The White House doubled down Thursday on President Donald Trump’s sweeping worldwide tariffs, as he slapped stiff duties on unexpected allies and threatened an economic upheaval that could put Republicans’ House and Senate majorities at risk next year.
As Marine One lifted the president skyward from the White House South Lawn, American, Asian and European stock markets were heading in the opposite direction. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all were down significantly as trading neared the day’s end. The announced import fees were higher and broader than expected, setting off a global selloff as Trump headed to his Miami golf club for a LIV Golf tour dinner ahead of the Saudi-funded league’s tournament there this weekend.
Departing the White House, Trump contended that the first full day of the tariffs were “going very well,” predicting without any supporting data that the U.S. would “have $6 or $7 trillion dollars coming into our country” and that “the markets are gonna boom.”
