Good morning from the Financial Times.
Today is Wednesday, April 9th.
And this is your FT News Briefing.
Trade tensions have reached new heights between America and China.
And nearly $2 trillion worth of pledged U.S. investments are now at risk.
Plus the FT's Katie Martin explains why markets might be in for even more pain.
Everyone's been betting on American exceptionalism.
Now it turns out that America is exceptionally bad.
I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day.
The Trump administration on Tuesday said it was pushing ahead with another 50% tariff on China.
It marks a new U.S. offensive in a brewing global trade war.
So this brings Trump's additional tariff rate on Chinese imports to 104%.
Amy Williams covers trade for the FT, and she says that while there are exemptions for things like chips,
pharmaceuticals, and some metals, consumers will get hit hard if companies decide to pass on the costs of these taxes.
So assuming that the thing that you're trying to buy is a piece of candy,
a $1 piece of candy from China would now cost $2.04.
It would have a 104% markup.
Yeah, 104%.
Let that sink in for a second,
and then extrapolate that out to the goods that are going to be a lot more than a piece of candy.