UK to explore hitting Trump with retaliatory tariffs as markets plunge – recap

After a meeting with industry representatives, French President Emmanuel Macron says Trump’s tariffs are a ‘shock for international trade’.

He continued by discussing the ‘massive impact’ it will have on the European economy.

The decision that was announced last night is a brutal and unfounded decision.

Adding that the US economy and consumers will emerge ‘poorer and weaker’.

Just days after Percy Pig launched in the US, the iconic sweet may have to return home.

Just four days ago Percy Pigs landed on target shelves for $3.99 as M&S’s ‘gift to America’.

However, the chair of M&S Archie Norman admitted at the Retail Technology Show yesterday that “we might have to change our minds” as Trump’s tariffs loomed.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said the Government needs to “up its game” and secure a deal with the US to avoid tariffs.

Asked whether he was concerned about the impact of tariffs on the UK economy, Mr Stride said:

Of course, we have to be concerned. We’re a very open economy, and this will have a serious impact.

Speaking on a visit in south London, the shadow chancellor added:

I think the really disappointing thing is the amount of time that was wasted by this Government before it got in the room with the American administration to try and negotiate that vital free trade agreement so that we don’t have to face these tariffs at all.

What the Government has got to do now is up its game and go and get that deal so that we can be spared this tariff.

Vice-President J D Vance is urging Americans to be patient as the US braces for the impact of Trump’s tariffs.

Yes, this is a big change. I’m not going to shy away from it, but we needed a big change.

Speaking to Fox News, he warns Americans living on a tight budget that things aren’t likely to get better ‘overnight’.

We cannot keep going down the Joe Biden globalist pathway where we have $2 trillion of peacetime debt and deficits.

For 40 years, we’ve had an economy that rewards people who ship American jobs overseas and raises taxes on American workers and we’re flipping that on its head.

UK officials have drawn up a mammoth 417-page list of US imports that could be hit with tariffs in revenge for Trump’s White House attack on global trade.

Consumer favourites like Levi’s jeans, Jack Daniel’s whiskey and Harley Davidson motorcycles are all in the astonishingly lengthy document.

They were subject to tariffs during the trade wars in Mr Trump’s first term in the White House.

But the comprehensive list also covers items from livestock and raw meat like chicken wings to rollercoasters, cricket balls, live bees and tailors’ dummies.

And in a move that may horrify the golf-loving president, the list includes club and ball brands made in the USA.

A Donald Trump ally compared Victoria Derbyshire to a ‘kindergartner’ before threatening to storm off camera during a fiery interview about the new US tariffs.

Sebastian Gorka, who is the president’s deputy assistant, clashed with the veteran journalist during an extraordinary exchange on BBC Newsnight.

It comes after Trump sparked a trade war by unveiling a crippling series of tariffs as part of his ‘liberation day’ speech.

Talking to Derbyshire, Gorka insisted the UK should be grateful to receive one of the lowest tariff rates – despite the looming threat to the nation’s economy.

Watch the interview below:

Donald Trump has just shared his first remarks of the day on his social media platform.

THE OPERATION IS OVER! THE PATIENT LIVED, AND IS HEALING. THE PROGNOSIS IS THAT THE PATIENT WILL BE FAR STRONGER, BIGGER, BETTER, AND MORE RESILIENT THAN EVER BEFORE.

He signs off with: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Stock markets plunged Thursday after President Donald Trump’s historic tariff announcement, sparking fears of a US and global recession.

It was a sea of red on Wall Street as US stock markets opened for the first time since President Donald Trump unveiled higher-than-expected tariffs.

Markets opened sharply lower, wiping trillions of dollars off the value of US stocks — a blow that will also hit ordinary Americans whose retirement savings are tied to the market.

The S&P 500 opened down 3.12 percent, the Nasdaq down 4.16 percent and the Dow Jones lower by 2.63percent. The S&P is on course for its worst day in two years.

Read more here from our colleagues at Dailymail.com:

Unions are urging the Government to make sure workers do not “pay the price” for the imposition of tariffs by President Donald Trump.

Unite made a number of suggestions, including an immediate reduction in industrial energy prices which it says make UK goods uncompetitive, and called for the steel industry to be designated a critical national infrastructure area to ensure all UK infrastructure projects use UK steel.

Unite also pressed for a commitment to buy British goods wherever possible, including purchasing new UK-built Typhoon jets and not American made F-35s.

General secretary Sharon Graham said:

The Government cannot allow a situation where, yet again, UK workers pay the price.

It is likely that some employers will now use the issue of tariffs at the bargaining table, in an attempt to push down pay.

In an increasingly uncertain world, the Government has to step in and step up to protect UK workers and industry.

This tariff announcement is a wake-up call. Nothing should be taken off the table, we now need a package of measures to support UK manufacturing and jobs. As a starter, that must include reducing industrial energy costs and buying British.

Now, more than ever, workers and our industries need to be proactively backed.

Donald Trump’s son Eric has declared the last country to negotiate a US trade deal with the President will ‘absolutely lose’.

In a tweet posted on X, Eric Trump said countries who react quickest by agreeing new terms will be looked on more favourably by the White House.

It comes as some countries prepare to send ministers to the US for talks while others have indicated they could launch retaliatory tariffs.

Co-op has pledged to keep sourcing meat solely from British farms, after Donald Trump pushed for the UK to buy chlorinated US chicken to avoid higher tariffs.

Co-op Food chief Matt Hood said the convenience store group had an “unwavering commitment” to only source its meat from British farms, adding: “It’s because we believe the quality that comes out of this country is as good as anywhere in the world.”

He said even if foreign meat was cheaper and would help it to compete in a supermarket price war.

We will stick to those commitments that we will always source British because we believe in it.

British digger firm JCB has announced plans to double the size of its new factory in Texas following Donald Trump’s tariffs on UJS imports.

The company purchased 400 acres of land in San Antonio last year after it said it recognised the need to produce more machines in North America.

Original plans for a 500,000 square feet factory have been revised and JCB has now confirmed it will press ahead with plans to double its footprint to one million square feet.

Production at the new $500 million plant is due to start next year with jobs for up to 1,500 people.

JCB chairman Anthony Bamford said:

JCB has been in business for 80 years this year and we are well accustomed to change. The United States is the largest market for construction equipment in the world and president Trump has galvanised us into evaluating how we can make even more products in the USA, which has been an important market for JCB since we sold our first machine there in 1964.

Rachel Reeves delivered her Spring Statement on March 26

President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs are likely to push taxes in Britain even higher in the autumn, according to a leading accountancy firm.

Blick Rothenberg said the imposition of 10 per cent tariffs on UK exports from next week will add to the ‘perfect storm’ facing British businesses.

Yesterday, Trump unveiled his ‘reciprocal tariffs’ to tackle a trade deficit, with the UK facing the lowest possible tariff of 10 per cent, while the EU is facing a 20 per cent levy.

Simon Gleeson, head of Blick Rothenberg’s US corporate desk, said:

Last night’s tariff news is a new gust of headwinds adding to the perfect storm for UK businesses manufacturing here and exporting to the US.

Liberation Day is a new shockwave for the UK’s economic outlook that continues to be impacted by changes in Employers’ National Insurance Contributions, business rates and the rising exodus of non-doms.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies previously predicted Reeves may have to increase taxes on working people because she has left herself with very little headroom.

Gleeson thinks the tariffs make it even more likely she will have to hike taxes in October.

She gambled with a big bet in the Autumn Budget and it has failed, the Spring Statement offered very little reassurance if not more denial and apathy. The new situation with tariffs only compounds the view that there will be further tax increases in October.

The list of US products which could be hit with tariffs if the UK decides to…