The stock market bled for a third straight day as President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs sent Wall Street into a tailspin, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting 350 points and the S&P 500 teetering on the edge of a bear market—a grim signal that the global economy may be hurtling toward recession.
More chaos erupted after Trump threatened to slap China with an additional 50% tariff, escalating a trade war that has already wiped out trillions in market value and left investors scrambling for cover.
Markets swung wildly on Monday, briefly rallying on a false rumor that Trump might pause his tariffs—only to crash again when the White House dismissed the report as “fake news.”
The whiplash left traders shell-shocked, with the S&P 500 closing down 0.2% and the Nasdaq barely clinging to gains after a day of violent fluctuations. The Dow, however, bore the brunt of the damage, sinking nearly 1% as corporate America braced for what analysts warn could be a “lost year” for earnings.
The turmoil comes just days after Trump imposed his most aggressive tariffs yet—a 34% tax on imports from most trading partners, triggering immediate retaliation from China, the European Union, and other nations.
Now, with the president threatening to raise China’s tariffs to a staggering 104%, economists fear the global supply chain could fracture, inflation could skyrocket, and growth could grind to a halt.
“This is a disastrous policy,” warned veteran Wall Street analyst Ed Yardeni, who says the selloff shows that markets are giving a “big thumbs down” to President Trump’s tariff policy.
“The stock market is screaming that this will end badly,” said Yardeni.
But Trump, ever defiant, dismissed concerns that his tariffs would hurt consumers, calling them “a very beautiful thing.”
In a rambling statement to reporters, he boasted that “virtually every country wants to negotiate” and insisted his hardline tactics would make America “very rich”—even as CEOs, economists, and foreign leaders warned of dire consequences.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon cautioned that the tariffs would slow growth and fuel inflation, while BlackRock’s Larry Fink went further, declaring, “We’re probably in a recession right now.”
Even Trump ally Bill Ackman begged the White House to freeze the tariffs, fearing economic catastrophe.
Yet Trump’s trade czar, Peter Navarro, doubled down in a fiery op-ed, declaring the administration’s tariffs “not a negotiation” and vowing to crush foreign competitors.
“They steal from the American people every which way,” Navarro snarled, dismissing Europe’s offer to eliminate car tariffs as insufficient.
The fallout has been immediate and severe. Asian markets cratered, with Hong Kong’s benchmark index plunging 13% and Taiwan’s dropping 10%. European stocks followed suit, with London’s FTSE 100 and the pan-European Stoxx 600 both collapsing 4.5%. Copper prices—a key economic indicator—tumbled 20%, while Bitcoin crashed below $78,000 as investors fled risky assets.
Now, with Trump openly musing about terminating trade talks with China and slapping even steeper tariffs on allies, the world is bracing for the worst. “The international trade system is broken,” Navarro declared—and under Trump’s doctrine, it may soon be shattered beyond repair.
As markets brace for another brutal day, one thing is clear: Trump’s trade war isn’t just rattling Wall Street—it’s threatening to drag the entire global economy into the abyss.
With no end in sight, millions of Americans may soon learn the hard way that tariffs don’t make a nation rich—they make everything more expensive.