Wall Street is desperate for clarity on tariffs as President Donald Trump prepares to lay out his “Liberation Day” trade strategy on Wednesday.
Trade war fears and confusion have rocked markets for weeks. US stock futures are pointing to a modestly lower open on Wednesday, hours before Trump’s Rose Garden event on tariffs.
“I’m not sure we’re going to be liberated from all the uncertainty,” Sonders said.
The Schwab executive said that even once the broad trade plan is announced, key questions will remain, including how consumers and businesses will react, what happens to inflation and what the Federal Reserve will do in response.
Still, market veterans told CNN said that if Trump announces tariffs short of the worst-case 20% universal tariff, US stocks could experience a short-term relief rally.
“Better or worse often matters more than good or bad when it comes to short-term market reactions,” Sonders said.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management, told CNN that Wall Street is bracing for a “sledgehammer, not a scalpel” on “Liberation Day.” He said investors have been frustrated by the “haphazard” way tariffs have been rolled out by Trump.
“It seems like they’re making the rules up as they go along, and that’s probably not far from reality,” Hogan said.
