Sir Keir Starmer’s government has announced it will temporary suspend the UK global tariff on 89 products in order to ease pressure on businesses in the face of Donald Trump’s global levies.
The UK global tariff – which applies to goods entering the UK that do not qualify for preferential treatment under free trade agreements – will be suspended until 2027 on a wide range of products including pasta, fruit juices, agave syrup, plant bulbs, plywood and plastics.
It came as reports suggested that a breakthrough between UK and the US over tariffs could be reached in the coming days.
With just 90 days for the US to strike more than 90 deals, senior government sources told The Times that conversations over a potential agreement with Mr Trump would be held soon.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told reporters: “Of course we want to secure the best deal possible for British jobs and British industry. And we are absolutely … resolved to do everything we can.”
Key points
- Donald Trump exempts smartphones and laptops from new tariffs
- US president to provide more info on chips tariffs on Monday
- Apple averts major crisis after Trump's smartphone exemption
SNL mocks ‘messiah’ Trump over chaotic tariffs policy
22:59 , Andy GregorySaturday Night Live has skewered Donald Trump over his tariffs policy and continued trade war with China, following on from last week’s “Liberation Day” cold open.
James Austin Johnson returned to Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza as the president in an Easter-themed sketch that began with Jesus, played by Mikey Day, casting the moneylenders out of the temple on his arrival in Jerusalem.
The Biblical tableau froze as SNL’s Trump appeared. “Remind you of anyone?” he said to laughter. “I also got rid of money last week, but instead of one temple, I did a whole country. Maybe even the globe. The money’s gone.”
“Hi, it’s me your favourite president, Donald Jesus Trump, comparing myself to the son of God once again,” Johnson continued.
Oliver O’Connell has more details here:
SNL mocks ‘messiah’ Trump over chaotic tariffs policy with Easter-themed cold open
How are exporters seeking to deal with Trump's tariffs?
20:52 , APWhen the first two rounds of 10 per cent tariffs hit, Zou Guoqing, a Chinese exporter, groaned but didn’t find the barriers insurmountable. He gave up some of his profits and offered his client, a snow-bike factory in Nebraska, price cuts ranging from 5 to 10 per cent.
It seemed to work: The factory agreed to a new order of moulds and parts.
But when Donald Trump announced an additional 34 per cent universal tariff on Chinese goods on 2 April, Mr Zou, who has been exporting to the United States for more than a decade, was incredulous.
“There’s not a thread of feasibility,” said Mr Zou, who does business in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo. “It looks like I would have no choice but give up trading with the US.”
Then came 50 per cent more from Mr Trump, followed by another increase that pushed the universal tariff on Chinese goods to 145 per cent, and Mr Zou said he now could only hope that Mr Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping can communicate.
“We are pausing the shipments,” he said, “until the leaders talk.”
‘Savage’ UK cuts will deprive 55m people of aid around the world
19:50 , Andy Gregory“Savage” cuts to UK foreign aid will leave 55.5 million of the world’s poorest people without access to basic resources, The Independent can reveal.
Analysis by Save the Children, shared exclusively with this publication, lays bare the true impact of repeated cuts to the budget, the latest of which will see spending fall to just 0.3 per cent of gross national income (GNI) – the lowest level in 25 years.
Women and girls will suffer the most as the government is likely forced to scale back programmes across global education, family planning, water and food aid.
Our data correspondent Alicja Hagopian and Whitehall editor Kate Devlin have the exclusive report here:
‘Savage’ UK cuts will deprive 55m people of aid around the world
When Trump sneezes, everyone catches a cold, historian says
18:46 , Andy GregoryDonald Trump is acting like a 19th century European autocrat, a historian has suggested.
“We have a democratic leader who seems to have the authority to act as whimsically as a 19th century European autocrat,” Tim Naftali, a historian and senior research scholar at Columbia University, told the Associated Press. “He sneezes and everyone catches a cold.”
Professor Natfali added: “What the president ends up having is what he wants, which is everyone's attention all of the time.”
Markets not acting as if US dollar is world's reserve currency, warns analyst
17:51 , ReutersStock investors were warily watching moves across asset classes, in particular the dollar and Treasuries. An index that measures the US dollar against a basket of currencies on Friday fell below 100 for the first time in nearly two years, while the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond was on pace for its biggest weekly jump in decades.
In many prior risk-off events, the dollar and Treasuries have acted as safe havens, but that has not been the case over the last week as stocks have tumbled, said Walter Todd, chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital in South Carolina.
“We are the reserve currency and the risk free asset of the world, and our markets are not acting as such,” Mr Todd said.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury on Friday topped 4.5 per cent, which investors have cited as a level that could cause turbulence for stocks. Higher yields translate into higher borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, while potentially making bonds more competitive investments against stocks.
“Until Treasuries stabilise and start to behave normally, risk assets will struggle,” Barclays analysts said in a note on Friday.
Majority of voters now believe Trump is no friend to Britain, poll suggests
16:54 , Andy GregoryMore than half of British adults now believe Donald Trump is not “a friend of Britain’s”, according to new polling suggesting that figure has soared 12 per cent since January.
Polling by Opinion, commissioned by The Observer, found that 34 per cent of UK voters now believe the US is more of a threat than an ally – up from just 16 per cent who held that view in November. Just 35 per cent of respondents said they currently have confidence in Washington as an ally.
That number fell even lower when talking about Mr Trump specifically, with only 16 per cent of British voters polled saying they believed he was trustworthy, against 64 per cent who did not.
Trump waiting for China's Xi to call him personally over trade war, report claims
15:51 , Andy GregoryDonald Trump is waiting for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to call him personally, while Chinese officials are wary of putting Xi on a call that is unpredictable and potentially embarrassing, The New York Times reports.
Mr Trump has said he would like to speak with Mr Xi, but he has stopped short of requesting a phone call, believing that it is Beijing’s turn to ask for a call, the outlet reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
UK government to cut tariffs on 89 products in bid to lower costs for businesses and consumers
15:41 , Andy GregorySir Keir Starmer’s government has announced it will temporary suspend the UK global tariff on 89 products in order to ease pressure on businesses in the face of Donald Trump’s global levies.
The UK global tariff – which applies to goods entering the UK that do not qualify for preferential treatment under free trade agreements – will be suspended until 2027 on a wide range of products including pasta, fruit juices, agave syrup, plant bulbs, plywood and plastics.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “From food to furniture, this will reduce the cost of everyday items for businesses, with savings hopefully passed onto consumers.
“As we face a new era of global trade, this government is going further faster to make Britain the best country to do business, delivering on our Plan for Change. These suspensions are just another example of that.”
Markets ‘trapped by uncertainty’ over tariffs, warns analyst
15:21 , Andy GregoryThe stock market remains “very unsettled” as investors weigh how to price in any economic fallout from the changing tariff backdrop, Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at the firm Janney Montgomery Scott told Reuters.
The market is “kind of trapped by the level of uncertainty that lurks out there”, Luschini said. “And therefore investors are largely unwilling to make big bets in one direction or another.”
US commerce secretary says exempted electronic products to come under separate tariffs
14:42 , Andy GregoryIn an interview with ABC’s This Week, US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has said that smartphones, computers and some other electronics including semiconductors will come under separate tariffs.
Mr Lutnick said these separate tariffs may be imposed in a month or so.
Trump’s car tariffs expected to cost industry over $100bn, with millions fewer cars sold
14:06 , Andy GregoryWall Street and industry analysts have warned of massive global implications for the car manufacturing industry if Donald Trump’s 25 per cent import tariffs remain in place, with vehicle sales plummeting by millions as prices for both new and used cars surge, according to reporting by NBC News.
In the US alone, car manufacturers could see costs increase by $107.7bn, according to the Michigan-based think tank, the Centre for Automotive Research. That figure includes $41.9bn for the big three US firms – General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler.
These reports take into account both the 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles that went into effect 10 days ago, and the forthcoming 25 percent tariff on auto parts that begins on 3 May.
Oliver O’Connell reports from New York:
Trump’s auto tariffs could cost industry over $100bn, with millions fewer cars sold
China welcomes Trump climbdown on electronics as ‘small step to correct’ tariffs
13:18 , Andy GregoryChina has said it is evaluating the impact of Donald Trump’s decision to exclude phones, laptops and other electronics from his global tariffs.
In a statement on Sunday, China’s commerce ministry called the move a “small step by US to correct its wrong practice of unilateral ‘reciprocal tariffs’.”
“The bell on a tiger’s neck can only be untied by the person who tied it,” the ministry said, urging the US to make a major step in correcting what it called its wrongdoing and cancelling the tariffs completely.
Watch: Penguins to hold ‘protest march’ against Trump over tariffs gaffe
12:54 , Andy GregoryBusiness secretary insists he is ‘closely engaged’ on securing UK-US trade deal
12:35 , Andy GregoryBusiness secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said he is “closely engaged” with Washington on securing a trade deal to avert Donald Trump’s so-called “reciprocal” tariffs.
Asked when he expects to secure a UK-US trade deal, Mr Reynolds told Sky News: “Look I can’t give a timeline on that. We remain closely engaged. I had an exchange with my counterpart ambassador [Jamieson] Greer – I woke up to a message this morning from him. We remain engaged around that.
“The president himself, clearly, is the driving force and the decision-maker, as you would expect on the US side. I welcome the pause in the wider tariffs, we did receive a preferential position”.
But he insisted: “I am never going to be satisfied when there are barriers to trade between ourselves and the US, as I would do with any other key market. And I believe there is a way through.
“The next step is they are going to come back to us on some of the proposals we have put [forward].”
Labour ministers ‘don’t seem to be able to criticise Trump tariffs’, warns former party chair
12:06 , Andy GregoryFormer Labour frontbencher Harriet Harman has warned that Sir Keir Starmer’s government appears to have a “restricted vocabulary” preventing ministers from speaking out against Donald Trump’s trade tariffs.
Speaking on Sky News’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harman said: “They don’t seem to be able to be telling the country what I think the country needs to hear them saying, which is that what Trump is doing is a bad thing.
“They need to show that judgement about: it’s not okay for somebody in the largest economy in the world to wreak havoc, not only on their own country, but on our country and the rest of the global economy.
Baroness Harman pointed to the example of when the US put steel tariffs on the UK during the previous Labour government, recalling – in her words – Tony Blair as saying that such a move was “unacceptable” and that George “Bush has got it wrong”.
She continued: “It feels as if there’s a kind of restricted vocabulary amongst ministers at the moment, where they are speaking in code – ‘this is not where we want to be, we don’t want to see a trade war, we’re for open markets’ – but they’re not able to say about the elephant in the room, which is that Trump is wrong on this, we don’t agree with him.
“The other thing I think they should be doing is, they should be being more positive and giving more reassurance.”
Looser food standards off the menu in any US-UK trade deal, says business secretary
11:48 , Andy GregoryBusiness secretary Jonathan Reynolds has insisted that looser food standards remain off the table in talks for a UK-US trade deal, which he said would breach Labour’s promises during the general election campaign.
“We will never change our SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) food standards. We’ve made that perfectly clear to the United States,” he told Sky News.
China puts government officials on ‘wartime footing’ over Trump tariffs, report says
11:12 , Andy GregoryChina has put civilian government officials in Beijing on “wartime footing” and ordered a diplomatic charm offensive aimed at encouraging other countries to push back against Donald Trump’s tariffs, four people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
Communist Party propaganda officials have played a leading role in framing China’s response, one of the people said, with government spokespeople posting defiant clips on social media featuring former leader Mao Zedong saying “we will never yield”.
As part of the “wartime” posture, officials in China’s foreign affairs and commerce ministries have been ordered to cancel holiday plans and keep their mobile phones switched on around the clock, two of the sources said. US-facing departments have also been beefed up, including with officials who worked on China’s response to Mr Trump’s first term, they said.
Onus on Trump to show trade deals can be struck quickly, says former US negotiator
10:46 , Andy GregoryThe onus is now on the Trump administration to show that it can quickly conclude trade negotiations with Washington’s trading partners within the US president’s 90-day timeframe, a former US trade negotiator has said.
“Teeing up these decisions is going to take some serious negotiations,” Wendy Cutler, a former US Trade Representative chief negotiator, told Reuters. “There's no way during this timeframe we're doing a comprehensive agreement with any of these countries.”
Describing this as a “huge task”, Ms Cutler said: “The onus is going to be on them to show that they can quickly conclude agreements with countries, and instil some confidence in the market and with other trading partners that there is an off-ramp here.”
WH Smith investors await update on impact of Trump tariffs
10:09 , Andy GregoryInvestors in WH Smith will be keen for more details on its strategy after agreeing to sell its UK high street stores and the potential impact of US tariffs when the retail firm updates the market on Wednesday on its past six months of trading.
In what will mark the first major update since the historic retailer pivoted to focus solely on its growing travel store business, selling off its estate of high street shops across the UK for around £76m, shareholders will be keen for more guidance on what the sale deal and the increased focus on travel means for its longer-term outlook.
The company is among retailers with exposure to the US market which have seen their value knocked by Donald Trump's US tariff plans.
Analysts at Investec highlight that around 28 per cent of its sales and 30 per cent of its profits for the current financial year are expected to come from the US, which also includes Marshall Retail Group (MRG) and InMotion stores.
Investec suggests the company may see more of an impact from a “macro-economic slowdown rather than a tariff impact”, as weaker growth may affect traveller numbers.
Experts cast doubt Trump team’s plan to reach 90 trade deals in three months
09:47 , Andy GregoryDonald Trump and his team want to reach trade deals with 90 countries in as many days – but experts say there’s “no way” he can achieve that mark.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox Business the Trump administration will “run 90 deals in 90 days.” His proclamation comes after Trump issued blanket tariffs of at least 10 percent on nearly every country — then placed a 90-day pause on most of the tariffs Wednesday.
Navarro added Trump will be “the boss” and “chief negotiator” of these supposed deals: “Nothing is done without him looking very carefully at it.”
US trade representative Jamieson Greer similarly said that a team of 200 people are “working around the clock” to get deals “to a point where the president can close” them.
But economists say it’s not going to happen with the Senate having only confirmed one other senior Treasury Department official and the administration already being stretched thin.
Katie Hawkinson reports from Washington:
Experts doubt Trump team’s plan to reach 90 trade deals in three months
Watch: Farage compares Trump tariffs to Liz Truss mini-Budget
09:23 , Andy GregoryTrump exemption comes after analysts warned price of iPhone would soar due to tariffs
08:50 , Andy GregoryDonald Trump’s decision to exempt phones, laptops and other electronics from his global tariffs comes after analysts said even the lower levy of 54 per cent on Chinese goods could have seen the price of an iPhone soar from $1,599 to $2,300.
At a higher rate of 125 imposed by Mr Trump this week, economists and analysts warned that US-China trade could have largely halted altogether.
Smartphones were the top US import from China in 2024, totalling $41.7bn, while Chinese-built laptops were second, at $33.1bn, according to US Census Bureau data.
Apple recently chartered cargo flights to ferry 600 tonnes of iPhones, or as many as 1.5 million, to the US from India, after it stepped up production there in an effort to beat Mr Trump’s tariffs, Reuters reported on Friday.
Tech firms ‘hustling to onshore manufacturing to US as soon as possible’, White House claims
08:29 , Andy GregoryWhite House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Donald Trump has made clear the US cannot rely on China to manufacture critical technologies such as semiconductors, chips, smartphones and laptops.
But she claimed that, at Mr Trump’s direction, major tech firms – including Apple and chipmakers Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor – “are hustling to onshore their manufacturing in the United States as soon as possible”.
Big Tech firms ‘can breathe huge sigh of relief’
08:11 , Andy GregoryDonald Trump’s exemption on smartphones and other electronics from his global tariffs is “the most bullish news we could have heard this weekend”, an analyst at the financial services firm Wedbush Securities has said.
“There is still clear uncertainty and volatility ahead with these China negotiations,” Dan Ives said in an industry note, reported by Reuters.
“Big Tech firms like Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft and the broader tech industry can breathe a huge sigh of relief this weekend into Monday.”
Trump dodges question about reasoning behind his smartphone exemption
07:56 , Andy GregoryAsked on Saturday about his reasoning for the exemptions on smartphones, computers and semiconductors, Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One: “I’ll give you that answer on Monday.
“We’ll be very specific on Monday ... we’re taking in a lot of money, as a country, we’re taking in a lot of money.”
China’s Xi vows to Indonesia’s Prabowo to deepen partnership, report says
07:37 , Andy GregoryChinese president Xi Jinping has vowed to deepen his country’s strategic partnership with Indonesia in a call with his counterpart Prabowo Subianto, Beijing’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
Mr Xi told Mr Prabowo that their bilateral partnership had strategic significance and impact globally, as the two exchanged congratulations over the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties, Xinhua said.
Beijing is trying to persuade other nations to hew to a common line against US import tariffs announced by Donald Trump last Wednesday. Following a tit-for-tat escalation, Mr Trump has now increased has levy on China to 145 per cent – but has relented to exclude smartphones, laptops and computer chips.
Mr Xi will visit Indonesia’s fellow Southeast Asian nations Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia from Monday, aiming to consolidate ties with some of China’s closest neighbours as trade tensions escalate with the US.
Tesla stops taking new orders in China for US-made models
07:05 , Alisha Rahaman SarkarTesla has reportedly suspended taking new orders for Model S and Model X vehicles on its Chinese website as the world’s two largest economies exchange blows in a trade war.
Both models are made in the US and imported to China. New orders for the two models were also no longer available on the automaker’s WeChat mini-programme account in China, Reuters reported.
While the company did not give a reason for the move, it comes as China and US have been locked in an escalating trade war.
China on Friday raised its tariffs on US imports to 125 per cent after president Donald Trump’s decision to hike duties on Chinese goods to 145 per cent.
Higher US tariffs significantly increases the retail cost for Chinese consumers, making these cars more expensive than locally produced EVs.
The Texas-based company is least affected by Mr Trump’s tariffs among automakers due to its largely domestic manufacturing for sales in the US.
Japan will not use US treasuries to negotiate tariff
06:25 , Alisha Rahaman SarkarJapan will not use US Treasury holdings as a negotiation tool to counter US tariffs in talks scheduled between the two allies.
Both nations will negotiate tariffs on 17 April, days after the White House said it was prioritising Japan for trade talks.“As an ally, we would not intentionally take action against US government bonds, and causing market disruption is certainly not a good idea,” Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera told public broadcaster NHK today.
Mr Onodera stressed that Japanese carmakers would be among the biggest impacted by the 25 per cent blanket tariffs on automobiles.
“It’s important to stick to our guns” on this issue, he said, adding that the Japanese side should “strongly advocate” for the measures’ removal.
“It’s clear that the US is in trouble, so I think the conversation should start with us saying, ‘maybe it would be better to stop?’” he added.
SNL mocks ‘messiah’ Trump over chaotic tariffs policy
06:23 , Alisha Rahaman SarkarSaturday Night Live once again skewered President Donald Trump over his tariffs policy, following on from last week’s “Liberation Day” cold open.
James Austin Johnson returned to Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza as the president in an Easter-themed sketch that began with Jesus, played by Mikey Day, casting the moneylenders out of the temple on his arrival in Jerusalem.
The Biblical tableau froze as SNL’s Trump appeared.
“Remind you of anyone?” he said to laughter. “I also got rid of money last week, but instead of one temple, I did a whole country. Maybe even the globe. The money’s gone.”
Oliver O'Connell reports.
SNL mocks ‘messiah’ Trump over chaotic tariffs policy with Easter-themed cold open
Apple averts major crisis after Trump's smartphone exemption
06:17Apple Inc has narrowly managed to dodge its biggest crisis since the pandemic due to Donald Trump's exemption of smartphones, computers and some other electronics imported largely from China.
Mr Trump's 125 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports threatened to upend its supply chains, causing major loss to the company.
"This is a major relief for Apple," Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani told Bloomberg.
"The tariffs would have driven material cost inflation."
To avoid duty, the tech giant chartered cargo flights to ferry 600 tonnes of iPhones, or as many as 1.5 million, to the US from India.
Apple "wanted to beat the tariff", one of the sources familiar with the planning told Reuters.
Apple sells more than 220 million iPhones a year worldwide, with an estimated one fifth of total iPhone imports to the US coming from India and the rest from China.
Trump to provide more info on chips tariffs on Monday
05:42 , Alisha Rahaman SarkarUS president Donald Trump said that he would provide an update on his administration's approach to semiconductor tariffs on Monday.
"I'll give you that answer on Monday," Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“We're taking in a lot of money. As a country, we’re taking in a lot of money,” he added.
Trump exempts smartphones and laptops from new tariffs
05:39 , Alisha Rahaman SarkarUS president Donald Trump's administration granted exclusions from steep reciprocal tariffs to smartphones, computers and some other electronics imported largely from China, providing a big break to tech firms like Apple that rely on imported products.
In a notice to shippers, the US Customs and Border Protection agency published a list of tariff codes excluded from the import taxes, with retroactive effect from 12:01am (local time) on 5 April.
It featured 20 product categories, including the broad 8471 code for all computers, laptops, disc drives and automatic data processing. It also included semiconductor devices, equipment, memory chips and flat panel displays.
The notice gave no explanation for the move, but the late-night exclusion provides welcome relief to major technology firms such as Apple, Dell Technologies and many other importers.
Mr Trump's action also excludes the specified electronics from his 10 per cent "baseline" tariffs on goods from most countries other than China, easing import costs for semiconductors from Taiwan and Apple iPhones produced in India.
