Trump’s new tariffs ‘a sales tax that will make life harder for Americans’, say Democrats – US politics live

Donald Trump has once again inspired anger and confusion in US allies and trading partners as he imposed a wave of tariffs on more than 80 countries, replacing an expiring global duty introduced earlier this year. The new measures effectively replace blanket 10% tariffs that Trump imposed in February. The US supreme court ruled many of those were illegal. The new levies come in at between 10% and 12.5% on countries including the UK, Mexico, Canada, Australia, India, China and the 27 countries that make up the EU. They are imposed under section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974, and the Trump administration has said the new measures are due to the dozens of countries failing to enforce bans on goods produced by forced labor. The imposition of the new tariffs led to Asian stock markets taking a hammering overnight. The Japanese Nikkei 225 fell 3.1%, while the Chinese SSE Composite dropped 1.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was the most heavily hit, down 11.4%, while the South Korean Kospi, which is dominated by its major semiconductor companies, slumped 6.2%. It was more of a mixed picture in Europe as trading began on Friday, with the Stoxx 600, which tracks the biggest companies on the continent, dropping 0.7% before steadying to a fall of 0.1%. France’s Cac 40 initially fell almost 1% before moving into positive territory, up 0.12%. Similarly, Germany’s Dax fell 8% before erasing losses to climb 0.51%. In the UK the FTSE 100 index rose 0.28% in early trading. For many officials digesting the news on Friday, the US rationale was hard to swallow. “You can’t say that ⁠for the European Union,” its foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said ​on the sidelines ‌of the Asean ‌meeting in Manila. “If you compare our ‌labour laws to the ones of the United States, I mean, we have paid vacations, we have very good labour conditions for our employees, so ‌it’s not really grounded.” ‘Forced labour’ rationale for Trump tariffs met with bewilderment Read more