Trump’s first commerce warfare begins as China tariffs come into impact and Beijing hits again: Live updates

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks set to follow his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington DC next week to visit Trump in person after agreeing to take back illegal immigrants to the US originating from his country.

Shweta Sharma reports.

There was a curious scene in the Oval Office yesterday when the president welcomed veteran conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch over to witness him sign an executive order establishing a sovereign wealth fund, only to then trash Murdoch’s own Wall Street Journal right in front of him.

Justin Baragona has the story.

In his opening monologue on this week’s episode of The Daily Show, Stewart took Trump to task over his tariff measures as well as his supposed plans to take over Panama and Greenland.

“The EU? Canada? Do we have any friends? I mean, Mexico, I get. Trump’s been hate-f***ing Mexico pretty much since the escalator,” said Stewart, in reference to Trump famously launching his 2016 campaign from an escalator in Trump Tower.

“But Canada? Ca-nada?” asked Stewart.

“We’re picking a fight with our most reliable and pleasant friend? The labradoodle of allies?

“Denmark, Panama and Canada. We’re America! We used to fight the Nazis. Now we’re scouring the globe for easy marks.

“What are we, the Jake Paul of nations? No offence. ‘I know China’s out there, but Panama’s a legitimate fight!’”

Greg Evans has more.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks set to follow his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington DC next week to visit Trump in person after agreeing to take back illegal immigrants to the US originating from his country.

Shweta Sharma reports.

The Central American leader appears to sense an opportunity here.

In Washington yesterday, Trump mostly stuck to sports and avoided any talk of tariffs as he celebrated the NHL’s defending Stanley Cup champions the Florida Panthers at the White House.

Trump had to delay the ceremony nearly an hour while he talked to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the tariffs.

Eventually, with the Stanley Cup placed on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, Trump took pictures with the team, chatted with players and Panthers owner Vinnie Viola and was gifted a couple of jerseys and a golden hockey stick.

“You gave the fans one of the most riveting comebacks in NHL history, in any sport history,” Trump said.

“I don’t know anything about a comeback, but they tell me it’s very nice.”

Here’s a full report.

Voters remain unsupportive of the Trump administration’s proposals to impose tariffs on US trading partners Canada, Mexico and China, although there’s also considerable confusion throughout the country about how tariffs even work.

Such lagging support may influence how the White House handles future trade policy in the coming days, after it agreed to suspend planned 25 percent tariffs on both Canada and Mexico for the next month just two days after imposing them.

Overall, Americans seem unenthused about Trump’s threatened trade wars.

A January poll from Quinnipiac University found that just 42 percent of respondents believe the tariffs will help the American economy, while 48 percent think they will do harm.

An Ipsos poll from last month, meanwhile, found that two-thirds of Americans, and especially Democrats, think the tariffs will raise prices for consumers.

A separate poll from the firm found that 60 percent of respondents opposed tariffs on Canada.

Here’s more from Josh Marcus.

Trump’s plan to unilaterally impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexican and Canadian imports appears to be on hold in both countries for at least a month after he held a series of phone calls with his counterparts Claudia Sheinbaum and Justin Trudeau on Monday to smooth things over.

Here’s Andrew Feinberg with a recap of yesterday’s big U-turn.

In addition to targeting US energy imports, China has announced a wide range of measures and investigations targeting US businesses including Google, farm equipment makers and fashion brand Calvin Klein’s owner.

China’s commerce ministry said it had put the holding company for brands including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger and US biotechnology firm Illumina on its “unreliable entity” list.

It said the two companies took what it called “discriminatory measures against Chinese enterprises” and “damaged” legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.

Companies added to the blacklist can be subject to fines and a broad range of other sanctions, including a freeze on trade and revocation of work permits for foreign staff.

Good morning!

If you’re just joining us, China has announced a package of tariffs on a range of American products in retaliation against the 10 per cent tariff imposed on its goods by Donald Trump.

The move comes after Trump agreed to suspend the aggressive tariff hikes he had threatened against North American neighbors Mexico and Canada by one month after speaking with his counterparts in both nations.

No such reprieve was made available to Beijing, however, so they went ahead as planned at 12.01am ET this morning, prompting China’s foreign ministry to impose 15 percent tariffs on American coal and liquefied natural gas while oil and agricultural equipment from the US will face a 10 percent levy.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.