Many politicians and policymakers predicted that Monday would be a “Black Monday.” While the equities market closed lower, the drops were at a lower pace than last week. In connecting the tariffs to the market's volatility, part of the evenness of Monday's trading came on the heels of news that numerous American trading partners agreed to negotiate with President Donald Trump and offered free trade deals to ratchet down his “reciprocal tariffs.”
Last Wednesday, which Trump dubbed “Liberation Day,” the president announced large-scale tariffs on nearly every country, declaring that the measures would help to end American trade deficits with foreign powers and bolster domestic production of goods. Thursday and Friday witnessed precipitous declines in the stock market, though the administration made clear it would hold the course.
Preliminary announcements from Trump himself and senior administration officials, moreover, suggested that many key trading partners were prepared to negotiate favorable trade agreements to eliminate or at least reduce the tariffs.
