GLOBAL shares crashed back into the red on Monday, as US President Donald Trump came back from the weekend after Thanksgiving having decided to impose tariffs on Brazilian and Argentinian metals.
Any aluminium and steel coming into the US will once again be charged tariffs, after Mr Trump ended his exception for the two countries.
He accused the countries of manipulating their currencies.
It took the wind out of the sales of European markets, initially helped by better-than-expected Purchasing Managers' Indexes on the continent.
"Mr Trump seems to have missed the point that the reason the currencies of both Brazil and Argentina are weak is not down to any deliberate or cunning plan on the part of either government, but merely because both their respective economies are in big trouble due to bad governance," said Michael Hewson, the chief market analyst at CMC Markets.
"Unfortunately, little details like that don't appear to register with this particular president, which as an exercise in economic illiteracy, is hard to beat."
The FTSE 100 fell 0.82% to 7,285.94. Germany's Dax dropped much sharper, at 2.05%, while the French Cac index was down 2.01%.
The pound reached 1.2933 against the dollar, a 0.19% rise. Against the euro it was down by 0.32% to 1.1678.
In company news, private equity firm Douglas Bay Capital Fund (DBAY) has called for the backing of Eddie Stobart shareholders ahead of a crunch vote over its £55 million bid to buy the trucking firm, saying the move is needed to "safeguard jobs".
DBAY has agreed to buy a 51% stake and take control of the Carlisle-based logistics firm.
Online supermarket and tech firm Ocado launched a £500 million bond to fund new warehouses and expansion into global markets.
Bosses said bondholders will receive between 0.75% and 1.25% interest per year and are set to be repaid in full in 2025.
Bosses at Ted Baker uncovered that the fashion brand's inventory has been overstated by between £20 million and £25 million.
The board has brought in lawyers and independent accountants to assess the issue, which the company insisted will have no cash impact and only relates to previous years.
Oil standard Brent crude jumped in price by 1.2% to $61.22 per barrel.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Flutter Entertainment, up 124p to 8,924.00p, Imperial Brands, up 19.8p to 1,723.00p, Auto Trader, up 6.4p to 568.40p, Tesco, up 2.1p to 231.50p, and Anglo American, up 16p to 2,042.50p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Ocado, down 98p to 1,227.00p, Burberry, down 99p to 2,005.00p, Segro, down 31p to 863.00p, Tui, down 36p to 1,027.50p, and Vodafone, down 4.98p to 148.38p.
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