Trumponomics Watch: Trump’s Tariffs Are Terrible
“Stock futures fell and oil prices rose Sunday after the U.S. imposed sweeping tariffs on imports from major trading partners, jolting Wall Street’s outlook for the American economy,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Futures linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite led the declines, falling by more than 2%, while the S&P 500 slipped by 1.6%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid by about 1.1%, or around 500 points.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 421 points, or 1%, to 44,123 in early morning trading. The broad-based S&P 500 lost 1.5%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index tumbled 1.8%.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump signed an executive order that imposes 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, while adding an additional 10% levy on goods from China. Hours later, Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs of its own, while Mexico said it was also planning to issue tariffs on the U.S. as well, adding to the potential fallout from a trade war with two of the U.S.’ closest trading partners.
Mr. Trump’s announcement prompted some economists to project that the stiff new tariffs could dampen U.S. economic growth and cause an increase in job losses.
“This development came sooner than we anticipated in our baseline forecast and will lead us to downgrade our 2025 global forecast,” Oxford Economics wrote in a Feb. 3 research note. “The latest set of tariffs will lead to weaker GDP growth, higher unemployment, higher interest rates, and higher inflation this year in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. than in our January baseline forecast.”