U.S. markets and stock ETFs continued to retreat after President Donald Trump showed willingness to push back a trade deal until the next election and further added to the uncertainty by threatening new tariffs on other countries.
On Tuesday, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEArca: DIA) fell 1.0% while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY) dropped 0.7%.
Markets reeled after Trump stated there was “no deadline” for reaching a trade accord with China, adding that he liked “the idea of waiting until after the election” to finalize a deal, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also confirmed that new tariffs on Chinese imports would go into effect on Dec. 15 as planned, Reuters reports.
The sudden about-face surprised investors, whom expected the U.S. and China to reach a “phase-one” trade deal this month before the scheduled mid-December tariff hikes. The markets have been rallying in recent weeks on hopes that further tariff hikes were being shelved and the two sides were working to de-escalate tensions.
