The biggest day for trade this year – and perhaps for several – came this week on Wednesday (2 April), when US president Donald Trump launched a vast new programme of tariffs on goods from every country in the world.
As well as our wall-to-wall coverage of that news, there’s also been a boost for UK seafood exporters, changes to ownership of a piece of major Panamanian infrastructure and a raft of member-exclusive features.
The big picture: The biggest of big picture stories this week, as US president Donald Trump set out his plans to reshape the global economy with a huge tranche of new tariffs on goods from every country on the planet.
In China, hit by 34% reciprocal tariffs that take the overall rate on their goods to 54%, the Commerce Ministry dubbed it a “typical act of unilateral bullying”. In the UK, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer vowed to put the “national interest” first and launched a consultation on potential targets for retaliation – despite receiving the lowest, base rate of 10% on its goods. And in the remote, uninhabited territory of the Heard and McDonald Islands, king penguins appeared unruffled by their goods facing the same duty.
The Chartered Institute of Export and International Trade was ready with a bumper edition of the Daily Update yesterday, taking in snap responses from our experts, advice on how you can cope with this latest blow to international trade and a look at whether tariffs and protectionism have worked in the US’ recent past.
Today’s news includes a US$2.5trn drop in the value of stocks on Wall Street, though Trump has responded to this by describing the US economy as a “sick patient” that his tariffs would cure. The prognosis among others is less positive: French prime minister François Bayrou was among the latest to condemn the measures, calling them “a catastrophe for the world economy… [and] also a catastrophe for the US and for American citizens”.
If you would like to share your feedback on the impact of US tariffs on your business, or the impact of potential, UK retaliatory tariffs, please contact publicaffairs@export.org.uk.
Good week/bad week: The UK could enjoy a boost to its seafood exports after this week, after Vietnam granted access to its markets for live British seafood products on Tuesday (1 April).
The UK government said that the agreement will unlock “significant opportunity” for the UK’s exporters in the sector, as Vietnam is “amongst the highest consumers of seafood per capita and the highest in South East Asia”. It also notes that UK seafood exports already grew by 40% in the first nine months of 2024 compared with 2023, and exports minister Gareth Thomas said that this change is a “significant breakthrough” on growing it further.
A bad week for US control of the Panama Canal, a focus of the Trump administration, as Danish shipping giant Maersk bought up a railway connecting both ends of the canal. It bought the line from the US-based Lanco Group and the North American firm Canadian Pacific Kansas City.
How’s stat: 37% – that’s the increase in the cost of air freight moving goods from the US to China in March. The market for small packages sent on this route, which has fuelled major growth in air freight in recent years, is facing a “seismic shock” from the end of de minimis rules that allowed duty-free shipping of these packages, also announced this week by the White House.
Quote of the week: “What we are seeing here is the deliberate unpicking of the world’s multilateral trade system. The negative impact on the global economy will be raw.”
Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade director general Marco Forgione on the effect of this week’s ‘reciprocal’ tariff announcements.
The week in customs: The Chartered Institute provided advice on trade digitalisation in this week’s public webinar, with experts suggesting the process could support more SMEs into trade.
HMRC announced that the online service allowing traders to claim back VAT has been expanded to include claiming back security deposits.
Chartered Institute trade specialists also answered questions raised at last month’s MemberCon25 event in a member-exclusive piece this week, addressing a host of customs questions, from ExWorks Incoterms to authorisations and simplifications for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) goods.
Other stories you might have missed: The UK government raised the minimum wage this week by £1,400 a year for full-time workers. Business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds said it would “kick-start economic growth” by increasing consumers’ ability to spend, ensuring the UK is “fit for the future”.
Tomorrow’s deadline for the owners of TikTok to sell the app to an American firm – on pain of being taken offline again – has seen interest expressed by everyone from Amazon to AI startups backed by Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. A consortium of US investors appears to be in pole position.
Caviar firm Lemberg’s Vladimir Kondratyuk told the Daily Update about the challenges for food importers since the UK’s EU exit, and called on the government to “make a new deal” on trade in food with the bloc.
True facts: It’s fifty years today since Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft. Currently the world’s largest software maker and, as of 2019, the third American corporation to reach a market capitalisation of over $1trn. Its shares fell 2.4% when trading closed on Thursday following this week’s bombshell tariff news, though there’s a fair way yet to fall.
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