Investors around the world see only pain ahead as the big expansion of tariffs by the US president threatens a tit-for-tat trade war that could choke the global economy.
Donald Trump’s trade war escalation has sparked a global sell-off, with US markets seeing the biggest declines.
Tech and retail shares were among those worst hit when Wall Street opened for business, following on from a flight from risk across both Asia and Europe earlier in the day.
The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite was down 5.8%, the S&P 500 by 4.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by just under 4% at the height of the declines. It left all three on course for their worst one-day losses since at least September 2022.
Analysts said the focus in the US was largely on the impact that the expanded tariff regime will have on the domestic economy but also effects on global sales given widespread anger abroad among the more than 180 nations and territories hit by reciprocal tariffs on Mr Trump’s self-styled « liberation day ».
They are set to take effect next week, with tariffs on all car, steel and aluminium imports already in effect.
