President Donald Trump remained unyielding in his stance on tariffs Monday morning, even as financial markets reacted sharply, with futures for major indexes taking a steep dive.
“Oil prices are down, interest rates are down (the slow moving Fed should cut rates!), food prices are down, there is NO INFLATION, and the long time abused USA is bringing in Billions of Dollars a week from the abusing countries on Tariffs that are already in place,” he posted on Truth Social shortly before 7 a.m.
The president also aimed his ire at China, issuing a pointed response to Beijing’s retaliatory move following his announcement of a sweeping new tariff policy dubbed “Liberation Day.”
“This is despite the fact that the biggest abuser of them all, China, whose markets are crashing, just raised its Tariffs by 34%, on top of its long term ridiculously high Tariffs (Plus!), not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate,” Trump said.
“They’ve made enough, for decades, taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA! Our past ‘leaders’ are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The market responded with alarm. By Monday, futures tied to the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average had plunged over 20% from recent highs.
Since Trump unveiled his latest round of tariffs, the S&P 500 has seen a sharp decline of 10.5% over two trading sessions, wiping out nearly $5 trillion in market capitalization — its worst back-to-back daily drop since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
In remarks to reporters late Sunday, Trump made it clear that market turbulence was a price worth paying and said he would not reenter talks with China until the issue of America’s trade imbalance was resolved.
{Matzav.com}