Trump live updates: President tells world to ‘be cool’ as China introduces 84% retaliatory tariffs on US

An AI-generated video mocking downcast American workers in a post-tariffs world has been circulating on Chinese and U.S. social media.

The video shows overweight employees in a textiles factory, appearing exhausted and depressed as they stitch clothing on sewing machines.

Depicting the type of clothing manufacturing jobs that have been outsourced overseas in the past decades, the 32-second clip paints a dystopian picture of what the U.S. working world might look like as a result of Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

The president’s message appears to be “don’t worry, be happy” as the global economic chaos he has wrought invites retaliatory measures from China and the European Union.

European Union member states have voted in favor of imposing tariffs of their own on American imported goods in response to Trump’s aggressions, a statement from the European Commission has just announced.

The new tariffs will come in from April 15.

“The E.U. considers U.S. tariffs unjustified and damaging, causing economic harm to both sides, as well as the global economy,” the statement says.

“The E.U. has stated its clear preference to find negotiated outcomes with the U.S., which would be balanced and mutually beneficial.”

Meanwhile, Trump has not yet commented on today’s developments from Beijing and Brussels, preferring instead to whip House Republicans into shape.

Paxton, a MAGA favorite, has announced that he will challenge fellow Republican and five-time incumbent Senator John Cornyn for his Lone Star State seat in 2026.

“I am announcing that I am running for U.S. Senate against John Cornyn,” Paxton said in an interview on Fox News show The Ingraham Angle on Tuesday night.

“We have another great U.S. senator, Ted Cruz [in Texas], and it’s time we have another great senator that will actually stand up and fight for Republican values, fight for the values of the people of Texas and also support Donald Trump in the areas that he’s focused on in a very significant way.”

Cornyn’s campaign immediately hit back.

“Ken Paxton is a fraud,” his team said, touting that the senator has often voted in favor of Trump’s agenda.

Trump has previously expressed support for both men.

This is surely never a sign that things are going according to plan.

Here’s James Liddell with more on Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer’s almighty gaffe from last night.

An article co-authored by Pau S Pujolas, an associate professor at McMaster University in Canada, was one of the five bibliographical references used by the White House to support the sweeping levies Trump has imposed on the rest of the world.

The 2024 study, entitled “Trade Deficits in Trade Wars”, explores who would win in a trade war between the U.S. and China, concluding that the side with a trade deficit is likely to come out on top.

But Pujolas now says that there is a “huge gap between my study and what the White House is doing. It’s an outrage”.

The president is in ful salesman mode in his first Truth Social posts of the day, advising multinational corporations to follow Apple’s example and pressing the House to push through his “big, beautiful bill” for good measure.

The European Union is ready to hit back at Donald Trump’s bombshell tariffs – but instead of simply striking back hard, Brussels may be looking to deploy a more creative response.

As part of his sweeping round of levies, the U.S. president landed the E.U. with a 20 per cent blanket tariff on all imports, just weeks after announcing damaging 25 per cent tariffs on automotive imports.

Brussels is now considering hitting the U.S. with tariffs targeting products that will particularly impact Republican heartlands, affecting billions of dollars of exports from America’s so-called ‘red states’, according to an internal document.

Beijing’s finance ministry has announced it will impose 84 percent tariffs on all U.S. goods, up from the 34 percent previously announced, in response to Trump’s 104 percent tariffs on China.

We await his angry response.