The Latest: Trump’s tariffs unleash trade war and calls for negotiations

U.S. President Donald Trump’s big raise in tariffs has triggered an escalating trade war and sent global markets plummeting.

The S&P 500 fell 6% Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 5.5% and the Nasdaq composite dropped 5.8%.

China announced Friday that it will impose a 34% tax on all U.S. imports next week, part of a flurry of retaliatory measures to Trump’s new tariffs.

Trump has doubled down on his commitment to tariffs, maintaining that his new levies will bring trillions of dollars of investment to the U.S. while also criticizing other countries’ retaliatory measures.

Here’s the latest:

Elon Musk says he hopes zero tariff zone with Europe someday.

Billionaire Elon Musk told Italy League leader Matteo Salvini on Saturday that he hoped in the future the U.S. and Europe could create “a very close, stronger partnership” and reach a “zero-tariff zone.”

Musk spoke to Salvini in a video conference during the League’s congress in Florence. Salvini is the leader of the far-right, anti-migrant League party and vice premier of the Italian conservative government led by Premier Giorgia Meloni.

He said that, ideally, there will be a “zero-tariff zone in the future with a free trade zone between Europe and North America.”

Musk, an adviser to President Donald Trump who owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X, has played a key role in government downsizing as the head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. ... more