US tariffs could ‘inflict serious harm’ on poor nations, China warns WTO

Taiwan's top financial regulator Saturday said it would extend temporary curbs on short-selling for another week to ensure market stability after U.S. tariffs unleashed turmoil, adding that the restrictions had been helpful, news agency Reuters reported.

The stock market in Taiwan seesawed this week, plummeting on the tariff news before rebounding strongly after US President Donald Trump put a pause on the tariffs.

In a statement, Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission said the market stabilisation measures on short-selling of shares had "indeed had the expected effect of effectively curbing speculative selling".

While investor confidence has been gradually restored, the US tariff policy and responses by other countries are still highly uncertain in the short term, it added.

Global stock market fluctuations are likely to keep affecting Taiwan's stock market, the regulator said.

This week Taiwan also activated its $15-billion stock stabilisation fund to prop up the market. The island's benchmark stock index has dropped 15% so far this year.

Short sellers borrow shares they expect to fall, aiming to repay the loan for less later to pocket the difference. (Reuters)

During talks with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Beijing on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the European Union to join China in defending globalisation and opposing “unilateral acts of bullying,” in pointed criticism of President Donald Trump’s escalating tariff campaign.

Sounding a warning without referencing the US directly, Xi said, “There are no winners in a tariff war.”

In an apparent reference to the US, the Chinese president, according to the official Chinese summary of the talks, told Sanchez, “China and the EU should fulfil their international responsibilities, jointly maintain the trend of economic globalisation and the international trade environment, and jointly resist unilateral bullying, not only to safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests, but also to safeguard international fairness and justice, and to safeguard international rules and order."

Global trade could shrink by three per cent and exports could see a shift from markets such as the United States and China to India, Canada and Brazil due to tariffs imposed by the US, a top UN economist said, news agency PTI reported.

“Global trade could shrink by 3 per cent, with significant long-term shifts in trade patterns and economic integration," International Trade Centre Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton said in Geneva on Friday.

"For example, exports from Mexico—which have been highly impacted—are shifting from markets such as the US, China, Europe and even other Latin American countries, with modest gains instead in Canada and Brazil, and to a lesser extent, India,” she said.

Similarly, Vietnamese exports are redirecting away from the US, Mexico and China, while increasing substantially towards Middle East and North Africa (MENA) markets, the EU, Korea and others, the PTI report quoted Coke-Hamilton as saying.

She also said that Bangladesh, the world's second-largest apparel exporter, would face a reciprocal tariff of 37 per cent, should it come into effect, which could lead to a loss of USD 3.3 billion in annual exports to the US by 2029.

She added that a key part of the solution for developing countries to navigate any global shocks—be it a pandemic, climate disaster or sudden changes in policies—lies in prioritising three areas -diversification, value addition and regional integration. “So there are opportunities for developing countries not just to navigate times of uncertainty, but to proactively prepare for the long haul,” she said. (PTI)