\n<\/p>\n
Donald Trump has declared that he can use tariffs in a \u2018much more powerful and obnoxious way\u2019 than he has thus far.<\/strong><\/p>\n Posting on his Truth Social network, the US president again attacked the supreme court for ruling against his sweeping global tariffs last Friday \u2013 calling them \u2018incompetent\u2019.<\/p>\n He also claims the justices have \u2018\u2018accidentally and unwittingly\u2019 expanded his presidential powers on tariffs.<\/p>\n Trump<\/strong> writes:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe supreme court (will be using lower case letters for a while based on a complete lack of respect!*) of the United States accidentally and unwittingly gave me, as President of the United States, far more powers and strength than I had prior to their ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive ruling.<\/p>\n For one thing, I can use Licenses to do absolutely \u201cterrible\u201d things to foreign countries, especially those countries that have been RIPPING US OFF for many decades, but incomprehensibly, according to the ruling, can\u2019t charge them a License fee – BUT ALL LICENSES CHARGE FEES, why can\u2019t the United States do so? You do a license to get a fee! The opinion doesn\u2019t explain that, but I know the answer! The court has also approved all other Tariffs, of which there are many, and they can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, than the Tariffs as initially used.<\/p>\n Our incompetent supreme court did a great job for the wrong people, and for that they should be ashamed of themselves (but not the Great Three!).<\/p>\n [That\u2019s a reference to the minority of three justices who backed Trump in last week\u2019s ruling].<\/p>\n * \u2013 or perhaps he\u2019s now following the Guardian style guide<\/em><\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.16 EST<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The confusion over whether the UK will face Trump\u2019s new 15% tariff is particularly worrying for British manufacturers who have already sent goods to America.<\/strong><\/p>\n Richard<\/strong> Rumbelow<\/strong>, director of international business at Make<\/strong> UK<\/strong>, says these firms \u2018urgenty\u2019 need clarity:<\/p>\n double quotation mark\u201cMany UK exporters will be concerned at the further prospect of trade disruption to goods entering the US market. Stability, certainty and clarity are key cornerstones for global trade policy and for UK businesses who plan, invest and conduct trade with partners across the global economy, and particularly with customers in the United States. It\u2019s now important UK exporters work with their US importers to maintain their trading relationships by working through customs guidance as it emerges<\/p>\n \u201cGiven many companies will have goods at sea clarity is now urgently required on how UK exports will be treated on arrival into the United States, with the imperative being to protect the benefits of the bi-lateral trade framework that was concluded with the United States last year. It is vital Government continues to seek gradual reductions in tariffs and other opportunities and seeks a strengthening of trade relations from the current position.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Tom Knowles<\/span><\/p>\n Artificial intelligence is unlikely to affect UK unemployment rates in the long run, a policymaker at the Bank of England has suggested.<\/strong><\/p>\n Alan Taylor<\/strong>, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which sets interest rates in the UK, said he can\u2019t see AI creating mass unemployment for now.<\/p>\n At an event at Deutsche Bank in London, Taylor<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n double quotation mark\u201cHistory is full of people saying \u2018This new technology is going to lead to unemployment.\u2019 And yet, over the course of history, unemployment has always returned to its normal level.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are changes in the composition of the labour force but we haven\u2019t yet seen that kind of structural shift, which is not to say it can\u2019t happen, but we haven\u2019t seen it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Taylor<\/strong>, who was one of four out of nine members of the MPC to vote for cutting interest rates this month, said the increase in youth unemployment, which rose to an 11-year high in January excluding Covid, was cyclical and unlikely to last long-term.<\/p>\n He said:<\/p>\n double quotation mark\u201cIt always goes up in cyclical ways. When the economy weakens and when unemployment is rising, usually youth unemployment rises faster. That\u2019s true across the world. So for me, it\u2019s mostly cyclical. I believe that as the economy normalises, that will start to normalise again.\u201d.<\/p>\n Taylor<\/strong> reiterated his previous public comments that inflation is returning to the Bank\u2019s 2% target faster than previously forecast, with wage growth also now slowing. \u201cThings are normalising at a pretty healthy clip,\u201d he said, suggesting he will vote to cut rates again at the MPC\u2019s next meeting in March.<\/p>\n He said the MPC could make two to three more interest rate cuts to get the economy back to a normal level. But he expressed concern that services inflation had not declined as quickly as expected in recent months. Services inflation slowed to 4.4% in January from 4.5% previously, according to the latest data, well below the Bank\u2019s forecast of 4.1%.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m looking for services price inflation to continue to normalise along with wages as the year unfolds,\u201d Taylor<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Back in Europe, Germany\u2019s stock market is still being weighed down by trade war uncertainty.<\/strong><\/p>\n The DAX<\/strong> is down 0.4% so far today. Other markets are looking cheerier, though \u2013 Italy\u2019s FTSE<\/strong> MIB<\/strong> has gained 1%.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Phillip Inman<\/span><\/p>\n We discuss the fate of the dollar all the time, but what about the trajectory of the dollar, asks senior economics writer Phillip Inman?<\/strong><\/p>\n Japanese newspapers have spotted that figures from the Geneva-based Bank of International Settlements – the information and advice centre for the world\u2019s central bankers – has published figures showing the the yen\u2019s purchasing power has sunk to a 53-year low against a basket of major currencies. That\u2019s the lowest level since 1973 and the era of fixed currencies.<\/p>\n You might say it is how the world\u2019s third largest economy has maintained its prowess as a major manufacturing exporter in the face of stiff competition from China, Vietnam and Taiwan. And that is not by being more productive, but by consistently devaluing the currency to make exports cheaper.<\/p>\n The figures, which were published by the BIS on Friday, document a fall in real effective exchange rate, which peaked in April 1995 at 193.95.<\/p>\n Nikkei Asia reports that the current real effective exchange rate has since fallen to roughly a third of that level. It shows that the yen has weakened against a wide range of currencies, including the U.S. dollar and euro, as well as the Chinese yuan and Thai baht.<\/p>\n One major factor is the prolonged slump in the Japanese economy, known as the \u201clost decades,\u201d following the collapse of the bubble economy.<\/p>\n By keeping interest rates at ultra low levels relative to other major economies, Japan\u2019s central bank has encouraged global investors to hold assets in any other currency than the yen.<\/p>\n It causes huge issues inside Japan because imports are more expensive and because travelling to foreign countries is more expensive when the yen\u2019s value is low.<\/p>\n But the low yen has allowed businesses to maintain their status as exporting powerhouses, giving them the profits they need to pay staff well and reward shareholders.<\/p>\n During her short tenure as prime minister, Sanae<\/strong> Takaichi<\/strong>, whose party won a historic landslide in a lower house election this month, has seen the yen slip further, most likely in response to her plans for a spending blitz, mostly with borrowed money.<\/p>\n She could be blamed by the public for higher domestic prices before she has even begun to tackle issues like low foreign investment, which would usually capitalise on a rock-bottom currency value.<\/p>\n Donald Trump wants the yen to rise in value, making the dollar cheaper, and aiding US exports. The Bank of Japan has said it will raise interest rates to make the yen more attractive to investors and push up its value. However, many economists in Japan are nervous about the effect on small and medium-sized businesses, which has become dependent on cheap debt after 40 years of ultra low borrowing costs.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.12 EST<\/p>\n Donald Trump has declared that he can use tariffs in a \u2018much more powerful and obnoxious way\u2019 than he has thus far.<\/strong><\/p>\n Posting on his Truth Social network, the US president again attacked the supreme court for ruling against his sweeping global tariffs last Friday \u2013 calling them \u2018incompetent\u2019.<\/p>\n He also claims the justices have \u2018\u2018accidentally and unwittingly\u2019 expanded his presidential powers on tariffs.<\/p>\n Trump<\/strong> writes:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe supreme court (will be using lower case letters for a while based on a complete lack of respect!*) of the United States accidentally and unwittingly gave me, as President of the United States, far more powers and strength than I had prior to their ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive ruling.<\/p>\n For one thing, I can use Licenses to do absolutely \u201cterrible\u201d things to foreign countries, especially those countries that have been RIPPING US OFF for many decades, but incomprehensibly, according to the ruling, can\u2019t charge them a License fee – BUT ALL LICENSES CHARGE FEES, why can\u2019t the United States do so? You do a license to get a fee! The opinion doesn\u2019t explain that, but I know the answer! The court has also approved all other Tariffs, of which there are many, and they can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, than the Tariffs as initially used.<\/p>\n Our incompetent supreme court did a great job for the wrong people, and for that they should be ashamed of themselves (but not the Great Three!).<\/p>\n [That\u2019s a reference to the minority of three justices who backed Trump in last week\u2019s ruling].<\/p>\n * \u2013 or perhaps he\u2019s now following the Guardian style guide<\/em><\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.16 EST<\/p>\n Over in Westminster, prime minister Keir Starmer\u2019s spokesman has said Britain does not expect US President Donald Trump\u2019s new global tariff of 15% to impact the \u201cmajority\u201d of the UK-US economic deal.<\/strong><\/p>\n The spokesman said Britain\u2019s trade minister, Peter Kyle, had spoken with Jamieson Greer, the U.S trade representative, and the government expects discussions between British and U.S. officials to continue this week, Reuters reports<\/em>.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Bank of England policymaker Alan Taylor has warned that high US import tariffs appear to be here to stay.<\/strong><\/p>\n The full impact is likely to take \u201cmany years\u201d to be felt, Taylor<\/strong> added.<\/p>\n Speaking at an event organised by Deutsche Bank today, Taylor<\/strong> said:<\/p>\n double quotation mark\u201cI think the fundamental thing to realise is those tariffs are here to stay at some kind of number that is a lot \u2013 an order of magnitude – bigger than it was two years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think we should expect this shock to play out also over many years.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Adding to the confusion, there\u2019s also uncertainty whether the new 15% tariffs are legal.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because Trump is using section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which gives the president the power to impose surcharges and import restrictions to tackle international payments problems.<\/p>\n But some experts are questioning how the US can have a balance-of-payments problems in an era of floating exchange rates.<\/p>\n Gita Gopinath<\/strong>, the former first deputy managing director of the International<\/strong> Monetary<\/strong> Fund<\/strong>, declared yesterday that the US does not have a fundamental international payments problem:<\/p>\n Wearing my (former) IMF hat I will say that the US does not have a fundamental international payments problem.<\/p>\n \u2014 Gita Gopinath (@GitaGopinath) February 22, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n A balance of payments (BoP) problem arises when a country loses market access or is close to losing market access. As long as there is plenty of demand for US debt and equities, which is the case, the US does not have a ‘payments’ problem. It can finance its trade deficits\u2026<\/p>\nManufacturers seek urgent clarity over tariff situation<\/h2>\n
Yen’s purchasing power hits 53-year low<\/h2>\n
Trump threatens ‘more powerful and obnoxious’ tariffs<\/h2>\n
UK does not expect new Trump tariff to impact its US deal, PM spokesman says<\/h2>\n
Bank of England’s Taylor: high US tariffs appear to be here to stay<\/h2>\n