Kevin Hassett claims tariffs will not have a big effect on US consumers and there will be no ‘political coercion’ over interest ratesStarmer orders economic reset amid Trump’s tariff mayhemIndonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy which faces a 32% tariff rate, said it will not retaliate a gainst the levies and would instead pursue diplomacy and negotiations to find mutually beneficial solutions. Jakarta has said it would send a high-level delegation to the US for direct negotiations with the government.Cambodia asked the US government on Friday to postpone the 49% tariff rate on its products, the highest rate in Asia and second-highest globally.Vietnam’s leader To Lam and Donald Trump agreed on Friday to discuss a deal to remove tariffs (Vietnam will be subject to a 46% tariff).Brazil, which faces a 10% levy on its exports to the US, has said its “government is evaluating all possible actions to ensure reciprocity in bilateral trade, including resorting to the World Trade Organization, in defense of legitimate national interests”.Taiwan’s top financial regulator said this morning it will impose temporary curbs on short-selling of shares to help deal with potential market turmoil brought resulting from the new import tariffs. Taiwan’s government said on Thursday that the new 32% tariff rate levied on the island were unreasonable and it would discuss them with Washington.China has hit back hard against Trump’s imposition of 34% tariffs on Chinese goods, which were already subject to a 20% levy, taking the total levy to 54%. Beijing in turn announced a slew of countermeasures, including extra levies of 34% on all US goods and export curbs on some rare earth minerals.Canada announced a limited set of counter measures against the latest US tariffs. The new Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said the government will copy the US approach by imposing a 25% tariff on all vehicles imported from the US that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal (Canada and Mexico were exempt from Trump’s latest duties because they are still subject to a 25% tariff related to the US fentanyl crisis for goods that do not comply with the US-Mexico-Canada rules of origin). Carney says Canada will retaliate against “unjustified, unwarranted” tariffs.The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is set to travel to Washington to meet with his close ally, US president Donald Trump. Continue reading... ...read more read less