Global markets sink as Trump stands firm on tariffs, trade tensions rise

WASHINGTON : Global markets plunged on Monday following last week’s two-day meltdown on Wall Street, and President Donald Trump said he won’t back down on his sweeping new tariffs, which have roiled global trade. Countries are scrambling to figure out how to respond to the tariffs, with China and others retaliating quickly.

Trump’s tariff blitz fulfilled a key campaign promise as he acted without Congress to redraw the rules of the international trading system. It was a move decades in the making for Trump, who has long denounced foreign trade deals as unfair to the US.

The higher rates are set to be collected beginning Wednesday, ushering in a new era of economic uncertainty with no clear end in sight.Here’s the latest: Chinese officials meet business representatives from Tesla and other US companies Chinese government officials met business representatives from Tesla, GE Healthcare and other US companies on Sunday. It called on them to issue reasonable statements and take concrete actions on addressing the issue of tariffs.

The United States in recent days has used all sorts of excuses to announce indiscriminate tariffs on all trading partners, including China, severely harming the rules-based multilateral trade system, said Ling Ji, a vice minister of commerce, at the meeting with 20 US companies.

China’s countermeasures are not only a way to protect the rights and interests of companies, including American ones, but are also to urge the US to return to the right path of the multilateral trading system,” Ling added.

Ling also promised that China would remain open to foreign investment, according to a readout of the meeting from the Ministry of Commerce.

Malaysia wants Southeast Asia to present a united response to tariffs Malaysia’s Trade Minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz said his country wants to forge a united response from Southeast Asia to the sweeping US tariffs.

Malaysia, which is the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year, will lead the regional bloc’s special Economic Ministers’ Meeting on April 10 in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the broader implication of the tariff measures on regional trade and investment, Zafrul told a news conference on Monday.

We are looking at the investment flow, macroeconomic stability and ASEAN’s coordinated response to this tariff issue, Zafrul said.

ASEAN leaders will also meet to discuss member states’ strategies and to mitigate potential disruptions to regional supply chain networks.

Pakistan will send a government delegation to Washington Pakistan plans to send a government delegation to Washington this month to discuss how to avoid the 29 per cent tariffs imposed by the US on imports from Pakistan, officials said Monday.

The development came two days after Pakistan’s prime minister asked its finance minister to send him recommendations for resolving the issue.

The US imports around $5 billion worth of textiles and other products from Pakistan, which heavily relies on loans from the International Monetary Fund and others.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange fell rapidly on Monday. The exchange suspended trading for an hour after a 5 per cent drop in its main KSE-30 index.

Mideast markets follow oil prices lower Middle East stock markets tumbled as they struggled with the dual hit of the new US tariffs and a sharp decline in oil prices, squeezing energy-producing nations that rely on those sales to power their economies and government spending.

Benchmark Brent crude is down by nearly 15 per cent over the last five days of trading, with a barrel of oil costing just over $63. That’s down nearly 30 per cent from a year ago, when a barrel cost over $90. 

That cost per barrel is far lower than the estimated break-even price for producers. That’s coupled with the new tariffs, which saw the Gulf Cooperation Council states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hit with 10 per cent tariffs. Other Mideast nations face higher tariffs, like Iraq at 39 per cent and Syria at 41 per cent.

The Dubai Financial Market exchange fell 5 per cent as it opened for the week. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange fell 4 per cent.