Trump's new tariffs signal 'total trade war' - and create 'absolute headache' for UK

Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are taking questions at a joint news conference.

Trump picks a reporter who asks a softball question, praising Trump for "peace through strength" and calling Joe Biden incompetent and weak, before asking Modi how much more confident he is in president Trump than his predecessor.

Trump decides to take the question, using it as an opportunity to criticise the last administration.

On tariffs, Trump says India has been "very strong on tariffs" and "it's very hard to sell into India".

"Whatever India charges, we're charging them," Trump says.

"I think that's fair for he people of the United States."

We're updating this post with key remarks from the news conference.

Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are holding a joint news conference.

The US president complains about Indian tariffs, and says the pair will begin negotiations to reduce them.

"We want a certain level playing field, which we think we're entitled to."

He says the two nations will join forces to ensure that AI is developed "by two of the most advanced nations, intellectually, and otherwise technologically". 

The pair agreed to create a trade route from India through Israel and Italy to the US, he says.

Modi says his vision for India is to "Make India Great Again".

"When it's MAGA plus MIGA, it becomes mega: A mega partnership for prosperity."

Indian and US teams are working on a trade agreement, he says.

Modi says the US and India will target $500bn in bilateral trade by 2030.

Ukraine does not expect to hold talks with Russia in Munich tomorrow, Volodymyr Zelenskyy's communications adviser says. 

The United States, Europe and Ukraine need a common position before talks with Moscow, Dmytro Lytvyn said.

Donald Trump said earlier that US and Russian officials would meet in Munich and that Ukraine was also invited. 

The UK could be hit with tariffs as high as 24% if Donald Trump follows through on his threats to treat VAT as a tariff, according to an economist.

Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, said Britain would be the fourth hardest-hit, following India (29%), Brazil (28%) and the EU (25%).

This is based on VAT rates combined with existing tariffs, but the Trump administration also intends to take into account regulations, government subsidies, digital services taxation policies and exchange rate policies.

"Most people would consider VAT to be a non-discriminatory tax, since it is also applied to domestically-produced goods making a level playing field," said Ashworth.

"But his adviser Peter Navarro has been pushing the line since Trump’s first term that, since the US only applies a much lower average sales tax at the state level, this is a form of discriminatory tariff."

Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have met in the Oval Office.

"They're going to be purchasing a lot of our oil and gas," said Trump.

"We're going to make some wonderful trade deals for India and for the US." 

For his part, Modi said he deeply appreciated that Trump "keeps the national interest supreme".

"And like him, I also keep the national interest of India at the top of everything else."

One of Donald Trump's most controversial cabinet nominations, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has been sworn in as health secretary. 

In remarks leading up to the swearing-in, Trump praised Kennedy, saying that he would restore Americans' trust.

Kennedy is a prominent vaccine sceptic who has been criticised for "trafficking dangerous conspiracy theories" (see our 6.28pm post).

During the pandemic, he devoted much of his time to a non-profit organisation that sued vaccine makers and harnessed social media campaigns to erode trust in vaccines.

Trump said: "He's absolutely committed to getting dangerous chemicals out of our environment and out of our food supply, and getting the American people the facts and the answers that we deserve after years in which our public health system has squandered the trust of our citizens.

"It was a very tough, it was a very nasty group of people that were after him, but he was tougher and he was smarter than they are, and that's why he's here today."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived at the White House.

Although Trump had a warm relationship with Modi in his first term, he has called India a "very big abuser" on trade and his announcement of reciprocal tariffs will come as bad news for the Indian leader.

India imposes the highest tariffs on US exports of any major trading partner, running up a US trade deficit of $45.6bn.

Modi has readied promises to win Trump's favour, including increased liquefied natural gas, combat vehicle and jet engine purchases, according to Indian government officials.

Officials are also looking at tariff cuts in at least a dozen sectors, including electronics, medical and surgical equipment, and chemicals.

"This is total trade war that he is talking about launching here," says business and economics correspondent Paul Kelso, reacting to Donald Trump's tariff announcement.

Until now the UK thought it might be able to "wriggle through the chaos" of Trump's emerging trade policy, Kelso says.

Since being outside the EU, the UK doesn't have a trade deficit with the US, which is what Trump "hates... despite the benefits it gives American consumers in cheap goods".

The UK exports to the US approximately £70bn more than it imports, he says.

But today tariffs, and Trump's decision that they will hit countries with VAT, are "certainly going to put the UK more on the back foot than it thought it was".

"The UK thought it might be in the clear here - [but] add 20% to the cost of UK exports to the US, we're talking around $25bn added to the trade deal.

"We'll have to see what actually happens, but this absolutely is a headache for UK exporters and for a government that is trying to work out a working relationship with the US under Donald Trump."

As our US correspondent Mark Stone has put it, Donald Trump unleashed a "tsunami of news". 

TikTok, the Ukraine war, Canada as the "51st state", denuclearisation, tariffs, defence spending, the G7 and the Munich security conference were all on the president's agenda as he flipped from topic to topic.

We can now bring you full coverage of his remarks...

Donald Trump has claimed "high-level people from Russia" will attend the Munich Security Conference tomorrow.

US correspondent Mark Stone says we did not previously know Russia could be at the conference this weekend.

He says unless the US president "misspoke," Russia's attendance would signify a "remarkable" moment. 

Trump made the comments during his lengthy news conference in the Oval Office, in which he also said Ukraine would have a seat at the table in negotiations to end the war.

"They are having a meeting in Munich tomorrow. Russia is going to be there with our people. Ukraine is also invited," the president said.

"High-level people from Russia, from Ukraine and from the United States." 

Sky News has contacted the Munich Security Conference organisers and the German government for comment.