The European Union will put on hold for 90 days its first countermeasures against President Donald Trump's tariffs, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.
The bloc was due to launch counter-tariffs on US imports from next Tuesday in response to Trump's 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium.
"We want to give negotiations a chance," von der Leyen said on X. "While finalising the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our Member States, we will put them on hold for 90 days."
European shares surged on Thursday after Trump announced an immediate 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for most trading partners, prompting a massive relief rally after days-long market rout.
It came as Beijing’s 84% tax on imports of US goods came into effect - although Trump insisted a “good deal” will be struck between the superpowers.
The move from China came hours after the US President raised its tariffs on imports from Beijing to 125%, while blinking in the face of markets turmoil and announcing a 90-day pause of more punitive levies against dozens of other nations.
In a post on his platform Truth Social, Trump said the move to hike tariffs on China even higher had been prompted by the “lack of respect that China has shown to the world’s markets”.
But Beijing accused Trump of “bullying” and may again respond in kind after slapping 84% tariffs on US imports on Wednesday to match Trump’s earlier tariff salvo.
It has repeatedly vowed to “fight to the end” in the exploding trade war between the world’s top two economies.
“We are not afraid of provocations. We don’t back down,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning posted on X on Thursday, sharing a video of a defiant speech by late Chinese leader Mao Zedong from 1953 during its war with the United States on the Korean peninsula.
The Korean War ended in a stalemate later that year.
Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that countries that did not retaliate against the initial tariffs would be rewarded in negotiations.
A baseline 10% tariff remains in place on all countries, including the UK.
Trump’s sudden and unexpected rowing back of his tariffs programme sent beleaguered stock markets soaring.
In London, the FTSE 100 jumped more than 6% on opening on Thursday, while Germany’s Dax was up 8% and France’s CAC 40 6.3%.
The rebound started in the US on Wednesday continuing in Asia on Thursday as the region, which faced some of Trump’s biggest tariffs, breathed a collective sigh of relief.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan was up 8.2% while South Korea’s Kospi jumped 5.9%.
But there were already signs the rally may be short-lived with US stock futures trading lower. Oil prices also fell, extending losses fuelled by fears that the trade tensions could push the global economy towards recession.
On Wednesday night, Trump said he pulled back on many global tariffs because people were “yippy” and “afraid” because of the stock markets plummeting.
The president said he had been monitoring the bond market and that people were “getting a little queasy” as bond prices had fallen and interest rates had increased in a vote of no confidence by investors in Trump’s tariff plans.
See also: How will the tariff war impact me?
A No 10 spokeswoman said: “A trade war is in nobody’s interests. We don’t want any tariffs at all, so for jobs and livelihoods across the UK, we will coolly and calmly continue to negotiate in Britain’s interests.”
It comes after China announced higher 84% tariffs on goods coming from the US on Wednesday as an all-out trade war between the superpowers exploded.
The move from Beijing came in retaliation to Trump’s punitive tariffs which were slapped on 60 countries that the US President claimed were the “worst offenders” on trade, which had come into force at 5am UK time.
They included 104% duties on Chinese goods imported into the US, which were later hiked further to 125%.
Trump’s punishing tariffs have shaken a global trading order that has persisted for decades, raised fears of recession and sent stocks around the world reeling.
But the US president claimed other countries were now queuing to seek to strike trade deals to avoid the tariffs and that they were “kissing my ass”.
