How might the UK economy by impacted by tariffs?published at 19:38 British Summer Time

19:38 BST

Dharshini David
Deputy economics editor

A UK-based reader asks: Would these tariffs affect our economy and current interest rates?

The decisions made thousands of miles away will affect our economy. Most directly affected are those exporters selling into America, contending with that 10% extra charge (or even more in some cases) being applied to their goods: do they try to compensate for that by cutting costs elsewhere – or risk a blow to sales?

And complex supply chains means that disruption to other economies could be felt here. The Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey last week referred to a “growth shock” – many economists have cut their forecasts. No one yet is clear on how this trade war will play out, the uncertainty itself is damaging.

But the impact on inflation could work the other way. Countries such as China may be tempted to divert goods here instead, given the barriers they face in America. And the drop in oil and other commodity prices, amid market turmoil, could also bode well for keeping bills down.

So many economists reckon that with a weaker growth and inflation outlook, interest rates could fall faster than previously thought. A cut of 0.25 percentage points is widely expected next week, another could follow in June.

How will Trump's immigration policy affect relations with Canadian-American relations?published at 19:08 British Summer Time

19:08 BST

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Another readers asks: How is Trump’s immigration policy likely to affect Canadian-American relations, especially for dual citizens or people with mixed-status families?

If the first 100 days are anything to go by, relations between Canada and the US are almost certainly going to continue to be tense - both as a result of tariffs and Trump’s repeated, and near constant calls for Canada to become part of the US.

We had a taste of that just this week, when - as Canadians headed to the polls in their general election - Trump took to Truth Social to call on Canadians to elect him, seemingly referring to himself as a candidate, to reap the benefits of being the “cherished” 51st state.

“America can no longer subsidise Canada with the hundreds of billions a year that we have been spending in the past,” he said. “It makes no sense unless Canada is a state”.

How that impacts dual citizens or mixed-status families is a bit harder to answer.

But we’re seen a newfound sense of nationalism among many Canadians in response to Trump’s rhetoric and policies, and some Americans in Canada have even reportedly given up their citizenship.

While cross-border ties are very unlikely to ground to a standstill, many Canadian citizens - even those with US families - are likely to be more cautious when crossing the border, particularly after high-profile cases of Canadians being detained at the border.

In one case, an actress named Jasmine Moody was detained by ICE for about two weeks, later writing about her experience in a viral article in the Guardian.

What does Trump’s first 100 days tell us about how he’d handle a major international crisis?published at 18:53 British Summer Time

18:53 BST

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

We can bring you some more of your questions now on Trump's 100 days in office.

A reader asks: What does Trump’s first 100 days tell us about how he’d handle a major international crisis, like another pandemic or a war?

It’s hard to say how exactly Trump would handle a major international crisis, but we have had glimpses that may provide a few clues.

Trump’s first crisis came just over a week into his administration on 29 January, when a US Army helicopter collided with a passenger aircraft over the Potomac river in Washington DC, killing 67 people.

Later that morning, I sat in the White House briefing room as Trump - with no evidence - alleged that the diversity, equity and inclusion policies at the Federal Aviation Administration may have led to the crash.

This suggests that in the event of a crisis, Trump is later to “fire from the hip”, sometimes speaking before all the facts are established. Many will remember Trump’s initial dismissal of the Covid-19 pandemic in his first administration, sometimes downplaying it as something that would soon “disappear”.

More so than other presidents, Trump also leans heavily on the power of the executive branch, making decisions from the Oval Office that have real-world implications, sometimes bypassing any discussion on Capitol Hill.

Those close to Trump are quick to say that he listens intently to his advisors, often letting discussions play out amongst them before his eyes. This is, for example, largely what happened with the tariffs issue.

Ultimately, however, he is the one who decides the government’s course of action, even if he lets his inner circle - which is perhaps more loyal and disciplined than in the last administration - carry out the details.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is speaking now, and says the president must ask Congress to change the laws, he cannot do it himself.

"Once again, we have a lawsuit where the president is breaking the law. The president is acting above the law by saying 'I'm not going to bother asking Congress to change the law, I'm gonna gut it myself.'"

"That's not how our system works."

The Trump administration has previously defended cuts to the agency.

“AmeriCorps has failed eight consecutive audits and is entrusted with over $1 billion in taxpayer dollars every year,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the Washington Post.

“It is a target-rich environment for President Trump’s agenda to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Image source, Delaware Department of Justice

More now from a press conference, held by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.

"Nobody is above the law, not even Trump," Bonta says, after announcing they will file a lawsuit against the president and Doge for moving to cancel funding for federal volunteer agency AmeriCorps.

Kathy Jennings says it "is a fight to save our national service".

AmeriCorps "embodies the best of America," she adds, and gutting it is "cruel and pointless", as well as "illegal".

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has just announced that 22 attorney generals are filing a lawsuit today against Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

On Friday, Doge ordered AmeriCorps to terminate almost $400m in grants across America.

AmeriCorps is a federal agency for volunteering and national service, which provides disaster services, economic opportunity, education and environmental stewardship.

Bonta says Trump and Elon Musk, who runs Doge, are "unlawfully dismantling AmeriCorps".

The $400m (£298m) reduction in grants is more than 40% of the agency's budget, Bonta says.

They are also firing or putting on leave 85% of its workforce, "effectively incapacitating" an agency created by Congress, Bonta says.

Bonta says they don't have the right to do this, and claims they are violating the constitution.

How can developing countries navigate Trump's tariffs?published at 17:55 British Summer Time

17:55 BST

Nick Marsh
Asia business correspondent

Arafin in Bangladesh asks: How can developing countries navigate this evolving trade landscape and mitigate the risks?

There is just no way poorer countries could ever eliminate their trade surplus with the United States.

The world envisioned by Donald Trump - where citizens of developing countries buy as many American products as are sold the other way - is simply not possible.

The average Bangladeshi citizen, for example, is 32 times poorer than the average American.

In this case, the best Bangladeshi officials could do is promise Washington they will reduce some non-tariff barriers that are in place that make it hard for American companies to do business there.

For example, they could scrap quotas on imports, cut red tape or tackle corruption more effectively.

These small concessions - along with the assumption that American consumers won't put up with rocketing prices - may lead to a softening or removal of Trump's tariffs.

After all, if countries with large and cheap workforces can't sell Americans affordable goods, then who will?

One other thing that developing countries will want to consider closely is the role of China in all of this.

If you're a worker in a clothing factory in Bangladesh, a 37% US tax might seem a crippling blow to your livelihood - but it's still better than the 125% tariff that Chinese manufacturers are facing.

As a Malaysian rubber glove manufacturer told me recently: "We're not exactly jumping with joy, but this may well benefit us".

Limiting dealings with China has been suggested as a way for developing countries to get a better trade deal with the White House. But that isn't very realistic.

Beijing is by far and away the number one investor in the developing world. If you live in Africa, Asia or South America - it's probably China building your railways, factories and power plants, not the United States.

The American consumer market is still the richest in the world and developing countries will want to fight tooth and nail to maintain access to it - but equally there is no way they can side with the US over China.

What's the deal with Trump and the stock market?published at 17:44 British Summer Time

17:44 BST

Michelle Fleury
BBC World News Correspondent, reporting from New York

Chris in County Durham asks: Is Donald Trump making millions of dollars on the US stock market by initiating a slump in share values, buying heavy, then reversing his policies to watch his share prices rocket up?

Critics are accusing President Trump of manipulating the stock market. White House officials have denied the allegations, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt calling it part of Trump’s "art of the deal".

Here’s what we know so far:

On 9 April, Trump posted on Truth Social, in all caps: "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY! DJT." Shortly after, he announced he was pausing the toughest tariffs for 90 days. In between, options traders placed big bets on a market rebound, which ended up being spot on.

This led to accusations of market manipulation and insider trading, with Democrats like Senator Adam Schiff calling for an investigation.

However, these cases are hard to prove – and even harder when you’re talking about the president. Legal experts say it would be a "high" bar to prove Trump did something illegal in this case. Plus he posted the information publicly.

Claims of insider trading might have some merit under the STOCK Act, which restricts public officials from profiting off non-public information. Although the White House could argue that the President can’t "gain" information about policy changes if he "created" them.

So, it’s still up in the air – but probably not something he needs to lose sleep over.

Could Congress stop Trump's tariffs?published at 17:27 British Summer Time

17:27 BST

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

We've been asking you for questions about Donald Trump and his administration, and our correspondents are ready to give you their answers. Let's start off with, you guessed it, the topic of tariffs.

Jean-Claude asks: Is there any way within the US Constitution by which Congress could stop Trump’s Tariffs and take away his freedom to issue Executive Orders at will?

Donald Trump has been pushing the boundaries of presidential authority with both his tariff declarations and more than 130 executive orders.

To do so, he has been asserting that Congress has given him the power to take these actions. To answer your question simply, then - any power that Congress gives, Congress can take back.

Traditionally, executive orders are a presidential interpretation of how laws should be implemented. Congress could step in and tell the White House that those interpretations are wrong.

Trump has been citing a 1977 law that grants him power to enact tariffs in cases of national emergency. Congress could amend that law or pass legislation that says no such emergency exists. There has already been a bipartisan proposal in the Senate to do exactly that.

The challenge for Trump’s opponents is finding a majority in the two chambers of Congress, both narrowly controlled by Republicans, to do so. The House of Representatives, in particular, is full of Republicans who are marching in lockstep with the president. The House recently adopted a provision that would make it much harder to rescind Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, for instance.

Even if Congress was able to reach agreement on curtailing presidential power, Trump could decide to exercise his veto to block it from becoming law – something he’s already threated to do with the Senate tariff bill. And if he did that, it would take two-thirds of both chambers to override the president.

So Congress does have the ability to stop Trump, but perhaps not the interest or will to do so – at least not unless and until next year’s midterm elections shift the balance of power in the legislature toward the Democrats.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Getty Images

Despite it being the 100-day mark of the administration, it's a relatively calm day here at the White House, where at the moment only a few reporters are milling about.

This morning, on the other hand, was packed as dozens of reporters were around for Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's news briefing.

It emptied out quickly after that. For one, there's not much for reporters to do. Many are milling about outside, taking in the sun and commenting on the placards of undocumented criminals that the administration put up this week.

We're likely to see Donald Trump about 14:10 EDT (18:10 GMT), when he exits the White House, boards his helicopter and flies to Joint Base Andrews, from where he will depart for his rally in Michigan this afternoon.

Many White House staff members, and at least several cabinet members, will be in attendance.

The President won't be back at the White House until about 21:15 EDT (01:15 GMT) .

Polling carried out by YouGov for the BBC's US partner, CBS News,, external last week suggests Americans believe Trump is not focused enough on lowering prices and is too focused on tariffs.

Of the 2,365 people polled, 69% said the president was not focusing enough on lowering prices, compared to 26% who thought he had the right focus on the issue.

Of those surveyed, 62% thought Trump was too focused on the issue of tariffs.

The polling suggests that on 2 March, 51% approved of Trump's handling of the economy, and 46% approved of his handling of inflation. Those polling numbers were down to 42% and 38% respectively in the new poll.

Overall, the polling suggests a majority approve of Trump's immigration policies.

On Trump's overall job rating, 45% said they approved, and 55% disapproved - that favourability rating is down from 51% on 2 March.

A poll by Fox News carried out the week before, external suggested similar trends, with a 55% disapproval rating of Trump's overall job performance, and a majority disapproval on Trump's handling of tariffs, the economy and inflation. It also suggested a net favourable response on border security.

Bessent calls tariffs 'strategic uncertainty'published at 16:46 British Summer Time

16:46 BST

Gary O'Donoghue
Senior North America correspondent, reporting from the White House

Image source, Getty Images

The White House is attempting nothing less than the reengineering of the international system of trade and they're attempting to do it in a matter of months.

They upended all those trade relationship and demanded changes from around the world.

They have threatened these huge tariffs and then put them on pause, we’ve seen the stock market going up and down, we’ve seen the bond market going up and down.

What the treasury secretary in the press briefing said today is that it’s "strategic uncertainty".

I think for people around the world, they will perceive it a little bit more negatively than that in terms of the predictability of this White House, but the administration here does keep saying they are close to making these deals.

They just don't say at this stage who they're with and what they look like.

We now have a response from Amazon spokesperson, Tim Doyle, over reports that it planned to list the cost of tariffs alongside products on its e-commerce site.

Major US stock market indices opened slightly in the red this morning but have since bounced back.

The S&P 500 was down 0.19% but has risen to +0.26%.

The Nasdaq down 0.16% and is now at +0.1%

The Dow is currently +0.63%.

A volatile stock market has been the norm since Donald Trump announced sweeping global tariffs in April, a move that triggered one of the worst quarters since 2022.

On Trump's official 100th day in office, treasury secretary Scott Bessent hosted a joint press conference with the White House seeking to quiet concerns.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told wary Americans to "trust in president Trump", while Bessent said "strategic uncertainty" was a part of Trump's plan.

"Certainty is not necessarily a good thing in negotiating," Bessent said during the briefing.

We can now bring you more on the situation with Amazon, after the White House criticised reports that the online retailer would display how much tariffs are adding to product costs on its e-commerce website.

In a comment obtained by Washington Post (a publication which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos), Amazon says: “The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store has considered listing import charges on certain products.

"This was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties.”

The BBC has also reached out to the company for comment.

Image source, Reuters

A little earlier we heard Donald Trump's press secretary blast Amazon as "hostile" and "political" over its reported decision to display the cost of tariffs on its website.

If you need a reminder about where this row originates, here are the various tariff announcements that have been made since Trump's inauguration:

Higher tariffs announced and paused

• Tariffs on roughly 60 countries, which were described by the US president as the "worst offenders", were introduced on 9 April. Trump then announced a 90-day pause, during which the 10% "baseline" rate will be paid, excluding China
• You can find the lists of those countries in this piece

China

• A 10% tariff on goods from China to the US was unveiled in February and tariffs for China have since increased to 125%
• However, for some Chinese products taxes will be set at 145%, due to a previous 20% levy for those producing the drug fentanyl. The White House said the combination of different tariffs could mean some goods will face a 245% levy
• China put tariffs on US imports at 125% from 12 April and has said it will not respond to any further US increases because they will become a "joke"

Smartphones and computers

• An exemption for some electronic devices including smartphones and computers, backdated to 5 April, was announced on 12 April. Trump later said exemptions for technology from China could be short lived

Steel and aluminium, and cars

• A 25% import tax on all steel and aluminium entering the US, including products made from these metals took effect on 12 March

• The White House announced in March that 25% duties on cars would apply from 2 April - a similar 25% levy on car parts is due to come in by 3 May

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

One thing jumped out at me from that White House briefing: an apparent clash between Amazon and Donald Trump.

Amazon's billionaire founder Jeff Bezos, it should be remembered, reportedly developed a warm relationship with Trump last year when the now-president was still just a candidate.

Their relationship had once been tense, with Trump - for example - once deriding the Bezos-owned Washington Post as the "Amazon Washington Post", but after his win Bezos quickly congratulated Trump for an "extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory".

He wished him "all success in leading and uniting the America we love", and it was later revealed that Amazon had donated $1m (£746,000) to Trump's inauguration fund.

Today's accusation from the White House - that Amazon's reported decision to display how much tariffs are adding to products is a "hostile and political act" - may be a sign that relations between the two are once again cooling.

Trump himself is yet to comment.

Image source, Reuters

• US Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hailed Donald Trump's first 100 days in office as the "most historic start" of any US president
• As well as praising Trump's economic achievements, including what she said amounted to hundreds of billions of dollars saved in government spending, Leavitt defended the tariffs Trump's administration has placed on countries around the world - 145% on Chinese goods and 10% on goods from the majority of other countries
• Alongside Leavitt was Scott Bessent, Trump's Treasury secretary, who suggested the tariff-induced financial market chaos of a few weeks ago was intentional - that Trump purposely created "strategic uncertainty" to get "the best possible trade deals"
• In a particularly fiery response to a reporter's question, Leavitt also responded to reports that Amazon would soon highlight price increases of products due to tariffs on its website, calling the move a "hostile and political act"
• Meanwhile, Bessent declined to answer whether Trump and China's president Xi Jinping had spoken, and said "the onus is on them" to adjust their tariffs to avoid economic calamity

A question now about reports Amazon will soon display how much the Trump tariffs are adding to the cost of each product.

Leavitt steps in, saying she just got off the phone with the president, who was talking about this.

"This is a hostile and political act by Amazon," she says.

She holds up what appears to be a print out of a news article with a large picture of Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, and she claims it shows Amazon is partnered with a "Chinese propaganda arm".

We'll bring you more on this row as we get it.

With that, the White House briefing ends and Leavitt says Trump will hold a political rally tonight in Michigan. Before the rally, he will meet Michigan's Governor, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, she adds.

Next, Bessent addresses reporters' concerns about market turmoil - following Trump's tariffs - by saying that Trump creates "strategic uncertainty" to get "the best possible trade deals".

"Certainty is not necessarily a good thing in negotiating," Bessent says.

He predicts "the aperture of uncertainty will be narrowing" as US trade deals - of which Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said there were over 100 during her remarks - are announced.