Stock Market Plummets as Trump Announces Tariffs Start Date

Stocks tumbled on Monday as Donald Trump unveiled new tariff rates for a number of countries, taking a few steps closer, once again, to the brink of a global trade war.

Trump in early April paused a number of hefty planned tariffs from going into effect for 90 days, promising to secure 90 trade deals in that time. The administration had only announced three deals with that deadline—this Wednesday—fast approaching, so Trump this week pushed the deadline to August 1. He also said his administration would announce a combination of tariff letters and trade agreements throughout the week.

Throughout Monday afternoon, the president took to Truth Social to share photos of 14 such letters on Truth Social—and they read not unlike Trump’s wild Truth Social posts. Countries such as Japan, South Korea, South Africa, and several smaller countries were told they will be hit with tariffs ranging from 25 to 40 percent, effective August 1.

“Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal,” stated the letters, which were all identical but for the addressees and rates (leading TNR’s Jason Linkins to dub them “the Lorem Ipsum Accords”). The U.S. trade deficit “is a major threat to our Economy and, indeed, our National Security!” they continue, and the tariffs, Trump warns, “may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country.”

The stock market didn’t take kindly to Trump reviving the prospect of trade war, as the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq fell 0.9, 0.8, and 0.9 percent, respectively.