US stock market plummets as Trump announces he’s doubling tariffs on two major Canadian goods

Donald Trump’s plans to double tariffs on certain Canadian goods has already backfired on him.

Trump is currently embroiled in a tariff war with the likes of Canada, Mexico and China — and he’s clamping down on Canada in particular.

While Trump originally imposed tariffs of 25 percent on Canadian goods coming into the US, this has since doubled on steel and aluminum, starting tomorrow.

He posted on his social media platform Truth Social: “I have instructed my Secretary of Commerce to add an ADDITIONAL 25% Tariff, to 50%, on all STEEL and ALUMINUM COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES FROM CANADA, ONE OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFING NATIONS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.”

And the US stock market promptly fell following the post.

At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen around 600 points and the S&P 500 is down 0.6 percent.

Discussing the dramatic impact Trump’s tariffs have had on the US stock market of late, Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth, told CBS MoneyWatch: “The market has been down for three weeks in a row, largely driven by uncertainty about where trade policy lands, full stop.

“We’ve been inundated with tariff announcements that, unlike the 2018 playbook, are actually being applied universally versus the surgical approach we saw with term 1.0.

“Unless and until we know where the goal posts actually are on trade and tariffs, this uncertainty will continue to weigh on markets.”

The US stock market is being negatively impacted by the ongoing tariff war (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

Elsewhere, investment bank Goldman Sachs revised down its growth forecast for this year to 1.7 percent from 2.2 percent previously.

It modestly increased its recession probability to 20 percent ‘because the White House has the option to pull back policy changes if downside risks begin to look more serious’.

Experts have dubbed this issue as something people ‘can’t ignore’.

“The threat of a recession is real,” said Olu Sonola, the head of US regional economics at Fitch Ratings to ABC News.

“It’s a threat you cannot ignore,” he added.

Financial services company Moody’s Analytics has put the risk opf recession at 35 percent (as of yesterday).

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said this figure was ‘uncomfortably high’ and warned that ‘it’s rising’.

It’s believed the increased risk of a recession all comes down to Trump’s ever-changing policies.