 "US markets plunge as Trump calls tariffs 'a beautiful thing to behold', refuses trade concessions")
Wall Street prepared for large losses at the start of the week due to Donald Trump’s harsh tariffs on US exports, as oil prices fell despite countries striving to reach an agreement with the obstinate president.
Trump rejected Sunday that he was deliberately planning a market selloff and argued that he could not predict market reactions, saying he would not reach a deal with other countries unless trade disparities were resolved.
“Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he remarked of the market suffering that has reduced the worth of US corporations by trillions of dollars since the start of his tariff onslaught.
Speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One, he stated that he had met with foreign leaders on the subject over the weekend to seek a resolution, adding that “they’re dying to make a deal.”
Futures contracts for the New York Stock Exchange’s major boards were substantially down on Sunday, implying further pain for bruised Wall Street equities when markets start Monday, as US oil fell below $60 per barrel for the first time since April 2021.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.56 percent about half an hour after trading reopened at 2200 GMT, while the wider S& P 500 index was down 3.85 percent.
‘Deals and alliances’
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel – which has been hit with 17 percent tariffs, despite being one of Washington’s closest allies – will fly in for crunch talks with Trump Monday on the levies.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsBritain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned in a newspaper op-ed that “the world as we knew it has gone,” saying the status quo would increasingly hinge on “deals and alliances.”
Trump’s staggered deadlines have left space for some countries to negotiate, even as he insisted he would stand firm and his administration warned against any retaliation.
“More than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation,” Kevin Hassett, head of the White House National Economic Council, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday, citing the US Trade Representative.
Vietnam, a manufacturing powerhouse that counted the US as its biggest export market in the first quarter, has already reached out and requested a delay of at least 45 days to thumping 46 percent tariffs imposed by Trump.
Hassett said countries seeking compromise were doing so “because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariffs,” as the administration continues to insist that the duties would not lead to major price rises in the United States.
“I don’t think that you’re going to see a big effect on the consumer in the US,” he said.
‘Markets bloodbath’
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also told NBC’s Meet the Press that 50 countries had reached out.
But as for whether Trump will negotiate with them, “I think that’s a decision for President Trump,” Bessent said.
“At this moment he’s created maximum leverage for himself… I think we’re going to have to see what the countries offer, and whether it’s believable,” Bessent said.
Other countries have been “bad actors for a long time, and it’s not the kind of thing you can negotiate away in days or weeks,” he claimed.
Despite hopes for negotiations to avert the worst economic carnage, there was widespread fear that the markets bloodbath could continue into the new trading week.
In Saudi Arabia, where the markets were open Sunday, the bourse was down 6.78 percent – the worst daily loss since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to state media.
Larry Summers, formerly Director of the National Economic Council under president Barack Obama, said “there is a very good chance there’s going to be more turbulence in markets the way we saw on Thursday and Friday.”
Peter Navarro, Trump’s tariff guru, has pushed back against the mounting nervousness and insisted to investors that “you can’t lose money unless you sell,” promising “the biggest boom in the stock market we’ve ever seen.”
Russia has not been targeted by the latest raft of tariffs, and Hassett cited talks with Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine as the reason for their omission from the hit list.
On Wednesday a White House official suggested the reason for Russia’s omission was because trade was negligible thanks to sanctions.
Trump has long insisted that countries around the world that sell products to the United States are in fact ripping Americans off, and he sees tariffs as a means to right that wrong.
“Some day people will realize that Tariffs, for the United States of America, are a very beautiful thing!” Trump wrote on Truth social Sunday.
But many economists have warned that tariffs are passed on to consumers and that they could see price rises at home.
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