Donald Trump told the world s it is a “great time to get rich” as stocks plunged around the world in the deepening global trade war.
Wall Street market sank and the FTSE 100 plummeted after China deepened the global trade war with retaliatory tariffs against the US.
The UK’s flagship stock index fell as much as 3.9pc, which would be the fastest pace since the start of the Ukraine war if losses hold.
Wall Street’s main stock indexes plunged more than 3pc a day after S&P 500 companies lost a combined $2.4 trillion in stock market value in their biggest one-day loss since Covid sparked global lockdowns five years ago.
Oil dropped to a four-year low and Germany’s Dax fell at the fastest pace since the first Covid lockdowns after Beijing said it would charge a 34pc tariff on all American goods entering the world’s second largest economy from Thursday.
Mr Trump indicated he would not back down in the trade war, posting on his Truth Social platform that his “policies will never change” and imploring investors to “get rich” from the sharp drop in markets.
China’s levies are equal to the 34pc announced by the US president on Wednesday, although the US added this to 20pc tariffs it had already imposed on China.
Leah Fahy of Capital Economics said: “This is an aggressive, escalatory response that makes a near-term deal to end the trade war between the two superpowers highly unlikely.”
In a note to clients entitled “There will be blood”, Wall Street giant JP Morgan raised the odds on a global recession this year from 40pc to 60pc.
It said the US president’s “liberation day” tariffs the largest tax hike on US households and businesses since 1968.
Japan’s Nikkei had already ended the week down 9pc in its worst performance since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020.
It came as Mr Trump claimed Sir Keir Starmer was “very happy” with the treatment given to Britain by the US over tariffs.
The US president hit Britain with 10pc tariffs as he unveiled his “liberation day” import taxes on countries around the world. The levies against Britain were the joint lowest imposed on any nation.
