US stocks dropped sharply on Monday after President Donald Trump gave an update on the trade war.
Major stock indexes fell shortly after Trump said in a post on social media that the US would impose 25% tariffs on goods from Japan and South Korea. In a later slew of posts, the president also said the US would implement a 25% tariff on Malaysia and Kazakhstan, a 30% tariff on South Africa, and a 40% tariff on Laos and Myanmar.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 600 points to a session low in late afternoon trading, while the Nasdaq and the benchmark S&P 500 were both down by over 1%.
Here’s where US indexes stood at 2:40 p.m. ET on Monday:
Trump announced the latest tariffs on Truth Social, publishing letters he sent to the leaders of the various countries on Monday.
The letters came several hours after he threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on nations aligning themselves with policies of the BRICS bloc.
“Please understand that the 25% number is far less than what is needed to eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with your Country,” Trump wrote across the letters, later adding that if any nation were to impose retaliatory tariffs, the amount of those tariffs would be tacked on to the US’s 25% import duty.
“These Tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country. You will never be disappointed with the United States of America,” Trump added.
The president also pushed out the US’s deadline to enforce his original Liberation Day tariffs to August 9, and said more “UNITED STATES TARIFF Letters, and/or Deals, with various countries around the World,” would be delivered in the afternoon.
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Shares of automakers and tech hardware firms saw losses that outpaced those of the broader market.
Here were some other big moves in afternoon trading:
The latest developments are sparking more concern that Trump’s tariffs could end up at a higher level than initially thought, despite agreements struck with China, the UK, and Vietnam. After several weeks of positive updates, markets are now being confronted with the possibility of tariff-related volatility similar to “Liberation Day” on April 2.
“Markets are tilting to a risk-off posture as participants brace for the chance of Trump tariff-sparked turbulence in the coming hours and days,” José Torres, a senior economist at Interactive Brokers, wrote in a note.
Prior to the tariff letters being released, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled that the US would announce more trade deals over the next 48 hours.
“It’s going to be a very busy couple of days,” Bessent told CNBC on Monday, adding that his mailbox had been filled with new offers from other countries.
“It’s just, ‘Thank you for wanting to trade with the United States of America. We welcome you as a trading partner. And here’s the rate, unless you want to come back and try to negotiate,'” he added.
