WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 26: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on March 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump announced 25% tariffs on all foreign-made cars. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Win McNamee/Getty Images
Live Updates Trump launches historic global trade war
TOPSHOT - This aerial view shows cargo trucks queuing to cross into the United States at the Otay Commercial crossing in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico on March 26, 2025. Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has already imposed tariffs on imports from major US trading partners Canada, Mexico and China -- as well as a 25 percent duty on steel and aluminum imports. The move is set to fuel tensions with trading partners ahead of further promised levies next week. (Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP) (Photo by GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images)
Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images
Live Updates En español: última hora de los aranceles de Trump
Ryland Mosley, 18, who was on the 2nd story of his home when the storm passed, stands outside of it observing the damage, Wednesday, April 2, 2025 in Owasso, Okla. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP)
Mike Simons/Tulsa World/AP
Live Updates Destructive tornadoes rake across central US

Live Updates

Trump launches historic global trade war

By Antoinette Radford, CNN
Updated 6:57 AM EDT, Thu April 3, 2025
Video Ad Feedback
Here's how Trump's tariffs are being received by major US trade partners
02:17 - Source: CNN
Here's how Trump's tariffs are being received by major US trade partners
02:17

What we're covering

• Historic global trade war: President Donald Trump declared a US economic emergency and announced tariffs of at least 10% across all countries, with rates even higher for 60 countries or trading blocs that have a high trade deficit with the US. Auto tariffs are now in effect.

• China hit hardest: China, the second top exporter to the US behind Mexico, will now face a 54% tariff and has vowed to hit back. Canada and the EU, also top trade partners, are preparing countermeasures.

• Global markets rattled: After-hours US stock markets fell sharply, as did Asian and European markets, after the tariff announcement. And gold hit a new record high as investors seek safer investments. Leading economists told CNN they feared the tariffs could lead to a global recession.

7 Posts

Stock markets fall around the world after Trump unveils news tariffs

From CNN’s Anna Cooban and John Liu

Stock markets across the Asia-Pacific and Europe fell Thursday and US markets were also set to open lower after US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on trading partners around the world.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed 2.8% down, while South Korea’s Kospi index closed less than 1% lower.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index closed 1.5% down. In Europe, the region’s benchmark Stoxx 600 index was trading 2% lower at 6.45 a.m. ET, while France’s CAC was 2.5% down and Germany’s DAX fell more than 2%. London’s FTSE 100 had fallen 1.5% by the same time.

Falling US stock futures also pointed to a difficult day ahead.Dow futures were 2.8% down and S&P 500 futures 3.4% lower. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was set to open 3.8% lower.

Trump’s "Liberation Day" is more like "Inflation Day," says EU trade chief

From CNN’s Christian Edwards
President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House on Wednesday.
Carlos Barria/Reuters

What US President Donald Trump called “Liberation Day” would better be called “Inflation Day,” said Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee.

The tariffs unveiled by Trump “will really harm people on the ground,” Lange said Thursday at a news conference in Strasbourg, France.

Lange called Trump’s tariff announcement a “mess” that is “unfair” to producers in the United States, Europe and the Global South.

Still have questions about tariffs? Let us know what they are

From CNN's Antoinette Radford

So, we’ve had a few hours to process exactly what these tariffs might look like — and their potential impact. But, there’s a lot to unpack.

If you still have questions, let us know what they are below and we’ll try to answer them here.

"Fundamentally wrong": How global leaders are reacting to tariffs

From CNN's Anna Cooban, Joseph Ataman, James Frater, Peter Wilkinson,
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a press conference at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a press conference at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday.
Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Leaders around the world are responding to US President Donald Trump’s announcement of tariffs on virtually every country.

These are the latest countries to respond:

  • Germany: Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the tariffs are “fundamentally wrong” and will cause harm across the globe and to America itself. “We want cooperation, not confrontation, and will defend our interests”
  • United Kingdom: Keir Starmer said Britain would respond to the tariffs with “cool and calm heads,” but the UK prime minister added that “clearly, there will be an economic impact.” Starmer told business leaders in Downing Street that Trump “acted for his country, and that is his mandate. Today, I will act in Britain’s interests with mine.”
  • France: The French government attacked the “imperialist posture” of Donald Trump, whom a spokesperson accused of wanting to be “master of the world,” in a rare personal attack Thursday on the US president following his announcement of global tariffs.
  • Belgium: “By playing with matches, the United States will end up getting burned” the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prévot said. He added that it is “regrettable” that the US has “decided to unilaterally attack the global trade order by applying tariffs to everyone and especially to its partners.”
  • Italy: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni cleared her schedule for Thursday to focus on the fallout from the punishing tariffs.
  • Norway: Tariffs on both America’s allies and adversaries could violate an article in the NATO treaty that orders the alliance’s members to promote economic stability and collaboration, Norway’s foreign minister said Thursday. Espen Barth Eide told reporters while arriving at the NATO headquarters in Brussels that allies would do well to remember this “important part of the treaty.”
  • South Africa: The government labeled the tariffs imposed on the country by Trump as “punitive” but said it wants to negotiate a new trade deal urgently. “The tariffs affirm the urgency to negotiate a new bilateral and mutually beneficial trade agreement with the US, as an essential step to secure long-term trade certainty,” the South African government said in a statement.

This post has been updated with further reaction from international leaders.

Trump has launched a historic global trade war. Here’s what you need to know

From CNN's Lex Harvey
U.S. President Donald Trump, accompanied by White House staff secretary Will Scharf, signs executive orders imposing tariffs on imported goods in the Rose Garden at the White House on Wednesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump, accompanied by White House staff secretary Will Scharf, signs executive orders imposing tariffs on imported goods in the Rose Garden at the White House on Wednesday.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

US President Donald Trump has announced sweeping global tariffs of at least 10% on imports from all countries, as well as increased tariffs on dozens of nations, from Nicaragua to Cambodia.

The tariffs come on top of previously imposed taxes on imports of steel, aluminum and cars, which came into effect at midnight.

The tariffs upend a century of American global trade policy and threaten to destabilize the world economy.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • Who was hit hardest? The tariffs target everyone from longtime US allies — such as the EU (20%), South Korea (26%) and Japan (24%) — to uninhabited islands to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable nations. China was hit the hardest with a new 34% tariff on top of pre-existing 20% duties, totaling 54% altogether.
  • Canada and Mexico spared: Canada and Mexico, two of the US’s biggest trading partners, were exempt from the higher “reciprocal” tariffs announced. But the countries are still subject to a previously announced 25% tariff on goods not covered by the free trade agreement with the US.
  • How were the tariffs decided? The tariffs were pitched as “reciprocal,” but appear to have been calculated using a simple calculation: the country’s trade deficit divided by its exports to the US multiplied by half. That means countries that export more to the US than they import are taxed higher.
  • What China said: China slammed Trump’s move as “bullying” and vowed to retaliate with countermeasures.
  • What Canada said: Canada’s Prime Minister said the tariffs will “fundamentally change the international trading system” and vowed to fight them with countermeasures.
  • What the EU said: The EU’s leader called the tariffs a “major blow to the world economy” and said the bloc is preparing countermeasures to a newly announced 20% tariff on its imports to the US.
  • What Mexico said: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is set to announce her response to US tariffs on Thursday afternoon local time.
  • Economic impact: After-hours US stock markets fell sharply, as did Asian markets, after the tariff announcement. And gold hit a new record high as investors seek safer investments. Leading economists told CNN the tariffs could lead to a global recession.

The trade war's unlikely targets

From CNN's Brad Lendon
The meteorological station on the Norwegan island of Jan Mayen in 2009. The island has no permanent residents but faces 10% tariffs.
The meteorological station on the Norwegan island of Jan Mayen in 2009. The island has no permanent residents but faces 10% tariffs.
Heiko Junge/NTB Scanpix/AP/File

The tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump target not only economic superpowers but also financial minnows. A White House list notes some territories with no economy, and no people, at all.

That is the exact case of the uninhabited Heard Island and McDonald Islands, an Australian territory in the southern Indian Ocean that was hit with a 10% tariff.

Another Australian territory targeted by tariffs is the Cocos Islands. The territory of 600 people sends 32% of its exports – ships – to the US. They now face a 10% tariff.

The Norwegian island of Jan Mayen faces 10% tariffs. But no one lives there permanently and it has an economy of zero.

Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean, has a population of about 1,600. It has an economy of about $8 million and exports of around $100,000, the CIA says. It too faces 10% tariffs.

One enclave hit hard by Trump’s tariffs is Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a French territory of islands near the Canadian province of Newfoundland. Its exports – “processed crustaceans, shellfish,” according to the CIA World Factbook – are now subject to a whopping US tariff of 50%, way more than France faces (20%) as part of the European Union.

The Marshall Islands in the North Pacific is a key American military installation. Washington is responsible for the defense of the islands under a Compact of Free Association. The CIA says it has exports of about $130 million a year, though the US is not listed as a top destination. Those now face 10% tariffs if coming to the US.

Read the full story.

Higher costs are coming for Americans, National Retail Federation warns

From CNN's Alicia Wallace
An employee stocks a shelf at a Target store in the Flatbush neighborhood of the Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday.
An employee stocks a shelf at a Target store in the Flatbush neighborhood of the Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s newly announced tariffs will lead to higher costs for American families, the National Retail Federation warned.

“Tariffs are a tax paid by the US importer that will be passed along to the end consumer,” David French, the trade organization’s executive vice president of government relations, said in a statement yesterday. “Tariffs will not be paid by foreign countries or suppliers.”

The immediate implementation of these tariffs is a “massive undertaking” and could negatively affect millions of US businesses, he noted. The tariffs are expected to have a disproportionate effect on local communities and, especially, small retailers.

Earlier today, the NRF released its 2025 retail sales forecast, projecting growth of between 2.7% and 3.7% to between $5.42 trillion and $5.48 trillion, marking a likely pullback from the 3.6% annual sales growth notched last year.

“It’s the hard data on employment, income and tariff-induced inflation — not consumer sentiment — that supports our view of a slower trajectory for consumer spending,” Jack Kleinhenz, the NRF’s chief economist, said in a statement.