Trump's Tariff Push Sends Market Reeling

A Slide Deepens, Biggest Tumble In Stocks Since Pandemic, China Hits Back

Author

Matt Davis
April 05, 2025

I’m in Norfolk, VA., with my in-laws. I didn’t think you’d want a read-out of the Virginian-Pilot and in any case my father-in-law canceled his subscription. So, I’m using the pdf!

We spent the day yesterday driving down America’s Eastern shore. I rented a luxury car from the Alamo in Newark Airport (top tip: You can save yourself a bunch of money if you get a ride out there from Manhattan, even if the Uber is a hundred bucks). We had a choice: Audi or Genesis, and chose the Genesis. It only took an hour for our child to throw up in the back seat. And thus ends our luxurious lifestyle for the time being, America.

Speaking of which, let’s take another look at those graphs, shall we?

In particular, take a good long look at the one on the left.

Schadenfreude is a funny thing because you still feel it, even when it also affects you personally. The catastrophic performance of the stock market is bringing me a sort of perverse joy as it’s good to see that yes, indeed, Donald Trump does know nothing at all about the economy. And, yes: He does indeed seem intent on self-destructing in a way that turns the few Americans who voted decisively for his party in November firmly against him over the next two years.

“He really is a total idiot,” as I said to my wife in the car.

Ha ha ha ha ha. He’s a moron! He cost us a teacher’s salary yesterday in 401 (k) drops! Ha!

Wait. What?

Still, it’s so gratifying to be right, isn’t it?! I love that we human beings are wired to be nasty, first, at moments like this. It’s a defense mechanism. Good luck to those of you interviewing for jobs right now, I guess.

I feel like Trump told America he wouldn’t get car-sick—then threw up in the Genesis. It’s like the time Shaq said he could eat Charles Barkley’s hottest chip and “not even make a face.” Spoiler alert: He makes a face.

The front page carries two stories next to the graphs below the big font blaming Trump for the economic crisis. And here are reporters Joe Rennison and Danielle Kaye:

Investors around the globe this week sent President Trump a clear message about his new tariff policy, announced triumphantly as a remaking of the economic order.

They don’t like it.

I love it when the Times uses ironic four-word second paragraphs. In the other front page story they used an ominous seven word first paragraph with Star Wars overtones.

China has struck back at President Trump.

Now. Back to the other story for a minute.

But this meltdown wasn’t driven by the emergence of a new and deadly virus, or an unforeseen housing crisis like the one that wiped out stock values in 2007 and 2008 as it triggered the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Well, what was it caused by? Let’s have another short paragraph, people!

It was driven by a policy decision by the president.

Better yet, it appears Trump’s people simply asked ChatGPT how to calculate tariffs. I wish I were making this up. But no! Give me some more schadenfreude, please, because this is really in danger of annoying and worrying me more than it is delightful. My father-in-law alerted me to this piece of analysis by Paul Krugman:

One of the things flying around social media has been that if you went and you asked the various leading artificial intelligence programs, ChatGPT and Gemini and Claude: What’s a pretty simple way to calculate tariffs on all other countries? — it will offer you basically the calculation they used…did we just have a global economic crisis created by some DOGE interns asking ChatGPT how to calculate tariffs?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! And it seems there’s substance to it. Newsweek has more, if you also feel like throwing up.

Markets are sending a clear message to the President that they don’t like the new policy. Analysts are comparing it to that invoked by British Prime Minister Liz Truss in 2022 that crashed markets and forced her resignation within weeks. Meanwhile Trump is writing on his social media platform: “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”

Sing it, Maya Angelou.

Remember, she once worked in the sex industry.

Given that Mr. Trump seems intent on causing an all-caps DISASTER, analysts and investors are “working through what this could possibly mean”, according to a Goldman Sachs lady quoted in the Times. It’s odd of her to say that because frankly she could have asked ChatGPT: it “increases the probability of a recession.”

That’s a “remarkable turn in sentiment,” the Times reports, given that markets were rising into February and investors had hoped markets might rein in Mr. Trump’s worst impulses. A group of CEOs even told the Wall Street Journal that the market would have to drop 20 percent before they found the courage to criticize him publicly and we’re only one bad day away from that, now, although I’m not holding my breath. The chief executive of Restoration Hardware said “💩” on an investor call!

As the tariffs were announced, Gary Friedman, the chief executive of the furniture retailer RH, was on an earnings call with investors. He was heard cursing, after checking RH’s share price. RH gets many of its products from Asia, Mr. Friedman explained.

Good for you, Gary. I admire your taste in wrist adornments even if it does scream “midlife crisis.”

J.P. Morgan has raised the possibility of a recession this year to 60 percent. They also expect the Fed to have to step in with interest rate cuts to stimulate the economy.

Even the communist Republican Senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell (who happens to be retiring and no longer gives a sh*t) (although he’s got millions invested in an index fund according to Open Secrets, and that’ll be worth 20 percent less, now), has this to say:

Sing it, Mitch! Wall Street’s biggest tech bull said an American-made iPhone would cost $3,500. Here’s more from Dan Ives:

"The concept of taking the US back to the 1980's 'manufacturing days' with these tariffs is a bad science experiment that in the process will cause an economic Armageddon in our view and crush the tech trade, AI Revolution theme, and overall industry in the process," Ives wrote.

My father in law had a Chinese amplifier in his Amazon cart last week for $67, and now it’s $95. Here’s my favorite quote about the NASDAQ technology index from Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab. Altogether, now:

“It’s saying this is really bad.”

And scene. Let’s leave it there.

I’m just glad I got suckered into buying the new iPhone with the “Apple Intelligence” even though all that really means is the capacity to make a “me-moji” to summarize my feelings about the present moment:

Have a great weekend. We’re off to Costco.

Matt Davis lives in Manhattan with his wife and child.

Standard disclaimer: I read the top story in the New York Times every morning so that you don’t have to. If you were forwarded this, you can subscribe here. I’m also doing a five-minute video version of this, each weekday morning at around 9 a.m. (depending on how long it takes me to read the newspaper). If you’d like to follow me on LinkedIn (you can always watch the recording later). If you subscribe to my Youtube channel it’ll also send you a notification when I’m “going live.”