One social media post. That’s all it took.
Markets were thrown into chaos on Friday after President Donald Trump warned of a “massive increase” in tariffs on Chinese goods in a fiery Truth Social post, a move that wiped more than $2 trillion from global equities and triggered the largest crypto liquidation in history.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.9% (over 870 points), while the S&P 500 slid 2.7% and the Nasdaq Composite collapsed 3.6%. The selloff deepened through the afternoon as traders scrambled to price in the threat of an economic shock just days before Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were due to meet.
Later on Friday evening, Trump escalated the threat, announcing plans to impose a 100% tariff on all Chinese imports starting 1 November, alongside new export controls on “any and all critical software.” The decision marked a total breakdown in trade relations that investors had assumed were stabilising after months of slow but steady dialogue.
Beijing’s recent move to restrict exports of rare earth minerals and launch an antitrust investigation into Qualcomm appeared to be the final straw. Trump accused China of trying to “clog the markets” and hinted he could cancel the upcoming meeting with Xi altogether.
The shockwave didn’t stop with stocks. Bitcoin, which had just hit an all-time high above $125,000 earlier in the week, plunged more than 12% to below $113,000. Data from Coinglass showed over $19 billion in crypto positions were liquidated within 24 hours, including $7 billion in a single hour, making it the biggest wipeout in the asset class’s history.
With trade relations collapsing and risk assets in freefall, Trump’s tariff threat has turned a fragile market rally into a global reckoning, and all from a single post.
