China issues warning to UK over terms of US trade deal

China has warned the UK over its new trade deal with the US, accusing Britain of aligning with the US in a move that could compel British companies to exclude Chinese products from their supply chains. The UK-US trade deal, signed last week, offers Britain limited relief from US tariffs on car and steel exports, but only if it complies with strict American security requirements. These conditions include scrutinising supply chains and ownership structures – a move widely interpreted as targeting Chinese involvement. Beijing argues the agreement violates the principle…

China criticises UK-US trade deal; Aviva’s £3.7bn acquisition of Direct Line faces competition probe – business live

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I was secretary of labor. Trump’s bizarre tariff scheme won’t revive American jobs | Robert Reich

On Sunday night, the US announced that it was cutting tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, for 90 days, and the Chinese are dropping tariffs on US goods from 125% to 10%, also for 90 days. The stock market soared on the news. (Anyone with inside knowledge of the deal could have made a killing.) But what’s the ultimate goal here? What happens over the next 90 days? It’s impossible to know what’s in Donald Trump’s mind (other than an insatiable thirst for power and money), but his…

China cautiously welcomes pause in US tariff war

A 90-day pause in the US-China tariff war has been cautiously welcomed in China but tensions remain high, with Xi Jinping again accusing the US of “bullying”. After two days of talks between officials in Geneva over the weekend, China and the US agreed to substantially lower for the next 90 days the high tariffs each had imposed on the other in a tit-for-tat trade war. Under the agreement, US duties on Chinese goods will be lowered from 145% to 30%, while China’s retaliatory tariffs on US imports will be…

US to slash tariff on small China parcels from 120% to 54%

The US has announced it is cutting the tariff on small parcels sent from mainland China and Hong Kong to the US from 120% to 54%, hours after Washington and Beijing agreed a 90-day pause in their trade war. Donald Trump signed an executive order more than halving the levy, which was brought in at the start of this month to close the “de minimis” loophole allowing low-value goods to be sent to the US without paying any import fees. The exemption – taken from the Latin phrase for “of…

China and US agree 90-day pause to trade war initiated by Donald Trump

China and the US have agreed a 90-day pause to the deepening trade war that has threatened to upend the global economy, with reciprocal tariffs to be lowered by 115 percentage points. Speaking to the media after talks in Geneva, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said both sides had shown “great respect” in the negotiations. Bessent said: “The consensus from both delegations this weekend was neither side wants a decoupling.” The 90-day lowering of tariffs applies to the duties announced by Donald Trump on 2 April, which ultimately escalated…

White House claims China trade deal reached after ‘productive’ Geneva talks

The White House announced on Sunday that a trade deal with China has been struck after two days of talks in Geneva. The announcement, in a press release, comes after US treasury secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that there had been “substantial progress” in talks between his team and that of the Chinese vice-premier, He Lifeng, in Geneva on defusing the trade war between the world’s two largest economies sparked by Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs. In remarks that were posted on social media by the White House, Bessent said he…

Trump claims ‘total reset’ in US-China trade relations after tariff talks in Geneva

Donald Trump has hailed a “total reset” in US-China trade relations after the first day of talks between top American and Chinese officials in Geneva aimed at defusing a trade war sparked by his tariff rollout. The US president praised the “very good” discussions and deemed them “a total reset negotiated in a friendly, but constructive, manner”. “We want to see, for the good of both China and the U.S., an opening up of China to American business,” he posted on his Truth Social platform early on Sunday, adding: “GREAT…

UK must rebuild trade relationship with EU, says BoE boss; China-US shipments slump – business live

From 2h ago UK must ‘do everything’ to rebuild trade with EU, Bank of Engand boss says The Governor of the Bank of England has called for Britain to “rebuild” its trade relationship with the European Union, as the UK celebrates yesterday’s trade deal with the US. Andrew Bailey has told the BBC that reversing the post Brexit hit to UK-EU trade would be “beneficial”. And while Bailey was keen not to take a view on Brexit, as a public official, he also argued that a closer relationship between the…

BMW boss predicts Trump’s 25% tariffs on foreign cars will be lowered by July

The boss of BMW has predicted that Donald Trump’s import tariffs on foreign cars will be lowered this summer, as the German carmaker reported profits for the first three months had tumbled by a quarter. Oliver Zipse, BMW’s chief executive, said he expected that Trump’s 25% tariffs on the import of foreign cars would be dropped by July. He made the prediction after the company reported a drop in profit to €3.1bn (£2.6bn) as it braced for the effects of Trump’s trade war and strong competition in China. Zipse also…