US Vice President JD Vance says there is a "good chance" a trade deal could be reached with the UK, as the dust continues to settle from America's global trade shakeup.

"We're certainly working very hard with Keir Starmer's government," Vance said in an interview on Monday with the UnHerd website.

The global stock market has been rocked by turbulence since 2 April, after President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on nearly every country.

The unprecedented US trade policy manoeuvre included a 10% "baseline" tariff on all imports from the UK and other long-standing trade partners.

Read the full story here.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has spent a second day in Vietnam during his so-called "charm offensive" tour of South East Asia.

He visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum today to take part in a wreath laying ceremony at the resting place of the former Vietnamese president and Communist leader.

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One of China's top officials overseeing Hong Kong affairs, Xia Baolong, has called the 145% tariff on the territory "brutally unreasonable and extremely shameless".

In a speech delivered at an opening ceremony of the National Security Education Day, Xia said the trade war aims to "take away Hong Kong's life".

National Security Education Day aims to help Hong Kong, external better "prevent and avert national security risks".

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. It is governed under the principle of "one country, two systems", under which China has agreed to give the region a high degree of autonomy, and preserve its economic and social systems.

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Laura Bicker
China correspondent

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Why is President Xi in South East Asia?

Because he can see trouble ahead.

This is now an economic war between the US and China and the Chinese president will want his neighbours to stand with Beijing even as they negotiate a trade deal with Washington.

Around a quarter of Chinese exports now flow through a second country, including Vietnam and Cambodia. In the last decade, Chinese firms moved production to avoid the tariffs imposed during Trump’s first term.

Now these countries are facing tariff negotiations of their own with Trump. Xi will be worried that during those talks, the US could persuade them, or in Beijing’s words “bully” them into terms which could include cutting China out of the picture.

Remember, the US is the world’s top importer – many countries in South East Asia cannot afford to lose access to the American market. Around 30% of Vietnam’s economy is based on exports to the US.

So, Xi is on a charm offensive to persuade and influence leaders in the region that China is a stable trading partner with a lot to offer.

The recent US Agency for International Development (USAID) cuts have also shown Washington’s willingness to retreat from parts of the world. In contrast, Xi will be keen to highlight the considerable investments China has made in the region in rail and infrastructure.

Ian Tang
BBC Monitoring

China Central Television (CCTV) continues pushing out messages of global opposition to the Washington's "abuse of tariffs" and concerns of the impact to the world economy, highlighting in this morning's news bulletins views from Singapore, Germany, New Zealand, the UK, and within the US itself.

News on the latest developments in the White House, such as the Commerce Department stepping up probes into pharmaceutical and chip imports, was ignored by the national broadcaster.

English-language newspaper China Daily highlighted the resilience of the country's foreign trade based on General Administration of Customs' data released yesterday, saying that "sky won't fall" for China's trade.

Media are also shifting focus to President Xi Jinping's ongoing state visit to South East Asia, highlighting Xi's calls for fostering cooperation and building a "community with shared future" with Vietnam and jointly "oppose unilateral bullying", without a direct mention of the US.

Interestingly, Hanoi's readouts of Xi's meetings with top Vietnamese leaders made no mention of Xi's call to oppose bullying or safeguard the world's free trading system and stability of the industrial and supply chains, but chose to focus on bilateral relations and regional cooperation.

Nick Marsh
Asia Business Reporter in Kuala Lumpur

I've just been speaking to Malaysia's trade minister, who admits Trump's tariffs took his country by surprise.

"For us, we don't think it was calculated fairly," Zafrul Aziz tells me in his office in Kuala Lumpur. "We believe that the information that they have is not accurate -- but it is what it is, we have to deal with it".

South East Asian countries, who operate as a loose economic bloc known as Asean, function as a vital connection between the US and China. Beijing has invested heavily in infrastructure and factories in the region - but America is still the biggest market for exporters here.

Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand were all hit with heavy tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, until the recent 90-day pause to allow for negotiations.

Zafrul is the man who will be leading Asean's delegation with Washington, representing some 700 million people. He says he still doesn't know when that'll be.

Can he get tariffs down to zero for Malaysia and its neighbours? "Honestly, I don't know," he answers. "But we must try".

Tomorrow, China's President Xi Jinping will be in town, continuing his so-called "charm offensive" tour of South East Asia.

Will he force this region to pick a side between Washington and Beijing? "No - we can't choose and we won't choose," Zafrul says.

"These two economic powers account for close to half of global GDP - you simply can't not deal with one side."

Stock markets in mainland China are trading lower after the Trump administration moved forward with probes into pharmaceuticals and semiconductor imports.

Both the Shanghai Composite and CSI 300 indexes lost 0.3%.

This comes as shares elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region advanced.

Here is where the other indexes stand.

• Nikkei 225 (Japan) +0.9%
• Kospi (South Korea) +0.9%

• Hang Seng (Hong Kong) +0.2%
• ASX 200 (Australia) +0.6%

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South Korea has announced $23.1bn of investment in its semiconductor industry - a nearly $5bn increase from the existing budget of $18.2bn.

Its finance ministry said in a statement today that the enhanced support package comes in response to "increased uncertainties" created by the new US administration.

The investment will be directed to building infrastructure and recruiting talent to improve the semiconductor industry.

South Korea is home to Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chipmaker. Despite record semiconductor sales in 2024, Samsung has fallen behind in the AI chip race. Last October, it apologised for posting disappointing profits and concerns about its "technical competitiveness".

Chinese leader Xi Jinping's trip to South East Asia underscores the importance of the region to Beijing's strategic interests.

China, which has strong trade ties with South East Asia, is increasingly focusing on its relations with its neighbours as it and the US jostle for influence in the region.

Asean, a regional grouping of 10 member states in South East Asia, is currently China's largest trading partner. But Trump's tariffs are now placing growing pressure on developing economies in South East Asia to side with Washington and negotiate deals to cut tariffs imposed on them.

It is against this backdrop that Xi is making his trip to the region.

At a recent working conference on diplomacy with China's neighbours, Xi reiterated his country's commitment to strengthening ties with South East Asian nations, calling the region an "important foundation for achieving development and prosperity".

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian last week stressed that China and South East Asia were “good neighbours, good friends and good partners with a shared destiny”, according to official state news agency Xinhua.

An increase in geopolitical risks, including trade tensions, can have "significant, adverse effects on financial markets, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said in its latest report, external.

The IMF noted that shares fell after previous tariff announcements by the US and China between 2018 to 2024.

Share prices of Chinese companies lost an average of nearly 4% after the US announced tariffs on China. Those of US firms fell by an average of 1.6% to 1.8% following Beijing's retaliation.

In an accompanying blog, external, the IMF advised that "financial institutions should hold enough capital and liquidity to help them endure potential losses from geopolitical risks".

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The Trump administration is moving forward with investigations that could lead to import taxes on computer chips and pharmaceuticals, in a move that could potentially escalate the trade war.

The Commerce Department says it has started to investigate the national security implications of “imports of semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment” and “pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients, including finished drug products”.

The US president has repeatedly said he plans to impose tariffs on both sectors.

It comes despite a series of U-turns on tariffs in recent days.

Last week, Trump announced a pause on his “reciprocal” import taxed on many countries, while at the weekend a temporary exemption for consumer electronics was announced.

China's President Xi Jinping is in Vietnam, where he has met the country's leaders including Communist Party chief To Lam and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Xi has called on Vietnam to oppose "unilateral bullying" to maintain the global system of free trade, Chinese state media Xinhua reported, external.

Vietnam and China also reportedly signed 45 agreements, covering areas including supply chains, infrastructure construction and artificial intelligence.

Xi will leave for Malaysia in a few hours, and is due to visit Cambodia later this week.

The South East Asian countries were facing high levies of 24% to 49% on their exports to the US, before a 90-day pause was issued last week.

Meanwhile, a 145% levy has been placed on most exports from China to the US.

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Welcome back to our live coverage of Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, as trade tensions between the United States and China continue to build.

The Trump administration has moved forward with plans to impose tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, in a move that could escalate the US president's trade war.

Although semiconductors and pharmaceuticals are currently exempt from the 10% import tariffs that the US started imposing on 5 April, Trump had previously warned they would face separate tariffs.

The Commerce Department now says it has begun investigating both sectors on national security grounds.

It comes as Chinese leader Xi Jinping continues his charm offensive in South East Asia, calling on Vietnam to jointly oppose "unilateral bullying” and maintain the stability of global free trade and supply chains.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund warned on Monday that major geopolitical risk events, including trade tensions, could lead to stock market turmoil.

Emily Atkinson
Live page editor

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Nine days ago, a baseline tariff of 10% on almost all foreign imports to the US kicked in, joined five days later by custom duties on Donald Trump's "worst offenders".

For China, the planned 54% levies were effectively doubled overnight to 104% - the opening move in what became something like a staring match between the world's biggest economies.

Beijing shot back, and now has a 125% tariff on US imports, against the current 145% rate on goods going the other way.

Washington appeared to blink on Friday with its exemptions for smartphones and other tech products from China.

But the US president struck a defiant tone on Sunday night, saying: "Nobody is getting off the hook for unfair trade balance."

The message from China is it can ride this out. Who might blink next remains uncertain.

Today, both countries are focusing on trading partners in Asia.

President Xi Jinping is in Vietnam for the first leg of a South East Asia tour as he seeks to shore up ties there.

And in Washington, Trump is preparing to announce his plan for duties on semiconductors, which mostly come from Taiwan.

We're ending our live coverage now, but will have the latest in our main news story. For more on what a US-China trade war could do to the world economy read our explainer.

As we head towards midday, the FTSE 100 is still in the green with the UK index trading 1.8% higher.

In Frankfurt, the German Dax is up 2.5% and in Paris, the Cac-40 is 2.22%.

It is still a little early to say what Trump will announce in terms of tariffs on semiconductors - something that could move global stock markets significantly.

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As we've been reporting, US President Donald Trump has said he will give an update on his administration's approach to tariffs on semiconductors.

Everyday devices such as smartphones and laptops rely on semiconductors, which are small and powerful pieces of tech that form the basic building blocks of modern computation.

They are also in routers, switches, and communication infrastructures that are the backbone of the internet, enabling global connectivity.

Made from fragments of raw materials, such as silicon, semiconductors are altered in a process called doping so that they will sometimes conduct electricity and sometimes not. They're also incredibly valuable - they are at the heart of a $500bn (£401bn) industry that is expected to double by 2030.

The UK, US, Europe and China rely heavily on Taiwan for semiconductors. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) provides over half of the world's supply, including for AMD, Apple, ARM, Broadcom, Marvell, MediaTek and Nvidia.

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Trump's tariffs have rocked global supply chains.

In Spain, Barbie influencer and collector Noemi Lama - known on social media as Mistik - worries the US "overcharge[s]" every product coming in from overseas, meaning her beloved dolls could get more expensive.

"Barbie to me, it is my essence. She is part of me, not only on a doll level, but on a creativity and beauty level," she says.

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Gloria Diez, a fellow collector and store owner, worries about the impact on her business.

Diez says she is keeping a close eye on communications coming from her local distributor, fearing an imminent price rise due to market volatility.

She also fears escalating costs on manufacturers and distributors will trickle down to her customers.

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Sony says it has increased the price of its PlayStation 5 console in markets in Europe, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

The Japanese technology and entertainment conglomerate says a "challenging economic environment" is behind the move, citing inflation and fluctuating exchange rates.

The price of a PlayStation 5 console without a disc has risen to 499.99 euros (US$569.59), the company says.

The same device will cost £429.99 (US$566.90) in Britain. According to Reuters, this is an 11% and 10% hike in prices, respectively.

Customers in New Zealand and Australia will see a rise in the price of the same console, along with a standard PS5 with a Blu-ray drive.

The company says there will be some price rises in the Middle East and Africa region, without giving details.

European stock markets have rebounded after the US announced tariff exemptions on some tech goods made with materials from China - including smartphones.

Here's how the major markets are looking (as per a 09:30 BST snapshot):

• Germany's Dax - up 2.39%
• The UK's FTSE 100 - up 1.96%
• France's CAC 40 - up 2.08%

Shares in chip-related companies Infineon, ASML, and BE Semiconductor have also risen by between 2.9% and 4.0% so far today.

And the pan-European Stoxx 600 Technology stocks rose 2.8%.

Dearbail Jordan
Senior business and economics reporter

Image source, Reuters

For a moment there, it looked like there was just the tiniest bit of thawing in US-China tensions over tariffs.

On Friday, Trump announced exemptions for things like smartphones, computers and some electronic devices.

But, of course, it didn’t last.

On Sunday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that these products would be re-examined as part of an investigation into semiconductors which are facing their own tariffs “probably in a month or two”.

Lutnick confirmed that tariffs may on smartphones such as iPhones may be reinstated. “We need our medicines and we need semiconductors and our electronics to be built in America,” he said.