Four months since Trump fired the opening salvo of his trade war, only China and Canada have dared to hit back at Washington imposing a minimum 10 per cent global tariff, 50 per cent levies on steel and aluminium, and 25 per cent on autos.

US Commerce chief Howard Lutnick says the countries with goods being taxed at these rates would be in Africa and the Caribbean.

President Donald Trump may have expected a Russian shudder of fear to greet his threat of “very severe tariffs” on the country if it didn’t agree a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Russia’s crude exports hit a one-month high, driven by a surge in weekly flows that coincided with a sharp drop in refinery runs. The increase came before President Donald Trump’s threat of secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil if Moscow fails to make a swift peace with Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to hit buyers of Russian exports with sanctions unless Russia agrees a peace deal over the conflict in Ukraine, potentially complicating Moscow's oil sales to China,