Sawt Falasteen - Countries eye trade talks as Trump tariff blitz roils markets

Trump spared almost no nation on his "Liberation Day" on Wednesday, hitting friends and foes alike and reserving some of the harshest tariffs for major trade partners, including the European Union and China.

China demanded that the tariffs be "immediately cancelled" and vowed "countermeasures", while France and Germany warned that the EU could hit US tech firms.

But the 27-nation EU and other countries also showed willingness to negotiate as they refrained from immediate retaliatory measures, with almost a week until the harsher US levies take effect.

Beijing said it was "maintaining communication" with Washington over trade issues, and EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic planned to speak with US counterparts on Friday.

"Unjustified tariffs inevitably backfire," Sefcovic posted on X.

"We'll act in a calm, carefully phased, unified way, as we calibrate our response, while allowing adequate time for talks. But we won't stand idly by, should we be unable to reach a fair deal," he added.

However, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN that Trump "made it clear yesterday (Wednesday) this is not a negotiation".

The tariff announcements rattled stock markets while safe haven gold hit a new record high, oil prices fell and the dollar slumped against other major currencies.

"The last 24 hours have seen an historic transformation to the global trading system," said Jim Reid, analyst at Deutsche Bank's research arm.

"There are some credibility issues over how the (tariff) calculations have been made and markets are already highlighting this, with the dollar index seeing its largest fall today since 2022," Reid added.

Wall Street's main indexes opened deep in the red, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq sinking more than four percent and the broad-based S&P 500 shedding more than three percent.

European stock markets were down sharply in afternoon trading, with Paris shedding three percent.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei closed 2.8 percent lower after paring back bigger losses. Hanoi shares dropped more than seven percent after Vietnam was targeted with tariffs of 46 percent.

- 'Treat us badly' -

Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called "nations that treat us badly."

That included an additional 34 percent on goods from China -- bringing the new added tariff rate there to 54 percent.

The figure for the European Union was 20 percent, and 24 percent on Japan.

For the rest, Trump said he would impose a "baseline" tariff of 10 percent, including on another key ally, Britain, which will come into effect on Saturday while the higher duties will kick in on April 9.

The White House said Russia was spared because it is already under sanctions over its war in Ukraine which "preclude any meaningful trade".

Trump labelled Wednesday's tariffs "reciprocal" but many experts say his administration's estimates for levies placed on US imports by other countries are wildly exaggerated.

Separate tariffs of 25 percent on all foreign-made cars also went into effect.

Business lobbies voiced concerns about the impact of tariffs, which already prompted US-European automaker Stellantis, owner of Jeep, Chrysler and Fiat, to announce it would temporarily pause production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.

- 'Catastrophe' for economy -

While economists say US consumers would be the first to pay the price from tariffs, Trump insisted on his Truth Social platform Thursday that the US economy would emerge "far stronger ... than ever before".

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said the tariffs were a "catastrophe" for the world economy but also "for the United States and for American citizens".

Germany said "everything was on the table" as it joined France in saying the EU could tax US tech giants.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country is a major exporter of cars to the United States, called the US tariffs "fundamentally wrong" but said Europe was open to further talks.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the tariffs are "not the act of a friend" but he said his country, which was hit by the lower 10 percent tariff, would not retaliate.

Canada and Mexico are not affected by the new levies as Trump has already punished them for what he says is their failure to stymie drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Trump's duties "fundamentally change the global trading system".

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B.Mahmoud--SF-PST