The US stock market opened sharply lower on Friday, hours after China announced it will enforce retaliatory 34% tariffs on US imports from April 10. The New York Stock Exchange’s index was down once again, with Dow Jones and the S&P 500 falling 2.4% in the first minutes of US trading.

While the Dow lost 1,024 points, the Nasdaq, battered on Thursday, was also down 3.1% on Friday. Taking to Truth Social shortly before the opening of the US market, US President Donald Trump suggested he would not U-turn on his tariffs policy. He wrote: “To the many investors coming into the United States and investing massive amounts of money, my policies will never change. This is a great time to get rich, richer than ever before!” A few minutes later, following the tumbling of the Dow, he said: “China played it wrong, they panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do!”

China’s announcement spooked not just the US market but also the indexes around the world.

The disappointing day of trading came after the US stock markets had already fallen on Thursday, after the US President announced sweeping tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 fell by 4.4%, and the tech-focused Nasdaq composite dropped by 5.6%.

By the time Wall Street trading ended at 9pm, the Nasdaq suffered its biggest daily percentage drop since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones and the broad-based S&P 500 index had their biggest drops since June 2020.

Retail stocks were among some of the hardest-hit, with Nike shares falling 14.5%, Lululemon falling 10% and Ralph Lauren losing 16%. Oil drillers also took losses, with Valero Energy shares sinking 15%.

It comes after Trump announced tariffs for almost every country on Wednesday, including 10% rates on UK imports. It sparked fears that could trigger backlash from trading partners and impact the global economy.

However, the US President has insisted that “the markets are going to boom”. He said on Thursday: “I think it’s going very well. The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told CNN earlier in the day that Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”. She said: “To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump. This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”

The UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm on Thursday. Germany’s DAX index fell 3%, France’s benchmark index slumped 3.31% and Italy’s index fell 3.6%.

Asian markets were also hit, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index sinking 2.77% and Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index falling 1.52%.