Markets Wobble As Trump Rejects Dropping China Tariffs Without Deal

Markets momentarily flipped southward on Friday after President Donald Trump said he would maintain tariffs on China unless substantial concessions were made.

Speaking aboard Air Force One on his way to Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral, Trump said he would not ease tariffs without “something substantial” from China, stressing the need to “open China” for American businesses.

“We almost got it and then they backed out of that deal,” he said, adding that Chinese officials “don’t want it open” but that opening the Chinese market would be a “big win.”

Tariffs, Trump said, are key to restoring U.S. economic strength.

“Because of tariffs, I could possibly get that,” he said. “We’re going to make—we’ll be making five billion a day,” adding that the U.S. had been losing billions daily under previous administrations.

“We’ll be reasonable, very reasonable,” Trump said.

“We set the price.”

Responding to questions about whether markets were adjusting to tariffs, Trump said he believed they were, adding, "I said there'd be a transition. People haven't understood it. Now they're starting to understand."

Stocks Retreat After Rally

Markets reacted swiftly to Trump’s comments. The S&P 500 – as tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) – fell 0.6% in reaction to Trump’s comments, before quickly recovering.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 200 points, dropping to 39,933 by 2:00 p.m. ET, while the Nasdaq 100 retreated from 19,500 to 19,290, before both bounced back.

In the initial reaction to Trump’s remarks, Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) lost 1.8%, Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) declined 1.7% and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) fell 1.4%, while Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), slipped 1.3%, according to Benzinga Pro platform.

Read Next:

• ‘Stay BIG, Sell Rips’: Hartnett Doubts Bull Market Without 3 Key Catalysts

Photo: noamgalai/Shutterstock