China, EU vow retaliation to US tariffs; Starmer, Meloni consider compromise

US President Donald Trump’s move to slap a 10% tariff on most goods imported to the United States, as well as much higher levies on dozens of rivals and allies alike, has intensified a global trade war that threatens to stoke inflation and stall growth.

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The sweeping penalties announced against the serene backdrop of the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday immediately unleashed turbulence across world markets and drew condemnation from other leaders now facing the end of decades of trade liberalisation that have shaped the global order.

China, faced with a fresh 34% tariff on top of the 20% Trump previously imposed, vowed countermeasures, seemingly taking little heed of a warning by US Treasury Chief Scott Bessent that such moves would lead to escalation.

US tariffs on goods from Vietnam among the highest on any country. Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that the country still hoped to reach its economic growth target despite the Trump administration imposing 46 per cent tariffs on its exports.

Close allies like Japan and the European Union were not spared, facing 24% and 20% tariff rates respectively. The base 10% tariffs go into effect on April 5 and the higher reciprocal rates on April 9.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen described the tariffs as a major blow to the world economy and said the 27-member bloc was prepared to respond with countermeasures if talks with Washington failed.

Britain said it would consult businesses on the implications of any retaliatory action it could take in response to Trump’s 10% tariffs on British imports, its business secretary said.

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said. Economists have warned that tariffs could slow the global economy, raise the risk of recession.

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni said the tariffs announced by the US were a mistake but their impact should not be overestimated and the reaction needed to be carefully considered. “We must not fuel alarmism, it’s not a catastrophe,” Meloni said.

Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading partners, already face 25% tariffs on many goods and will not face additional levies. PM Carney said Canada would match Trump’s 25 per cent auto tariffs with a tariff on vehicles imported from the US.

‘Nowhere is safe’

Heard Island and McDonald Islands are some of the most remote places inhabited only by an array of wildlife, yet they are among the “external territories” of Australia listed separately for a 10% tariff. Norfolk Island, just of Australia’s east coast, was slugged with a tariff of 29%, higher than the rest of Australia, prompting Australian PM Albanese to say, “I’m not quite sure that Norfolk, with respect to it, is a trade competitor, but that just shows that nowhere on earth is safe.”