🌍 World News Briefing – 7 May 2025 It’s a moody start to the week in Europe with chilly winds sweeping the continent, while in…
Browsing: Global trade war
Donald Trump’s tariffs and trade policies are prompting global economic policymakers to reassess their strategies while highlighting concerns about trade imbalances and reliance on a single economic partner, particularly China.
The chancellor is back on the front pages this morning ahead of a meeting with her American counterpart. Rachel Reeves is in the United States in hopes of securing a trade deal but has warned she will not rush it.
The ongoing choas from Trump’s tariffs are back on the UK front pages as the IMF cuts global growth rates and confirms the UK is set to be amongst the hardest countries hit. The US has received the biggest downgrade amongst advanced economies as anxiety drives gold up amid Trump’s constant attacks on the Federal Reserve boss Jay Powell. There are concerns over how independent the central bank is and general worries over the state of the US economy.
Global stock markets, including the Dow Jones and Nasdaq, surged by over 2% following comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent regarding potential de-escalation in trade tensions with China, alleviating investor fears.
Wednesday’s headlines reflect the busyness of the world with stories from Europe, the US and the Middle East flooding into the UK headlines.
A little closer to home and there’s some rumblings about the prime minister saying trans women are not real women – a u-turn after the Supreme Court ruled that legally the term “woman” means a biological woman. The right wing are suggesting the prime minister should issue an apology after only coming to this conclusion after the ruling, the left wing are disappointed the prime minister has not stood by his original belief that trans women are women.
Hangzhou is emerging as a major tech hub in China, often referred to as the country’s ‘Silicon Valley’, with significant companies like Alibaba and DeepSeek leading the charge.
The IMF has significantly downgraded the UK’s growth forecast for this year to just 1.1%, citing the adverse impacts of the global trade war and rising inflation.
As of 22 April 2025, U.S. stock markets remain volatile following the April 2nd crash, which wiped over $3 trillion in value after President Trump’s sweeping tariffs—up to 125% on Chinese imports—sparked global trade tensions.
The trade war with China continues to escalate, with the U.S. imposing steep port fees on Chinese-built vessels and restricting AI chip exports, prompting retaliatory tariffs from Beijing. China has also warned it will retaliate against countries that negotiate trade deals with the US “at the expense of China’s interests”, fuelling global tensions as the world’s two economic superpowers face off over tariffs.
These developments have contributed US dollar weakening with the Dollar Index hitting a three-year low amid investor concerns over Federal Reserve independence and economic outlook.
Tuesday’s headlines are a sombre affair with most global coverage – online and in print – paying tribute to Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday morning after suffering with poor health in recent months including double pneumonia. It has since been confirmed that Pope Francis died from a stroke and heart failure.
Despite the sadness of the pope’s death – which is being felt around the world. There is a sense of celebration as well, with many reports emerging of the pope’s kindness – including calling Gaza’s only church everyday since the Israeli ground invasion, his role in bringing Muslims and Christian’s together across Africa and shunning much of the privileges that come with being the pope. He attempted to make the Catholic Church more inclusive and less judgemental.
Online, many headlines are discussing funeral plans, noting his refusal for any of the pomp and ceremony associated with a pope’s death, and there is speculation over who might be in line to become the next pope.
Thursday’s UK headlines, like much of the rest of the world, are, of course, dominated by the latest from the escalating trade war between the United States and the rest of the world. Trump announced a 90-day pause on the highest tariffs, dropping them all down to 10% except for China, which was hit with 125% levies. The stock markets have bounced back since the announcement, but the ball is very much back in China’s court, and all eyes are on Beijing to see how it responds. Everything that is coming out of China at the moment suggests they won’t back down and believe they can ride this out.
A little closer to home, there are a handful of royal headlines, including King Charles’s state visit to Italy, which is being viewed as Britain exercising the royal family’s soft powers to help reset Britain’s relationship with the rest of Europe, nine years on from the Brexit mess. Charles and Camilla met with politicians and the Pope during their visit.