Politics
NEW: Stocks Surge After Trump Announces Massive Tariff Deals
U.S. stocks skyrocketed at Monday’s opening bell as traders reacted to news that the Trump administration has struck a deal with China that would significantly curtail the steep tariffs both sides put in place more than a month ago.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by more than 1,000 points while the NASDAQ jumped by nearly 600 and the S&P 500 by about 100. Their rises wiped out all remaining losses which had persisted since President Donald Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement.
Stock futures were already trending upward on Sunday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared that “substantial progress” had been made with China. On Monday, the details of those talks became public: China will reduce its blanket tariff on U.S. imports to 10% from 125%, while the U.S. will keep 30% tariffs on Chinese imports, down from a punishing 145%.
“We had very productive talks and I believe that the venue, here in Lake Geneva, added great equanimity to what was a very positive process,” Bessent said from Geneva, Switzerland, where the two sides had met over the weekend to hammer out the specifics of a reduction in tariffs.
The reduction in tariffs will begin on Wednesday, the Daily Mail reports.
Monday’s gain indicates that traders are reacting positively to what the deal will mean for global trade now that the world’s two largest economies have laid down their arms.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNN on Sunday that the U.S. will not consider lowering tariffs below 10% on any country until a deal is signed. In the case of China, an additional 20% in tariffs will be applied due to the prevalence of fentanyl manufactured there arriving into the U.S. and killing thousands each year.
On social media, the administration celebrated the market’s response to its deal with China and pointed to President Trump’s Sunday evening announcement that he is preparing to sign an executive order lowering drug prices for U.S. consumers.
“MONDAYS HAVE NEVER FELT SO GOOD! LFG!” the White House account wrote on X.
A White House official told reporters that part of the reason for Trump’s order is the ballooning cost of GLP-1 medications, which have revolutionized the weight loss industry but carry hefty price tags of more than $1,000 per month for those without insurance coverage.
“There will be a particular focus on drugs where there is the largest disparities and the largest expenditures,” they explained on a call.
“And there will be an expectation that those prices should come down,” the official added. “And then if they don’t, we will be looking at our various policy levers that can be used to force those prices down.”
Novo Nordisk, the Danish maker of the flagship GLP-1 medication Ozempic, was one of the few stocks to suffer a decline on Monday, falling about 1 point.
