US President Donald Trump has confirmed that there are no plans to suspend global tariffs despite another day of turbulence in global stock markets.
When asked by a reporter in the oval office if a tariff suspension would be opened to allow negotiations, Trump replied. “We haven’t seen that. There are many countries that negotiate a deal with us, and they’re going to be fair and they’ll definitely pay a fair amount of tariffs.”
Trump’s comments follow a major shaking day in the US stock market after the US president threatened to raise more tariffs despite his clear desire to take an opposing approach.
The S&P 500 down 0.2% the day after a series of dramatic reversals as investors tried to decipher Trump’s ultimate goal in the trade war.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 349 points (0.9%), while Nasdaq composites increased 0.1%.
All three indexes dropped sharply over the day, with the Dow sinking up to 1,700 points after adding sharp losses overseas. However, in an unexpected twist, it rebounded near 900 points of profit by late morning. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 surged from a loss of 4.7% to a profit of 3.4%.
The sudden rally was sparked by false rumors that Trump was considering suspending 90-day tariffs. This is an allegation that the White House was quickly dismissed as “fake news” for X.
The fact that such rumors could turn trillions of dollars into investments underscores Wall Street’s hopes Trump will ease tariffs.
The stock soon became negative again, and soon Trump reaffirmed his stance, indicating that he could increase Chinese tariffs in response to the country’s retaliation measures last week.
In Europe, all the largest stock markets have been closed at over 4%, and Spanish financial experts say there is a strong reason to fear a global recession after the IBEX 35 index closed at a 5.12% drop.
On the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the DAX was just below 18,500 points just after 9am, marking a drop of over 2,000 points from Friday’s level. However, as the trading day progressed, DAX was able to recover a significant portion of that loss, falling by around 1pm.
The panic spread across the Warsaw Stock Exchange just after 9am, plummeting around 6%, along with similar indicators from the main index and other European markets. This exceptional drop highlighted concerns about President Trump’s tariffs and the possibility of a serious impact on the global economy with losses ranging from 3% to 9%.
However, after the first wave of nervous sales, the market began to stabilize in the coming hours. Early panic subsided, with some of the big companies even posting profits.
By around 1pm, the Warsaw Stock Exchange terms had improved significantly, with the WIG20 Index (a key benchmark for the Polish Stock Exchange) keeping the loss at just 1%.
