Trump tariffs live updates: Asian stock markets tumble at start of US president’s ‘Liberation Day’

The political editor of the Independent David Maddox write:

Another leading trade expert warned that it would be difficult to relax Donald Trump’s rates as soon as they were unleashed.

Chris Southworth, secretary of the International Chamber of Commerce, United Kingdom, also warned against serious consequences for the UK automotive industry selling 17 percent of its products to the US.

He said: ‘There is no avoiding the impact of rates, given the integrated nature of the UK and US economies. British car businesses selling cars to the US will experience an immediate impact, but more importantly, the scope of rates has the potential to wipe out the £ 9bn’s main space announced by the government in the Spring statement.

“Nobody wins from a tariff war. These measures will firstly affect the poorest of US consumers, increasing prices, as the increased costs will eventually be communicated to consumers.

‘But if we take a step back from the American consumer and see where the goods come from here, the exporters around the world will affect the US selling in the US. About 17% of all cars manufactured in the UK last year went to the US.

“Businesses need certainty to operate, plan, invest. If the demand for this will slowly affect it, it will certainly affect production, which will then affect jobs and have a ripple effect through the supply chain.

“It is very difficult, if not impossible, to soften the impact of rates as soon as it comes into effect, especially if every country refuts. If you have the rates once in place, it will require a tremendous amount of diplomatic effort, which is raising the resources from where they need to work together to solve the problems we all experience as a world community.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanian and his rival in an election in May, the leader of the Liberal Party, Peter Dutton, said they would stand up for the country’s national interests amid threatening US rates that the Australian beef could hit. Australia has a trade surplus with the US, and a free trade agreement that enables tax -free entry.

Mr. Albanians said his government would not repay against the Trump administration at reciprocal rates.

Hardened his language in an election campaign, Mr Albanian said he would “stand up for Australian interests”, and would not jeopardize Australian regulations that are likely to be targeted by the US.

Opposition leader Dutton told reporters in the same way: “My job is to stand up for Australians.”

“If I had to fight Donald Trump or any other world leader to promote the interests of our country, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Dutton said in an interview in Sky News Australia.

Asian stocks stuttered this morning as the secure Haven gold lost near record heights, as a nervous world was waiting for details of US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans, with investors having the risks of an increasing global trade war.

The investor focus has been firmly on the new round of reciprocal charges over the past few weeks that the White House will announce this afternoon, which are expected to come into effect immediately after Mr. Trump announced it.

Mr. Trump has already imposed rates on aluminum, steel and cars, along with increased duties on all goods from China that have hampered markets amid the fear that a full -fledged trading war could cause a sharp global economic slowdown.

Asian stocks dropped in early trade, to a meager US session. The Japan’s Nikkei dropped 0.3 percent and the benchmark index of South Korea was 0.57 p -cent lower.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell by 0.8 percent. In the mail and China, the CSI 300 index fell 0.1 percent.

Goldman Sachs increased the likelihood of a US recession to 35 percent from 20 percent, saying it expects more rate cuts by the Federal Reserve as President Donald Trump’s rates increase the global economy and financial markets.

The brokers also reduced the world’s largest economy’s GDP growth forecast for 2025 to 1.5 percent from 2.0 percent and predict three interest rate cuts each from the US and the European Central Bank of its previous expectation of two each.

Trump said on Sunday that his reciprocal rates, which must be announced this week, will include all countries and not a more limited number, and financial markets worldwide rattle over the fear of an economic slowdown.

In a separate note, Goldman also cut his year-end goal for the S&P 500 index for a second time this month to 5.700 from 6.200, the lowest among Wall Street brokers, followed by Barclays at 5.900.

Sir Keir Starmer is facing an ‘impossible task’ to decide whether to retaliate after Trump’s imminent rates, an expert warned.

Simon Finkelstein, director of geopolitics at the Brunswick group, said: “It would be foolish to do so, but politically it can become untenable not to do so.”

“Fundamentally, he has an impossible task because the people who work for the president clearly do not know what he will do on Wednesday,” he told Times Radio.

‘But I think the thing [Starmer] Must do is continue with the same strategy, which is trying to negotiate some future agreement with the US, whether it looks something like a greater variety or more limited technology to soften the worst aspects of the rates. ‘

“The British government should at least try,” Mr. Finkelstein added.

The US State Department has made a rare intervention in British politics and warned about the ‘concern about freedom of expression in the UK’.

The department, which is responsible for US foreign policy, posted a statement on X, formerly Twitter, in which the fear of the prosecution of anti-abortion campaigner Livia Tossici-Bolt was highlighted.

It is said that his criminal charges are facing the presentation of a conversation with patients seeking abortions within a legally prohibited “buffer zone” outside a clinic. “We monitor her case. It is important that the UK respect and protect the freedom of expression, ‘the dedicated democracy, human rights and labor (DRL) account has placed.

It added: “US-UK relationships have a mutual respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. However, as Vice President Vance said, we are concerned about freedom of expression in the United Kingdom.”

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell Have the full report here:

The Irish government should not repeat errors in the past in the way it responds to the US rates that Donald Trump will be announced, opposition politicians have warned.

On Tuesday, labor and social Democrats warned by austerity and withdrew to invest in the public sector before the threat of an economic shock of a major US tariff announcement.

Government figures have expressed concern about how exposed Ireland is to possible double -digit US rates on exports.