledged to follow through to the end if the US persists, commerce ministry spokesperson He Yongqian told a press briefing on Thursday.

China’s door was open to dialogue, but this must be based on mutual respect, the ministry said.