US customs agents began collecting President Donald Trump's unilateral 10% tariff on all imports from many countries today, with higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners due to start next week.

It took just one 50-minute speech by US President Donald Trump to undermine global economic stability and raise the prospect of a recession, with China's countermeasures only amplifying the risk of a debilitating tit-for-tat trade war. But it said things could get worse if a tit-for-tat trade war began, and on Friday China announced retaliatory tariffs on US goods of 34 percent.

US President Donald Trump's widest-ranging tariffs to date took effect Saturday, in a move which could trigger retaliation and escalating trade tensions that could upset the global economy.

U.S. customs agents began collecting Trump's unilateral 10% tariff on all imports from many countries.

The initial 10% “baseline” tariff took effect at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT).

Global markets plunged as Trump’s tariffs triggered a trade war escalation with China. The Dow fell over 2,000 points, crude prices tumbled, and investors feared an impending global recession.

Everything from crude oil to Big Tech stocks to the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies has fallen.

Following the US-China trade war, global investment firm J.P. Morgan said it now sees a 60% chance of the global economy entering recession by year end, up from 40% previously.

Even as Trump's trade policies led to a bloodbath and panic not only in the US but global markets across Europe and Asia, a defiant Trump told his followers on Truth Social that it 'is a great time to get rich.'

A 10 percent "baseline" tariff came into place past midnight, hitting most US imports except goods from Mexico and Canada as Trump invoked emergency economic powers to address perceived problems with the country's trade deficits.

President Donald Trump goaded a "panicked" China on Friday after the chief US economic rival retaliated against his tariffs and he dismissed stock market panic over the growing global trade war, touting the chance to "get rich."