Markets react to Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs as stocks plunge globally

• Global markets plummeted after Trump announced sweeping tariffs on all trading partners.
• Wall Street is already hurting after its worst quarter since 2022 amid tariff whiplash.
• Gold hit new highs as investors looked for safe havens amid the uncertain impact of an escalating trade war.

Global markets tumbled Wednesday after President Donald Trump unveiled his long-anticipated tariffs in an address at the White House Rose Garden, sending shockwaves through stock indexes and hammering shares of companies reliant on global supply chains.

US stock futures, which indicate the direction of the market once regular trading commences on Thursday, reacted instantly. S&P 500 futures fell as much as 4%, while Nasdaq 100 futures tumbled more than 4.7%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average cratered over 1,000 points at one point.

Yeap Jun Rong, a market strategist at IG, described the tariffs as a "major shock."

"Pre-announcement speculations pointed to a flat universal tariff in the 15-20% range, but the final outcome proved far more hawkish —while the universal tariff was set at 10%, many countries faced significantly steeper rates, which were out of market expectations," Yeap wrote in a Thursday note.

Asian markets also sold off following Trump's tariff announcements as the region is particularly hard hit by the new levies.

The region's largest economy, China, faces 54% levies, including 34% in reciprocal tariff announced on Wednesday and pre-existing duties of 20%.

This sent Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index falling as much as 2.4% while China's CSI 300 lost as much as 1.1%.

US allies Japan and South Korea face 24% and 25% in reciprocal tariffs, respectively. Japan's Nikkei 225 was 3% lower by 2 p.m. local time, while South Korea's Kospi was down 0.7%.

Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Stock Index tanked over 6% on Thursday while Thailand's SET Index was slightly lower.

The new set of tariffs could push countries around the world into recessions, wrote Olu Sonola, the head of US economic research at Fitch Ratings, in a note on Wednesday.

Consumer-focused companies were walloped

Fueled by anxiety over Trump's often on-again, off-again tariff policy, Wall Street is already licking its wounds after wrapping up the worst quarter since 2022.

Share of companies reliant on global supply chains were hit hard.

In after-hours trading, shares of Apple, Walmart, and Nike dropped 7%, while Amazon fell 6%. Nvidia, which relies on overseas manufacturing for some of its advanced chips, was down almost 6%.

Speaking about the after-hours market reaction, CNBC host Jon Fortt said he had "never seen anything like it."

"This — I think, fair to say — is worse than the worst-case scenario of the tariffs that many in the market expected the president to impose," said Fortt.

Gold hit a fresh record of nearly $3,160 an ounce as bullion — one of the few commodities exempted from the tariffs, according to a White House factsheet — and rose as much as 0.8% at Thursday's open in Asia. Spot gold was last trading around $3,130 per ounce at 2:16 a.m. ET. Investors have flocked to the precious metal in 2025 in a flight to safety amid rising macroeconomic uncertainty.

Mexico and Canada were not hit with any fresh tariffs, though previous ones remain in place. Goods from Mexico and Canada that meet the requirements of the USMCA trade agreement will also generally still be exempt from tariffs, with the exception of auto imports, as well as steel and aluminum, which are subject to earlier tariffs implemented in March.

It's unclear how the administration calculated the tariffs other countries impose on the US, or if the tariffs are truly "reciprocal." There is no official record showing the European Union has a 39% tariff on US goods, or that Japan has a 46% duty on products from the US, among the dozens of other figures unveiled Wednesday.