Trump threatens ‘obnoxious’ tariffs as UK and EU seek clarity on trade deals

US president suggests trade war could escalate as administration says it will stop collecting levies ruled illegal by supreme court

• Stock markets stumble as global trade faces more Trump tariff uncertainty

Donald Trump has declared that he can use tariffs in a much more powerful and obnoxious way", as the UK and the EU said they were seeking urgent clarity on the US trade deals they struck last summer.

Trump threatened to escalate his global tariff war on Monday, after a supreme court ruling last week that he had overstepped his legal authority to impose his liberation day" measures last year.