NEW YORK, April 3 — Wall Street stocks finished higher yesterday following a volatile session ahead of US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcements, while European stocks ended the day lower.

After initially retreating ahead of Trump’s "Liberation Day” of new trade levies, US indices forged higher during the session amid hopes that markets have oversold in anticipation of the plan.

But more ups and downs appeared to lie ahead, with US futures moving decisively lower late yesterday afternoon as Trump announced the plan.

The dollar also retreated against other major currencies, while safe haven gold jumped.

"For traders and investors, today represents a day of huge uncertainty as we weigh up the potential for retaliatory tariffs and a tit-for-tat trade war,” said Joshua Mahony, analyst at traders Scope Markets.

Global equities have been hit hard leading up to Trump’s announcement, with allies and competitors alike in the crosshairs after what he says is years of "ripping off” the United States.

Against a White House backdrop of US flags, Trump reiterated that message, saying "for decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike.”

Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called the "nations that treat us badly,” including 34 per cent in new levies on rival China, 20 per cent on key ally the European Union and 24 per cent on Japan.

A number of other countries will face specifically tailored tariff levels, and for the rest, Trump said he would impose a "baseline” tariff of 10 per cent.

The US leader also reiterated a plan to enact auto tariffs of 25 per cent to begin today.

Global stock markets were mixed ahead of yesterday’s announcement.

After Tokyo’s stock market closed up slightly and Chinese indices steadied, European equity markets dropped, led lower by Frankfurt.

There had been some hope among investors that Trump’s announcement might at least address the uncertainty that was roiling the markets. Investors will now prepare for potential counteractions from US trading partners.

Economists have warned that economic growth could take a hit and inflation reignite, dealing a blow to hopes that central banks would continue cutting interest rates.

Among individual companies, Tesla jumped 4.7 per cent following a report that chief executive Elon Musk would soon exit or significantly scale back his controversial work for Trump to shrink the US government.

Prior to the report, shares in the electric vehicle manufacturer had fallen following weak first-quarter auto sales.

However, Tesla futures were down 5.6 per cent in after-hours trading, joining a broad pullback in US futures. — AFP