BEIJING, April 11: China on Friday said it would raise tariffs on US goods to 125 per cent from 84 per cent, hours after President Xi Jinping urged the European Union to join hands with Beijing in resisting "unilateral bullying", referring to the massive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.

The new levy, which will come into effect on Saturday, was announced after Trump this week raised the tariffs for China to 145 per cent, further escalating the ongoing trade war between the world's top two economies.

The Chinese finance ministry said further action by the US will be ignored because "at the current tariff level, there is no possibility of market acceptance for US goods exported to China".

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the European Union on April 11, 2025 to join hands with Beijing in resisting “unilateral bullying”, in reference to swingeing tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

As he met Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on April 11, 2025, state news agency Xinhua said Xi had stressed the need for cooperation between the bloc and China in weathering Beijing’s mounting trade war with Washington.

“China and Europe should fulfil their international responsibilities... and jointly resist unilateral bullying practices,” Xi said.

Trump’s escalating trade war with the world’s No. 2 economy, China, has fuelled fears of recession and further retaliation, and foreign leaders are trying to work out how to respond to the tariffs.

Russian Oil Market Rattled By Trump Tariff Fallout

MOSCOW, April 7: Russia, whose economy is heavily dependent on oil, energy, and mineral exports to the world, is staring at a crisis should oil prices continue to plummet the way they are currently. Moscow has sounded the alarm as oil prices dropped to as low as $60 per barrel on Monday. Russia's Urals Oil dipped further - nearly reaching $50 per barrel as the oil markets faced extreme turbulence.

The reason - Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs, which have sent global markets, including that of oil, into a free fall. To add to the misery, China, the world's second-largest economy, also announced retaliatory measures to target Washington.

The oil and gas sector is the largest contributor of cash flow in the Russian federal budget. In March alone, the revenue from the key sector fell by more than 17 per cent compared to the same month a year ago. This is before April's unending downward spiral after Trump's tariff order.

Responding to a question on falling oil prices and its impact on the Russian economy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, "Of course this indicator is very important for filling the budget. Our authorities are very closely monitoring the situation, which is currently extremely turbulent, tense, and emotionally charged. We aim to take measures in order to minimise the consequences of this economic storm."

According to a Bloomberg report, on Friday, Russia's Urals oil was trading at a low of $52 per barrel at Primorsk, a port in the Baltic Sea . It fell even further on Monday, inching its way towards the $50 per barrel mark.

Trillions of dollars have been lost across global markets in under 72 hours and investors are seriously concerned of a possible recession in the making.

WTI Crude or Texas crude, which is the US benchmark for American oil, is also at a low of $60 per barrel, while the Brent Crude prices internationally fell to $64 per barrel.

Meanwhile, President Trump doubled down on his stance, saying, "Oil prices are down...there is no Inflation". He also outrightly rejected economists' concerns of a possible recession.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, President Trump wrote, "Oil prices are down, interest rates are down (the slow moving Fed should cut rates!), food prices are down, there is NO INFLATION, and the long time abused USA is bringing in Billions of Dollars a week from the abusing countries on Tariffs that are already in place."

He then singled out China, saying it is them who really are to blame, along with past leaders in the US, who "allowed for this to happen". On Truth Social, he wrote, "This is despite the fact that the biggest abuser of them all, China, whose markets are crashing, just raised its Tariffs by 34%, on top of its long term ridiculously high Tariffs (Plus!), not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate. They've made enough, for decades, taking advantage of the Good OL' USA! Our past "leaders" are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

US Stocks Join Global Selloff Sparked By Trump Tariffs

NEW YORK, April 7: Stock markets and oil prices collapsed further on a black Monday for markets as US President Donald Trump stood firm over his tariffs despite recession fears.

Trading floors across the globe were overcome by waves of further selling after last week's sharp losses, with Trump telling Americans to "be strong, courageous, and patient," minutes before the New York stock market opened to drops of over three percent.

Hong Kong collapsed by 13.2 percent in its worst day in nearly three decades.

Trillions of dollars have been wiped off combined stock market valuations in recent sessions.

Taipei stocks suffered their worst fall on record Monday, tanking 9.7 percent, while Tokyo closed down by almost eight percent.

Frankfurt fell as much as 10 percent in early trading before paring back losses to trade around 4.6 percent lower in afternoon deals.

Bitcoin tumbled while the dollar was mixed after sharp losses last week.

"The carnage in global equity markets has continued," said Thomas Mathews, Asia Pacific head of markets at Capital Economics.

He said Trump could still pare back his tariffs.

"But, if he doesn't, equities could get a lot sicker yet."

A 10-percent "baseline" tariff on imports from around the world took effect Saturday.

A slew of countries will be hit by higher duties from Wednesday, with levies of 34 percent for Chinese goods and 20 percent for EU products.

Beijing announced last week its own 34-percent tariff on US goods, which will come into effect on Thursday.

Canada on Monday launched a WTO complaint against US auto tariffs.

The EU said it had made an offer to the United States for the two sides to have zero tariffs on cars and other industrial goods, while Tokyo agreed to more talks with Washington.

LPG cylinders to get costlier by Rs 50 from tomorrow, Oil Minister Puri says

NEW DELHI, April 7: The price of domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will increase by Rs 50 per cylinder starting April 8, Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri announced Monday.

Under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, a cylinder will cost Rs 550 as against Rs 500, and for non-Ujjwala prices will now cost Rs 853 per cylinder, the minister said.

Puri also said that the government will review LPG prices in India once every fortnight.

The government has also hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre, and clarified that the retail prices won't be affected.

Harvard Professor Sounds Alert As Markets Lose Trillions

NEW YORK, April 4: US stock futures fell sharply today, signalling more losses on Wall Street, after China retaliated with fresh tariffs a day after the Trump administration's sweeping levies knocked off $2.4 trillion from US equities.

In India, the NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex continued to fall as anxiety about the future of the global trade system prevailed due to US President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff policies.

The chatter on social media indicates severe criticism of Trump's policies, as well as wide support for him from the champions of 'Make America Great Again', or MAGA.

Lawrence H Summers, a Harvard professor who worked with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, pointed out today's stock market fall was probably the worst experience in the last five years.

"Today was the worst stock market experience in five years. Usually when you have a terrible stock market experience, it's because a bank fails, a pandemic, a hurricane or because some other country does something," Summers said in a post on X.

"We don't have these kinds of stock market responses in response to policies that the President of the United States is proud of. That is something that is entirely without precedent. It is extremely dangerous," he added.

Others have alleged Trump's own social networking website Truth Social suddenly had the foresight to sell stock before the tariffs were formally announced.

Trump's tariffs trigger Wall Street crash; Dow Jones tanks by over 1,000 points

NEW YORK, April 3: According to a report, S&P 500 was down 3.3% in early trading, worse than the drops for other major stock markets.

However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average crashed by 1,204 points, or 2.9%, as of 9:50 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 4.3% lower.

According to a report, hard-hit sectors included apparel, where Nike, Macy's and Gap all suffered double-digit drops following fresh new large levies on China, Malaysia and other countries that are home to textile infrastructure.

Apple, which relies heavily on Chinese manufacturers for its products, was another big loser, sinking 8.2 per cent. Amazon stocks fell 6.9 per cent, while Nvidia lost 4.9 per cent.

"Clearly what was announced was close to the worst-case scenario and markets were not prepared for that and are reacting accordingly," Angelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones, told AFP.

The barrage of tariffs has raised worries that inflation could be revived in the United States while growth and employment could take a hit if other countries resort to counter-tariffs, the report added.