When Donald Trump completed his speech at the White House on that spring afternoon markets worldwide went through financial turbulence and the actual crisis started immediately.
Standing in the Rose Garden, the former U.S. President delivered what he described as a “long-overdue correction” to America’s foreign trade policies.
With confidence and conviction, he dubbed it “Liberation Day” a declaration that the U.S. would no longer bow to international trade pressures.
The economic situation had already started to crash before the public learned about it as Trump promulgated his new policies under a false patriotism banner.
The worldwide financial trading arenas began showing signs of disturbance to analysts as Trump was delivering his speech.
The announcement that followed sent immediate financial tremors throughout global markets until it hit short-term market value by $2 trillion.
Within the first 25 seconds after the announcement the U.S. stock market lost $2 trillion through what became an extreme market reaction.
Major U.S. markets suffered severe declines when S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost 4.8% and 6% of their value and the Dow Jones dropped by over 1,600 points.
The British FTSE 100 index lost 1.3% while the German DAX fell 1.6% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped by 3.3% in global markets during the crisis.
Trump enacted 34% higher tariffs for Chinese imports as well as 20% for Europeans along with 24% against Japanese products while establishing a universal 10% duty on all non-US imports.
The global reaction was fierce. Europe warned of a “strong plan” for retaliation. Canada pledged immediate countermeasures.
And China bluntly said protectionism leads “nowhere.”
Portfolio manager Adam Hetts told The Guardian: “Eye-watering tariffs on a country-by-country basis scream ‘negotiation tactic,’ which will keep markets on edge for the foreseeable future.”
“The real question,” he added, “is how much tolerance there is for true economic pain as negotiations unfold.”
American technology companies endured severe declines when their share prices dropped by 7% for Apple and Tesla lost 8% before Nvidia fell by 5.6%.
The globe witnessed gold prices reach their peak value to $3,167.50 during overnight trading when investors moved their funds to risk-free assets.
The U.S. dollar suffered a loss of 1.1% against international currencies causing a six-month low to appear within a brief period.
Trump insists the move is “going very well,” but with hedge funds now shorting luxury and automotive stocks, the markets say otherwise.
A large number of people no longer wonder about the arrival of a recession since they observe the present economic condition.
Feature Image Credit: (CNN)
