US President Donald Trump smiles during a phone conversation with Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto on trade in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on August 27, 2018. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Donald Trump‘s promised tariffs on Canada and Mexico won’t go into effect until Saturday, but they’re already having a noticeable effect on the U.S. economy.
All three of the most popular stock indices fell in the wake of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt‘s announcement of the 25% tariffs on imported goods on Friday. Per CNBC, the overall market index fell by half a percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has tumbled by more than 300 points as of this writing.
Trump-friendly Fox News noted the sell-off immediately after the news conference.
“There was a bit of a market reaction,” anchor Sandra Smith said. “Not a huge sell-off but there was certainly a reaction to that.”
Trump campaigned on levying tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China, the United States’ three largest trade partners. China is subject to a much-less steep 10% tariff starting at midnight tonight. Leavitt said that the tariffs are a punishment doled out on the country’s North American neighbors for allowing undocumented immigrants and fentanyl to cross the border.
“The president will be implementing tomorrow a 25% tariff on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada, and a 10% tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans,” she said.
Leavitt called the tariffs “promises made and promises kept by the president” while blowing off reporters’ concerns that the sudden tax could cause economic shocks. ABC News’ Selina Wang asked Leavitt directly if the Trump administration would consider repealing the tariffs if they caused prices to rise dramatically. The press secretary accused the media of having a myopic view of Trump’s economic plans.
“That’s a hypothetical question and the president is intent on ensuring that he effectively implements tariffs while cutting inflation and costs for the American people,” she said. “The media has this way of looking at everything in a microscope rather than the whole government economic approach that this president is taking. He will effectively implement tariffs.”
Watch Leavitt’s briefing below:
