Trillions Are Lost As Stocks Keep Tanking Over Trump's Tariffs

Stocks in the U.S. and around the world continue to tank on Thursday as a result of President Donald Trump's decision to impose wide-ranging tariffs, with trillions in value lost around the world.

In the U.S. alone almost $2 trillion in value have been wiped out as all major indexes plummet at the beginning of the trading session. Some of the country's largest companies are among those affected the most, especially those dependent on overseas manufacturing. Apple, Nike, Lululemon are some of them. Others that stock their shelves with imported products like Walmart are trading lower as well.

Over 90% of all S&P 500 companies were trading lower on Thursday, Bloomberg reported, and more than half had dropped at least 2%. "The market is realizing that there is pretty much no way to spin this as a positive," Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, told the outlet.

The outlet also quoted JPMorgan economist Michael Feroli, who wrote in a note that Trump's plan is equivalent to the largest tax increase since 1968 and could add 1.5% to prices this year alone. "This impact alone could take the economy perilously close to slipping into recession," he said.

Thursday's drop adds to the malaise experienced by markets since Trump took office. Only Japan's stocks have dropped more than the U.S.'s since January 20 among the largest indexes, falling by 10% and 9%, respectively.

Trump, on his end, is celebrating the announcement, saying on Thursday that the "operation is over!" and the "patient lived, and is healing." "The prognosis is that the patient will be far stronger, bigger, better and more resilient than ever before. Make America great again!!!," the president said in a social media publication.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also defended the decision, dismissing the markets' behavior and saying that they are going to do "extremely well" in the medium to longer term. He also warned countries against retaliating.

Vice President JD Vance echoed the message, saying "what I'd ask folks to appreciate here is we are not going to fix things overnight." "It's not going to happen immediately but we really do believe if we pursue the right deregulation we want to pursue, we pursue those cost saving policies, yes, people are going to see it."