US equities, cryptocurrencies fall on Trump’s sweeping global tariffs

President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced sweeping new global tariffs that will place a 10% levy on almost all imports, plus higher rates on about 60 countries the administration says have the highest trade deficits with the US. 

Among those countries, China will be hit with a 34% reciprocal tariff, the European Union 20%, Vietnam 46% and Taiwan 32%.

“Foreign nations will finally be asked to pay for the privilege of access to our market, the biggest market in the world,” Trump said Wednesday afternoon during remarks from the White House Rose Garden. “We’re right now the biggest market in the world.” 

Trump said his team determined the “worst offenders” by considering levies, “currency manipulation and trade barriers” foreign nations place on US exports. China, Trump claimed Wednesday, charges a total of 67% on US imports. 

In an effort to bring automobile manufacturing back onshore, a 25% tariff on car imports — which Trump first announced last week — will go into effect tonight at midnight. The administration says additional levies on auto parts will be rolled out in May. 

“Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already,” Trump said. “We will supercharge our domestic industrial base, we will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers.” 

Critics of the policies say tariff hikes will lead to higher prices and reduced consumer spending, which in turn will lower business expansion and investments. Analysts from Goldman Sachs raised their recessionary odds for the next year from 20% to 35% earlier this week. 

After a relatively flat day of trading Wednesday as investors waited for this afternoon’s announcement, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed in the green, gaining 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively. Futures, however, dipped into the red. The S&P 500 slipped almost 2% in after-hours while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.7%. 

Bitcoin and ether, on the other hand, fell in the moments after Trump’s announcement, losing about 2.4%.

Markets had likely priced in reciprocal tariffs between 15% and 20%, Sevens Report Research founder Tom Essaye said Wednesday. 

The Trump administration was tight-lipped about the policies leading up to Wednesday’s announcement. The president was still finalizing plans late Tuesday evening, according to people familiar. 

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