Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on imports from America’s trading partners, as well as a “minimum baseline tariff” of 10%. The measures were even tougher than most had predicted. He said he would impose new levies of 34% on China (taking the total to about 65%), 20% on the European Union, 24% on Japan and more. Tariffs on specific sectors, including a new 25% levy on cars, will be exempted from the country rates. Mexican and Canadian goods will avoid tariffs if they comply with an existing trade agreement.
Global stocks cratered in response to Mr Trump’s announcement. The benchmark STOXX Europe 600 index plunged 2% on opening, following declines across indices in China, Japan and South Korea. In out-of-hours trading in America futures tracking the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were down by as much as 3.4% and 4.4% respectively. Dow futures fell by more than 2.5%. The price of gold jumped to a record high.
China urged “bullying” America to “immediately cancel” the new tariffs, vowing “resolute counter-measures”. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, called Mr Trump’s move a “major blow to the world economy”, saying it would be “dire for millions of people around the globe”. Japan called the new levies “extremely regrettable”. Australia’s prime minister decried the “poor decision”, but said he would not retaliate.
Hungary said it would leave the International Criminal Court. The decision comes as Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, who faces an ICC arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Gaza, visited Hungary. His host, Viktor Orban, promised to defy the warrant. Other ICC signatories in Europe, including Germany, have mulled ways of allowing Mr Netanyahu to visit safely.
Mr Netanyahu said Israel plans to “divide up” the Gaza Strip to help free the hostages held by Hamas. In a video statement, the Israeli leader said his forces had “shifted gears” as they launched more strikes on the enclave. Gaza’s health ministry said at least 60 people died in attacks on Wednesday.
Thousands of people took to the streets in Port-au-Prince to protest against the gangs that control most of Haiti’s capital. The armed groups have forced more than 1m people out of their homes and are accused of mass rapes and killings. Haiti’s government collapsed nearly a year ago, but the transitional regime has struggled to hold back the gangs and restore stability.
Kirill Dmitriev, a point man for Vladimir Putin, visited Washington to meet members of the Trump administration. Mr Dmitriev, who runs a Russian state investment fund, is expected to discuss Ukraine with Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s foreign-policy dealmaker. America has sought a rapprochement with Russia, though Mr Trump recently expressed frustration at the Kremlin over the slow progress of ceasefire talks.
Figure of the day: 29%, the share of Republican voters who view the EU as “unfriendly” or “an enemy”, according to our polling with YouGov. Read the full story.
Donald Trump’s return to the presidency has brought exceptional changes to American politics—with consequences for the rest of the world, too. Read The US in brief, a daily update of the domestic political stories that matter. Sign up here to receive it as a newsletter, each weekday, in your inbox.