Stocks set to resume slide as Trump tariffs take effect

President Donald Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs are now in place, dealing a thunderous blow to the world economy as he pushes forward efforts to drastically reorder global trade.

His latest tariffs push levies imposed on China this year to as high as 104%, along with import taxes on roughly 60 trading partners that run trade surpluses with the US. That comes after a 10% baseline tariff for most US trading partners took effect Saturday.

Asian countries are bearing the brunt of the measures, with Cambodia and Vietnam facing 49% and 46% charges, respectively. Imports from the European Union will be taxed at a 20% rate.

European and US stock futures tumbled this morning, triggering a renewed selloff across global financial markets.

Contracts on the Euro Stoxx 50 sank 4% at 7:50am in Paris, suggesting the region’s equities were set to resume their decline after a brief rebound Tuesday. The bounceback followed Europe’s biggest four-day drop since the covid-19 pandemic.

The slump in global equity indexes has spread to US government bonds as the Trump administration hiked trade tariffs to a 100-year high and ratcheted up pressure on China. Europe now faces an added 20% levy.

Bloomberg