A new round of sweeping tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump has sent shockwaves through global financial markets, triggering one of the sharpest downturns since the onset of the pandemic. As fears of an escalating trade war mount, both stock markets and cryptocurrencies have tumbled, with investors pulling back amid uncertainty over U.S. economic policy.
In the hours following Trump’s announcement of blanket 10% tariffs on all imports, with steeper rates targeting specific countries, Dow futures dropped over 1,100 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures sank 3.9% and 4.7% respectively. Though U.S. markets had closed higher earlier in the day, investor sentiment turned sharply negative once details of the tariffs were revealed.
The decline was mirrored across Asian markets, where Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged by 8%—triggering circuit breakers—while South Korea’s KOSPI and China’s Shanghai Composite fell 4.6% and 5.8%, respectively. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also slid 2.4%. Taiwan, which had just reopened after a holiday, witnessed over 1,000 companies hitting limit-down levels.
Leading U.S. tech companies were not spared in the after-hours fallout. Apple, heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing, fell more than 7%. Tesla, Amazon, Nike, and Walmart also suffered steep losses. Analysts at Wedbush Securities described the tariff rollout as “worse than the worst-case scenario,” pointing to the 54% reciprocal tariffs on China as particularly severe.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency markets were caught in the turmoil, as Ethereum dropped 20% to $1,450—its lowest since 2023—while Bitcoin fell 10% to around $74,700. Over $890 million in crypto positions were reportedly liquidated in just 24 hours. Analysts noted that digital assets tend to react earlier than traditional markets to geopolitical shifts, signalling broader risk-off behaviour.
Peter Chung of Presto described the situation as a shift to a “Sell Now, Think Later” mindset, with traders exiting even promising assets. Market volatility has also led to sharp drops in commodities, with copper down 3% and oil falling over 4%, before recovering slightly.
European indexes followed suit, with London’s FTSE 100 falling 4.4%—its lowest in over a year. Markets in Paris and Berlin also closed significantly lower.
However, the White House has attempted to placate investor’s reactions to President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs, as Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt urged them to “trust in President Trump,” insisting the move reflects his successful first-term economic playbook. President Trump has brushed off the turmoil, declaring confidently, “The markets are going to boom… it’s going to be unbelievable.”
