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TrumpCoin cryptocurrency price on Binance website is displayed for illustration photo. Krakow, Poland on Januar 20th, 2025 (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Beata Zawrzel | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Meme coins plummeted over the weekend as President Donald Trump signed long threatened tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, kicking off a trade war that caused investors to dump risk assets worldwide.

Trump’s own meme coin, dubbed Official Trump, launched a little over two weeks ago, was last down 15% to $17, according to CoinGecko. It rallied to a high of about $73 dollars the weekend of its launch before crashing 50% on inauguration day.

The biggest and most popular meme coins, dogecoin and Shiba Inu, lost about 14% each. Pudgy Penguins was down 13%, while dogwifhat tumbled 26%.

Meme coins as a group have dropped 17% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.

The drop began Saturday evening after Trump signed an order imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as a 10% duty on China. The U.S. does about $1.6 trillion in business with the three countries.

“Every coin that recently rallied through January, including memes like [dogecoin], have essentially handed back most of their gains,” said James Davies, CEO and co-founder at trading platform Crypto Valley Exchange.

“Crypto is fundamentally about freedom to make and conduct trades, which runs counter to the global political narrative of the last week,” he added.  “As a community, we are pro free-trade … when that is being restricted many investors are risk-off in terms of their holdings. This massively impacts the alt coin market.”

Meme coins were some of the biggest winners after the U.S. presidential election, with some traders seeing it as a green light for a new crypto craze. Others have become worried that the latest Trump fueled meme mania was becoming too hot, however, and was likely to result not just in pain for investors but misallocation to less valuable projects in the industry.

Bitcoin losses Monday were relatively modest compared to meme coins and other smaller cryptocurrencies further out on the risk curve. It was last lower by just 3%, though it could see more pain in the short term as the trade war triggered by Trump’s tariffs plays out.

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Tesla shares drop 5% on Trump tariffs, decline in vehicle registrations in Europe

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Tesla shares drop 5% on Trump tariffs, decline in vehicle registrations in Europe

Oslo Taxi’s Tesla model Y (L) and the NIO ET5 electric vehicle from Nio Inc, a Chinese multinational electric car manufacturer, drive through the Norwegian capital Oslo, on September 27, 2024.

Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty Images

Tesla shares slid about 5% on Monday after President Donald Trump announced plans for extensive tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China.

The stock was also hit by declining registrations for Tesla vehicles in France, Sweden and Norway. Tesla fell more than its megacap peers, with Apple’s stock suffering the next biggest drop at more than 3%.

President Donald Trump over the weekend slapped 10% tariffs on goods imported from China, where Tesla produces about half its automobiles. While the tariffs are sure to hit all automakers’ supply chains, Tesla operates factories in the U.S., Berlin and Shanghai, enabling it to sidestep some of the challenges faced by other electric vehicle makers.

During Tesla’s earnings call last week, Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja said the company’s profitability could take a hit if the new administration implements tariffs. 

“Over the years we’ve tried to localize our supply chain in every market, but we are still reliant on parts from across the world for all our businesses,” Taneja said. He said the “imposition of tariffs” would “have an impact on our business and profitability.”

As for falling registrations In Europe, the drop was steepest in France, one of the continent’s largest EV markets. Tesla registrations there fell 63% in January from the same month a year earlier, according to data tracked by industry association PFA (Plateforme Automobile). That was a much steeper drop than the decline in electric cars and in overall automotive sales in France.

In Sweden and Norway, Tesla sales for January fell 44% and 38%, respectively, Reuters reported.

In addition to the tariffs and news about declining registrations, Tesla over the weekend also cut lease prices for its base Model 3 sedan and unpainted steel Cybertruck vehicles, according to listings for customers in the U.S. viewed by CNBC.

An independent researcher who publishes his Tesla forecasts under the handle “Troy Teslike” on Patreon wrote, in a post on X, that he only expects Tesla to sell about 21,000 units of its Cybertruck in 2025.

“The order backlog is gone,” he wrote. “Tesla ended 2024 with 10,600 unsold Cybertrucks because of too much production and low demand. The backlog dropped to zero on November 24, 2024, when Tesla’s order page in the US showed that customers could order and take delivery of a Cybertruck on the same day.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a major backer of Trump’s presidential effort, contributing $290 million to Republican candidates and causes in 2024, most of that directed at returning Trump to the White House. Musk also recently endorsed Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

As CNBC previously reported, Musk’s incendiary rhetoric and political activism have contributed to a decline in Tesla’s brand value and reputation. Tesla’s brand value fell 26% in 2024, according to consulting firm Brand Finance.

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Apple shares fall on concern Trump tariffs on China will hit profit

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Apple shares fall on concern Trump tariffs on China will hit profit

Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook attends the China Development Forum in Beijing on March 24, 2024.

Pedro Pardopedro Pardo | Afp | Getty Images

Apple shares fell more than 3% on Monday after President Donald Trump announced 10% tariffs on China, where the company assembles the majority of its products.

Apple’s decline was steeper than all of the tech megacaps, other than Tesla, and shows how vulnerable the iPhone manufacturer could be to increased import costs.

While Apple faced tariffs during the first Trump administration, the company was largely able to avoid fees by securing waivers for its specific products. It also expanded its supply chain to do some assembly in countries like Vietnam, Malaysia and India. But Apple remains reliant on Chinese production.

Apple declined to comment on tariffs. They go into effect on Tuesday.

“Apple being included in China tariffs is contrary to our expectations,” wrote Rosenblatt analyst Barton Crockett in a note on Monday.

Crockett wrote that he expects Apple to pass price increases to the consumer, a move that he said could upset Trump. “We thought history would repeat. But that’s not the case right now,” Rosenblatt wrote.

Last week, Apple reported 4% revenue growth in the December quarter to $124 billion. However, the company guided investors to expect merely “low to mid single digits” growth in the current quarter, and said sales in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong declined 11% in the latest period.

The ultimate effect of the tariffs on Apple’s profit may depend on how much U.S. demand the company can fill from production locations outside of China.

If Apple can source 80% of U.S.-bound devices from outside of China and doesn’t raise prices, it could hurt annual earnings by 5 cents per share, or less than 1%, according to a note on Monday from Bank of America Securities analyst Wamsi Mohan. If half of U.S. Apple devices are from China, it would hurt Apple’s full-year earnings by 12 cents, Mohan estimates.

For the fiscal year ending in September, analysts expect Apple to report earnings of $7.34, according to LSEG.

“As the new tariff is imposed on imports from China, Apple could have its manufacturing partners ramp up production in India and ship to the U.S.,” Mohan wrote. “This could also be done for other Apple products that are manufactured in countries including Vietnam, Malaysia, etc.”

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Temu parent PDD’s stock tumbles as Trump tariffs close trade loophole

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Temu parent PDD's stock tumbles as Trump tariffs close trade loophole

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Shares of Temu parent PDD Holdings slid more than 5% on Monday, after President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement signaled the end of a trade loophole used by the Chinese e-commerce giant and other online retailers.

Trump on Saturday signed executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, while adding an additional 10% levy on goods from China. Trump on Monday agreed to pause tariffs on Mexico for one month, while the import taxes remain in place for China and Canada.

An overlooked provision in the orders eliminates the “de minimis” trade loophole relied on heavily by Chinese online retailers like PDD’s Temu and Shein. The de minimis exemption allows packages worth less than $800 to be shipped into the U.S. duty free. It’s been a critical tool for Temu and Shein as they look to grow their presence in the U.S. by offering rock-bottom prices on everything from clothes and furniture to electronics and home decor.

Lawmakers have zeroed in on de minimis in recent years, arguing it gives Chinese companies an unfair advantage by allowing them to bypass tariffs. Officials have also said de minimis packages are “subject to minimal documentation and inspection,” raising product safety concerns. Trade organizations and advocacy groups have also pushed Trump to curb de minimis shipments because they argue that it has allowed shipments of fentanyl to enter the U.S.

Without that tax advantage, it’s unclear if Temu, Shein and other Chinese e-commerce platforms will be able to keep prices low and sustain the explosive growth they’ve seen in the U.S. in recent years.

Temu and Shein have previously said their business models don’t rely on de minimis. Shein and Temu have opened distribution centers in the U.S., allowing sellers in China to ship goods to the U.S. and store them in local warehouses. It’s more in line with Amazon’s logistics network, which spans hundreds of warehouses across the U.S.

That may not be enough to soften the blow of the removal of de minimis. In a note to clients on Sunday, analysts at Citi estimated Temu’s local warehouse program remains a small portion of its overall business.

“Although Temu’s efforts in ramping up its local warehouse/semi-managed model over the past year could help mitigate some of the tariff risks, we estimate the [gross merchandise volume] from local warehouses might have contributed 20%+ to U.S. GMV by end-2024,” the analysts wrote. They added, “We believe the new tariffs will still have a negative read-through to Temu’s growth in 2025 and beyond.”

The end of de minimis could also dampen Temu and Shein’s digital ad spending, as they look to “offset concerns on rising product costs,” Bank of America analysts wrote Monday in a note to clients. Shein and Temu have been significant contributors to Meta‘s advertising revenue in recent quarters. The companies have gone on a digital marketing blitz in an attempt to reach more American consumers.

“Meta’s 10-K indicates that revenue from China-based advertisers represented 11% of Family of Apps revenue (vs 6% in 2023), and we estimate Temu and Shein exposure could be 2-4% of ad spend for Google and Meta,” the Bank of America analysts wrote.

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