
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that foreign countries will have to pay “a lot of money” in order to revoke the sweeping reciprocal tariffs on imports imposed last week. On the massive sell-off, Trump said he wasn’t concerned as nearly $6 trillion in value has been wiped out from the US stock market since last week. “I don’t want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something. We’re going to become a wealthy nation again, wealthy like never before,” he said. Trump’s comments came as global financial markets appeared on track to continue sharp declines once trading resumes Monday.
‘Liberation Day’ decree: Donald Trump imposed sweeping new tariffs on all trading partners causing global market turmoil and swift condemnation from allies and adversaries and tit-for-tat retaliation from China. All countries have been slapped with a 10 per cent ‘baseline’ tariff, with several others hit with varying levels of ‘retaliatory’ tariffs. Trump insists the policy will deliver “historic” results — but global businesses are already feeling the pressure.
Market in turmoil: Trump’s announcement on Wednesday sent shockwaves through global stock markets. Wall Street plunged on Friday, erasing $5 trillion in market value from S&P 500 companies by the close of trading on Friday — marking a record two-day loss. Oil and commodity prices also tumbled as investors rushed toward the relative safety of government bonds. This came after steep losses in Asian and European markets.