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Trump announces sweeping tariffs on imports, escalating global trade war

Update Trump announces sweeping tariffs on imports, escalating global trade war
US President Donald Trump gestures as he delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, April 2, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 03 April 2025

Trump announces sweeping tariffs on imports, escalating global trade war

Trump announces sweeping tariffs on imports, escalating global trade war
  • Trump announces 10 percent baseline tariff
  • Higher reciprocal tariffs on many US trading partners

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled a 10 percent minimum tariff on most goods imported to the United States, with much higher duties on products from dozens of countries, kicking into high gear a global trade war that threatens to drive up inflation and stall US and worldwide economic growth.
The sweeping duties, which drew bewildered condemnation from many long-standing US allies who found themselves tagged with unexpectedly high tariff rates, promise to erect new barriers around the world’s largest consumer economy, reversing decades of trade liberalization that have shaped the global order.
Trading partners are expected to respond with countermeasures of their own that could lead to dramatically higher prices for everything from bicycles to wine.
US Treasury chief Scott Bessent urged other countries to not retaliate.
“Let’s see where this goes, because if you retaliate, that’s how we get escalation,” Bessent told CNN. “Doing anything rash would be unwise,” he added.
Bessent was asked how he expected stock markets to react to the tariffs to which he replied by saying: “I don’t know.”
Stocks slumped after the announcement. Japan’s Nikkei hit an eight-month low in early trading on Thursday, while US and European stock futures dropped sharply following weeks of volatile trading driven by uncertainty over the escalating trade war.
US stocks have erased nearly $5 trillion of value since mid-February.
Chinese imports will be hit with a 34 percent tariff, on top of the 20 percent Trump previously imposed, bringing the total new levy to 54 percent. Close US allies were not spared, including the European Union, which faces a 20 percent tariff, and Japan, which is targeted for a 24 percent rate. The base rates go into effect on April 5 and the higher reciprocal rates on April 9.
The effective US import tax rate has shot to 22 percent under Trump from just 2.5 percent in 2024, according to the head of US research at Fitch Ratings.
“That rate was last seen around 1910,” Olu Sonola said in a statement. “This is a game changer, not only for the US economy but for the global economy. Many countries will likely end up in a recession. You can throw most forecasts out the door if this tariff rate stays on for an extended period of time.”
The “reciprocal” tariffs, Trump said, were a response to duties and other non-tariff barriers put on US goods. He argued that the new levies will boost manufacturing jobs at home.
“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said at an event in the White House Rose Garden.
Outside economists have warned that tariffs could slow the global economy, raise the risk of recession, and increase living costs for the average US family by thousands of dollars.
Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading partners, already face 25 percent tariffs on many goods and will not face additional levies from Wednesday’s announcement.
Even some fellow Republicans have expressed concern about Trump’s aggressive trade policy.
Within hours of Wednesday’s announcement, the Senate voted 51-48 to approve legislation that would terminate Trump’s Canadian tariffs, with a handful of Republicans breaking with the president. Passage in the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives, however, was seen as unlikely.
Trump’s top economist, Stephen Miran, told Fox Business on Wednesday the tariffs would work out well for the US in the long run, even if they cause some initial disruption.
“Are there going to be short-term bumps as a result? Absolutely,” Miran, the chairman of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, told the network’s “Kudlow” program.

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Ending ‘de minimis’
The reciprocal tariffs do not apply to certain goods, including copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber, gold, energy and “certain minerals that are not available in the United States,” according to a White House fact sheet.
Following his remarks, Trump also signed an order to close a trade loophole used to ship low-value packages — those valued at $800 or less — duty-free from China, known as “de minimiz.” The order covers goods from China and Hong Kong and will take effect on May 2, according to the White House, which said the move was intended to curb the flow of fentanyl into the US
Chinese chemical makers are the top suppliers of raw materials purchased by Mexico’s cartels to produce the deadly drug, US anti-narcotics officials say. A Reuters investigation last year showed how traffickers often route these chemicals through the United States by exploiting the de minimiz rule. China has repeatedly denied culpability.
Trump is also planning other tariffs targeting semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and potentially critical minerals, the official said.
Trump’s barrage of penalties has rattled financial markets and businesses that have relied on trading arrangements that have been in place since the middle of last century.
Earlier in the day, the administration said a separate set of tariffs on auto imports that Trump announced last week will take effect starting on Thursday.
Trump previously imposed 25 percent duties on steel and aluminum and extended them to nearly $150 billion worth of downstream products.
Tariff concerns have already slowed manufacturing activity across the globe, while also spurring sales of autos and other imported products as consumers rush to make purchases before prices rise.
European leaders reacted with dismay, saying a trade war would hurt consumers and benefit neither side.
“We will do everything we can to work toward an agreement with the United States, with the goal of avoiding a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global players,” Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said.
US Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he would introduce legislation to end the tariffs. Such a bill has little chance of passing the Republican-controlled Congress, however.
“Trump just hit Americans with the largest regressive tax hike in modern history — massive tariffs on all imports. His reckless policies are not only crashing markets, they will disproportionately hurt working families,” Meeks said.

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Malaysia vows legal action against Israel’s ‘criminal’ abduction of Gaza flotilla crew

Reporters take photos of Malaysian participants of Global Sumud Flotilla after their confirmed abduction by Israel.
Reporters take photos of Malaysian participants of Global Sumud Flotilla after their confirmed abduction by Israel.
Updated 02 October 2025

Malaysia vows legal action against Israel’s ‘criminal’ abduction of Gaza flotilla crew

Reporters take photos of Malaysian participants of Global Sumud Flotilla after their confirmed abduction by Israel.
  • Malaysia loses contact with 23 citizens aboard Global Sumud Flotilla vessels
  • Israel’s conduct is ‘state piracy’: ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights co-chair

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia vowed on Thursday to take legal action against Israel after some 200 international activists, including Malaysian citizens, were abducted at sea as they carried aid for Gaza aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla.

The GSF mission, which involved representatives from 45 countries, carried over 400 people, including 34 Malaysians. It was scheduled to arrive at Gaza’s coast on Thursday afternoon, but the journey was disrupted after several vessels were intercepted by the Israeli navy.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that 12 citizens were taken in international waters while carrying lifesaving aid to Gaza and demanded their immediate and unconditional release.

It said that “the criminal and cowardly acts of aggression by Israeli forces against the Global Sumud Flotilla” constituted a “flagrant violation of international law, including international maritime law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”

Hours later, more Malaysians, who were aboard other boats, lost contact with their mission’s organizer, the Sumud Nusantara Command Center in Kuala Lumpur.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in a series of X posts that 23 were missing and that he would take “all lawful and legally grounded measures to hold the Zionist regime accountable.”

Among the Malaysian nationals held by the Israeli military are popular singer Zizi Kirana and actress Ardell Aryana, who shared voice notes describing how Israelis tried to stop her boat by using water cannons.

“At first, they came in small groups and they gave a warning to stop, but we did not stop because our mission is to go straight to Gaza,” she said.

The capture of the flotilla crew has sent a wave of outrage across the country, where the mission to break Israel’s illegal blockade and starvation of Gaza is supported by both the government and the public.

Lavisha Sukumaran, a lawyer, recalled a video shared by a flotilla participant talking about how he was doing this for his children.

“He doesn’t want them to grow up in a world where people turn their backs on each other,” she said.

“It’s easy to talk about it, make social media posts about the genocide, participate in rallies, and all that. It takes a different kind of bravery to actually get to the group, risk your actual life, in hopes of making a change. It is so amazing and terrifying.”

For Dina Sallehudin, a content creator, the activists are “the bravest and kindest people, who are willing to risk their lives to make this mission happen.”

Some, like Ili Liyana Mokhtar, an editor, expected more action from the Malaysian government, including pressure on the ongoing UN General Assembly and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which it chairs this year.

“The Malaysian government has both a moral and diplomatic responsibility to act and act fast,” she told Arab News.

“The Sumud Flotilla wasn’t carrying weapons — it carried milk for babies, medicine for the sick, and food for the hungry. It carried hope ... It’s about standing up for basic human dignity. When children are starving, silence is not neutrality — it’s complicity.”

The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights network’s co-chair, Charles Santiago, released a statement saying that Israel’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla was “nothing short of state piracy.”

He added that it “has no jurisdiction there, no legal grounds to detain civilians,” in international waters.

“It arrogantly hijacks a humanitarian mission, proving once again its utter disregard for international law,” Santiago said.

“The world cannot look away: silence is complicity, and every hour of inaction emboldens Israel’s criminal blockade of Gaza.”


Police confirm 134 arrested for supporting Palestine Action in London

Police confirm 134 arrested for supporting Palestine Action in London
Updated 02 October 2025

Police confirm 134 arrested for supporting Palestine Action in London

Police confirm 134 arrested for supporting Palestine Action in London
  • ‘Biggest ever mass action yet’ in support of banned group to take place this weekend
  • Further 66 people arrested at demo outside Labour Party conference in Liverpool

LONDON: The Metropolitan Police in London have said 134 people have been charged with allegedly supporting Palestine Action in the UK capital, The Independent reported.

It comes after 20 people became the latest to be charged under section 13 of the UK’s Terrorism Act for their part in demonstrations backing the proscribed group, which can carry a sentence of up to six months in prison.

The 20 were arrested on Aug. 9, and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Nov. 24.

Palestine Action was banned in the UK after several high-profile incidents, including a break-in at a Royal Air Force base that saw damage done to two military aircraft.

Protests in support of the group have subsequently been held across the country, with campaigners seeking to overwhelm police stations and courts through the number of people arrested and charged under the Terrorism Act, which forbids showing support for a banned group.

Defend Our Juries, the group organizing demonstrations for supporters of Palestine Action, said more than 1,500 people are set to take part in another protest in London this weekend. It said it will be “the biggest ever mass action yet defying the ban on Palestine Action.”

Earlier this week, 66 people were arrested for taking part in a protest outside the governing Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool.

Two were subsequently released, but the remaining 64 were taken into custody on suspicion of terrorism-related offenses.

A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said: “If they can’t enforce the ban on their own doorstep, how do they expect to stop the biggest act of mass civil disobedience in Trafalgar Square this weekend?

“It’s nothing short of a scandal that thousands of people are being arrested — from vicars and priests to students and retired healthcare workers — as our fundamental rights to free speech and protest have been stripped away, not to keep us safe, but to protect weapons manufacturers’ interests and enable Israel to continue to slaughter Palestinian people.”


Two dead in ‘terrorist’ UK synagogue attack on Yom Kippur, two arrested

Armed police officers talk with members of the community near Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall.
Armed police officers talk with members of the community near Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall.
Updated 25 sec ago

Two dead in ‘terrorist’ UK synagogue attack on Yom Kippur, two arrested

Armed police officers talk with members of the community near Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall.
  • Greater Manchester Police said the suspect, who was believed to be carrying a bomb, was shot after they rushed to the scene

MANCHESTER: At least two people were killed after an assailant drove a car into pedestrians and stabbed a security guard near a synagogue in England on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, British police said.

Greater Manchester Police said the suspect, who was believed to be carrying a bomb, was shot after they rushed to the scene at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Crumpsall district of the city in northern England.

Police responded after a witness said a car had rammed members of the public and that one man had been stabbed. The suspect was believed to be dead but officers could not confirm this “due to safety issues surrounding suspicious items on his person,” with a bomb disposal unit called to the scene.

Two people have been arrested in the attack, which has been declared a “terrorist incident,” added Laurence Taylor, assistant commissioner in counterterrorism policing at London’s Metropolitan Police force.

“He has a bomb!”

A video shared on social media and verified by Reuters showed police shooting a man inside the synagogue’s perimeter, while another man lay on the floor in a pool of blood, appearing to wear a traditional Jewish head covering.

“He has a bomb, go away!” an armed police officer shouted to onlookers as he tried to wave away members of the public.

As well as the two people who were confirmed dead, three others were in a serious condition.

After the attack, police were seen ushering a large group of mostly Jewish elderly men — some in tears, many looking shocked — away from the synagogue. Some were wearing white robes, others were in suits and wearing a skullcap.

“I’m appalled by the attack at a synagogue in Crumpsall,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said as he rushed away early from a European political gathering in Copenhagen to return to Britain to chair an emergency meeting.

“The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific,” Starmer said.

Police said a large number of people had been worshipping inside the synagogue at the time and the building had since been evacuated.

“We are grateful to the member of the public whose quick response to what they witnessed allowed our swift action, and as a result the offender was prevented from entering the synagogue,” a police spokesperson said.

Britain’s King Charles said he was “deeply shocked and saddened” to learn of the attack, “especially on such a significant day for the Jewish community.”

Suspect was “stabbing anyone near him”

A neighbor, Chava Lewin, said she had been told that the car had been driving erratically before crashing into the gates of the synagogue.

“The second he got out of the car he started stabbing anyone near him. He went for the security guard and tried to break into the synagogue,” she told British media. “Someone barricaded the door. Everyone is in utter shock.”

Starmer said that additional police were being deployed to synagogues across the country, adding “we will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe.”

Yom Kippur is the most sacred day on the Jewish calendar when even many non-regular synagogue-goers take time to pray and all road traffic stops in Israel.

Britain reported its second worst year in modern times for antisemitism in 2024 with more than 3,500 incidents being recorded, reflecting sustained levels of hatred toward Jews, the Community Security Trust, which provides security to Jewish organizations across Britain, said earlier this year.

Levels of antisemitism rose to record levels in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian enclave.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Britain has suffered a number of militant attacks, with the worst being the July 2005 suicide bombings in the London transport network which killed 52 people.

More recently, a 2017 suicide bomb attack at the end of an Ariana Grande pop concert in Manchester killed 22 people and injured hundreds.

British police have in recent years also warned about the threat from organized far-right terrorism. 


Philippines ends quake rescue efforts, priority now on helping the 20,000 displaced

Philippines ends quake rescue efforts, priority now on helping the 20,000 displaced
Updated 02 October 2025

Philippines ends quake rescue efforts, priority now on helping the 20,000 displaced

Philippines ends quake rescue efforts, priority now on helping the 20,000 displaced
  • Attention has now turned to delivering aid to survivors of the 6.9-magnitude quake
  • The Philippines sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” – an earthquake-prone belt of volcanoes stretching from South America to the Russian Far East

BOGO, Philippines: Philippine authorities said on Thursday that search and rescue operations in quake-hit Cebu province have ended, as the current death toll of 72 was not expected to go much higher and missing people had been accounted for.

Attention has now turned to delivering aid to survivors of the 6.9-magnitude quake that has become the country’s deadliest in more than a decade.

Striking waters off Cebu’s central island late Tuesday, the quake has caused more than 20,000 people to be displaced, while over 300 have been injured.

On Thursday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr visited Bogo, a city of some 90,000 that was the worst-affected, seeking to reassure evacuees and noting that relief operations have been complicated due to widespread damage to infrastructure.

“We are having some difficulty because we have nowhere to put the displaced families because we’re unsure of the integrity of the evacuation centers,” he told reporters.

“We will make sure there is food supply, water supply and electricity – a generation set if needed. Whatever the people need, we will make sure we can provide.”

Many of the victims were killed when buildings and homes collapsed – either due to the quake itself or landslides that followed after. Heavy rain and the absence of power also hampered rescue efforts.

The Philippines sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” – an earthquake-prone belt of volcanoes stretching from South America to the Russian Far East. It experiences more than 800 quakes each year.


French PM: Two crew members of detained Russian tanker have been arrested

French PM: Two crew members of detained Russian tanker have been arrested
Updated 02 October 2025

French PM: Two crew members of detained Russian tanker have been arrested

French PM: Two crew members of detained Russian tanker have been arrested
  • The two crew members were arrested at the request of the Brest prosecutor

PARIS: French police have arrested two crew members of a tanker suspected of belonging to the Russian shadow fleet after the French navy boarded the vessel over the weekend, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a post on X on Thursday.
The two crew members were arrested at the request of the Brest prosecutor, whose office is handling the investigation into the boat, currently anchored off western France. Its crew is accused of failing to provide proof of the vessel's nationality and failing to comply with orders.