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Wall Street took a serious tumble Monday as President Donald Trump reiterated his plan to levy 25% tariffs on imports from neighboring Canada and Mexico beginning Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 648.87 points (-1.48%) to 43,192.04 after swinging over 1,000 points on the day – from up more than 200 points earlier in the day to down 900 at one point shortly before closing. The Nasdaq fell 2.64% while the S&P 500 dropped 1.76%.
The wild swing came while Trump was addressing questions about tariffs from the White House. Traders were hoping for another extension on the deal as tariff wars are generally considered bad news for investors.
“No room left for Mexico or for Canada,” Trump said. “Reciprocal tariffs (on all nations) start on April 2 … but very importantly, tomorrow, tariffs, 25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico, … will start.”
The comments sparked a widespread selloff of stocks and even impacted cryptocurrency as Bitcoin dropped 9%, erasing earlier gains under Trump’s second administration. The tariffs are expected to specifically impact the automobile industry.
