Equity markets suffered a bloodbath Thursday after Donald Trump delivered a “haymaker” blow with sweeping tariffs against US partners and rivals, fanning a global trade war that many fear will spark recessions and ramp up inflation.
Tokyo’s Nikkei led an Asian selloff, collapsing more than four percent, while US futures plunged, safe haven gold hit a record high and the yen jumped one percent.
The panic came after the US president unveiled a blitz of levies aimed at correcting trade deficits with other countries following what he says has been years of the United States being “ripped off”.
Against a White House backdrop of US flags, Trump announced that “for decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike”.
Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called the “nations that treat us badly,” including 34 percent in new levies on rival China, 20 percent on key ally the European Union and 24 percent on Japan.
A number of other countries will face specifically tailored tariff levels, and for the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10 percent. The US leader also reiterated a plan to enact auto tariffs of 25 percent on Thursday.
Investors are now steeling themselves for any retaliatory measures that could fan the crisis.
“President Trump walked into the Rose Garden and detonated the most aggressive trade shock the market’s seen in decades. This isn’t a jab — it’s a full-on haymaker,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes.
Wall Street “had talked itself into a softer, more symbolic move. Instead, Trump carpet-bombed the global supply chain”.
“This was a ‘shock and awe’ tariffs campaign, dressed up in ‘reciprocity’ language but designed to throttle the trade deficit through brute force.”
He said the measures meant that inflation risks had surged and economic growth expectations would be cut, with the US Federal Reserve “pinned between a hawkish rock and a deflationary hard place”.
As well as Tokyo’s hefty drop, Hong Kong shed more than two percent, Sydney and Seoul gave up more than one percent and Wellington was one percent off.
Wall Street futures were also battered, with the Dow dropping 2.4 percent, the Nasdaq plunging more than four percent and the S&P 500 more than three percent off. European futures were also deep in the red.
Safe havens rallied as traders sought to dump risk assets.
Gold hit a new peak of $3,167.84 and the Japanese yen strengthened to 147.69 per dollar from 150.50 the day before.
