Feb. 5, 8:15 a.m. ESTThe United State Postal Service said it will “continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts,” reversing its decision to suspend inbound packages from China and Hong Kong on Tuesday night.
The postal service noted that it is working closely with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to “implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery.”
Feb. 5, 5:30 a.m. ESTDuring the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s daily press briefing on Wednesday, spokesperson Lin Jian commented on the USPS decision by accusing the U.S. government of “politicizing and suppressing Chinese companies,” and added that China is prepared to take necessary steps to defend its “legitimate rights and interests.”
Lin, however, refused to elaborate on specific steps that Beijing plans to take in response.
Feb. 5, 12:30 a.m. ESTOn Tuesday night, the US Postal Service announced that it will temporarily suspend inbound packages shipped by China and Hong Kong Posts.
The move comes as the Trump’s tariffs also closed the “de minimis” exemption that allowed packages valued under $800 to be processed without paying any customs duties or tariffs.
Although the USPS did not specify a reason for the move, it was likely put in place to allow the postal service to come up with a procedure to process and charge duties on the “de minimis” packages shipped by mail.
Feb. 4, 3:30 p.m. ESTForbes reported Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Mexico—even though they’re delayed one month—has put a pause on a planned investment by his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners, into one of Mexico’s leading infrastructure companies, though Affinity has not released details on the deal it was pursuing.
Feb. 4, 7:30 a.m. ESTU.S. Stock Futures remained flat on Tuesday morning, with the Nasdaq up 0.1% to 21,430 in premarket trading, while S&P 500 Futures were up only 0.01% to 6,022.
Feb. 4, 7:15 a.m. ESTEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed the looming threat of Trump placing tariffs on the EU in a speech to the bloc’s ambassadors, saying: “A lot is at stake for both sides. There are jobs, businesses, industries here and in the US that rely on the transatlantic partnership. We want to make it work…And we will always protect our own interests.” She added the EU is ready for “tough negotiations where needed,” and is prepared to “work out any grievances.”
Feb. 4, 5:15 a.m. ESTChina also announced the launch of a formal anti-trust investigation into Google over “suspected violation of China’s Anti-Monopoly Law,” in addition to the retaliatory duties.
The scope and nature of the Google anti-trust probe is unclear: the company has very limited presence in the country as the company’s search engine and other key services have not been accessible in mainland China for more than a decade.
PVH Group—the parent company of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein—and biotech firm Illumina were two other U.S. companies targeted by Beijing on Tuesday, with both being added to the country’s “unreliable entity list.”
In premarket trading early on Tuesday, PVH’s shares were down 4% to $80—after a 7% slide on Monday—and Illumina was down 5% to $124.40.
Feb. 4, 5:00 a.m. ESTThe Chinese Embassy in the U.S. issued a statement regarding Beijing’s retaliatory actions, saying they were “necessary countermeasures” that were “completely justified and reasonable,” and added China has also filed a “lawsuit with the WTO” on the matter.
The statement added: “The U.S. needs to view and solve its own fentanyl issue in an objective and rational way, cherish China’s goodwill, instead of threatening other countries with arbitrary tariff hikes.”
Feb. 4, 2:00 a.m. ESTA spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Commerce told reporters in Beijing that the U.S.’s actions were putting “unilateralism above multilateralism,” and China was willing to work with other members of the World Trade Organization to jointly respond.
Feb. 4, 2:00 a.m. ESTIn addition to retaliatory tariffs China also announced export controls on rare earth minerals and other elements that are critical for the production of semiconductors and other high-tech components—including tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, indium.
Feb. 4, 1:00 a.m. ESTTrump’s sweeping 10% tariffs on imports from China went into effect at midnight on Tuesday, prompting Beijing to retaliate with a plan to impose additional tariffs on certain U.S. imports starting next week, according to state-run media reports.
Starting February 10, China will impose an additional 15% tariff on coal and natural gas imported from the U.S. along with an additional 10% tariffs on crude oil, agricultural machinery, large cars, and pickup trucks, according to a Chinese Ministry of Finance notice.
The ministry’s notice said the U.S.’s “unilateral imposition of tariffs seriously violates the World Trade Organization’s rules” and added that it would not only be “unhelpful in solving its own problems, but also undermine the normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the US.”
Feb. 3, 1:57 p.m. ESTTrump announced the tariffs against Canada will be paused for 30 days, saying the longtime U.S. ally will implement a $1.3 billion border reinforcement plan that will bolster the U.S.-Canada border with “new choppers, technology and personnel… and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl” (the border plan was announced by Canada in December, before Trump took office).
Feb. 3, 1:57 p.m. ESTCanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the border reinforcement plan and tariff pause in a tweet, noting the launch of a “Canada- U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering,” the second of which Trump has used as a justification for sweeping tariffs (government reports contradict Trump’s claims that the flow of fentanyl coming to the U.S. through Canada is “massive,” according to The New York Times).
Feb. 3, 3:00 p.m. ESTChina’s ambassador to the United Nations Fu Cong said China will file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against Trump’s tariffs, The New York Times reports, adding the country believes the move violates WTO policies and China “may be forced to take countermeasures” against Trump’s taxes on its imports.
Feb. 3, 1 p.m. ESTTrump told reporters in the Oval Office his 10% tariffs against China are an “opening salvo” and could still go up further and reiterated that the tariffs against Canada and China will still take effect Tuesday though Mexico’s taxes are paused, also saying the U.S. isn’t “treated well” by Canada and he “[doesn’t] know” what the northern country could do to keep the tariffs from taking effect.
Feb. 3, 10:41 a.m. ESTTrump said on Truth Social he had a “very friendly conversation” with Sheinbaum in which she “immediately” agreed to send 10,000 Mexican soldiers to the border, and confirmed they will pause the tariffs on the country’s imports for one month while his administration negotiates with Mexican officials.
Feb. 3, 10:21 a.m. ESTSheinbaum said the U.S. is pausing tariffs for a month in an announcement on X, also saying the country’s National Guard will station 10,000 members on the U.S.-Mexico border to protect against drug trafficking.
Feb. 3, 10 a.m. ESTU.S. stocks slumped Monday morning as the market responded to Trump’s tariffs, with alcoholic beverage companies, cryptocurrency-focused companies, automakers and multinational tech companies like Apple and Nvidia taking the biggest hits.
Feb. 3, 9:09 a.m. ESTTrump said on Truth Social he spoke with Trudeau and will speak with him again this afternoon—and continued to slam the country, claiming it’s responsible for a “DRUG WAR” and saying about Canadian leaders declining to do business with the U.S. because of tariffs, “What’s that all about?”
Feb. 3, 8 a.m. ESTOntario Premier Doug Ford said the province, which includes Toronto, will ban all U.S. companies from receiving government contracts with the province, saying those companies “only have President Trump to blame”—and canceled the province’s contract with Elon Musk-led satellite internet company Starlink, writing, “Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy.”
Feb. 3, 6:50 a.m. ESTWith a threat of tariffs on European imports to the U.S. looming, markets in the continent were also hit with by a selloff with the Euro STOXX 50 Index sliding 1.6% while the London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 100 Index fell 1.2%
Feb. 3, 6:30 a.m ESTThe U.S. Dollar Index—which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of six other major currencies—rose to a two-year high of 109.45 on Monday morning, up nearly 1%.
Feb. 3, 6:15 a.m. ESTThe cryptocurrency market also appears to have been rattled by the fears of a trade war with Bitcoin’s price dropping more than 3.6% in the past 24 hours to $95,509.
Ether, which is the world’s second most valuable crypto token by market cap, was hit even harder as it price has crashed more than 15% in the previous 24 hours to around $2610.
The president’s own meme crypto token $TRUMP (Official Trump) also took a hit, as its price slid more than 13.5% in the previous 24 hours to $17.80. Unlike other major crypto tokens, however, $TRUMP has been on a downward slide since its explosive launch and had shed more than 30% of its value just in the last week.
Feb. 3, 6 a.m. ESTThe U.S. stock futures slumped early on Monday as global markets braced for the fallout of President Donald Trump’s decision to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China.
As of early Monday morning Dow Futures was down to 44,113, falling 1.3%, while the tech centric NASDAQ Futures saw an even sharper slump of 1.6% to 21,227. S&P 500 Futures were also hit by the selloff, dropping 1.4% to 5,980.
Feb 3, 5 a.m. ESTMajor Asian stock indices were also hit by a selloff amid trade war concerns with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index falling 2.66%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropping 1.79%, South Korea’s KOSPI index down 2.52% and India’s BSE Sensex down 0.41%.
In China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Composite Index closed relatively flat, only 0.06% in the red, while the Shenzhen-based SZSE Component Index—which focusses on tech companies and small cap private enterprises—took a bigger hit and dropped 1.33%.
Feb. 2, 2:53 p.m. ESTMexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued a video message on X announcing the country will come out with more details Monday morning on its countermeasures against the U.S. tariffs, saying the country will “act with a cool head and love for the people” and arguing Trump’s claims the Mexican government is allied with criminal drug groups is “terribly irresponsible,” according to translations by Bloomberg and The New York Times.
Feb. 2, 2 p.m. ESTTrump’s border czar Tom Homan told the Times in an interview that Canada has “taken steps” to address Trump’s concerns about immigration and drug trafficking, “but they haven’t taken enough steps,” adding that while Canada is “improving” its border security, Trump “doesn’t feel like they’ve done enough, and that’ll be his call.”
Feb. 2, 1 p.m. ESTThe Canadian government unveiled the full list of U.S. imports that the country will levy 25% tariffs on as part of its retaliatory measures against the U.S., which will apply to $30 billion worth of goods to start out with, including numerous food items, plastics, rubber, luggage, lumber, clothing, business supplies, glassware, appliances, furniture, cosmetics and more.
Feb. 2, 10:30 a.m. ESTHomeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acknowledged on “Meet the Press” that Trump’s tariffs could raise prices but said the blame would fall on other countries for not following Trump’s demands, rather than the president, encouraging other countries to “get on board and to make sure that they’re not pushing up prices” and claiming “if prices go up, it’s because of other people’s reactions to America’s laws.”
Feb. 2, 9 a.m. ESTCanadian Ambassador Kristen Hillman told ABC News Canadians are “perplexed” and “confused” by Trump’s tariffs on the nation’s imports and argued it’s “hard to know what more we can do” to prevent the tariffs since the Canadian government has already been “leaning in hard” to appease Trump—but noted Canada does not intend to back down from its plan for retaliatory tariffs, as Canadians “are going to expect that our government stands firm and stands up for itself.”
Feb. 2, 8:30 a.m. ESTDoug Ford, the premier of Canada’s Ontario province, said on X the region’s sole liquor wholesaler will remove American alcohol from its catalogs so that stores and restaurants in Ontario cannot stock any U.S. liquors—it follows similar moves from Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and British Columbia Premier David Eby, who banned his province’s Liquor Distribution Branch from buying American alcohol from “red states.”
Feb. 2, 8:09 a.m. ESTThe president defended his decision, writing on Truth Social, “WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!). BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID.”
Feb. 1Canada and Mexico both levied retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports in response to Trump’s directive, while China said it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization and take “countermeasures” in response to the move.
Feb. 1Trump imposed 25% tariffs on imported goods from Canada and Mexico—other than energy from Canada, which will be taxed at 10%—and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, which he claimed was to hold the countries “accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country.”
