BBC: World reacts to Trump's tariffs

In this program is Trump restructing the global economy.

Hello, I'm Georgie. 

And I'm Beth. 

In this program, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it. 

And you can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode, as well as the worksheets on our websites, BBC learningenglihs.com. 

So let's hear more about this story. 

Global stock markets are in shock. After US presidents, Donald Trump introduced a new wave of global tariffs that's taxes placed on goods imported into the US from other countries. 

The baseline tariff for all countries is 10%.

But there are extra tariffs on 60% countries that Trump calls the worst offenders. These are countries that have been charging higher tariffs on US goods going into their countries. 

Trump has also put 104% tariffs on goods from China, the world's biggest exporter. 

In the days after Trump announced the new tariffs stcok markets in the US and in the UK had some of their worst one day falls since the begining of the Covid Pandemic in 2020.

And our first headline is about the stock market. This one is from Reuters, Stocks tumble again as US hits China with 104% tariffs, treasuries  slammed. 

And that headline again from Reuters, stocks tumble again as US, hits China with 104% tariffs, treasuries slammed. 

Now this headline is about the stock markets falling. And Beth, we are looking at this word tumble. What can you tell us?

Well, if something tumbles, it falls. Um, but it's not any kind of fall. It's quite a dramatic gall, and it has this idea of. Rolling continously and quite fast. 

Yes. When I hear tumble, I think of a hill and I have this memory of when I was a child, um, I was on a walk with my family and I tripped on a rcok and tumbled down the hill. Once I started rolling, I couldn't stop. 

Oh no. So that is the literal meaning. Um, but we can also use tumble for numbers and statistics when things go down dramatically. 

Yes, like in the headline, the stocks tumble again. It means they're falling again. 

And just a note, we can use tumble as a verb to tumble and as a noun, a tumble. So sometimes if you fall, you might say you took a tumble. 

We've had tumble fail. 

For example the song was number one in the charts last week, but this week it's tumbled outta the top 10.

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines. Today we are talking about the world's reaction to Trump's tariffs. 

There have been different reactions from countries around the world. Some are playing nice, hoping for a positive result. 

For example, a couple of days ago, European Commission President Ursula v Lyon said Europe was ready to negotiate with the US, offeringa zero for zero deal on industrial goods.  Meaning neither party will impose tariffs on the other. 

Now China, in contrast, is playing a different game, a game of retaliation and resistance. 

Yes. On Monday morning, China announced that it was responding to Trump's 34% tariff increase with an additional 34% of its own. 

And Trump has now placed an additional 50% tariff on China, taking China's tariffs to 104%.

China says it will fight to the end.