Tariffs could be 'nail in coffin' for small businesses, says MrBeastpublished at 10:34 British Summer Time 9 April

10:34 BST 9 April

Tom Singleton
Technology reporter

Image source, EPA

Think of who would be affected by the global turmoil the tariff war is causing and MrBeast - the world's most successful YouTuber - probably isn't the first person who springs to mind.

But as well as making viral videos, MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has a number of side hustles, including a chocolate business, Feastables.

While it is a US company, America isn't exactly renowned as a cocoa producer, meaning their chocolate bars rely on imported raw ingredients - now facing tariffs.

The Trump administration hopes its import levies will encourage more companies to set up in the US. For Feastables, the opposite is true.

"Ironically because of all the new tariffs it is now way cheaper to make our chocolate bars we sell globally NOT in America," MrBeast posts on X.

"We'll figure it out. I feel for small businesses though. Could really be a nail in the coffin for them," he adds.

His intervention is bad news for the White House because it's a real world example of the potential unintended consequences of its policies.

But secondly - and possibly more importantly - it represents one of the most influential voices for young Americans publicly criticising the Trump tariff policy.

Jennifer Clarke
BBC News

Image source, Reuters

Tariffs are taxes charged on goods bought from other countries.

Typically, they are a percentage of a product's value. For example, a 25% tariff on a $10 (£7.59) product would mean an additional $2.50 (£1.90) charge.

Companies that bring the foreign goods into the country have to pay the tax to the government.

For decades, Trump has argued that the US should use tariffs to boost its economy.

He says they will encourage US consumers to buy more American-made goods, increase the amount of tax raised and lead to huge levels of investment in the country.

However, there are warnings that the move could harm the world economy, and push up prices for consumers in the US and around the globe.

• Read our full tariffs explainer here

Investors selling 'safe haven' US bondspublished at 10:16 British Summer Time 9 April

10:16 BST 9 April

Faisal Islam
Economics editor

There has been “aggressive” selling of long term US government bonds in the last 48 hours.

Bonds are essentially IOUs issued by the government to raise funds for its operations and projects.

A government sells bonds to investors, who lend it money in return for regular interest payments and the eventual repayment of the full amount when the bond matures.

Investors selling off long term government bonds is not typical behaviour, as until now they have been considered the safest of “safe haven” assets.

The effective interest rates for 10 and 30 year US borrowing has spiked very fast, and came among weak demand for US debt at an auction yesterday.

This is a “firesale of US Treasuries”, according to one Bank of America analyst.

This could have direct consequences for the price of US mortgages and business lending.

The question is what scale this is happening on – is China selling off some of its $759bn US government bonds?

Is this the unwinding of heavily leveraged bets on the overall shape of the US bond market - what is known as the “basis trade”?

It is difficult to know what might be worse here. But trade wars of this once-in-a-century size do not stay contained to the flow of the goods. They spread into credit markets and currency wars too.

Michael Race
Senior business and economics reporter

Mortgage lenders in the UK are looking at cutting rates amid the global economic turmoil following the introduction of US tariffs, including a 10% tax on goods being imported to the US from the UK.

According to the financial data company Moneyfacts, the average two-year fixed mortgage rate today is 5.3%, down from 5.32% on Tuesday. The average five-year fix is 5.15%, down from 5.17%.

Predictions have grown that interest rates in the UK could be cut by more than expected this year, if the Bank of England feels it needs to try to make borrowing money cheaper in order to give the economy a boost.

But it's a balancing act for the Bank. Its main job is to keep the inflation rate, which is how much prices rise on an yearly basis, at 2%. Currently, inflation is 2.8%.

The UK has got off lightly on tariffs, so far anyway.

It avoided Trump's "worst offenders" list and hit with a 10% "baseline" import duty - half of the 20% tariff placed on the European Union. This is on top of the 25% levies on aluminium, steel and cars.

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves says Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been working on a trade deal with his US counterpart since visiting Washington back in February.

And Starmer himself said on Tuesday that trying to negotiate a deal which mitigates the levies is better than retaliatory tariffs.

But when might a deal be reached? Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, refused to put a date on it this morning, but insisted the government was working "at pace".

Image source, EPA

Back on UK shores, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme she is confident that Britain can get a trade deal with the US.

“We are committed to making sure we keep cool heads, we don’t have knee-jerk reactions. We don’t want to see the sort of retaliation and trade wars that have been happening overnight between the US and China," she says.

Asked if she can give a timeframe, she says "we absolutely feel the urgency", without giving an exact date.

But she adds: “We are working at pace. We are very confident that we'll get there."

Beijing: Don’t line up in front of Trump’s steamrollerpublished at 09:49 British Summer Time 9 April

09:49 BST 9 April

Stephen McDonell
China correspondent, reporting from Beijing

Image source, Reuters

China is positioning itself as a free trade champion standing up to the “bully” regime of Donald Trump - and using social media commentaries from party-controlled media to do so.

Just as the new 104% tariffs came into effect, an account linked to China Central Television posted that Trump’s strategy is clearly to pick off countries one by one as they go to Washington with the begging bowl.

In this way, it argues, President Trump can steamroll the less powerful.

China, on the other hand, would “show the whole world our firm determination to safeguard the multilateral trade system”.

This could go down well with the likes of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. They’ve all been hit with massive US tariffs and the impossible demand from President Trump that they buy as much stuff from America as it buys from them.

So, consider the timing of a meeting Xi Jinping has just held in Beijing when he reportedly said China needs to “deepen all-round cooperation” with its neighbouring countries and, crucially, to “strengthen supply chain ties” with them.

This is how you use Trump’s trade chaos to increase your political and commercial influence internationally.

In the early hours of this morning - for us in London, at least - additional US tariffs on 60 countries deemed by Trump to be the "worst offenders" came into force.

Here are all the new tariffs by trading partner, with those with the highest share of US imports at the top:

We can bring you a few more lines from Trump's speech at a Republican Party dinner last night.

Speaking about trading partners wanting to negotiate deals with the US in the wake of tariffs, he said China - which has been hit with 104% tariffs - "want to make a deal...they just don't know how to get it started".

Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia and Taiwan are among key Asian countries who are hoping to speak with the Trump administration about tariffs, with some facing up to 49% on goods imported to the US.

"I'm telling you these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass," he told the audience. "They are dying to make a deal."

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

The EU's 27 member states are expected to approve a big list of US products that will face tariffs from next week in response to President Trump's initial 25% import tax on European steel and aluminium last month.

The European tariffs will be imposed in three stages.

From next Tuesday, 15 April, the plan is to slap 25% tariffs on an initial list which is likely to include motorbikes, luxury boats and orange juice. American bourbon, wine and dairy were on the original EU list but have been dropped after lobbying from Europe's wine industry.

The initial measures were due to kick in on 1 April but were held back to give talks a chance. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen's pitch for a zero-tariffs deal was rejected out of hand by Trump.

A second stage will kick in from mid-May, which is expected to feature textiles, leather goods, eggs, dental floss and poultry.

Then from 1 December counter-tariffs will be slapped on soybeans and almonds. Soybeans are used in animal feed and make up the biggest value for US exports to Europe.

A swathe of new 20% US tariffs has kicked in today on EU imports - and today's list being voted on in Brussels doesn't deal with those. The European Commission is busy preparing further counter-measures which could come out next week.

Jennifer Meierhans
Senior economics and business reporter

Drugmakers' stocks in Europe slipped after Trump reiterated plans for a "major" tariff on all pharmaceutical imports while speaking at a Republican Party dinner yesterday.

Medicines had previously been exempt from tariffs according to White House documents., external Trump did not say when and by how much he plans to raise taxes on pharma imports. But the change in stance prompted a wild swing in stocks.

British drugmakers AstraZeneca and GSK topped the losers board in London, both down over 4%. Europe's most valuable company Novo Nordisk, which produces weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, fell around 5% in Copenhagen. French pharmaceutical group Sanofi and German biotech firm Sartorius also dropped around 5%.

The president has said the tariffs will incentivise drug companies to move their operations to the US. But analysts and companies have raised concerns about the difficulty in moving manufacturing there.

Image source, Reuters

• 20 January: Trump uses his inauguration speech to outline plans to overhaul the trade system "to protect American workers" and introduce tariffs on foreign countries "to enrich our citizens"
• 1 February: He announces a 25% levy on Canadian and Mexican imports to the US - and an additional 10% on China
• 3 February: Mexico and Canada reach a deal to pause US tariffs for one month
• 10 February: Trump announces a 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US
• 4 March: The White House places an additional tariff on Chinese imports
• 12 March: Trump's 25% steel and aluminium tariffs take effect
• 26 March: The White House reveals new 25% duties on car and car partscoming into the US - those take effect from 2 April
• 2 April: Trump announces the US will impose "reciprocal tariffs" on certain countries, as well as a universal 10% levy on imports from all other countries
• 5 April: That 10% "baseline" tariff comes into effect
• 9 April: Custom tariffs on roughly 60 countries - dubbed the worst offenders - come into effect

We can bring you more reaction now from China, after it was hit with a 104% excess on some exports to the US.

The US will not solve problems like its trade deficit and "lack of industrial competitiveness" through the tariff measures, China says in a White Paper published today.

"They seriously damage global trade order and the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains," the document reads.

The paper sets out that China has "always" maintained China-US trade relations are "mutually beneficial".

It adds that it is "natural" for the two countries to have "frictions" but underlines they need to respond each other's core interests.

Beijing is willing to communicate with Washington to resolve them, it adds.

Image source, EPA

We're hearing the first response from China since 104% duties kicked in.

Speaking at a news conference, China's foreign affairs spokesperson says that the Chinese people's "legitimate right to development must not be deprived" by charges on its goods.

Lin Jian accuses the US of "bullying practices", and urges Trump's administration to "demonstrate an attitude of equality, mutual respect and reciprocity" in order to resolve the dispute through dialogue.

He says that if Trump "insists" on provoking a trade war, "China will be compelled to fight to the end".

Emily Atkinson
Live editor

• At 05:00 BST this morning, 60 of America's biggest trading partners were hit with higher US tariffs on goods
• They include 104% levies on Chinese products - a figure effectively doubled overnight by President Trump after Beijing refused to back down on its threat of retaliatory measures
• The message from Beijing is that they can ride this out, our China correspondent says, with new measures expected
• The deepening trade war has provoked further turmoil on the world's stock markets - in the last hour, shares in Europe slumped again, following similar falls across Asia
• Overnight, Trump again defended his tariffs, saying their effect would be "legendary, in a positive way"

We'll continue to bring you rolling updates on all the key developments across the day - stay with us.

Speaking at a Republican Party dinner yesterday, Donald Trump said the tariffs were "going to be legendary, in a positive way".

"Many countries...have ripped us off left and right, but now it's our turn to do the ripping," he said.

Trump has also described the tariffs as "somewhat explosive" and "amazing", claiming that import tariffs were already generating "almost $2bn (£1.5bn) a day" for the US.

And earlier this week, as stock markets around the world reacted to the tariffs, Trump made this comment: "Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something."

Donald Trump has chosen to impose a wide range of different tariffs on other countries. But how did he come up with the figures?

BBC Verify's Ben Chu takes a look at the calculations:

Michael Race
Senior economics and business reporter

After rebounding marginally yesterday, all the main European stock markets are down on opening.

• In France, the Cac 40 was down 2.3% shortly after open
• Germany's Dax was down 2.1%
• The UK's FTSE 100 fell 2.5% at the open and is now around 2%

Michael Race
Senior economics and business reporter

Trading has just started in the UK for Wednesday.

The main stock market of the country's biggest companies opened 2.5% down in response to Trump's global tariffs on goods being imported to the US coming into effect.

Michael Race
Senior business and economics reporter

A trade war is a conflict in which two or more countries impose import taxes or limits on the number of goods coming into their own countries from overseas.

Countries often impose such measures as a way of protecting their own domestic industries from foreign competition.

Trump sees tariffs as a way of boosting US manufacturing of goods and creating more jobs in the sector – but there are consequences to his decisions. Prices for goods could well rise, as explained here.

The US president’s main beef is clearly with China, however, one could argue the trade conflict between two of the world’s largest economies hasn’t started this week but has been dramatically escalated. That’s because of tariffs on certain goods being imposed since Trump’s first term of office in 2018.

For the rest of the world, this trade war is new though, and how many countries, including the UK, respond to Trump’s tariffs will be the next development to watch out for.