• 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.

• US stock futures and Asian markets rose after Trump's commerce secretary hinted at some tariff compromises.
• Trump reimposed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico after pausing the plan for a month.
• Markets closed lower for a second consecutive day as the Nasdaq and S&P 500 saw significant declines.

US stock futures ticked up on Tuesday night, indicating a pickup after sharp falls during the day.

The futures market rallied after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's comments on Fox Business that President Donald Trump could announce tariff compromises with Canada and Mexico as early as Wednesday.

S&P 500 futures were 0.6% higher at 01:25 a.m. ET on Wednesday, while futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%. Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.7%.

Trump reimposed 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, a plan that was paused for a month and then came into effect early Tuesday morning. The tariffs were imposed because Trump thinks the neighboring countries are failing to stem the flow of drugs and crime into the US.

Lutnick's remarks came after US markets staggered and closed lower for a second consecutive day. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.4%. During the day, it briefly reached a 10% decline from its most recent closing high. The S&P 500 fell 1.2%, wiping out all post-election gains since last November.

Lutnick said talks with Canada would likely reduce some of the newly reimposed tariffs on imports from the two neighboring countries.

"Both the Mexicans and the Canadians are on the phone with me all day today, trying to show that they'll do better," Lutnick said, adding that Trump is "listening" and open to a middle-ground solution.

Canada swiftly responded with 25% of retaliatory tariffs. Canadian Premier Doug Ford announced Tuesday that he would cancel a $100 million deal with Starlink and remove US alcohol from shelves. He also threatened a 25% surcharge on electricity that Ontario sends to 1.5 million Americans.

Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said retaliatory measures are "going to wait" because she planned to speak to Trump this week.

While details of Trump's compromise remain unclear, Lutnick said it would likely not be another tariff pause, but a more long-term deal.

Trump spoke at length about tariffs during Tuesday's joint address to Congress.

"Countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It's very unfair," he said.

China signals confidence with GDP growth target at 5%

Despite the difficult trading day on Tuesday stateside, Asian markets were broadly higher on Wednesday.

The bump came after Chinese Premier Li Qiang signaled confidence in his country's economy even amid heightened trade tensions with the US.

On Tuesday, China announced a GDP growth target of "around 5%" in a government work report delivered by Li at the National People's Congress in Beijing.

China is also raising its fiscal deficit to 4% of GDP, from 3% the year before.

"Internationally, changes unseen in a century are unfolding across the world at a faster pace," Li said in his speech at the opening of the congress.

Analysts say the economic work plan is largely in line with market expectations.

"Repeating the 'around 5%' growth target, despite a more challenging external environment is, in our view, a show of confidence and a harbinger of stronger policy support for domestic demand," wrote Lynn Song, ING's chief economist for Greater China, in a Tuesday note.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed 2.8% higher while mainland China's CSI 300 closed 0.3% up. The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 4% as Li also pledged support for the tech industry.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended 0.2% higher and South Korea's Kospi index closed 1.2% up.

'Buckle up'

Trump is likely just getting started with the trade action.

"I am confident that the bulk of the tariff developments still lie ahead. I think what we've seen so far is really just the beginning and I think the President is just getting started at this point," Jeff Gerrish, the Deputy US Trade Representative during Trump's first term, said on a Goldman Sachs podcast uploaded on Tuesday.

Gerrish said he will monitor the Trump-ordered US trade policy review. The reports from the review, which are expected on April 1, could lead to "a whole host of tariff actions," Gerrish said.

On Tuesday, Trump acknowledged in his presidential address that tariffs could be disruptive.

"Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it's happening, and it will happen rather quickly," Trump said. "There'll be a little disturbance, but we're OK with that. It won't be much."

On the same day, new US tariffs against imports from Canada, China, and Mexico took effect. Canada and China announced retaliatory tariffs in response.

Economists have warned that additional costs from the US tariffs would likely be passed on to American consumers rather than to foreign exporters.

• Canada and Mexico have secured a 30-day reprieve on tariffs from US President Donald Trump.
• In exchange for a tariff pause, Canada and Mexico agreed to boost border security and curb illegal activities.
• A 10% tariff on Chinese goods was not delayed, prompting China to slap retaliatory tariffs on the US.

US President Donald Trump has just shown the world how the Art of the Deal works.

In a matter of days, Trump threatened three key partners — China, Canada, and Mexico — with tariffs over illegal immigration and fentanyl. The threats paid off for the short term: He got a temporary deal with Canada and Mexico.

"President Trump has started his second term with his tariff guns blazing, and so far it has worked extremely well in achieving his policy goals," Rajiv Biswas, the CEO of Asia-Pacific Economics, a Singapore-based research firm, told Business Insider.

On Saturday, Trump, using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, imposed a 25% tariff on most goods from Canada and Mexico.

The tariffs were initially set to take effect on Tuesday. But after an early morning stock market downturn on Monday, talks with Canada and Mexico resulted in a 30-day tariff delay.

In exchange for the pause, Mexico agreed to deploy 10,000 National Guard troops to its northern border to curb illegal activities. Canada agreed to a set of initiatives targeting drug trafficking, money laundering, and border security.

"Mexico and Canada have immediately capitulated to the threat of US tariffs and agreed to enforce tougher border security measures, which is what President Trump had clearly requested them to do weeks ago, even prior to his inauguration," Biswas said.

The US is trading off, too

While Trump's deals with Canada and Mexico may have been swift, the tradeoff is ill will toward the US in both countries and uncertainty in the international trade order.

"The trade rules are valuable because they create a predictability and certainty for countries and for companies that do business in North America and in the world," said Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Fore­­­ign Relations. "And to mess with those rules for no good reason is truly irresponsible."

"He has no evidence to show he is able to use tariffs to achieve significant concessions, economic or otherwise," he added.

Some experts said the agreements could have been achieved without threatening tariffs.

"Using the issues around fentanyl and illegal immigration to justify a trade war is somewhat bizarre," said Romel Mostafa, an assistant professor in economics and public policy at the Ivey Business School in Ontario. "It seems like we put the cart before the horse here, which is we basically went into this tariff imposition and counter-tariffs and then came to the discussion table."

Alden said the agreements are "not in the slightest" a significant concession because the Mexican government has long had an interest in cracking down fentanyl smuggling and better controlling its border. As for Canada, he pointed to data from the US Customs and Border Protection showing that the northern neighbor accounts for 0.2% of US border fentanyl seizures.

"The bigger question is whether potentially we could come back again a month later and there could be other demands coming in," Mostafa said of Trump's actions.

China retaliates

While Canada and Mexico have secured brief reprieves from Trump's tariffs, China hasn't. Blanket tariffs of 10% on Chinese goods took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

China hit back swiftly, announcing tariffs on a range of US goods, including coal, liquefied natural gas, crude oil, and agricultural machinery.

"The US's unilateral imposition of tariffs seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization," China's Finance Ministry said in its tariffs announcement. "It is not only unhelpful in solving its own problems, but also undermines the normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the US."

China has said fentanyl is the US' own problem and that Beijing would challenge the tariffs at the World Trade Organization.

"The US needs to view and solve its own fentanyl issue in an objective and rational way instead of threatening other countries with arbitrary tariff hikes," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Sunday.

Trump is taking the same brinkmanship approach to China, said Alex Capri, an international trade specialist and a senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore's business school.

"Trump will take the same approach to China and I think Beijing will, in fact, welcome this transactional way of doing business," Capri said.