In tumultuous trading on Monday, stocks dropped in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.
The S&P 500 as a whole dropped 0.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%. 1.2% was lost by the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100. Wall Street’s fear barometer, the Cboe Volatility Index, which predicts significant market swings, surged past 18 and approached two-year highs.
Gold reached a record high of $2,818.27 an ounce. Following a sell-off that lasted through the night and into Monday morning, bitcoin prices also increased.
With a 10% levie on Canadian energy imports, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all commodities imported from Canada and Mexico, the two biggest trading partners in the United States, on Saturday. A 10% tax on all Chinese-sourced goods was also announced by him.
Trump said late Sunday that the tariffs might cause some “pain” for American consumers, but that it would be “worth the price.”
On Tuesday, they were supposed to go into effect. Trump declared that the tariffs on Mexico would be lifted by Monday at noon.
The tariffs, according to some GOP leaders, were negotiating ploys. “I believe that these tariffs specifically, Kristen, are meant to bring Canada and Mexico to the table for the fentanyl that is streaming into our communities,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker.
The truth is that these nations have been exploiting us while fentanyl is flooding into our nation, he continued. Mexico, then, has an option. They have the option of sticking close to the cartels or trading with the US. It’s quite easy.