Wall Street just had its worst week in five years as global markets brace for the impact of President Donald Trump‘s sweeping tariffs targeting nearly 200 countries.
By market close on Friday, the S&P 500 index was down nearly 6 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 5.5 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost 5.82 percent.
Trump sent Wall Street into a tailspin when he announced on Wednesday that the U.S. would impose a 10 percent “baseline” tariff on virtually all imports and singled out roughly 60 countries for what he described as “discounted reciprocal tariffs.”
He explained that the “reciprocal” tariffs were based on tariffs those countries imposed on the United States. The numbers Trump cited, however, were inaccurate and the White House clarified later on that the formula it used was based on just two variables: the U.S.’s trade deficit with a foreign country divided by that country’s exports to the U.S.
Trump then halved that number to arrive at his “discounted reciprocal tariff,” which he said he was doing to be “kind.”
Evan Vucci/AP
This story is developing and will be updated as more information becomes available.