Trump tariff war: US to not pause tariffs even as global markets bleed, China hits back. Top points to know

US President Donald Trump on Monday ruled out a pause in his reciprocal tariffs plan even as global markets continue to bleed due to increasing uncertainty and recession worries.  His comments came during a meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office.

Defending his aggressive policy, Trump said tariffs were "very important" to his economic agenda and that they would remain in place. While he emphasised that the tariffs would stay, Trump was open to "fair deal and good deals with every country".

Trump tariff war continues: Top points to know

1. Beijing on Tuesday decried Trump's threat to add a further 50 per cent tariff on its imports as "blackmail". If neither side budges, the total levies on Chinese imports to the US could go up to 104 per cent this year. 
2. Trump directly warned China that the US would impose an additional 50 per cent tariff on Chinese imports if Beijing did not roll back its 34 per cent retaliatory tariffs by April 9. 
3. Beijing announced an additional 50 per cent tariff on US imports in response to Washington' 34 per cent reciprocal tariffs announced last week. 
4. As the world has reacted sharply to Trump's tariff announcements, India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar dialled US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, where both agreed to fast-track a bilateral trade deal between the two countries.
5. India has already made several concessions to the US in a bit to ease trade tensions. These include lowered tariffs on premium US motorcycles and bourbon whiskey as well as elimination of digital service taxes that have impacted tech bigwigs like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and X. 
6. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the European Union (EU) is "ready to negotiate" with US President Donald Trump over reciprocal tariffs. She further noted that the EU has offered "zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods". 
7. Von der Leyen also mentioned "in parallel we are preparing a potential list for retaliation and other measures for retaliation if this is necessary" and that the EU prefers to have a "negotiated solution" to the tariff problem. 
8. The European Commission chief said that the EU will set up a task force for monitoring imports and will collaborate with the industry to ensure we gather the required evidence for our policy actions. "And we will stay in very close contact to minimize effects of our actions on each other."
9. Despite Trump's refusal to put a pause on his tariffs plan, Asian markets rebounded Tuesday as Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 5.5% post an 8% plunge, spurred by threats of increased tariffs. Within minutes, the index hit 32,819.08.
10. South Korea’s Kospi rose 2%, with New Zealand and Australia also experiencing gains. Earlier, Hong Kong stocks fell 13.2%, marking the steepest drop since 1997.