US stock indices fell on Friday amid renewed concerns about a vicious global trade war.
Apple’s stock price tumbled over 2% after Trump threatened 25% tariffs on any iPhones not made in the US, representing the first such focused threat on a single company.
Trump also complained that dealing with the EU is proving very difficult, and recommended imposing 50% tariffs on the EU starting June 1
The new moves come in a time when trade tensions diminished somewhat after a brutal cycle of fear and concerns in April that almost pushed S&P 500 into bearish territory, before Trump paused most reciprocal tariffs.
Investors were returning to the “Buy America” mindset after the US made trade deals with China and the UK with hopes of even more deals to come, but recent measures by Trump damaged such expectations.
Before Friday’s losses, the main indices were already starting to fall due to concerns about higher US treasury yields, with the S&P 500 falling 2% this week, and Dow Jones losing 1.9%, while NASDAQ gave up 1.5% so far since Monday.
Earlier on Thursday, the House of Representatives passed Trump’s massive tax reform bill, and sent it to the Senate, with concerns growing about the massive cost of the plan to the debt burden.
On trading, Dow Jones fell 0.9% as of 14:42 GMT to 41,474 points, while S&P 500 shed 1%, or 61 points to 5780 points, as NASDAQ added 1.3%, or 237 points to 18,670 points.
