Trump renews tariff threats sending shockwaves via international markets | Invesloan.com

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Just hours after promising a new “golden age” for America, President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs against US allies, sending shockwaves through global financial markets.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office following his inauguration, the new president threatened to force tariffs of up to 25 per cent on imported goods from Canada and Mexico as early as February 1, hitting the countries’ currencies and pushing US equity futures lower.

The newly minted 47th US president also threatened to apply levies on Chinese imports of up to 100 per cent if Beijing failed to agree on a deal to sell at least 50 per cent of the TikTok video app to a US company, and tariffs on EU products unless they bought more American oil.

The comments offered a stark reminder of how willing Trump is to upend the world order and engage in high stakes coercive negotiations as he embarks on his second term in office. Here’s more on Trump’s Oval Office remarks.

And if you missed the inauguration, here are the key moments from Trump’s speech. We have more reads and analysis below:

• A new ‘golden age’: Trump began his second term in office by signing more than 100 executive orders as he quickly moved to deliver on campaign promises.

• The inauguration guest list: More than a dozen billionaires attended the ceremony, underlining the president’s deepening ties to industry.

• Edward Luce: Today’s events were no ordinary transfer of power as the new president outlined his radical agenda.

• The FT View: The second age of Trump promises to be even more consequential, and disruptive, than the first, writes our editorial board.

What will Trump’s second term mean for Washington, business and the world? Sign up to our White House Watch newsletter for the latest on the new administration.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: Mexico’s national statistics agency publishes its preliminary economic growth figures for December while Canada updates its consumer price index.

• Companies: 3M, Netflix and United Airlines are among the companies reporting results. See The Week Ahead newsletter for the full list.

• World Economic Forum: The annual gathering of global elites is under way in Davos. Join the FT as we bring you live updates and analysis on the ground.

• Prince Harry trial: The Duke of Sussex takes his fight against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers to London’s High Court today. Here’s a preview of what to expect.

Five more top stories

1. Panama’s government yesterday began an audit of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports, the company that operates ports at either end of its canal, in a move seen as a concession to US president Donald Trump. The new president threatened to “take back” the canal, which handles about 3 per cent of global seaborne trade each year, in yesterday’s inauguration speech without saying how.

2. Joe Biden issued pre-emptive pardons to Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney, Mark Milley and members of his own family shortly before relinquishing the US presidency to Donald Trump, who has vowed retribution against political foes. In the run-up to his departure from the White House, the outgoing president also made sweeping use of his powers of clemency.

3. Exclusive: Ray Dalio has warned that the UK could be heading for a “debt death spiral”, in which it has to borrow more money to service its rising interest costs. The founder of Bridgewater Associates said the market was struggling to absorb Britain’s borrowing needs since October’s Budget. Read the FT’s interview with the billionaire hedge fund manager.

4. Huawei is seeking to grab a larger share of the Chinese market for artificial intelligence chips dominated by Nvidia. Instead of challenging the US chipmaker in training, Huawei is positioning its latest Ascend AI processors as the hardware of choice for the computation used by large language models to generate responses to prompts — or so-called “inference” tasks.

5. Patients who took popular weight loss drugs were 12 per cent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease but were more at risk of arthritic, kidney and pancreatic disorders, according to the largest study of the medicines’ widening impact. The analysis of 2.4mn patients bolsters research into how blockbuster drugs for obesity and diabetes could have significant effects on other health conditions.

Today’s big read

Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “destroy” Hamas in the wake of its October 7 2023 attack on Israel. Instead, after 15 months of fighting an underground guerrilla war, the militant group’s officials, fighters and policemen have in the days since the ceasefire emerged from the rubble of the shattered enclave seemingly ready to rule Gaza once again.

We’re also reading . . . 

• India land disputes: Efforts to build clean energy infrastructure in the world’s fastest-growing large economy is triggering quarrels with farmers.

• War on drugs: Liberal reformers have been too hesitant to spell out the negative consequences for others, writes Stephen Bush.

• Climate investing: European asset managers are following their US counterparts in “pulling back” on a public show of climate action.

Chart of the day

The US share of global cross-border investment projects has soared to its highest level on record, according to FT analysis of data collected by fDI Markets, an FT-owned company that has tracked cross-border investments from 2003. The increase has been driven by buoyant consumer demand and government incentives in the world’s largest economy.

Take a break from the news . . . 

For vinyl lovers: HTSI has compiled a list of FT journalists’ favourite record stores around the world.