European stocks spiral after China hits back against Trump’s tariffs

European markets were mostly downbeat on Friday afternoon after China announced that it was raising tariffs against the US to 125%, from a previous 84%. This follows the US’ recent decision to impose a 125% tariff against China, on top of the existing 20%. 

Britain’s FTSE 100 index was 0.4% higher on Friday afternoon as of around 2 pm CEST, whereas Germany’s DAX index was down 1.6%. France’s CAC 40 index lost 0.4%, with the STOXX 600 falling 0.3%. 

Rubis, Fresnillo and EDP saw gains by Friday afternoon, while Getinge B and Zurich Insurance Group and HelloFresh were some of the top losers. 

Concerns about whether Trump’s 90-day tariff pause would be enough also intensified, mainly because of the number of countries in line to negotiate a trade deal within this time frame.