The market tumbled as the trade war between the two biggest economies in the world, the United States and China, escalated.
After China tightened its rare earth export regulations, US President Donald Trump threatened to slap Beijing with 100% tariffs “over and above” current rates.
The Republican president, in a mid-morning Friday, October 10, post on his social media platform, Truth Social, said that he will make a “massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products” to “financially counter”China’s new rare earth minerals export controls.
The 79-year-old wrote, “Some very strange things are happening in China! They are becoming very hostile and sending letters to Countries throughout the World, that they want to impose Export Controls on each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China.”
Later, shortly before 5pm, he announced a 100% levy and an export control on “any and all critical software” from November 1. He also warned that any further actions depend on China, Independent reported.
After Trump’s announcement, the stock kept dropping all day, and the US market recorded a significant downturn on Friday. The S&P 500 fell by 2.71%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 878 points, and the NASDAQ Composite declined 3.58% by the end of the trading day ahead of the weekend.
