U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that his tariff policies are “going far better than expected,” even as global markets lost approximately $6.4 trillion in just two days.
On Friday morning, Trump posted a message on his social media platform Truth Social, urging the public to “hang tough” after the tariffs triggered a global economic downturn. U.S. markets suffered their steepest losses since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020: the Dow Jones fell 3.9%, the Nasdaq nearly 6%, and the S&P 500 dropped 5%.
European stocks closed down 2.7%, with export-heavy sectors hit particularly hard. Asian economies, including Thailand and Myanmar—both recovering from a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake last week—were also severely affected. New tariffs on goods from Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia have reached between 46% and 49%.
Despite the market plunge, Trump celebrated news that the U.S. economy had added several hundred thousand jobs in March. “GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S ALREADY WORKING. HANG TOUGH, WE CAN’T LOSE!!!” he wrote.
In March, 228,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy, despite federal workforce cuts. The growth was driven by the healthcare, social assistance, transportation, warehousing, and retail sectors—significantly exceeding economists’ expectations of 140,000 jobs.
Earlier, Trump posted another message on Truth Social declaring: “TO THE MANY INVESTORS COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES AND INVESTING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY, MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”
However, financial experts have raised concerns about the long-term impact of the tariffs. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned that the new tariffs could fuel inflation and slow down economic growth.
The International Monetary Fund also issued a statement, calling the tariffs a “significant risk” to the global economy, especially amid slowing growth worldwide.
