Trump insists tariff war is 'doing well' despite China hitting back

Donald Trump insisted his trade war with the world was "doing really well" - despite mounting fears of recession and as Beijing again increased tariffs on US exports to China.

- Callum Jones New York Helen Davidson Taipei

As the US president claimed his aggressive strategy was "moving along quickly", an economic survey revealed that US consumer expectations for inflation had soared to a four-decade high.

Beijing raised Chinese tariffs on US products to 125% yesterday, the latest salvo of the escalating trade dispute, and accused Trump of "unilateral bullying and coercion".

"Even if the US continues to impose even higher tariffs, it would no longer have any economic significance, and would go down as a joke in the history of world economics," the Chinese finance ministry said.

Few investors were laughing at the end of an extraordinary week for global markets. US government bonds - typically seen as one of the world's safest financial assets - continued to be sold off, and were on course for their biggest weekly loss since 2019. The dollar also fell against a basket of currencies, and was down against the euro and the pound.

Leading stock indices paused for breath yesterday after days of torrid trading. The FTSE 100 rose 0.6% in London. The S&P 500 increased 0.5% and the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.3% in New York.

"We are doing really well on our TARIFF POLICY," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Very exciting for America, and the World!!! It is moving along quickly. DJT"