Trump's Tariff Earthquake in the World

US President Donald Trump began the ceremony of announcing new tariffs on goods imported into the United States in the Rose Garden of the White House on Wednesday, with the entire members of his administration, along with several senators and senior US political figures, sitting in front of him.

In a speech defending his tariff war, the US president said: From now on, foreign countries will be required to pay for the privilege of accessing the US market, which is the largest market in the world. All foreign presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, ambassadors and other officials will soon contact the United States to request exemption from these tariffs.

Trump announced the imposition of a 25 percent tariff on all foreign-made cars imported into the country, saying: "Almost every country in the world has been subjected to "reciprocal tariffs."

Trump showed a table from behind the podium to the participants in his speech, which, according to him, in one column is the current level of tariffs between the United States and its trading partners, and in another column, the new tariffs announced by him, which took effect last night.

The US president defended his newly imposed tariffs by reading the names of the countries in this table. For example, Trump said about the UK: "They only impose a 10 percent tariff on American goods, and we will impose a 10 percent tariff starting tomorrow."

Trump's announced 10 percent tariff is the minimum tariff that he has imposed on all goods imported into the United States since last night. This figure varies for different countries in the world, and for the European Union, it will be 20 percent.

Trump has also announced a 10 percent tariff on Iranian goods imported into the United States.

Negative reaction of global markets

After Trump announced the imposition of these new tariffs, futures of the S&P 500 index, an index that tracks the share prices of the 500 largest public companies in the United States, fell by 3 percent, indicating that investors in the US stock market expect to face heavy losses when Wall Street opens on Thursday.

Meanwhile, information and charts in Eastern countries, which entered Thursday earlier than any other country, indicate a downward trend in stock markets, and for example, the value of the Chinese yuan has also fallen to its lowest level in a month.

In this regard, Nigel Green, CEO of the Dubai-based financial and investment advisory group Dewar, told Reuters about the impact of the US President's new tariffs on the economy and global trade: Trump has destroyed the world's economic engine by doing this and has actually faced many problems with the imposition of these tariffs.

He went on to state that the tariff is, in simple terms, a hidden tax, emphasizing: "It is essentially American consumers who will bear the brunt and pressure of this hidden tax."

Scott Wren, chief global market strategist, also said that he believes the tariffs will have a negative impact on the profit expectations of American companies.

Europe: First package of retaliatory measures is on the way

The head of the European Commission called the US president's decision to impose heavy tariffs on goods imported into the bloc "a severe blow to the global economy" and announced in a sharp tone that the process of drafting the first package of retaliatory measures by the EU against Washington had begun.

Ursula von der Leyen warned in a statement on Thursday that Trump's decision would severely affect the global economy and that its consequences would be particularly heavy for vulnerable countries and European consumers.

She stressed: "These tariffs will have an immediate effect. Millions of citizens will face higher prices for food, medicine and transport, and inflation will increase."

Stating that Europe is ready to negotiate to reform global trade structures, he added: “Tariffs are neither the starting point nor the end point. We have been ready to negotiate from the beginning, but at the same time we are prepared to react.”

The President of the European Commission announced the finalization of the first package of retaliatory measures to counter the US tariffs on steel and stated that further measures are being prepared in case the negotiations fail.

China: We will retaliate

Beijing has vowed to retaliate after US President Donald Trump announced a 54% tariff on Chinese goods imported to the United States.

China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Thursday that Beijing firmly opposes this and will take countermeasures to safeguard its rights and interests.

Condemning the US president's move, the ministry called it "a typical unilateral bullying" and urged Washington to cancel the tariffs and properly resolve disputes with trading partners through equal dialogue.

"The United States has imposed 'so-called reciprocal tariffs' based on subjective and unilateral assessments, which violates international trade rules and seriously harms the legitimate rights and interests of the relevant parties," the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.