It took just one 50-minute speech by US President Donald Trump to undermine global economic stability and raise the prospect of a recession, with China's countermeasures only amplifying the risk of a debilitating tit-for-tat trade war.

The Wednesday White House event, billed by Trump as "Liberation Day", unveiled levies on dozens of countries including all major US trading partners.

These included the imposition of 20 percent levies on the European Union, 24 percent on Japan and an additional 34 percent on goods from China -- bringing the new added tariff rate there to 54 percent.

Trump's sparked staggering selloffs on global stock markets as investors pulled out of shares of companies which will be strongly impacted by the measures.

The S&P 500 index, which regroups the 500 largest US companies, saw $2.5 trillion in value zapped on Thursday as it sank 4.8 percent in its worst daily loss since the Covid pandemic.

It fell by another five percent in morning trading on Friday.

Shares in certain auto manufacturers have taken a big hit as separate tariffs of 25 percent on car imports into the United States went into........

© International Business Times