Nissan Motor is considering shifting some domestic production of US-bound vehicles to America, the Nikkei reported on Saturday.
As early as this summer, Nissan plans to reduce production at its Fukuoka factory in western Japan and shift some manufacturing of its Rogue SUV to the United States to mitigate the impact of Trump’s tariffs, the business newspaper said, without citing the source of its information.
The Japanese automaker’s Rogue SUV, a key model in the U.S. market, is now produced in Fukuoka and the United States, the report said.
On Thursday, Nissan said it would not take new orders from the US for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs after earlier Trump tariff announcements.
The automaker now plans to maintain two shifts of production of the Rogue at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant after announcing in January it would end one of the two shifts this month.
Nissan sold about 920,000 vehicles in the U.S. last year, of which about 16 per cent were exported from Japan, the Nikkei said, adding the planned production shift could hit local suppliers’ businesses.
Cars are for sale at a Nissan dealership in Katy, Texas, on April 2, 2025. (AFP via Getty Images)
Holly Bancroft5 April 2025 09:39
China called on Washington to have an “equal-footed consultation” on Saturday after they announced extra levies of 34 per cent on all US goods.
China also announced export curbs on some rare earth materials, escalating the trade war prompted by President Donald Trump’s imposition of additional 34 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods coming into the US.
The total duties imposed on China by the US this year is now 54 per cent.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Saturday: “Now is the time for the US to stop doing the wrong things and resolve the differences with trading partners through equal-footed consultation”.
President Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday that “China played it wrong, they panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do”.
He also used the platform to double down on his policy, writing: “To the many investors coming into the United States and investing massive amounts of money, my policies will never change. This is a great time to get rich, richer than ever before”.
Holly Bancroft5 April 2025 09:26
Italy has warned against an escalation in the global trade war sparked by US president Donald Trump’s increased tariffs.
Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti warned on Saturday against the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on the United States in response to Mr Trump’s announcement.
Speaking at a business forum near Milan, Mr Giorgetti said Italy was aiming for a “de-escalation” with the U.S.
“We should avoid launching a policy of counter-tariffs that could be damaging for everyone and especially for us,” Mr Giorgetti said.
Under Trump’s plans Italy, which has a large trade surplus with the United States, will be subject to a general tariff of 20 per cent along with other European Union countries.
Holly Bancroft5 April 2025 09:10
President Donald Trump is breaking with decades of globalisation and pursuing protectionism, waging a global trade war on allies and enemies alike. How significant is this shift?
For Carmen Reinhart, a former chief economist of the World Bank and professor at Harvard University, it is a “historical moment”.
He told The Washington Post: “Even if there is paddling back by the administration and even if negotiations start to soften the edges, this is the nail in the coffin of globalisation”.
Kelly Ann Shaw, a trade lawyer at Hogan Lovells and former White House trade adviser, said on Thursday that Mr Trump’s announcement was “the single biggest trade action in our lifetime”.
Describing the scale of the changes, she added: “This is huge. This is a pretty seismic and significant shift in the way that we trade with every country on Earth”.
Mr Trump has said that his high tariffs will deliver a new “Golden Age” that benefits American companies and workers, adding: “We’re going to be an entirely different country, and it’s going to be fantastic for the workers. It’s going to be fantastic for everyone.”
President Donald Trump’s tariffs have led to stock markets plunging (Pool via AP) (AP)
Holly Bancroft5 April 2025 08:54
US customs agents began collecting a unilateral 10 per cent tariff on all imports from many countries on Saturday – including the UK.
Higher levies on goods from other trading partners are due to start next week.
The initial 10 per cent charge took effect at 12.01am ET (0401 GMT) on Saturday. The announced plans cause trillions of dollars to be lost from the global stock markets on Friday.
The FTSE 100, made up of the UK’s biggest listed companies, was down 4.95 per cent, the worst one-day fall since Covid hit.
Holly Bancroft5 April 2025 08:42
Investors are now concerned that markets could fall even lower in the midst of an international trade war, leading to risk of a market crash. Analysts at major investment bank JPMorgan have also raised the risk of a global recession to 60 per cent, telling clients: “There will be blood.”
“[The tariffs], if sustained, would likely push the US and possibly global economy into recession this year. An update of our probability scenario tree makes this point, raising the risk of a recession this year to 60 per cent,” they say.
But the current drop is not a stock market crash, and many analysts say it is too early to tell whether that is the direction the current slump is heading.
Arpan Rai5 April 2025 07:58
There are higher tariffs for cars and car parts – 25 per cent – which will also extend to all computer imports, including laptops.
The list includes tariff codes for engines, transmissions, lithium-ion batteries and other major components, along with less expensive parts including tires, shock absorbers, spark plug wires and brake hoses.
Trump says the tariffs are the US’s “declaration of independence”.
Arpan Rai5 April 2025 07:48
Howmet Aerospace, which supplies parts for planes built by Airbus and Boeing , may halt some shipments if they are impacted by tariffs announced by Donald Trump, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
This marks the first such maneuver by a major aerospace company since the tariff announcement, one of the sources said.
Pittsburgh-based Howmet said in the letter to customers that it has declared a force majeure event, a legal practice that allows parties to a contract to avoid their obligations if hit by unavoidable and unpredictable external circumstances.
“Howmet will be excused from supplying any products or services that are impacted by this declared national emergency and/or the tariff executive order,” Howmet wrote in the letter.
Howmet is a supplier of critical metal components used across the $150bn jetliner industry.
Arpan Rai5 April 2025 07:38
The question over whether the UK should accept chlorinated chicken from the United States is “almost entirely a proxy battle for whether UK trade policy should favour the US or EU more”, a trade expert has said.
David Henig, UK director of think-tank Ecipe, said on social media: “Though this doesn’t have to be the case (NB Swiss exception) if the UK signs up to US food standards, bye bye deep EU trade relationship. That was why the Brexiters wanted a US trade deal, and hoped wrongly CPTPP would achieve the same.
“And right now even the possible prospect of a UK-US trade deal is casting doubt in Brussels about the reset, which may be manageable but with the sort of care and skill that goes far beyond ‘bridge’ talk and hasn’t previously been shown by the UK.
“Behind all the bluster the trade policy view is pretty simple. 50 per cent of UK trade is with Europe, less than 20 per cent with the US. That seems pretty stable, therefore even folk in the US understand the likely implications, possibly better than the UK government.”
Andy Gregory5 April 2025 07:00
Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba is planning to arrange a telephone conversation next week with US president Donald Trump on tariffs, Jiji News reported this morning.
Mr Ishiba was speaking on a television programme aired this morning, Jiji said, when he expressed his intention to hold direct talks with the US leader.
Arpan Rai5 April 2025 06:44
