President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he would be imposing broad new tariffs, referring to April 2 as “Liberation Day” for American companies. But financial markets are so far reacting with shock.
Trump declared a state of emergency in order to put in place 10% across-the-board tariffs on all imported products, in addition to targeted tariffs on specific countries in Asia and Europe. CNBC reported that Trump’s 46% tariff on goods imported from Vietnam is specifically wreaking havoc on the apparel sector. The furniture and toy sectors are also being impacted by the new trade duties.
And while Trump made his Rose Garden announcement at 4 PM — after markets closed — after-hours trading immediately plummeted. Stocks for major importers like Nike and General Motors dropped by 6% and 3% respectively, according to CNBC. Major tech stocks like Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla all saw declines in after-hours trading as well. Investors and financial commentators on social media were aghast as markets immediately responded to Trump’s new tariffs.
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“These are not small numbers,” tweeted Charles Schwab & Co. chief investment analyst Liz Ann Sonders, when reacting to the chart Trump unveiled showing the tariffs he was imposing on various countries.
“Gotta be honest, never thought I would see a president actively try to hurt the economy and stock market,” tweeted financial podcaster and author Ben Carlson.
Bloombrg podcaster Joe Weisenthal was similarly shocked at the announcement, posting to X that Trump’s speech was “one of the most memorable news events, where a policy announcement made the stock market tank in such a direct way.”
Weisenthal wrote “wow” when he retweeted X user @MerruX, who wrote: “apparel stocks getting destroyed” and that “clothing will take forever to reshore” given that most apparel companies opt to have their products made in Asian countries where wage requirements are far lower than in the United States. His tweet showed stocks for top apparel companies like Nike and Lululemon dropping precipitously. And one Reddit user active on the popular WallStreetBets subreddit lamented that Trump “literally just destroyed the economy … Inflation is going to skyrocket and everything just got more expensive.”
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