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European Shares Slump As Trade Worries Escalate

(RTTNews) - European shares traded sharply lower on Wednesday as U.S. President Donald Trump pushed ahead with higher duties on roughly 60 trading partners that he dubbed the "worst offenders."
The latest set of U.S. tariffs, including a massive 104 percent levy on Chinese imports, take effect today, escalating a trade war that has rattled global markets.
Trump also proposed the imposition of a "major" tariff on drug imports in a bid to stimulate domestic drug production and tripled the previously announced tariff rates on low-value packages exported to the U.S. from mainland China and Hong Kong.
The pan European STOXX 600 tumbled 3.4 percent to 470.31 after climbing 2.7 percent on Tuesday to snap a four-session losing streak.
The German DAX lost 3.4 percent, France's CAC 40 shed a little over 3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 2.6 percent.
Commodity-related stocks were coming under selling pressure, with Anglo American falling 2.2 percent, BP Plc tumbling 3.8 percent and Shell losing 2.7 percent.
Oxford Biomedica shares slumped nearly 6 percent. The gene and cell therapy company issued a more cautious outlook on EBITDA after narrowing its net loss in fiscal 2024.
PageGroup shares fell 2 percent. The recruiter opted not to provide financial guidance against an increasingly unpredictable market backdrop.
Assura soared 6 percent after the medical property owner agreed to a 1.61-billion-pound takeover bid from KKR and Stonepeak Partners.