US stocks slid Monday as investors braced for President Donald Trump’s
proposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China to go into effect by the midnight deadline.
The Dow tumbled 750 points, or 1.72%, in afternoon trading. The broader S&P 500 fell 2% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.9%.
“Tomorrow, tariffs — 25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House. “And that’ll start. … What they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs.”
The VIX, Wall Street’s fear gauge, surged to its highest point this year after Trump’s comments.
US stocks are “likely to be volatile” until Trump’s policies points toward being more growth-focused, said Jason Draho, head of asset allocation for the Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management, in a note Monday.
Draho said he does expect future growth and maintains a “positive medium-term outlook.”
The stock market began to slide Monday morning to begin the new month, as investors digested the latest manufacturing survey from the Institute for Supply Management. The survey showed economic activity in the manufacturing industry remained in expansion territory, yet slowed last month. Tariff fears dominated write-in responses to the survey.
“Customers are pausing on new orders as a result of uncertainty regarding tariffs. There is no clear direction from the administration on how they will be implemented, so it’s harder to project how they will affect business,” said one survey respondent.
Markets slid further Monday afternoon after Trump posted on Truth Social that he plans to implement tariffs on “external product
,” potentially including agricultural products. It was not immediately clear how these tariffs would be implemented.
“To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!” Trump said in the post.
The sentiment driving markets on Monday was “fear,” according to CNN’s Fear and Greed Index.
The stocks dragging markets lower on Monday included Nvidia (NVDA), which was down 7% in afternoon trading.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury slid to 4.18%, signaling concerns about uncertainty and future economic growth.
Meanwhile, shares in defense companies in Europe soared to record highs on Monday as European leaders consider the need to re-arm amid less US support for Ukraine.
WTI crude, the US benchmark, fell 2.4% after OPEC announced it would begin producing more oil in April.
