Growing fears of a global trade war shook stock markets this morning after Beijing threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on $3 billion worth of US goods. Following swiftly after yesterday’s announcement by President Donald Trump of potential further tariffs on $60 billion worth of Chinese imports, China said the tariffs it is considering are in response to Washington’s position on steel and aluminium, announced two weeks ago, and which are due to take effect today. A statement from Beijing detailed the tariffs China would apply if the countries could not reach a trade agreement in an unspecified period, including a 15 per cent levy on 120 types of US products including nuts and wine worth $997 million. A secondary round would be applied after “further…

Source: The Times March 23, 2018 00:01 UTC