Topline
U.S. stock futures slumped early on Thursday—with the Dow index dropping by more than 200 points—after President Donald Trump said his administration will soon send letters to other countries unilaterally outlining the tariff rates that will be imposed on them.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media during a guided tour of the John F. Kennedy Center … More
Key Facts
While attending a show at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday evening, Trump was asked about extending the ongoing 90-day tariff pause—which will expire on July 9—and said: “I would, but I don’t think we’re going to have that necessity.”
The president said the U.S. was negotiating with 15 countries, including Japan and South Korea.
Trump then noted that the U.S. has around “150 plus” trading partners and “at a certain point, we’re just going to send letters out…saying this is the deal, you can take it or leave it.”
“We’re going to be sending letters out in about a week and a half, two weeks, to countries, telling them what the deal is,” he added.
The president touted the proposed agreement with China as a “great deal,” adding, “We’re very happy with it, we have everything we need.”
How Have The Markets Reacted?
U.S. stock futures slumped in premarket trading early Thursday, with the benchmark S&P 500 slipping by 0.4% to 6,004 points. The Dow Futures index was the worst hit, dropping by 0.5% to 42,684 points, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Futures fell 0.4% to 21,799 points. Key global indexes were also down, with the pan-European STOXX Europe 50 index dropping by more than 0.4%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell by 0.65%. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 1.36% as markets closed on Thursday.
