President Donald Trump’s baseline levy of 10% on all imports came into effect on Saturday. Higher “reciprocal” rates on countries which, in his view, have treated America unfairly, will kick in on April 9th. Earlier Jerome Powell, chair of America’s Federal Reserve, warned that the tariffs would spur inflation and slow economic growth.
Markets plunged further after China retaliated against Mr Trump’s tariffs with an additional levy of 34% on all American imports. The S&P 500 slid by 6% on Friday, reaching its lowest level in nearly a year. The index has shed $5.4trn in value in the two days since Mr Trump’s announcement. In Europe the Stoxx 600 ended the week down 8.4%.
Mr Trump extended by 75 days a deadline for the Chinese owners of TikTok to sell its American operations. The video-sharing app had faced shutdown as soon as Saturday. Mr Trump said he hoped to work in good faith with Chinese leaders, “who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs”.
The head of Taiwan’s national security council reportedly travelled to Washington for secret talks with the Trump administration. According to the Financial Times, Joseph Wu is leading a delegation for a meeting known as the “special channel”, which has been used to discuss security issues in the past. The visit comes days after China held large-scale military drills around the island.
Volodymyr Zelensky said plans to deploy foreign troops in Ukraine would be finalised within a month. The Ukrainian president did not specify which countries would contribute to the contingent that will be tasked with patrolling Ukrainian land, sea and airspace. Earlier a Russian missile killed at least 18 people in the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, according to local officials.
Nintendo halted pre-orders on its long-awaited Switch 2 console in America while it assessed “the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions”. The Japanese company said the console would still go on sale as planned in June. Nintendo unveiled the Switch 2, and its $449.99 price tag, hours before Mr Trump announced tariffs on Wednesday.
Ronin, a giant African pouched rat, set a new landmine-sniffing record, uncovering more than 100 mines in Cambodia. Landmines from consecutive wars in the country have killed tens of thousands of people there in the past four decades. Rats like Ronin are trained to sniff out chemicals used in the weapons. The Guinness Book of World Records congratulated the rodent for his “crucial work”.
Word of the week: Mütterrente (“mothers’ pension”), a German benefit to compensate parents for years spent raising children rather than working. Read the full story.
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