FTSE tumbles over fears Trump will impose crippling tariffs on Britain this week: UK politics lates

According to the financiers, the pound rose against the dollar to be on track for the best month in more than a year after Donald Trump announced international rates.

It is said that Sterling is on his way to a nearly 3 percent increase against the dollar this month, taking it to its best month since November 2023.

Michalis Rousakis and Claudio Piron, of Merrill Lynch, said The telegraph: “Rates all over the orchard would be a negative surprise.

“Our biggest concern is” something breaking “of aggressive rates, causing a star risk for a sharp sale of the market, which has pushed the dollar much higher in the short term.”

The Kremlin, who was asked about Donald Trump’s sanction threat, said that Russia works with the US on Ukraine settlements ideas.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia and the US were working on an unspecified ideas on a possible peace settlement in Ukraine after US President Donald Trump said he was “pissed” at Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump told NBC News he was very angry after Putin criticized the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week, reports the television network, citing a telephone interview early Sunday.

Trump said he would impose secondary rates of 25 percent to 50 percent on buyers of Russian oil if he felt that Moscow was blocking his efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

On a question about Trump’s remarks, Kremlin spokeswoman Dmitri Peskov said Putin remains open to contact with Trump and that a call between them could be set up at short notice if necessary, although no call for this week is scheduled.

Peskov said Moscow and Washington continue to build bilateral tires.

The independentPolitical editor David Maddox writes:

One of Britain’s leading trade experts is of the opinion that if Donald Trump continues with his round of rates on Wednesday, April 2, it will lead a major geo-political shift.

Marco Forgione, director of the Chartered Institute of Export and International Trade, has suggested that this will result in large Western democracies turning their backs on the US and working closely.

He told the Independent: ‘There will be a geo-political shift with Canada, the EU, the United Kingdom and Australia that form a closer trade partnership.

“This means the development of a formal or informal collaboration. It will not replace the US market, but with regard to commodities, a new collaboration community can establish.”

The shift fits in the current membership of the UK’s current membership of the comprehensive and progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) that Canada and Australia are already members of as well as Japan.

But it will also help Sir Keir remedy with his Brexit composition with the EU.

Asian stocks tumbled today with benchmarks in Tokyo and Taiwan, which dropped more than 4 percent, while the price of gold achieved a record high at almost $ 3,150 per gram.

Many of the countries that run trade surpluses with the US and are very dependent on export manufacturing are in Asia, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a comment.

“Asia is ground zero. Of the 21 countries under the Uustral (US trade representative) are nine in Asia,” he noted.

Thailand’s set lost 1.5 percent after a powerful earthquake in Myanmar rattled the region.

Tokyo’s benchmark dropped by 4.1 percent to 35,617,56, while the hang in Hong Kong lost 1.2 percent to 23,135,01. The Shanghai composite index dropped 0.5 percent to 3,335,67.

In South Korea, the KOSPI fell by 3 percent to 2,481,12, while Taiex of Taiwan lost 4.2 percent.

The FTSE 100 continued to decline after Donald Trump announced global rates.

The FTSE 100 dropped by as much as 1.2 percent this morning, as shares have fallen worldwide.

In London, shares struggle to recover.

Europe must ‘take the reins now’ as Donald Trump’s rates weave, the head of the European Central Bank said the continent is on a ‘existential moment’.

Christine Lagarde insisted that the US president’s 25 percent tariff on the automotive industry offer an opportunity.

She told France Inter Radio: ‘I consider it a moment when we can decide together to take our fate into our own hands, and I think it is a march to independence.

‘We are at an existential moment for Europe, in which we can take this step to independence, in terms of defense – which is not my subject, so I will not talk about it – energy and finances, which are much more my subject. We must now take the Lord’s now. ‘

Five nationalities together were more than half of the total number of migrants who illegally found the UK in 2024.

Afghan citizens were the most common group, making 15 percent (6.339) of the 43,630 migrants who arrived in the country last year through illegal routes, is evident from the figures of the home office.

The next most common nationalities were Iranian (5.370 or 12 percent), Syrian (4.945 or 11 percent), Eritrese (3,920 or 9 percent) and Vietnamese (3.798 or 9 percent).

About 1.457 of the arrivals last year (3 percent) did not record nationality.

The top two nationalities in 2024, Afghan and Iranian, were also the most common in 2023, which were 17 percent and 14 percent of total arrivals in that year.

The percentage of arrivals who were Vietnamese rose from 4 percent in 2024 in 2023 to 9 percent, while the ratio of Syria rose from 7 percent to 11 percent.

Separately, it is noteworthy that the owner of Primark, as well as rates weighing the share prices, is the biggest fall in the morning on the FTSE 100 – Associated British Foods (ABF) is already 4.6 percent lower.

This is after the departure of Primark CEO Paul Marchant, who resigned after an allegation about his behavior towards a woman during a social event.

Abf said that Mr. Marchant stands with immediate effect and will take over Eoin Tongues, director of finance, on an interim basis.

Mr. Marchant has led Primark since 2009. While ABF has an extensive empire, including agriculture, ingredient production and food brands, including Twinnings and Kingsmill, the Primark clothing trader is an important component of the business and contributed nearly half of the total group income of £ 20bn last year. George Weston, CEO of parent company ABF, said he was “very disappointed” about the situation.