Financial markets around the world are reeling following President Donald Trump’s latest and most severe volley of tariffs, and the U.S. stock market may be taking the worst of it.
The S&P 500 was down 3.3% in early trading Thursday, more than the losses seen in other major markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,150 points, and the Nasdaq composite was off 4.3%.
Little was spared as fear flared globally over potentially higher inflation and weakening economic growth that tariffs can create. Prices fell for everything from crude oil to Big Tech stocks to small companies that invest only in U.S. real estate.
After the U.S. market closed Wednesday, Trump declared a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries and higher tariff rates on dozens of nations that run trade surpluses with the U.S. Trump says the U.S. will charge a 34% tax on imports from China, a 20% tax on imports from the European Union, and 32% on Taiwan, a crucial supplier of computer chips.
Trump has said he wants tariffs to make the global system more fair and to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. from other countries.
