Worldwide stock markets have experienced a significant decline for the second consecutive day due to the repercussions of Donald Trump’s global tariffs. While European and Asian markets saw noticeable losses, American indexes were hit the hardest, with Wall Street ending in the red on Friday following a tumultuous Thursday – the worst trading day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
As it unfolded: Worst week’s trading in five years
All three major US indexes closed down by over 5% at the end of the trading day; the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped by 5.82%. The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, indicating a bear market.
Read more: What’s a bear market?
Since the announcement of tariffs by the US president on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that approximately $4.9 trillion (£3.8 trillion) has been wiped off the global stock market value. Despite the market struggles, Mr. Trump remained unapologetic, declaring on Truth Social before the market closure that «only the weak will fail.» The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its most significant daily decline in over five years, ending 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020. Additionally, the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at the close of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Trump engages in trade deal discussions – reports
Reports have surfaced indicating that Mr. Trump has been engaged in talks with Vietnamese, Indian, and Israeli representatives to negotiate custom trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before an upcoming deadline next week. The talks are being held in anticipation of the reciprocal levies taking effect soon. Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports are subject to a 17% rate, and Indian goods will face 26% tariffs.
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China, hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods, has retaliated by announcing its own levy of the same rate on US imports. Mr. Trump criticized China, stating they «played it wrong» and «panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do» in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday. Subsequently, while on Air Force One, the US president mentioned that the tariffs provide negotiation leverage, referring to discussions with Chinese company ByteDance regarding the sale of the social media app TikTok.
Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
The president noted, «We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’ The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.»
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