Donald Trump, the 47th US president’s promise of running the US economy, the largest in the world on tariffs, appears to be taking shape, as Donald Trump has confirmed that the tariffs on Canada and Mexico will commence on Tuesday.
Trump’s Tariffs To Go Ahead
Donald Trump had threatened Canada and Mexico, two of the US’s closest allies and biggest trading partners, with a blanket 25 per tariff, meaning tax on imports from Canada and Mexico, at the time he took office.
Trump, however, decided to refrain from pulling the trigger by putting the tariffs on hold for a period of a month.
Now, that period has expired, and Trump has decided to go ahead with tariffs on the US’s neighbour to the north and south.
In addition, it is also being reported that Trump may impose another 10 per cent tariff on China, in addition to the existing 10 per cent that was imposed last month.
This has drawn a sharp reaction from the equity markets in the country. The US markets that closed last week on a positive note, with major gains closed in red, tanking by over 1 per cent across the board, and across different indices on NYSE.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
When we look at the specifics, Dow Jones Industrial Average, the oldest of all the indices, closed in red with losses of 1.48 per cent or 649.67 points.
The decline was more acute towards the end of the day, as the index closed at 43,191.24 points.
S&P 500
The S&P 500 had even steeper decline on Monday, as the index collapsed to 5,849.72 points.
This came to pass after a decline of 1.76 per cent or 104.78 points by the end of the day.
Nasdaq Composite
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was not spared yesterday, that is on March 3, as the index also collapsed.
In fact, it suffered the most with a mammoth decline of 2.64 per cent or 497.09 points, taking its cumulative to 18,350.19 points.
Russell 2000 Index
The Russell 2000 index, which is house to the medium-scale companies of the United states also saw a slip in its value.
The index dropped in value by 2.81 per cent or 60.83 points, slumping to 2,102.24 points.
