World leaders and central banks struggle to respond to 'liberation day'

From world leaders to the tiniest manufacturers thousands of miles away from Washington, decision-makers across the global economy are racked with uncertainty this weekend, as they scramble to come to terms with Donald Trump's historic tariffs.

- Heather Stewart Richard Partington

Experts are all but unanimous that the impact of Wednesday's extraordinary Rose Garden press conference on global growth will be negative - but just how bad remains highly uncertain.

"In economic terms it makes no sense at all," said Jordi Gual, a former chair of CaixaBank, Spain's largest domestic lender, who is now an economics professor at IESE business school in Barcelona. "It is hugely problematic, because we go back to a level we hadn't seen since the 1930s."

Trump's announcement that he would impose tariffs from 10% to almost 50% on the US's largest trading partners - including a 34% additional border tax on Chinese imports and 10% levy on the UK - was designed to encourage multinational companies to relocate their factories, jobs and supply chains to the US.

The president promised it would usher in a "golden age", but financial markets responded with a jarring two-day sell-off, underlining the risks of the policy, which is expected to bring higher prices in the US, and weaker growth worldwide.

The aggregate effects are hard to anticipate, because they will depend on several factors, including how successful governments are in negotiating carve-outs from the tariffs; and how the US currency responds.