Countries brainstorm on battling trade war

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu with President Trump in the Oval Office of the White House. Pic/AFP

US President Donald Trump and China sparred over tariff hikes and other retaliatory moves on Tuesday, as governments elsewhere were brainstorming strategies to cope with the trade war between the global economic giants.

China said it will "fight to the end" and take countermeasures against the US to safeguard its own interests after Trump threatened an additional 50 per cent tariff on Chinese imports in retaliation for Beijing's backlash against the 34 per cent he ordered earlier.

"The US threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake and once again exposes the blackmailing nature of the US. China will never accept this," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement read on state-run broadcaster CCTV.

Asked about the possibility of talks between Washington and Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, "I think what the US has done doesn't reflect a willingness for sincere dialogue. If the US really wants to engage in dialogue, it should adopt an attitude of equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit."

Chinese countermeasures

The Commerce Ministry statement issued early Tuesday said the US's imposition of "so-called reciprocal tariffs" on China is "completely groundless and is a typical unilateral bullying practice". China could impore more tariffs.

Aid for Japan's automakers

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba spoke with Trump late on Monday and then convened a task force on Tuesday to mitigate damage from the 24 per cent US tariffs imposed on Washington's biggest ally in Asia. Ishiba told his ministers to do their utmost to get Trump to reconsider and also to mitigate the impact from the US tariffs.

ASEAN delegation to visit US

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his government and other Southeast Asian countries would send officials to Washington to discuss the tariffs and it was working to build a consensus on a unified response among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc.

"We do not believe in megaphone diplomacy," Anwar said, "As part of our soft diplomacy of quiet engagement, we will be dispatching together with our colleagues in ASEAN our officials in Washington to begin the process of dialogue."

Markets calm somewhat

World shares and US futures advanced on Tuesday, led by gains in Tokyo where the Nikkei 225 shot up just over 6 per cent as markets calmed somewhat after the shocks from President Donald Trump 's tariff hikes.

Germany's DAX gained 0.9 per cent to 19,975.81 while the CAC 40 in Paris was up 1.3 per cent at 7018.79. Britain's FTSE 100 also picked up 1.3 per cent, to 7804.73. The future for the S&P 500 gained 1.5 per cent early on Tuesday while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.9 per cent.

Musk appealed to Trump for tariff rollback

Elon Musk, who heads the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), had appealed to President Trump to reconsider retaliatory import tariffs, the Washington Post reported, citing sources. According to the US daily, Musk's attempted intervention was unsuccessful and he also disagreed with other high-ranking officials on issues such as migrant visas and DOGE's approach to government spending, The Washington Post pointed out citing two people familiar with the matter. Musk has also said he would like a "free trade zone" between Europe and the US.

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