Equities fall as Trump escalates trade war

EQUITIES and oil tumbled yesterday after Donald Trump ramped up his trade war by hitting China with tariffs of more than 100 percent and sweeping measures against the US' dozens of partner countries into effect.

- 

After a brief respite on Tuesday from the panic-selling at the start of the week, investors were once again scurrying for the hills amid fears the US president's hammer blow to global commerce will plunge the planet into a recession.

As governments considered how to react to the pain, India and New Zealands central banks cut interest rates as they looked to shore up their economies against an expected dive in trade.

China and the US were headed for a vicious standoff after Trump said Beijing would be hit with another 50 percent levy in response to its retaliation in kind to his initial 34 percent duty announced last week.

With China already subject to a 20 percent toll, its exporters are now facing tariffs of up to 504 percent.

Beijing has blasted what it called US blackmail and vowed to "fight it to the end", fanning worries the crisis could spiral out of control.

Yesterday, after the levies kicked in, the commerce ministry in Beijing added that China had "firm and abundant means" to fight a trade war with the US, state news agency Xinhua said.