Washington, DC – March 12 : President Donald J Trump meets with Ireland’s Prime Minister Michael Martin in the Oval Office at the White House on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures were down sharply again on Wednesday after China announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in the latest escalation of global trade tensions.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 427 points, or 1.1%. S&P 500 futures slid 0.7%, and Nasdaq-100 futures inched down 0.2%.
China announced it will impose an 84% levy on U.S. goods starting Thursday. This comes after U.S. tariffs of 104% on Chinese imports took effect shortly after midnight.
Stock futures extended their losses Wednesday morning after Scott Bessent stated the Chinese government doesn’t “want to come and negotiate.”
“They are the worst offenders in the international trading system. … I can tell you that this escalation is a loser for them,” Bessent told Fox Business News.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon also commented that a U.S. economic recession is “a likely outcome” from Trump’s tariffs, adding on to rising fears of an economic contraction on Wall Street.
“When you see a 2000-point decline [in the Dow Jones Industrial Average], it sort of feeds on itself, doesn’t it,” Dimon said on Fox Business’ “Mornings With Maria” show. “It makes you feel like you’re losing money in your 401(k), you’re losing money in your pension. You’ve got to cut back.”
Ford Motor shares fell more than 2%, while General Motors shed 1%.
U.S. tariffs on imports from other countries also took effect. Canada reconfirmed Tuesday plans to put into effect 25% retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles. This includes vehicles that aren’t compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, in addition to non-Canadian and non-Mexican content of USMCA-compliant fully assembled vehicles brought into Canada from the U.S.
“Our base case is tariffs will, over time, drift lower than today’s level but stay off the charts – at the highest levels of our lifetimes,” Piper Sandler analyst Andy Laperriere wrote on Tuesday. “They are more likely to go higher in the near-term, though there could be some deals (probably minor ones) in the near term, too.”
Anxiety around the rollout of the tariffs has fueled a four-day rout for stocks. The volatility continued on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 up more than 4% at one point before ending the day with a loss of 1.6%. The 30-stock Dow climbed 3.9% at its high for the day but ultimately fell 0.8% at the end of trading. The broad market index is nearly 19% off its record high.
The S&P 500 over the past five trading days.
Over the course of four days, the Dow has lost more than 4,500 points, while the S&P 500 has sustained a 12% loss. The Nasdaq Composite is down more than 13% in that period.
The worries have rattled bond markets too. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield spiked more than 10 basis points higher to 4.37% on Wednesday. Earlier in the week, it hit a low below 4%.
