US tariffs risk having a 'really damaging impact' on world economy, UK home secretary warns
Over in the UK, the home secretary Yvette Cooper said that Trump’s tariff plans could have a “really damaging impact” on the global economy and growth.
The Labour cabinet minister said the UK wanted to break down trade barriers, not put them up.
Asked about Trump’s announcement, Cooper told the BBC: “Tariff increases really right across the world can have a really damaging impact on global growth and trade, so I don’t think it’s what anybody wants to see.”
She added that the UK’s focus was “on building trade links and better trading relationships, and removing barriers to trade, with the US, and also with other European countries and with countries right across the world”.
“We want to reduce the barriers to trade, make it easier for businesses,” Cooper said.
British ministers are hoping Trump will introduce more limited tariffs focusing on particular sectors and countries, which could spare the UK from the worst of any punitive measures. It is expected that Trump will eventually impose tariffs on European countries and target those with trade deficits.
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith told the BBC that the UK can avoid “some of the damage of tariffs” as he said the US is “a very strong ally” and biggest individual trading partner.
Updated
China says it will file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against the US
China, the world’s second biggest economy behind the US, will challenge American tariffs through the World Trade Organization (WTO), the country’s commerce ministry said in a statement.
It came after US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and 10% on goods from China starting on Tuesday.
The imposition of tariffs by the US “seriously violates” WTO rules, the ministry said, urging the US to “engage in frank dialogue and strengthen cooperation”.
Filing a lawsuit with the WTO would be a largely symbolic move that Beijing has also taken against tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles by the EU.
The commerce ministry also said the tariffs were “not only unhelpful in solving the US’s own problems, but also undermine normal economic and trade cooperation”. As we mentioned in the opening summary, China has said it would take countermeasures to “safeguard its own rights and interests”. It is not clear exactly what form these will take yet. But for weeks Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has said Beijing believes there is no winner in a trade war.
Updated
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the tariffs “unjustified”, “unfair” and “illegal”, as he said they broke the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement reached in 2018 during Trump’s first term in office.
Ford told CNN:
Well, we’ll have retaliatory measures. It’s unfortunate, we don’t want to do it. We’d rather have a strong trading partner with the US…
We want to ship down more products, more critical minerals, more oil. That’s what we want to do. But I can assure you what president Trump underestimates: the resilience of the Canadian people.
He pointed out that Canada is the US’s largest trading partner and largest export destination. Ford, who is a member of the Canadian government, said inflation is going to rise as a result of Trump’s actions.
He said Canada will announce “retaliatory” tariffs. Since the CNN interview, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has said he will impose 25% tariffs on $155bn worth of American goods - $30bn will come into force on Tuesday and another $125bn in three weeks. He said Trump is unfairly “lumping” Canada in with China and Mexico, pointing out the fact that, compared to Mexico, a tiny amount of drugs are entering the US from Canada.
Trump said the tariffs were in part imposed over his concerns about illegal immigration and drug trafficking, and has said that Canada is among the countries profiting unfairly from trade with the US.
Ford told CNN:
What’s really disturbing when president Trump is using fentanyl as a reason, lumping us in with Mexico and China – the figures from US Customs is very clear.
There’s over 9,600 kilos coming fentanyl coming from Mexico. Ours is 19 kilos, which is too much, which is point 001% of fentanyl, compared to Mexico coming into the US, compared to over 25,000 kilos of narcotics, be it heroin or cocaine, opioids coming from the US into Canada.
President Trump’s decision to tariff Canada is extremely disappointing and will hurt millions of workers on both sides of the border. We don’t want to be here, but make no mistake: Canada will hit back and we’ll hit back hard. pic.twitter.com/BcqMR4yfq3
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 2, 2025
Updated
US consumers will see higher prices at the gas pump from Donald Trump’s decision on Saturday to apply tariffs on Canadian and Mexican oil, according to analysts and fuel traders.
The likely hike in fuel prices reflects the double-edged nature of Trump’s trade protections, which are designed to bolster domestic business and pressure US neighbors to curb illegal immigration and drug smuggling, but which will also run counter to his promises to tackle inflation.
The US imports some 4m barrels per day of Canadian oil, 70% of which is processed by refiners in the midwest. It also imports more than 450,000 barrels per day of Mexican oil, mainly for refiners concentrated along the US Gulf coast.
Tariffs on those imports mean higher costs for making finished fuels like gasoline, much of which is likely to be passed along to US consumers.
You can read the full story here:
Japan 'deeply concerned' about how Trump's tariffs could impact the world economy
Japanese finance minister, Katsunobu Kato has expressed “deep concern” over the tariff proposal, which may spark a wider trade war as they threaten upheaval across supply chains, from energy to cars to food.
He told Fuji TV: “We’re deeply concerned about how these tariffs could affect the world’s economy.”
“Japan needs to scrutinise these policies and their effects, and take appropriate measures,” the minister was quoted by Fuji TV as saying.
Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba is expected to meet Trump later this week in the US, according to reports, as Tokyo tries to strengthen ties with the new Trump administration. Japanese companies are worried that protectionist policies could dampen and disrupt global shipments.
South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok, meanwhile, has ordered government agencies to closely monitor any impact on domestic firms and the economy after Trump ordered sweeping tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China, his office said.
The tariffs are expected to affect South Korean companies running factories in these countries.
Updated
China, Mexico and Canada accounted for more than 40% of imports into America last year. US President Donald Trump, who has also threatened to impose tariffs against EU nations, says the new tariffs will help grow the US economy, raise tax revenues and protect American jobs. However, critics, including many economists, have warned that additional costs will be passed onto American consumers, exacerbating an already acute cost of living crisis.
My colleague Lauren Aratani has done this useful explainer exploring how US consumers will be affected by the tariffs, why Trump is using them to enact his policy agenda and how other countries have responded to the US president’s announcement.
Updated
Canada and Mexico hit back against Trump's trade tariffs as Beijing vows 'countermeasures'
Canada, Mexico and China have promised to hit back after the imposition of sweeping US tariffs announced by Donald Trump on Saturday.
Trump claimed the move was in response to a “major threat” from illegal immigration and drugs. Canadian and Mexican exports to the US will face a 25% tariff starting Tuesday, although energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10% levy.
Goods from China, which already face various rates of duties, will see an additional 10% tariff. A tariff is a domestic tax placed on goods as they enter a country, proportional to the value of the import.
Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in imposing the tariffs, with the White House saying “the extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl, constitutes a national emergency.”
The aim is to hold all three countries “accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country,” the White House added.
How has China, Canada and Mexico reacted to the sweeping tariff announcement?
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported a statement from China’s commerce ministry that it would take “corresponding countermeasures” and file a claim against Washington at the World Trade Organization.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that her country would impose retaliatory tariffs.
Sheinbaum said she had told her economy minister “to implement Plan B that we have been working on, which includes tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s interests.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - who spoke with Sheinbaum - separately said his country would hit back with 25% levies of its own on select American goods worth Can$155 billion (US$106.6 billion), with a first round on Tuesday followed by a second one in three weeks.
“We’re certainly not looking to escalate. But we will stand up for Canada, for Canadians, for Canadian jobs,” he said, as he warned of a fracture in longstanding Canada-US ties.
Updated
