Pick your battles, Donald? Global markets crash after Trump threatens tariffs on EVERYONE

Stock markets around the world tumbled following US President Donald Trump’s latest tweets, reigniting fears about global trade tensions.

Wall Street closed one percent lower on Monday, after Trump said he would target Europe again over the Boeing-Airbus subsidies’ dispute. He also announced steel and aluminum tariffs for Brazil and Argentina. The US government said it may also slap punitive duties of up to 100 percent on $2.4 billion in imports of French Champagne, handbags, cheese and other products due to France’s new digital services tax. The levy could harm US tech companies, Washington said.

European shares posted their biggest daily drop in two months. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed provisionally down by 1.6 percent, with all sectors and major bourses deeply in the red. The German DAX was down about two percent before rebounding on Tuesday.

Stocks in Asia mostly fell on Tuesday, led by Australia with its S&P/ASX 200 dropping 2.19 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 0.17 percent while the Nikkei 225 in Japan closed 0.64 percent lower.

Trump’s tweets triggered selling that accelerated on the weaker-than-expected data, said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at Forex.com in London.

He told Reuters: “It’s a number of reasons coming in all at the same time. But with the stock markets at record high levels, this is always going to happen. Markets go up in stairs and then on the way down, it’s an elevator.”

Trump arrived in the UK on Monday for a three-day visit, which will include the NATO summit.

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