Trump tariffs live updates: Trump threatens additional tariffs on China, markets remain jittery

President Trump doubled down on tough trade talk with China Monday, stating that he is prepared to nearly double the duties on China if it does not remove retaliatory measures immediately.
Trump posted on social media: “… if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th.”
Trump’s new threat, added to existing tariff plans, would put the US tariff rate at 104%
Trump also said that his administration would close the door to further trade talks with China, stating “their requested meetings with us will be terminated!” But negotiations with other countries will begin immediately, Trump added.
US stocks swung wildly on Monday morning after speculation of a 90-day pause in reciprocal tariffs.
National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett’s remarks in an interview with Fox News that some countries had approached the US with some “great” deals appeared to be the catalyst.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) popped on the news after opening in the red. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) spiked as much as 4%.
The White House quickly moved to shut down that headline, claiming that the pause rumors were “fake news.” That, in turn, sent stocks into negative territory once again.
The incident highlighted that investors were keen for a reprieve in the tariffs, which have fueled an intense stock market rout over the past three days. At last check, the major indexes remained choppy but were trading below the flat line.
Read more about today’s market action as tariff chaos grips Wall Street.
President Trump said the US is speaking with countries worldwide as global trade reordering sets in.
“Countries from all over the World are talking to us,” Trump posted on social media. “Tough but fair parameters are being set.”
The president also stated that Japan is sending a “top team” to negotiate a new trade agreement and called out trade with China as a major sticking point.
Markets in Asia retreated sharply on Monday as Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 (^N225) slid into a bear market, as did the Hang Seng (^HSI) in Hong Kong.
You can read more about the intensifying tariff-fueled market sell-off here.
According to reports in the Financial Times on Monday, the EU has decided to drop bourbon from its retaliatory tariff list against the US This move follows heavy lobbying from France, Italy, and Ireland, which aimed to protect their alcohol industries amid the escalating trade war.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with metals industry representatives on Monday and planned a follow-up discussion with the automobile sector. The calls focused on strategizing responses to US tariffs.
Reuters reports:
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Wall Street analysts are scrambling to dial back their optimism on US stocks, as Trump’s broad tariff plans send shockwaves through global markets and stir fears of a major economic shakeup.
Bloomberg News reports:
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Japan’s PM Shigeru Ishiba is set to speak with President Trump Monday, making a final push to soften a looming 24% tariff. The high-stakes call comes as Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbles into bear market territory, rattled by fears of a deepening trade war.
Bloomberg News reports:
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Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has announced plans to head to America in the near future to broach a tariff deal with President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg reports:
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Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, President Trump said sometimes you have to “take medicine” when asked about the market’s recent sell-off, according to Reuters.
“I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” Trump said.
The president added that his policies were not intentionally trying to engineer a market sell-off.
Trump’s comments come as markets appeared set to begin the week where they left off Friday, with US stock futures down sharply across the board with Nasdaq 100 futures off more than 4% and futures tied to the Dow and S&P 500 both off more than 3.4%.
Last week, the Nasdaq closed in a bear market and the S&P 500’s losses reached 17% from the benchmark index’s record high hit back in February.
This weekend, Trump’s economic surrogates attempted to make clear in media appearances that the president’s shock tariff announcements last week were not a negotiation tactic.
Speaking Sunday evening, the president said no deal on tariffs with China would be forthcoming unless the US’ trade deficit with China was fixed. The US trade deficit with China reached $295 billion last year.
Trump added that he has spoken to leaders in Europe and Asia regarding his tariffs unveiled last week.
After US stock market futures plunged on Sunday evening, President Trump posted:
US stock futures plunged Sunday evening, setting up Wall Street for another bruising day on Monday as markets braced for more fallout from President Trump’s fast-moving tariff policy.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) plummeted around 4%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq (NQ=F) lost 4.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) sank 3.7%.
Read more here.
Goldman Sachs’ chief China equity strategist Kinger Lau published a cautious take on China’s stock market in a new note.
“China equity’s resiliency thus far perhaps reflects: a) the possibility for the two sides to negotiate which might lead to subsequent tariff rollbacks; b) the potential for Chinese policymakers to intensify easing impetus; and, c) record-breaking pace of Southbound buying which has reached US$64 billion year to date,” Lau wrote.
“But with the US-China policy calendar still looking active in the coming weeks and the bilateral trade tensions escalating, we reiterate our view that the bull run will slow on event risks and profit-taking pressures, and now believe that the market may test our risk-case valuations in the short term until trade and policy clarity emerges, and/or a new tariff equilibrium is reached.”
It has been a busy weekend for the Street, with a lot of research teams working double time to estimate the impact of Trump’s new tariffs on companies and sectors (and then calm clients down, to the extent they can).
One note that caught my attention on Sunday is from EvercoreISI’s beverage analyst Robert Ottenstein ahead of Corona maker Constellation Brands (STZ) reporting earnings this coming Friday.
Here’s Ottenstein:
“Our first blush estimate, with no guidance from STZ yet, leads us to believe the most likely outcome is a $0.25-0.40 hit to STZ’s earnings. Assuming the company is USMCA compliant, the tariff impact results from the new 25% tariff on beer and empty aluminum cans, and just on the aluminum. We estimate STZ’s cost for an aluminum can ranges between $0.06-0.08/can, suggesting a $0.015-0.02 tariff impact/can. If that’s the case, we believe that STZ would probably absorb the impact of the tariff given current general beer demand weakness and that the tariff impact is relatively manageable in size.”
Constellation Brands will be in the unenviable position of being the first large company to put finer details on the tariff impact to investors.
Trump administration officials are making the rounds on Sunday morning to back the president’s position and provide more information as markets prepare to reopen after a historically bad week.
Speaking to ABC News, U.S. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett claimed that “more than” 50 countries had already reached out to the White House to begin trade talks. Asked about a video claiming the president was purposely “crashing the stock market by 20%” that Trump’s Truth Social account shared on Friday, Hassett said: “He’s not trying to tank the market. He’s trying to deliver for American workers.”
Speaking to NBC News, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated: “I see no reason that we have to price in a recession.”
Speaking to CBS, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick asserted that the tariffs “are definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks. That is sort of obvious. The president needs to reset global trade.”
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he hopes U.S. President Donald Trump will ease tariffs imposed on Israel when the two meet in Washington this week.
Under a sweeping new tariff policy announced by Trump, Israeli goods face a 17% U.S. tariff. The U.S. is Israel’s closest ally and largest single trading partner.
Netanyahu, who has spent the last few days visiting Hungary, departs for Washington on Sunday for an impromptu visit with Trump that is expected to take place on Monday, officials said.
He said in a statement that the talks will cover Israeli hostages still held in Gaza after 18 months, achieving victory in Gaza and the tariff regime on Israel.
“I hope that I will be able to help on this issue. That is the intention,” Netanyahu said of the tariffs. “I am the first international leader, the first foreign leader, who will meet with President Trump on the issue, which is so important to the Israeli economy.”
Read more here.
With President Donald Trump imposing a 20% tariff on all imports from Europe as part of his “Liberation Day” announcement, producers of Italian wines and US importers are worried things will already get worse for their businesses, Reuters reports.
Italy imports more wine to the US than any other country; last year it sold $2.2 billion to the US, which represents 25% of its total global exports:
Read more here.
(Bloomberg) — China investors are bracing for a grim Monday as the nation’s markets return from an extended weekend and factor in its retaliation to US tariffs.
A gauge of Chinese stocks listed in the US plunged 8.9% on Friday, the most since October 2022, amid global market turmoil after Beijing announced 34% tariffs on all imports from the US. That came during a holiday for Chinese and Hong Kong equities, which will restart trading on Monday.
A fall of similar magnitude in the local shares could put multiple Chinese equity gauges — such as this year’s top major global performer, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index — into a technical correction, and in some cases close to a bear market.
Read more here.

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