Trump tariffs live updates: FTSE opens sharply down after Asian markets plummet over trade fears

Donald Trump’s imposition of global tariffs means the UK Government has had to look at its electric vehicle plans with “renewed urgency”, the transport secretary has said.

Asked to what extent the package of changes announced on Monday has been influenced by the US president’s trade policy, Heidi Alexander told LBC: “So, the consultation on the zero-emission vehicles mandate started on Christmas Eve, and it closed in the middle of February, and so we were always planning to bring forward our response in April as a Government.

“Obviously what happened last week with the imposition of global tariffs by the US administration has meant that we have looked at this with renewed urgency in the last week, because, if you think about businesses like Jaguar Land Rover, their business planning has really been thrown up into the air given the amount of cars they export to the US.

“Because the car manufacturers have been saying to us ‘We need certainty on this’, it’s really important that we come forward with a sensible package urgently, which is what we are doing today, so that we can take that part of uncertainty away from their planning because we recognise it is a challenging time for a lot of businesses at the moment.”

Germany’s Dax share index has plunged more than 7 per cent in morning trading.

German shares dropped 7.25 half an hour into trading on Monday morning.

Billionaire fund manager Bill Ackman, who endorsed Trump’s run for president, called for the tariffs to be paused to avert an “economic nuclear winter”.

“The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe,” he added.

The FTSE 100 continues to drop – now plummeting more than 3 per cent.

Just five minutes after opening on Monday morning, the UK’s benchmark had already plunged 3.15 per cent.

Business and money editor Karl Matchett writes:

As another week on the stock markets kick into gear, there’s set to be no surprises at all about the direction almost everyone is headed: downwards.

Fresh from enormous overnight drops in the Asian markets – the Hang Seng down by a massive 12 per cent in Hong Kong – we can expect to see the FTSE 100 and 250 drop too once it opens shortly, albeit to not as great an extent.

Banks and financials were hammered last week on the London Stock Exchange but few across the board escaped the sharp falls and it looks to be more of the same today, at the very least.

The FTSE 100 index is set to open in a few minutes.

The UK’s benchmark sank almost 5 per cent on Friday in what was its worst day of trading since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slumped more than 12 per cent in morning trade, which, if sustained, would make for the benchmark’s largest daily fall since the 2008 global financial crisis.

China’s CSI300 blue-chip index fell more than 5 per cent with selling in nearly every sector, while China’s yuan slipped to its lowest value since January and bonds rallied sharply. Beijing is facing a combined 54 per cent tariffs on US exports, and announced retaliatory measures on Friday – which was a public holiday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index plunged nearly 9 per cent after market opened in Tokyo. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped more than 6 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 4.4 per cent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slumped more than 12 per cent in morning trade.

If sustained, it will mark the benchmark’s largest daily fall since the 2008 global financial crisis.