By targeting allies and neighbours with tariffs, the US is playing into the hands of China. “Our strategy on tariffs will be to shoot first and ask questions later.” That was what one of Donald Trump’s key economic policymakers told me late last year.

China has imposed targeted tariffs on US imports and put several companies, including Google, on notice for possible sanctions, in a measured response to the sweeping duties on Chinese imports imposed by President Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to talk in "the next couple days," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.

The European Union wants to engage swiftly with the United States over President Donald Trump's planned tariffs, trade chief Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday, while his boss Ursula von der Leyen forecast negotiations with Washington would be tough.

America's closest neighbors and allies are racing to respond, or bracing for impact as Trump orders big tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China.