US President Donald Trump shut down hopes Monday of an eleventh-hour deal with Canada and Mexico to avert sweeping tariffs, while signing an order to further hike duties on China.Trump had unveiled — and then paused — blanket tariffs on imports from major trading partners Canada and Mexico in February, accusing them of failing to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking.The halt is due to expire Tuesday, and US stock markets tumbled after Trump told reporters Monday there was “no room left” for both countries to avoid the levies.The duties stand to impact over $918 billion worth of US imports from both countries.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday pledged to impose retaliatory 25 percent tariffs on Washington, saying in a statement: “Canada will not let this unjustified decision go unanswered.”Trump also inked an order Monday to increase a previously imposed 10 percent tariff on China to 20 percent — piling atop existing levies on various Chinese goods.Beijing warned it would take countermeasures against the new tariffs to safeguard its own interests.Economists caution that tariffs could raise consumer prices while weighing on growth and employment.Asian markets fell on opening Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei index dropping more than two percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 1.5 percent after Trump’s latest tariff actions. The Tax Foundation estimates that before accounting for foreign retaliation, tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China this time would each cut US economic output by 0.1 percent.And sweeping duties, particularly on Canada and Mexico, are set to snarl supply chains for key sectors like automobiles and construction materials, risking cost increases to households.This could complicate Trump’s efforts to fulfill his campaign promises of lowering prices for Americans.On Monday, Trump told reporters that 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico were “all set.” Canadian energy goods face a lower rate.”What they’ll have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States,” Trump said.Former US officials see Trump’s tariffs over drugs like fentanyl as a means to tackle socio-economic problems — while providing legal justifications to move quickly.Washington is also seeking leverage and to rebalance trade ties, analysts believe.But using emergency economic powers to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China is a novel move, and could trigger lawsuits.- Higher costs -Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country has contingency plans, whatever decision Trump takes.If Trump continues with his tariff plans, KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk warned: “We could easily reach the highest effective tariff rate since 1936 by the beginning of 2026.”Both consumers and manufacturers stand to bear the costs of additional tariffs, which could diminish demand and trigger layoffs as businesses try to keep costs under control, she told AFP.Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders, told AFP the group expects a possible “combined duty tariff rate of above 50 percent on Canadian lumber” as proposed duties add up.Even as the United States also plans to expand forestry, Dietz said, prices will likely rise in the short-run.Anecdotally, some builders expect they could face higher costs of $7,500 to $10,000 per newly built single family home, he said.- Industry pushback -Trump’s doubling down on tariffs has already drawn industry pushback.The US-China Business Council, a group of around 270 American firms that do business in China, warned in a statement that sweeping tariffs would hurt US firms, consumers and farmers “and undermine our global competitiveness.””Any use of tariffs should be strategic and targeted, focusing on specific US national security goals and unfair Chinese economic practices,” the council’s president Sean Stein said.The National Retail Federation, meanwhile, warned that as long as tariffs on Canada and Mexico are in place, “Americans will be forced to pay higher prices on household goods.”While Washington has targeted China over chemicals for illicit fentanyl, many of the components have legitimate uses, too — making prosecution tricky. Trudeau has said that less than one percent of the fentanyl and undocumented migrants that enter the United States come through the Canadian border.

Asian markets tumbled on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump heaped tariffs on Chinese imports and warned levies on Mexico and Canada could not be averted.Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng saw the biggest drop, tumbling more than two percent and 1.5 percent respectively.It comes after the White House said Trump had signed on Monday an executive order to increase a previously imposed 10 percent tariff on China, to 20 percent.The US president also stressed that Canada and Mexico would not avoid being hit with 25 percent levies, causing US stocks to fall on Monday.Canada responded on Tuesday by putting 25 percent tariffs against $155 billion worth of American goods.Beijing also warned on Tuesday that it would take countermeasures against new US tariffs on Chinese imports.”China is strongly dissatisfied with this and firmly opposes it, and will take countermeasures to resolutely safeguard its own rights and interests,” a commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement.Fears the retaliatory tariffs could escalate into a full-blown trade war, drove markets down across Asia on Tuesday.Japanese automakers with Mexican factories in their supply chain suffered, with Nissan (-2.11%), Toyota (-2.25%), or Honda (-2.12%) among the major losers.Exchanges across Asia mirrored the downward trajectory, with Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan dropping around one percent.South Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia also fell.”The spectre of a full-blown trade war is once again looming, threatening to choke global economic growth just as investors were starting to regain confidence,” said Stephen Innes, SPI Asset Management.Investors are hoping China will announce a huge stimulus package at its key parliamentary meeting on Wednesday, the National People’s Congress, to stimulate the economy.”In the upcoming National People’s Congress, Chinese policymakers could provide more pro-growth measures including announcing a larger budget deficit target and maintaining a five percent growth target for this year,” said Lloyd Chan, from MUFG bank.Trump expressed outrage on Monday over the weakening of certain currencies and accused Beijing and Tokyo of using it as a trade strategy – a claim fiercely refuted by the Japanese government.The oil market also saw sharp declines with US WTI crude oil falling 0.54 percent to $68 per barrel, and Brent crude from the North Sea dropping 0.77 percent to $71.06 per barrel at around 0200 GMT.Bitcoin’s price plunged nearly 10 percent on Monday as concerns of an escalating trade war pushed investors to seek safer investments.Bitcoin and similar digital assets had surged over the weekend after Trump suggested creating a national cryptocurrency reserve.”Everything is getting sold,” Forexlive manager Adam Button said, adding: “There’s a de-risking that’s unfolding” among crypto investors.- Key figures around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.84 percent at 37,090.72 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.3 percent at 22,706.40Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,310.14Euro/dollar: UP at 1.0485 from $1.0419 on MondayPound/dollar: UP at $1.2694 from $1.2612 Dollar/yen: DOWN 149.32 from 150.28 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 82.60 pence from 82.62 pence West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.42 percent at $68.08 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.66 percent at $71.15 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 1.4 percent at 43,840.91 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 8,809.74 (close)

Shares of the owner of 7-Eleven plunged on Tuesday after a report said the Japanese retailer plans to reject a multibillion-dollar takeover offer by Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT).Seven & i, which operates some 85,000 convenience stores worldwide, last year rebuffed an ACT offer worth nearly $40 billion that would have been the biggest foreign buyout of a Japanese firm.The Yomiuri daily reported that a special committee scrutinising ACT’s raised offer of reportedly around $47 billion has decided formally to say no to that too.The decision was due in part to antitrust concerns, given Seven & i and ACT’s overlapping network of stores in the United States, the daily added. Seven & i shares, which have been highly volatile since ACT’s approach was first announced, shed as much as 10 percent after the Tokyo market opened on Tuesday.The latest news followed separate reports that the 7-Eleven owner is set to replace its CEO Ryuichi Isaka with outside director Stephen Hayes Dacus.Dacus, who has also worked for Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing and the Japanese arm of US retail giant Walmart, would also be Seven & i’s first foreign CEO.Seven & i said on Monday “no decision has been made” about management changes.Last week Seven & i said its founding family failed to put together sufficient financing for a buyout to fend off ACT’s offer.The franchise began in the United States, but it has been wholly owned by Seven & i since 2005 and is the world’s biggest convenience store brand. ACT, which began with one store in Quebec in 1980, now runs nearly 17,000 convenience store outlets worldwide including the Circle K chain.

Donald Trump’s latest tariff hike targeting China is likely only the start of his intensifying trade war against Beijing, which may struggle to shield its already ailing economy, analysts warned.The unpredictable White House returnee railed against major US trading partners during his campaign, vowing to impose blistering measures on China once elected.After just six weeks in office, the new tariffs — which Trump says are retaliation for Beijing’s failure to stem the devastating US fentanyl crisis — already surpass those of his first term.”(This is) a move we see as signalling an aggressive stance,” wrote Ting Lu, Chief China Economist at Nomura.Tuesday’s step adds to another blanket 10 percent tariff imposed last month, lifting average US levies on Chinese imports to around 33 percent, according to estimates by Nomura.”The tariff hikes that Trump has completed on China are nearly double the size of the tariff hikes during his entire first term,” wrote Lu.Leaders in China — an export powerhouse that has failed to achieve a strong post-pandemic economic recovery — are nervously eyeing a renewed trade war with the United States under Trump.The rubber-stamp National People’s Congress is convening in Beijing this week for a key annual political conference, during which officials will hash out plans for how to boost the sluggish economy and respond to US tariffs.Growth in the first quarter of the year is at risk of slowing, wrote Zichun Huang of Capital Economics.”And that’s before the hit from tariffs is felt in earnest,” said Huang.”Unless the leadership unveil greater-than-expected stimulus at the National People’s Congress, it is hard to see how a slowdown can be avoided this year,” she added.- ‘Crosshairs’ -Trump’s first few weeks in office have seen him hit Canada and Mexico with even higher 25 percent tariffs, which also came in force on Tuesday.And his initial salvos against China of two 10 percent tariffs are lower than the much more drastic 60 percent rate threatened during the campaign.That has been interpreted by some as a sign that Washington is adopting a softer approach than expected in managing its rocky relationship with Beijing.But experts say that China is likely to represent the new Trump administration’s primary economic and geopolitical foe in coming years — something that is obscured in recent weeks by domestic US issues and major developments in the Russia-Ukraine war.”While Trump has shown some inclination towards making a fresh ‘deal’ with China on trade lately, the big picture is that the country is still very clearly in his crosshairs,” said Thomas Mathews of Capital Economics.”The threat of tariffs, export controls, investment restrictions, and the like is still a big downside risk, in our view, for investors in China’s markets,” he added.Observers are also anticipating a tougher response by Beijing, which retaliated last month with targeted measures including 15 percent duties on US coal and liquefied natural gas.Condemning the latest tariffs, Beijing vowed Tuesday that it will take retaliatory measures that will “resolutely safeguard its own rights and interests”. – More coming -“US-China tensions may take centre stage in the coming months,” said Lu of Nomura.”This probably won’t be the final tariff hike on China,” wrote Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics, noting that Trump has threatened to impose “reciprocal” tariffs on various countries as soon as early April.”China is not an obvious target for reciprocal tariffs given that it has lower duties on the US than vice versa,” said Evans-Pritchard.But there are other ways for Trump to further aggravate the trade war, he said, such as through targeted levies on specific goods similar to those imposed under his predecessor Joe Biden.Trump may also seek to terminate China’s status of having “permanent normal trade relations” with the United States, a move that would push the average levy on Chinese goods to above 40 percent, he added.Chinese state-backed tabloid Global Times reported Monday that Beijing is now considering implementing its own measures in response to Trump’s tariffs, citing “reliable sources”.”I think the policymakers and exporters in China already anticipated higher tariffs in the United States, and made plans accordingly,” said Zhiwei Zhang, President and Chief Economist of Pinpoint Asset Management.