Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reaffirmed the Trump administration’s commitment to implementing reciprocal tariffs on major U.S. trading partners, despite significant backlash from global markets. During a recent press briefing, Lutnick emphasized that the tariffs, which were announced by President Trump on April 2, will take effect as scheduled on April 9.
The White House has repeatedly and unequivocally ruled out any further delays in the implementation of these tariffs. Despite the change of leadership, they’re holding to their timeline. Lutnick stated, “The tariffs are coming. He announced it, and he wasn’t kidding. The tariffs are coming. Of course they are.” In fact, just a few weeks ago, Trump announced a 10% tariff on all goods imported from 57 counting major trading partners. Yet despite good intentions to stimulate American enterprise, the decision led to fears of starting new trade wars.
Financial analysts have responded vocally and negatively to these new developments. In the wake of the announcement, global markets went into a downward spiral, wiping out about $7.46 billion of their market value. The S&P Global Broad Market Index took a large hit. Investors quickly moved to price in the expected tariffs and their potential impact on our country’s trade relationship with the rest of the world.
Lutnick pointed out that the tariffs will remain in place for days, if not weeks. It illustrates the administration’s deep commitment to adhering to its preferred trade policies. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent then made the same point. As for the tariff’s implementation, he insisted that the administration will “stay the course” and doesn’t intend to change or postpone the tariff rollout.
The economic consequences of these tariffs reach far beyond the United States. Global stock markets have been on serious sell-off since the April 2 announcement. This reaction demonstrates how investors are growingly worried about the economic impacts of this sudden shift in trade policy. These three data points—market capitalization—were key in assessing the impact of these retaliatory tariffs, and all credit for their provision goes to S&P Dow Jones Indices. They described the broad ramifications from this ruling.
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