The US will impose so-called reciprocal tariffs on China of 34 per cent and hit the EU with a levy of 20 per cent, Donald Trump announced on Wednesday as he detailed new restrictions targeting America’s trading partners.
The US would impose a universal 10 per cent tariff on all countries, including on the UK, he said.
The new levies sent US stock-index futures tumbling, with those tracking the S&P 500 down 1.8 per cent and those following the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 sinking 2.6 per cent.
“For decades our country has been looted, pillaged and raped,” Trump told an audience that included cabinet members and carworkers. “It’s not going to happen any more.”
“We will calculate the combined rate of all their tariffs . . . and because we are being very kind . . . we will charge them roughly half of what they are charging us.”
Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan and Cambodia were among other countries that would face steep tariffs, Trump said.
Markets had been braced for what Trump dubbed “liberation day”, amid warnings from the Federal Reserve and others that extra tariffs could hit the US economy and quicken the pace of inflation.