Global financial markets were rocked on Wednesday by Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs, targeting China and the European Union in particular, with the risk of undermining the international economy.The US president laid out the new measures after Wall Street stock markets had closed. But his announcement still rippled through the markets that were open at the time, sending stock futures and bond yields lower, while gold surged to a new record high.- Stocks struggle -As the evening progressed, US futures fell sharply, with the Dow Jones dropping 2.4 percent at around 2345 GMT, the Nasdaq index plunging 4.2 percent, and the broader futures index for the S&P 500 falling 3.5 percent. Wall Street has largely suffered from Trump’s various trade announcements in recent weeks.”The silver lining for investors could be that this is only a starting point for negotiations with other countries and ultimately tariff rates will come down across the board,” Northlight Asset Management’s Chris Zaccarelli wrote in a note to clients.”But for now traders are shooting first and asking questions later,” he added. The share price of technology companies whose components are produced abroad also fell sharply, with Apple losing 7.4 percent after-hours, Nvidia falling 5.2 percent and TSMC declining 5.9 percent. Futures markets are typically much more volatile than the regular indices. The clothing sector was also hit especially hard, with a particularly heavy bill for China, where products will be hit by an additional duty of 34 percent from April 9, and Vietnam, where the new “reciprocal” rate will be 46 percent.Brands whose clothes are partly made in China or Vietnam were sharply lower, with Gap down 8.5 percent after hours, Ralph Lauren falling 7.3 percent, and Nike losing 7.1 percent.- Safe-haven assets in demand -Investors flocked to gold, which has been setting new records in the face of trade uncertainties.The yellow metal blew past its previous day’s record high after Donald Trump’s new announcements, and was trading at roughly $3,160 an ounce at around 2345 GMT. The price of gold has jumped by close to 20 percent since the start of 2025. The bond market also played its role as a safe haven, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year US Treasury, easing to 4.10 percent after Donald Trump’s announcement. Bond yields move in the opposite direction to prices, with yields typically falling in the face of increased demand for bonds. – Weaker dollar -Within minutes of Trump’s first words on Wednesday, the dollar plunged by over one percent against the euro.”The increased tariffs have been a negative factor for the US dollar,” Forex.com’s Matthew Weller told AFP.One euro was equivalent to 1.04 dollars on the day Trump was inaugurated to his second term. By 2345 GMT on Wednesday, it was worth around 1.09 dollars. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, also suffered from the White House announcements, falling more than three percent on Wednesday evening.

Starbucks was facing two new lawsuits over spilled hot drinks Wednesday, just weeks after a court ordered the coffee giant to pay $50 million to a man who was injured by a cup of tea.Both suits were lodged in California, and seek damages over what they say are problems caused by scalding liquids slopped over customers at drive-throughs.One case filed last week claims Sabrina Michelle Hermes was seriously hurt when hot liquid tipped into her lap at a branch in Norwalk, near Los Angeles, two years ago.The suit says one of the cups in her order was not properly secured when it was handed to her, and the drink sloshed onto her legs, a hip, a knee and her feet, causing severe injuries.Starbucks “owed a duty to exercise reasonable care with respect to the preparation, handling and service of hot beverages so as to prevent them from spilling onto and injuring customers such as plaintiff,” the suit says.The negligence suit seeks unspecified general and special damages, including reimbursement for past and future medical costs and lost earnings.A spokesperson for Starbucks told AFP on Wednesday the company would be contesting the claim.”We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks,” the spokesperson said.”We are aware of Ms. Hermes’ claims and firmly believe they are without merit. We look forward to presenting our case in court.”In nearby Alhambra Superior Court, lawyers for Ernesto Vladimir Sanchez Avendano were also seeking unspecified damages for negligence.Their suit, filed Wednesday, says Avendano was handed a drink at a North Hollywood drive-through, with a lid that was not properly fastened.The drink spilled onto his lap, leaving him with “severe burns, disfigurement and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals and buttocks,” the suit says.The Starbucks spokesman said the company had not yet been served with the suit “but will carefully review Mr. Avendano’s claims.”Last month a jury in Los Angeles ordered the firm to pay $50 million to delivery driver Michael Garcia, who suffered burns when a super-sized drink spilled in his lap at a drive-through.Garcia’s lawyers claimed the server who handed him three large drinks in February 2020 did not push one of them into the cardboard cupholder properly.Starbucks said at the time of the ruling that it would appeal the award, which it said was “excessive.”A landmark legal ruling against McDonalds in New Mexico in 1994 established something of a precedent for Americans suing fast food companies when 79-year-old Stella Liebeck was awarded over $2.8 million after spilling hot coffee on herself.Although the award was reduced on appeal, the case was often cited as an example of the need to reform US tort law.

US President Donald Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs on Wednesday, sending fears of a trade war ricocheting around the world.In a closely watched speech in the White House Rose Garden, the billionaire businessman said April 2, 2025 would “forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn,” insisting that domestic manufacturing would surge with companies flocking to the United States to make their products.That has yet to be seen, but Trump made clear he was no longer allowing imports into the United States without an appropriate tariff — and said countries should embrace “a little tough love.””Foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn aport our once-beautiful American Dream,” Trump warned. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”Here are the other highlight quotes from his remarks.- ‘Independence’ -“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said, stressing that trade abuse by allies was often more intense than that committed by rivals.”This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history. It’s our declaration of economic independence.””Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already. We will supercharge our domestic industrial base. We will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers, and ultimately, more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers.”- Benevolence? -Despite unveiling “minimum baseline” tariffs of 10 percent on trading partners, Trump sought to spin his move as a positive for global trade.”We are being very kind,” the president said. “We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us.”And if countries recoil? “If they complain, if you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America.”- China hit hard -The world’s second largest economy, China, appeared at the top of the tariffs list Trump held up at the podium, with the president claiming that total tariffs on US goods charged by Beijing — with currency manipulation factored in — amounted to 67 percent.”So we’re going to be charging a discounted reciprocal tariff of 34 percent” on China imports, Trump said. “They charge us, we charge them, we charge them less. So how can anybody be upset? They will be, because we never charged anybody anything. But now we’re going to charge.”Trump said China’s President Xi Jinping was among several world leaders who “understand” the need for the tariffs, such as the ones he slapped on Chinese steel and other products during his first term as president. “They all understand we’re going to have to go through a little tough love, maybe. But they all understand. They’re ripping us off and they understood it.”- Way back when -“From 1789 to 1913 we were a tariff-backed nation, and the United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been,” said Trump, who has repeatedly elevated 1890s protectionist president William McKinley as one of his heroes who also slapped tariffs on imports.”In 1913 for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying the money necessary to run our government,” Trump said. “Then in 1929 it all came to a very abrupt end with the Great Depression. And it would have never happened if they had stayed with the tariff policy,” Trump said, conveniently ignoring the multiple factors — including global economics, bank troubles, and the stock market crash — that led to the Great Depression.- No surrender -In addition to highlighting tariffs on China, other Asian powers and the European Union, Trump turned his ire closer to home. “The United States can no longer continue with the policy of unilateral economic surrender,” he said. “We cannot pay the deficits of Canada, Mexico and so many other countries. We used to do it. We can’t do it anymore.”