Wall Street roared back to life on Monday after the Trump administration signaled it could take a more measured approach on tariffs against its trading partners — boosting the risk appetite among battered investors.
President Trump is likely to exclude a set of sector-specific tariffs while applying reciprocal levies as part of his so-called “Liberation Day” on April 2, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal reported.
“I may give a lot of countries breaks,” Trump told reporters Monday in the Oval Office.
He said the reciprocal tariffs could stop short of his pledge to equalize US duties with rates other nations charge.
The beaten-down markets jumped at the possibility that the tariffs wouldn’t be as widespread as first feared.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 597.97 points, or 1.4%, to 42,583.32, the S&P 500 gained 100 points, or 1.8%, to 5,767.47 and the Nasdaq Composite surged by 404.54 points, or 2.3%, to 18,188.59 — its highest level since March 7.
Investors scooped up deflated technology shares, with Nvidia up 3.2% and Advanced Micro Devices adding 72%.Tesla, which has been hammered since Inauguration Day over Elon Musk’s close ties to Trump, surged 12%.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration is focused on applying reciprocal tariffs to the “dirty 15” – about 15% of nations designated as particular trade abusers.
The exact countries included in that list are unclear, though it will likely include nations like Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Vietnam and more, a source familiar with the plans told the Journal.
Speaking on the repercussions of Trump’s fluctuating trade policies, Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management, said “we think the biggest impact is that the uncertainty has at least slowed down or potentially frozen a lot of the business activity.”
“And there’s a concern that future earnings (a few) quarters from now will be lower because of this chilling effect.”
The president has argued the taxes will help bring manufacturing back to the US, and pressure neighboring countries Canada and Mexico to tamp down on illegal border crossings and fentanyl trafficking.
His initial proposal – stiff 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico – was halted for a month, and put on a second 30-day pause to be lifted on April 2 as countries rushed to the negotiation table to avoid the taxes.
The across-the-board tariffs spooked investors and sent markets on a wild ride, erasing post-election gains and sending the “Magnificent 7” tech stocks on a downward slide.
Also on Monday, Trump said he would announce in the very near future tariffs on automobiles, aluminum and pharmaceuticals.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, he said those products are crucial if there are problems including war.
“The default position for today’s investor is to be very worried about changes that the administration has proposed — whether or not there are tariffs imposed or if he repeals them, or if he delays them, it just causes extreme volatility in the market,” said Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management in Boston.
With Post wires
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