Summary

How is the trade war with the US affecting people in China?

Live Reporting

Edited by Matt Spivey in London and Caitlin Wilson in Washington DC

  1. Shares in Japan, South Korea and Australia jump

    Shares in Japan, South Korea and Australia have jumped in early trading.

    The Nikkei 225 and Kospi indexes gained more than 5%.

    In Sydney, the ASX 200 rose by about 3%.

  2. Japanese shares open higher

    Japanese shares made gains on the open on Wednesday.

    The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose by 1.9% in early trading.

    Shares in Tokyo slumped on Wednesday over tariff concerns. Most goods exported from the country to the US were set to be hit with a 24% levy, which has now been paused.

  3. US markets surged in reaction to Trump's new tariffs

    A screenshot of an electronic board showing the Dow Jones up 6.61%Reuters

    In the days following Donald Trump's initial announcement of sweeping tariffs, stock markets across the world plummeted.

    But on Wednesday evening, after news broke of the 90-day pause, they rallied.

    In the hour after Trump posted the update, here's how the key US indexes looked:

    • S&P 500 surged 9.5%
    • Nasdaq went up 12.2%
    • Dow Jones increased 7.9%

    We'll find out how Asian markets open in just a few minutes.

  4. China refuses to back down, so Trump ups the ante: What happened yesterday

    Trump, standing outside and wearing a blue suit with red tie, holds a hand up to his mouth as if whispering a secretReuters

    If you're just starting your day and haven't checked tariff news. Here's what went down on Wednesday:

    • Just before 19:00 BST / 14:00 EDT, Donald Trump announced sweeping changes to his tariff regime via a post on Truth Social
    • He removed the "reciprocal tariffs" from the US's trading partners - those were the rates on that giant scoreboard from last week - and applied 10% tariffs across the board
    • Mexico and Canada were exempt and went back to his original tariff plan
    • But, intent on punishing China, he upped tariffs on Chinese imports to 125%
    • Seven hours earlier, China announced 84% tariffs on US imports, vowing to not back down in its trade war with the US
    • In the hours before Trump's announcement, the EU voted to impose new tariffs on the US - but Trump didn't seem to hold it against the bloc and explicitly included it in the new 10% group

  5. Asia markets to open after Trump pauses most higher tariffs

    Good morning, all eyes are on stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region as trading is set to begin in a few minutes.

    Shares on Wall Street staged a massive rally on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump paused higher tariffs on most of the world, while raising levies on China.

    Here's a reminder of how shares performed in the region yesterday:

    • Nikkei 225 (Japan) -3.9%
    • Kospi (South Korea) -1.7%
    • Shanghai Composite (China) +1.3%
    • Hang Seng (Hong Kong) +0.7%
    • Taiex (Taiwan) -5.8%
    • Nifty 50 (India) -0.6%
    • ASX 200 (Australia) -1.8%

    Follow us as we bring you the latest.