Countries brainstorm on battling trade war

US President Donald Trump and China sparred over tariff hikes and other retaliatory moves on Tuesday as governments elsewhere were brainstorming strategies to cope with the trade war between the global economic giantsChina said it will ldquofight to the endrdquo and take countermeasures against the US to safeguard its own interests after Trump threatened an additional 50 per cent tariff on Chinese imports in retaliation for Beijings backlash against the 34 per cent he ordered earlierldquoThe US threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake and once again exposes the blackmailing nature of the US China will never accept thisrdquo the Commerce Ministry said in a statement read on staterun broadcaster CCTVAsked about the possibility of talks between Washington and Beijing Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said ldquoI think what the US has done doesnt reflect a willingness for sincere dialogue If the US really wants to engage in dialogue it should adopt an attitude of equality mutual respect and mutual benefitrdquoChinese countermeasuresThe Commerce Ministry statement issued early Tuesday said the USs imposition of ldquosocalled reciprocal tariffsrdquo on China is ldquocompletely groundless and is a typical unilateral bullying practicerdquo China could impore more tariffsAid for Japans automakersJapanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba spoke with Trump late on Monday and then convened a task force on Tuesday to mitigate damage from the 24 per cent US tariffs imposed on Washingtons biggest ally in Asia Ishiba told his ministers to do their utmost to get Trump to reconsider and also to mitigate the impact from the US tariffsASEAN delegation to visit USMalaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his government and other Southeast Asian countries would send officials to Washington to discuss the tariffs and it was working to build a consensus on a unified response among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN blocldquoWe do not believe in megaphone diplomacyrdquo Anwar said ldquoAs part of our soft diplomacy of quiet engagement we will be dispatching together with our colleagues in ASEAN our officials in Washington to begin the process of dialoguerdquoMarkets calm somewhatWorld shares and US futures advanced on Tuesday led by gains in Tokyo where the Nikkei 225 shot up just over 6 per cent as markets calmed somewhat after the shocks from President Donald Trump s tariff hikesGermanys DAX gained 09 per cent to 1997581 while the CAC 40 in Paris was up 13 per cent at 701879 Britains FTSE 100 also picked up 13 per cent to 780473 The future for the SampP 500 gained 15 per cent early on Tuesday while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 19 per centMusk appealed to Trump for tariff rollbackElon Musk who heads the US Department of Government Efficiency DOGE had appealed to President Trump to reconsider retaliatory import tariffs the Washington Post reported citing sources According to the US daily Musks attempted intervention was unsuccessful and he also disagreed with other highranking officials on issues such as migrant visas and DOGEs approach to government spending The Washington Post pointed out citing two people familiar with the matter Musk has also said he would like a ldquofree trade zonerdquo between Europe and the USThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params