WASHINGTON, USA Apr 6 – The US began collecting a 10% “baseline” tariff on all imports on Saturday as President Donald Trump urged Americans to “hang tough” after market turmoil.
The UK and France are among hundreds of countries impacted and its leaders have said nothing is off the table. While China, which has been hit the hardest by President Trump’s tariffs, announced a significant retaliatory response.
All three major stock indexes in the US plunged more than 5% on Friday, with the S&P 500 dropping almost 6%, capping the worst week for the US stock market since 2020.
In Washington DC, New York and other cities thousands gathered to protest against a range of Trump’s policies – from the economy to government cuts.
Trump described the market volatility as “an economic revolution”, which the US “will win”.
“Hang tough, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic,” he added in a post on Truth Social.
In the UK, the FTSE 100 fell almost 5% – its steepest in five years, while Asian markets also dropped and exchanges in Germany and France faced similar declines.
Billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump and responsible for the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), said the US and Europe could move towards a “zero-tariff situation”, which could create “a free-trade zone between Europe and North America”.
