Donald Trump has ruled out pausing the sweeping tariffs he has imposed on countries across the world after a rollercoaster day on Wall Street that ended with most of the US markets down.
Intense swings were seen on the three main stock market indexes on Monday as economists fear the US president’s “Liberation Day” levies could cause a global recession.
The S&P 500 closed the day 0.23% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.91%, and the Nasdaq ended in positive territory, up 0.10%.
Image: A screen shows trading of the S&P 500 Index after the closing bell. Pic: Reuters
All three indexes started the day sharply lower, and the Dow plunged as many as 1,700 points following even worse losses elsewhere in the world.
But it suddenly surged to a gain of nearly 900 points in the late morning. The S&P 500, meanwhile, went from a loss of 4.7% to a leap of 3.4%, which would have been its biggest jump in years.
The sudden rise appears to have been the result of a social media post that incorrectly claimed that Kevin Hassett, White House National Economic Council director, said Mr Trump was considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China.
Reports first emerged through the US business news channel CNBC.
The White House later told CNBC any talk of a 90-day pause was “fake news”.
Image: A trader on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange. Pic: AP
Financial pain hammers investments around the world
The financial pain once again hammered investments around the world, with stocks in Hong Kong plunging 13.2% for their worst day since 1997.
Meanwhile, the UK’s benchmark stock index, the FTSE 100, closed 4.38% down.
It is one of the biggest drops in years, in line with the falls seen in the early days of COVID-19 lockdowns, but less steep than the 4.95% loss seen on Friday.
Only a handful of the 100 most valuable companies listed on the London Stock Exchange saw any boost to their share price all day.
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
When asked in the Oval Office on Monday evening whether he would pause tariffs, Mr Trump said: “We’re not looking at that.”
The president added that affected countries have been negotiating with his administration, which he said will try and make “fair deals” with each of them.
“We’re going to get fair deals with every country and if we don’t they are not going to be able to participate with the US,” he added.
Mr Trump also claimed the US “has been ripped off by many countries over the years”, adding: “We can’t do it anymore. We can’t be the stupid people anymore.”
Image: Donald Trump is seen on the television as traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange. Pic: AP
Trump threatens additional 50% tariff on China
It came after the US president threatened in a post on his Truth Social platform that he would impose an additional 50% tariff on China if the nation does not withdraw its 34% retaliatory tariff.
Beijing imposed the duty after Mr Trump announced his tariff on China last week.
The US president added in his Truth Social post that Beijing has until Tuesday to remove its retaliatory tariff.
Some investors are holding onto hope that Mr Trump may still lower his tariffs after negotiating with countries, and Mr Trump said on Sunday that he has heard from leaders “dying to make a deal”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:42
Trump’s tariffs: What you need to know
‘Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something’
A drop in tariffs relatively soon could help avoid a recession, but whether that can happen is still uncertain.
On Sunday, Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he does not want markets to fall. But he also said he was not concerned about a sell-off, saying “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something”.
Mr Trump has given several reasons for his stiff tariffs, including to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, which is a process that could take years.
The US president has said he wanted to bring down the numbers for how much more the United States imports from other countries versus how much it sends to them.
Image: A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange. Pic: Reuters
“The recent tariffs will likely increase inflation and are causing many to consider a greater probability of a recession,” JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon wrote in his annual letter to shareholders on Monday.
“Whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth”, added Mr Dimon, who is one of the most influential executives on Wall Street.
The trial of a dentist accused of murdering his wife by poisoning her protein shakes has begun in the US state of Colorado.
James Craig denies using cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient in over-the-counter eye drops, to kill Angela Craig in a suburb of Denver.
During the trial’s opening statements on Tuesday, prosecutors claimed the 47-year-old was having an affair with another dentist, had financial difficulties and may have been motivated by the payout from his wife’s life insurance.
Image: Angela and James Craig with their six children. Pic: NBC
Assistant District Attorney Ryan Brackley told the jury at Arapahoe District Court that the 43-year-old victim – who had six children with her husband – had been suffering worsening symptoms including dizziness, vomiting and fainting.
She died in March 2023 during her third trip to the hospital that month.
Mr Brackley accused Craig of poisoning her protein shakes – then giving his wife a final dose of poison while she was in hospital, and said: “He went in that [hospital] room to murder her, to deliberately and intentionally end her life with a fatal dose of cyanide … She spends the next three days dying.”
Craig, who shook his head at times during the prosecution’s opening statement, has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including first-degree murder, solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit perjury.
More on Colorado
Related Topics:
Prosecutors said Craig had tried to make it appear his wife of 23 years had killed herself. His internet history showed he had searched for “how to make a murder look like a heart attack” and “is arsenic detectable in an autopsy”.
In an argument, captured on home surveillance video, his wife also accused him of suggesting to hospital staff that she was suicidal.
Image: Ryan Brackley claimed James Craig administered poison to his wife while she was in hospital. Pic: Denver Gazette/ AP
After Craig’s arrest in 2023, prosecutors alleged that he had offered a fellow prison inmate $20,000 (£14,993) to kill the case’s lead investigator and offered someone else $20,000 to find people to falsely testify that Angela Craig planned to die by suicide.
Craig’s attorney, Ashley Whitham, told the jury to consider the credibility of those witnesses, calling some “jailhouse snitches”.
Ms Whitham argued that the evidence didn’t show that he poisoned her, instead seeming to suggest she may have taken her own life.
Image: Ashley Whitham, defending Craig, argued that the evidence didn’t show that he poisoned his wife. Pic: Denver Gazette/AP
She described Angela Craig as “broken”, partly by Craig’s infidelity and her desire to stay married, since they were part of The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints.
Hospital staff had said Craig had been caring and “doting” while Angela Craig was in the hospital, said Whitham.
Follow The World
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
The defence argued prosecutors had overdramatised Craig’s financial problems and dismissed the prosecution’s suggestion that Craig was motivated to kill because of an affair he was having with a fellow dentist from Texas.
“That’s simply not the case,” Whitham said, adding that Craig had many affairs over the years that his wife knew about. “He was candid with Angela that he had been cheating.”
Mr Trump is expected to travel to Scotland in the coming weeks to visit his golf courses ahead of an official state visit in September.
“We’re going to be meeting with the British prime minister, very respectful, and we are going to have a meeting with him, probably in Aberdeen, and we’re going to do a lot of different things.
“We’re going to also refine the trade deal that we’ve made.
“So we’ll be meeting mostly […] at probably one of my properties, or maybe not, depending on what happens, but we’ll be in Aberdeen, in Scotland, meeting with the prime minister.”
Image: Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House. Pic: Reuters
The UK and US signed a trade deal earlier this year that reduced car and aerospace tariffs, but questions have remained about a promise from Washington to slash steel tariffs.
In May, the White House said it would exempt the UK from plans for a 25% tariff on global steel imports but that is yet to be ratified and the levy has since been doubled on all other countries.
Mr Trump had insisted that unless Britain could finalise the details of a metals trade deal with the US by 9 July, when wider “Liberation Day” tariff pauses were expected to expire, he would slap the UK with a 50% rate as well.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:49
Who will be positively impacted by the UK-US trade deal?
However that pause was extended until 1 August, with the US president saying nations would instead get letters informing them of his plans.
Downing Street is still hoping it can secure 0% tariffs on steel.
Spotify
This content is provided by Spotify, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spotify cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spotify cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spotify cookies for this session only.
On Tuesday, a Downing Street spokesperson played down the significance of the meeting in Scotland, stressing it was a private trip so it “will not be a formal bilateral”.
Since taking office in January, Mr Trump has imposed tariffs on countries across the world in a bid to boost domestic production and address trade deficits.
As well as sector specific tariffs, there is a baseline tariff of 10% for most other imports, though some countries face higher rates.
The UK was the first to hash out a deal on exemptions after a successful charm offensive by Sir Keir.
Mr Trump has praised the PM, telling the BBC earlier on Tuesday: “I really like the prime minister a lot, even though he’s a liberal.”
There are also plans for Scottish First Minister John Swinney to meet Mr Trump during his trip.
It will be followed by the official state visit between 17-19 September, when Mr Trump will be hosted by the King and Queen at Windsor Castle and accompanied by his wife Melania.
It will be Mr Trump’s second state visit to the UK, having previously been hosted during his first term in 2019.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukrainehas asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
Later on Monday, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Mr Trump and said he was “grateful” for the US president’s “readiness to help protect our people’s lives”.
Analysis: Will Trump’s shift in tone make a difference?
As ever, there is confusion and key questions are left unanswered, but Donald Trump’s announcement on Ukraine and Russia today remains hugely significant.
His shift in tone and policy on Ukraine is stark. And his shift in tone (and perhaps policy) on Russia is huge.
After criticising Vladimir Putin’s “desire to drag it out”, he said he appreciated “preparing a new decision on Patriots for Ukraine” – and added Kyiv is “working on major defence agreements with America”.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump over Mr Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down”from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:28
Trump threatens Russia with ‘severe’ tariffs’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call”, but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.