The Taiwan-U.S. partnership is a driver of shared economic prosperity and central to supply chain security and stability in the region, the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan said on Thursday after U.S. tariffs were announced.U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced across the board import tariffs, with much higher duties for dozens of trading partners, including Taiwan which runs a large trade surplus with the United States and will get a 32% tariff.The U.S. tariffs do not apply to semiconductors, a major Taiwan export.In a statement, AmCham Taiwan said it continued to stress Taiwan's "indispensable" role in the U.S. economy."AmCham Taiwan urges policymakers in both Washington and Taipei to continue fostering this mutually beneficial relationship," it said in a statement."In a time of growing geopolitical complexity, the U.S.-Taiwan partnership is not only a driver of shared economic prosperity but also central to supply chain security and regional stability."Taiwan's government has yet to respond to the tariffs. Both Thursday and Friday are holidays in Taiwan.Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Wednesday ahead of the U.S. announcement that the island is an "indispensable" member of the global supply chain and it would ensure its companies' interests.Taiwan government officials have repeatedly said…

China on Thursday urged the United States to immediately cancel its latest tariffs and vowed countermeasures to safeguard its own interests, after President Donald Trump declared sweeping levies on all U.S. trading partners around the world.The U.S. move disregards the balance of interests reached in multilateral trade negotiations over the years and the fact that it has long benefited greatly from international trade, the Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement."China firmly opposes this and will take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests," the ministry said, as the world's largest economies look set to spiral deeper into a trade war that stands to upend global supply chains.Trump on Wednesday announced China would be hit with a 34% tariff, on top of the 20% he previously imposed earlier this year, bringing the total new levies to 54% and close to the 60% figure he had threatened while on the campaign trail.Chinese exporters, as with those from every other economy, will face a 10% baseline tariff, as part of the new 34% levy, on almost all goods shipped to the world's largest consumer economy from Saturday before the remaining, higher "reciprocal tariffs" take effect from April 9.Trump also signed an…

U.S. tariff hikes may slow down world economic growth and fuel inflation, and oil prices could be lower than forecast for several years as a result of reduced global demand, the Russian central bank said on Wednesday.President Donald Trump was set to impose sweeping new tariffs on Wednesday as he proclaimed "Liberation Day" in the U.S., escalating a trade war with global partners, risking cost increases and upending a decades-old trade order."The increase in import duties in the USA and the retaliatory measures by other countries have raised the risks of a slowdown in global economic growth and an acceleration of inflation," the Russian regulator said."Expectations of lower global demand are already putting pressure on prices in commodity markets. The risks that oil prices in the coming years will be lower than the February baseline forecast have somewhat increased," it added.The remarks, published on Wednesday, were made at its latest board meeting on March 21. Participants in the meeting also said that inflationary pressure had decreased due to lower domestic demand and a stronger rouble, but that it remained high.The rouble is up by around 25% against the U.S. dollar since the start of the year. The central bank said…

Global inflation could surge in case of trade fragmentation caused by a trade war and growth is likely to take a hit, European Central Bank Isabel Schnabel said in a presentation on Wednesday.A severe disruption in global trade could push up inflation by several percentage points in the initial years while 'mild decoupling' would have an impact below 1%, which could take years to dissipate, Schnabel said in her slides."Trade fragmentation is structurally harmful for economic growth and inflation," she said.Source: Reuters.com

U.S. President Donald Trump's planned tariffs will be negative across the world, with the damage depending on how far they go, how long they last and whether they lead to successful negotiations, European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday.The Trump administration on Wednesday is set to announce "reciprocal tariffs" targeting nations that have duties on U.S. goods. That move would come after it slapped new import levies on products from Mexico, China and Canada - the top U.S. trading partners - as well as on goods including steel and autos."It will be negative the world over and the density and the durability of the impact will vary depending on the scope, on the products targeted, on how long it lasts, on whether or not there are negotiations," Lagarde said in an interview on Ireland's Newstalk radio."Because let's not forget quite often those escalations of tariffs, because they prove harmful, even for those who inflict it, lead to negotiation tables where people actually sit down and discuss and eventually remove some of those barriers."Lagarde was in Dublin to receive an award named in honour of Irishman Peter Sutherland, the former World Trade Organization director general whom Lagarde said "would…

Canada's main stock index was flat on Wednesday in choppy trading ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariff announcement, with investors fearing significant ripple effects on global economic growth.Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) was down 0.03% at 25,025.74 points, after two straight sessions of gains.Trump, who has kept the world guessing on the details of the levies plans for weeks, is set to announce sweeping reciprocal tariffs on global trading partners at 1600 ET (2000 GMT), in what the White House has dubbed "Liberation Day."The tariffs, which will take effect immediately upon announcement, are expected to trigger price increases, prompt retaliatory measures from affected countries and disrupt decades of established trade practices."We are heading into a very, uncertain period and it is going to be a rough ride ... this is a day where people should be already positioned in what they consider to be safer havens," said Michael Sprung, president at Sprung Investment Management.Communication (.GSPTTTS) stocks led the declines on Canada's benchmark index, down 0.8%.Materials (.GSPTTMT) stocks declined for the second straight session, down 0.6%, tracking lower copper prices.Energy (.SPTTEN) stocks fell 0.5%, as oil prices extended losses on concerns that an escalating trade war could…

Britain's government will not rush into action to counter any import tariffs announced later on Wednesday by U.S. President Donald Trump because it does not want to risk undermining a possible trade deal with Washington, finance minister Rachel Reeves said."The government has been really clear that we are going to approach this in a clear-headed way and always represent the national interest," Reeves told lawmakers in parliament."It's why myself and the business and trade secretary met with big UK exporters this morning. They don't want government to rush into any response because the prize on offer is an economic agreement. We don't want to do anything that undermines that. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves."Reeves said London would see how other countries respond to Trump's expected announcement of tariffs before deciding on any retaliatory moves.Source: Reuters.com

Stockpiles of wine in Spain's Rioja region have swelled since the pandemic, but producers' hopes of offloading tannic reds into the U.S. market were dimming ahead of what President Donald Trump is calling his "liberation day" tariffs announcement.Adding to their worries, Trump's threat of slapping 200% tariffs on wine and champagne imports from Europe comes at a time that global demand for the alcoholic beverage is dipping."There's wine accumulated since COVID-19, there's quite a bit piled up, and in the end, that's a burden on the price ... It's bad for the farmer," winegrower Enrique Lopez de Alda, 39, told Reuters.Sales of Rioja, one of the most prized Spanish wines both domestically and abroad, increased 0.6% in 2024 from the previous year.Given that worldwide consumption of wine has fallen, that was a "rather significant" performance, said Amanda De La Santisima Trinidad, spokesperson for the Rioja regulator council.The U.S. is the second export market for Rioja wines after Britain, with sales there representing 4% of overall production.'NOT GOOD' FOR ANYONE"The U.S. is also a wine producer, but it can't supply its entire market," said Jorge Rodriguez, co-owner of Petralanda winery and bodega. Tariffs are "not good for them, nor for us,…

Asian stocks stuttered on Wednesday, while the safe-haven gold was stuck near record highs as a nervous world awaited details of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff plans, with investors fretting about the risks of an intensifying global trade war.Investor focus in recent weeks has been firmly on the new round of reciprocal levies that the White House is due to announce on Wednesday at 2000 GMT and which are expected to take effect immediately after Trump announces them.Trump has already imposed tariffs on aluminium, steel and autos, along with increased duties on all goods from China that have rattled markets as fears grow a full-blown trade war could trigger a sharp global economic slowdown.Asian stocks fell in early trading, after a choppy U.S. session. Japan's Nikkei (.N225) slipped 0.3% and South Korea's benchmark index (.KS11) was 0.57% lower.On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) and the Nasdaq (.IXIC) ended higher after losing ground earlier in the session. The Dow (.DJI) finished a shade lower."We find our trading environment in a state of chop, with the whippy price action across markets being thematic of market players massaging exposures around the edges and not wanting to commit," said Chris Weston, head…

Canada's main stock index fell on Tuesday, hurt by losses in communication shares, as investors avoided risk ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's planned reveal of reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday.Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) was down 0.45% at 24,806.62 points.Trump is preparing to unveil tariffs aligning U.S. duties with those of other nations on Wednesday. He said on Sunday the levies will include all countries, but specific details were scant.The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that White House aides have drafted plans for tariffs of about 20% on most of the $3 trillion of goods imported annually to the U.S."If tariffs are anything close to that, that's going to take a lot of buying power out of U.S. consumers pockets and effectively that's a very large tax increase that will weigh as a pretty serious dampener on U.S. growth," said Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets."It's also going to hurt growth in places like Canada as well because they're going to have a harder time selling into the U.S. market."Capped communication (.GSPTTTS) led the declines among index sectors, falling 1.7%; Rogers Communications (RCIb.TO) dropped nearly 5% after brokerage Scotiabank cut the company's rating to 'sector perform'…