LONDON (Reuters) - Global stocks eased on Wednesday, but held just shy of record highs as traders cautiously shrugged off U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff threats on auto, semiconductor and pharmaceutical imports.

Since his inauguration four weeks ago, Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on all imports from China, on top of existing levies. He has also announced, and delayed for a month, 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and non-energy imports from Canada.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that sector-wide tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductor chips would start at "25% or higher", rising substantially over the course of a year. He intends to impose similar tariffs on autos as soon as April 2.

Stocks in Europe surrendered early gains, as a rally in drugmakers and miners faded, adding to pressure from a broad-based decline in UK equities after data showed a pickup in British inflation. The STOXX 600 was last down 0.5%, as was the FTSE 100.

But the market reaction to Trump's threats was mostly muted as investors increasingly see them as smaller-scale bargaining tools.

"The global economy and global financial markets are not all about tariffs. They're also mainly about activity, corporate profitability and interest rates, and it's true that tariffs might impact those three elements, but it's mainly in a contained way, based on what we've seen so far," Lombard Odier economist Samy Chaar said.

"(Trump) should be taken seriously - in the end, tariffs will be higher ... however, you also have to do your work when it comes to assessing and evaluating the impact of these tariffs," he said.

Minutes from the U.S. Fed's January meeting, when the central bank held borrowing costs at 4.25% to 4.5%, are due later on Wednesday. That follows hawkish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell in testimony to Congress last week and hot consumer price data.

The dollar edged above two-month lows against a basket of currencies, supported by a degree of unease over bilateral talks this week between the United States and Russia over a possible Ukraine ceasefire that have excluded both Ukraine and European nations.

European leaders vowed to step up support for Ukraine, and the expectation for an increase in defence spending has propelled shares in European arms manufacturers to record highs this week, and pushed up governments' long-term borrowing costs.

Investors also hope this weekend's German election will lead to economic stimulus.

German 30-year bond yields have risen by about 20 basis points in the last two weeks, while those on 30-year U.S. Treasuries have risen by about 17 bps.

Overnight, the U.S. benchmark S&P 500 squeaked past its previous record closing high. Futures on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were down 0.1%, having risen earlier by around 0.1%.

In Asia, investors took profit on some of the recent rally in Chinese tech stocks, which have been on a tear recently since the emergence of AI startup DeepSeek.

"Green shoots are emerging in China's economy and DeepSeek is injecting a shot of adrenaline into the sector," said Thomas Rupf, co-head Singapore and CIO Asia at VP Bank.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed down 0.1%, but is still up 14% so far in 2025, jostling with Germany's DAX index for the title of the best-performing market in the world. [.HK]

In currencies, the New Zealand dollar was 0.1% higher at $0.5722 after the central bank cut interest rates by 50 basis points to 3.75% as expected but hinted its aggressive cuts were set to slow.

Sterling got a brief lift from data that showed a pickup in UK inflation in January, but was last down 0.2% at $1.2585.

Gold shrugged off the stronger dollar and held steady at $2,935 an ounce, just shy of last week's record highs. [GOL/]

(Additional reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Helen Popper)