US tariffs: Europe prepares 'calm & unified' response

BRUSSELS/PARIS/TOKYO: Europe's top trade official will speak with US counterparts on Friday, as countries around the world figured out how to respond to President Donald Trump's tariff hammer blow that has fed fears of recession and triggered a global stock rout.

Nations from Canada to China have readied retaliation in an escalating trade war after Trump raised tariff barriers to their highest level in more than a century this week, leading to a plunge in world financial markets. In Japan, one of US' top trading partners, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that the tariffs had created a "national crisis" as a plunge in banking shares on Friday set Tokyo's stock market on course for its worst week in years.

Investment bank JP Morgan said it now sees a 60% chance of the global economy entering recession by year end, up from 40% previously. With European shares also heading for the biggest weekly loss in three years, the European Union's trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic will speak to US counterparts. "The EU will respond in a calm, carefully phased, and above all, unified way, as we calibrate our response," he said on social media. "We will not shoot from the hip-we want to give negotiations every chance to succeed to find a fair deal, to the benefit of both sides."

Taiwan's $2.7-b Aid for Cos
Taiwan's government announced T$88 billion ($2.67 billion) worth of financial help on Friday for companies and industries to deal with the impact of US tariffs.

Taiwan, which runs a large trade surplus with the US, is facing a 32% duty on its products.

The tariffs, however, do not apply to semiconductors, a major Taiwanese export but electronics and steel sectors among those worst impacted.