Most papers on Friday morning are splitting their front pages between updates on Donald Trump’s “tariff turmoil” that’s wiped “trillions off global stock markets” and the latest in the Duke of Sussex’s charity row. Dozens of downward sloping charts on the front page of the Guardian illustrate the hit financial markets took after Trump announced a raft of worldwide tariffs on Wednesday night – for Wall Street, that led to its biggest one-day losses since June 2020, during the pandemic.
It’s a “meltdown” over on the front page of the Daily Mail, which reports that that £2 trillion plunge that markets experienced on Thursday has caused “calamity for investments and pensions”.
Cheddar cheese, the i Paper reports, might be spared the “meltdown” that other UK producers are fearful will happen when they’re slapped with new American tariffs of 10%. And that boils down to one harsh truth, Stephen Jones, co-founder of Somerdale, tells the paper: “There are some nice American cheeses, but most of it’s pretty bland and horrible.”
The Financial Times also looks at the products and sectors that will likely face higher prices, but it reports that – contrary to the US president’s promises – the country’s consumers will be the “biggest victims” and will be “paying more for everything from trainers to beer”. Car buyers are in line for a $30bn hit, it adds, while clothing, wine, spirits, luxury goods and flight tickets will all see price increases.
“Britain must copy Singapore”, Jeremy Hunt tells the Daily Telegraph and “resist the siren song” of responding to the US with retaliatory tariffs. In what the paper describes as his “first major intervention since leaving office”, the former chancellor asks that the prime minister model the modern British trading system on its former colonial trading post’s current system. “Make Britain a low-tax nation” suggests Hunt, resurfacing an idea, the paper notes, that gained traction during Brexit debates.
The Daily Mirror similarly gives equal play to Trump’s trade war and a report on the “Harry charity probe” – but also gives readers a taste of what to expect ahead of this weekend’s Grand National Festival
The Metro frontpage headlines its tariff coverage “Donald Slump”. The paper’s lead story focuses on the row engulfing Sentebale, the charity founded by the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, who resigned last week over disagreements with its chair, Sophie Chandauka. She has claimed she made a whistleblower complaint about issues including what she described as an abuse of power, bullying, sexism and racism. “It’s all lies” the paper reports Prince Harry saying in response to Chandauka’s claims.
“Just one day until the big race” tops the front of the Sun, which dedicates most of the page to gearing up for the Grand National. The paper adds that there’s “no lav lost” as the PM is preparing to “back toilet seats” – one of the 8,000 US products the UK is threatening tariffs on.
King Charles III returned to public duties this week, after suffering side-effects from his cancer treatment, the Times reports. It uses most of its front to showcase the smiling monarch at a “flying visit” to the RAF in London. Elsewhere, the paper spotlights an analysis on a “wasted generation”, which found more than half a million young people who are not studying or working “have never had a job”. The PM, the paper reports, has said he was “genuinely shocked” by the figure.
