Donald Trump decided to pause the huge duties he had just imposed on dozens of countries around the world on Thursday.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, described the US president’s 90-day tariff pause – which sets most tariffs at 10% until July – as “fragile”.
However, China has raised its tariffs on US products to 125% in the latest salvo of the trade dispute with Washington, just hours after Xi Jinping said there were “no winners in a tariff war”. They were not spared by Trump’s trade tariffs.
The US’s S&P 500 index ended 3.5% lower on Thursday and was now down about 15% from its all-time peak in February.
Bloomberg Economics, has calculated the US’s average tariff on all its imports was set to go to 27% before yesterday’s pause, the highest in more than 100 years.
And after the pause they estimate it will rise to 24%, still the highest in a century.
Penguins
Trump’s U-turn did make penguins very happy indeed.
Soon after they were initially announced, people realised Trump had slapped tariffs on an Australian territory with no human inhabitants, but LOADS of penguins.
The penguins had become unlikely social media stars after the account named @PenguinsAgainstTrump claims to be manned by a group of the flightless birds living on the islands.
The Heard Island and McDonald Islands are only accessible by a two-week boat trip from Perth.
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