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US stock futures plunged after President Donald Trump announced 10% tariff on all US trading partners, sending shockwaves through markets and the global trade order.
Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) tumbled 2.4%. Futures attached to the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) plunged 3.6%. Futures attached to the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (NQ=F) sunk 4.5%.
Suspense over Trump’s long-promised reciprocal tariffs had been building for weeks. Stocks rose on Wednesday ahead of the announcement, but as Trump spoke from the Rose Garden, holding a poster displaying which countries would face what levies, stock futures quickly began to tumble.
Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs
The president said that a universal tariff rate of 10% would be applied to all countries, but nations that are considered “bad actors” would see much higher rates. The baseline tariffs will take effect on April 5 at 12:01 a.m. ET and the individualized tariffs will begin April 9 at 12:01 a.m. ET.
In total, some 185 counties are impacted by the tariffs, and the new duties set the US tariff rate at its highest level in over 100 years.
Wall Street is continuing to digest how the tariffs could impact specific companies, but businesses with significant China exposure have so far stood out. China is getting slapped with an additional 34% tariff on imports to the US, which raises the country’s overall rate to 54%.
Apple (AAPL) stock fell sharply after the bell on fears the levies could upset the tech giant’s supply chain. Nvidia (NVDA) and other chip stocks also tumbled amid concern the cost of the AI trade could go up. Finally, Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), and Nike (NKE) took a hit too as the retailers brace for higher prices.
Looking ahead, analysts will be busy trying to figure out where the economy could go next, and what it can withstand, in the wake of the new trade order. Some say, however, that despite the full extent of Trump’s trade policy finally becoming known, the shift is so major that only more uncertainty lies ahead.
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Trump touts Big Tech’s domestic investments: ‘They don’t want to pay the tariffs’
As markets sold off late Wednesday, President Trump touted the domestic investments from Big Tech as companies like Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA), and others pledge billions to expand their respective footprints in the United States.
“Apple is going to spend $500 billion. They never spent money like that here,” Trump said, referencing the company’s plans to invest in its US operations over the next four years, which will include plans to build a new manufacturing factory, double its advanced manufacturing fund, and hire 20,000 people.
Apple (AAPL) shares still fell over 7% in after-hours trading given its exposure to countries set to be hit by increased tariffs.
Trump added that Apple’s investment will be matched by Oracle (ORCL), ChatGPT creator OpenAI, and Japanese conglomerate SoftBank (9984.T) — a nod to the $500 billion ‘Stargate’ AI venture announced earlier this year.
At the time, Trump claimed the venture would create “over 100,000 American jobs almost immediately.”
Plus, “Nvidia, a hot company, is investing hundreds of billions of dollars” into the US supply chain, Trump said. And “TSMC — the biggest and most important company in the world of chips from Taiwan — with no investment from us, is investing $200 billion.”
TSMC (TSM) announced last month that it plans to invest an additional $100 billion in advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the US. This is in addition to its ongoing $65 billion investment in its manufacturing operations in Phoenix, Ariz.
“They said the reason was No. 1, the election on Nov. 5. And No. 2, the tariffs,” Trump said. “They don’t want to pay the tariffs. And the way they’re not paying it is to build their plants here.”
Similar to Apple and other Big Tech players, semiconductor stocks also dropped in after-hours trade with Nvidia falling 5% while Broadcom (AVGO) and Intel (INTC) dropped 5% and 4%, respectively.
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Apple, chip stocks leads tech declines
Tech stocks sold off following Trump’s sweeping tariff announcements. Apple (AAPL) led the declines as shares fell over 7% in after-hours trading.
Apple’s overseas production hubs are particularly vulnerable, given the iPhone maker’s presence in countries like China, Vietnam, and India. These countries will face 34%, 46%, and 26% tariffs, respectively.
“Apple produces basically all their iPhones in China, and the question will be around exceptions and exemptions on this tariff policy if those companies are building more operations, factories, and plants in the US like Apple announced in February,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to clients on Wednesday.
Chip stocks also faced significant pressure, given the exposure to China and Taiwan supply chains. Nvidia (NVDA) stock slipped 5%, while TSMC (TSM) and Broadcom each dropped around 5%.
“The worry will be around pricing and margin impacts along with what this means for the global supply chain looking forward,” Ives said.
For now, the analyst believes major negotiations will happen over the coming months as companies attempt to navigate “this new world of tariffs.” Until then, he warned, “tech stocks will clearly be under major pressure.”
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‘Worse than expected’: Wall Street reacts to Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff surprise, stocks sink
President Trump surprised markets again on Wednesday, announcing steep reciprocal tariffs on a range of trading partners in addition to a “baseline” reciprocal tariff rate of 10% in a move that sent markets tumbling.
“The tariffs were definitely worse than we had anticipated,” Deutsche Bank senior US economist Brett Ryan told Yahoo Finance.
For example, Chinese imports are set to be hit by a 34% tariff while imports from the European Union will be dealt 20% tariffs. Trump said the tariff calculations were actually only “half” of what they could’ve been had the administration chose to match White House estimates of how other countries tariff the US.
Stocks sold off sharply following Trump’s announcement.
The decline in US stock futures was led by Nasdaq 100 futures, which were down more than 4.5% near 6:15 p.m. ET. S&P 500 futures were down 3.5% while contracts tied to the Dow were off closer to 2.2%.
