Trump Accelerates Stock Market Drop on Tariff Threats

President Donald Trump said he means it this time. The Republican has spent much of the past two months threatening to implement tariffs only to (with one exception) back down or delay in his usual brinkmanship-style of negotiating. But on Monday, he said his pledged levies against Canada and Mexico—America’s biggest trading partners—will most definitely happen tomorrow. Markets took him at his word and dropped sharply, with the S&P 500 seeing its worst selloff of the year.

If Trump, 78, were to change his mind again, perhaps now would be a good opportunity to buy the dip. Indeed, one of his aides said over the weekend that the 25% figure associated with the planned tariffs might change. (Trump has also promised another 10% on top of the 10% tariff he already imposed on China.)

Uncertainty has been the watchword when it comes to the US economy of late: Just the possibility of a regional or global trade war appears to be doing damage. And after two weeks of mostly foreboding data about rising inflation and unemployment in what a few months ago was a churning economy, Monday brought more grim news—this time for industry.