Dow opens down 450 points after Trump threatens China tariffs
When President Trump threatened tariffs against China on Sunday, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures promptly dropped 500 points. And, as expected, the Dow opened down 450 points on Monday.
Trump issued the warning in a Sunday tweet, saying that a 10 percent tariff China was paying on "$200 billion of other goods" would be raised to "25 percent on Friday." Other goods currently going untaxed would also see a 25 percent charge, Trump said, questionably suggesting that these new tariffs would continue America's "great economic results."
After Dow futures dropped as much as 550 points following the tweet, with CNBC attributing it to a loss of "recent optimism that the world’s two largest economies were close to a resolution to their trade battle." The market then opened down 450 points on Monday, but soon recovered to only be down 250 points from its Friday closing point.
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The massive point drop likely reflected traders' sheer surprise at Trump's Sunday tweet. Trump said as recently as two days ago that China trade negotiations were going "very well," but then said in his Sunday tweet that they were happening "too slowly." As part of those trade talks, the Trump administration notably avoided discussing China's alleged human rights abuses against its Uighur Muslim minority.
