President Donald Trump’s sprawling new tariff regime sent world markets plunging and had officials reeling at the prospect of a global trade war.
The punitive tariffs roiled rivals and allies alike. “This is not the act of a friend,” rued Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. China said they “represent an act of unilateral bullying.” Canada’s new leader, Mark Carney, said the global trade system anchored on the United States “is over.”
Trump stood by his plan Thursday as stocks fell sharply in the steepest one-day drop since 2020. “Every country is calling us,” he told reporters on Air Force One.
“If we would have asked these countries to do us a favor, they would have said no. Now they will do anything for us,” he said.
Some trade experts said the way the Trump administration calculated the tariffs makes no sense. Lawrence H. Summers, an economist and treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, said on social media that the tariffs are “to economics what creationism is to biology, astrology is to astronomy.”
Here are some of the notable reactions from former and current world leaders and officials around the world.
The administration’s tariffs have no basis in logic, and they go against the basis of our two nations’ partnership. This is not the act of a friend.
— Told to reporters in a news conference
Tariff levied by Trump administration: 10 percent
The global economy is fundamentally different today than it was yesterday. The system of global trade anchored on the United States that Canada has relied on since the end of the Second World War — a system that, while not perfect, has helped to deliver prosperity for our country for decades — is over.
— Told to reporters in a news conference
Tariff levied by Trump administration: No new tariff Wednesday, but facing 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum products.
This is a typical act of unilateral bullying. … History has shown that raising tariffs will not solve the U.S.’s own problems.
— Statement from China’s Commerce Ministry
Tariff levied by Trump administration: 34 percent
This calculation is flawed and unfair because imports aren’t driven by emotional choices, but rather a set of parameters.
— Post on social media
Tariff levied by Trump administration: 47 percent
There seems to be no order in the disorder. No clear path through the complexity and chaos that is being created as all U.S. trading partners are hit.
— News statement
Tariff levied by Trump administration: 20 percent
Don’t panic, as other countries are also facing higher tariffs. … The U.S. will also have some impact from this as they still can’t produce to replace the imports fast enough.
— Reported by local media
Tariff levied by Trump administration: 36 percent
[Trump] thinks he is the master of the world. … It is an imperialist stance that we had somewhat forgotten about but which is returning with great force and great determination.
— Reported by local media
Tariff levied by Trump administration: 20 percent
Today, neoliberalism, which proclaimed a free-trade policy across the globe, has died. Those who cling from the opposition to this extreme ideology must know that they are clinging to a corpse.
— Post on social media
Tariff levied by Trump administration: 10 percent
We’ll take the advice of Lao Tzu and sit by the river, waiting for the body of the enemy to float by. The decaying corpse of the E.U. economy.
— Post on social media
No new tariff levied by the Trump administration Wednesday
The European economy and ultimately the European people are drinking the juice of the incompetence of the politicians in Brussels again. The situation is clear after yesterday’s customs announcements by the U.S. president: The European Commission should have negotiated!
— Post on social media
Tariff levied by Trump administration: 20 percent
