US stock futures extended losses. Nasdaq 100 futures down 2.24%, S&P 500 futures down 1.81% and Dow futures down 1.65%.
VIX index soared 28.8%; 2x Long VIX Futures ETF rocketed 18%; UVXY up about 14%; VXX, VIXY up about 9%.
Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Saturday that eight NATO members’ U.S. imports will face escalating tariffs “until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.” The tariffs will start at 10% on Feb. 1 and rise to 25% on June 1, Trump said.
On Tuesday, Trump threatened to slap 200% tariffs on French wines and champagne, amid reports that the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is unwilling to join his so-called Board of Peace for Gaza. Trump also hit out at the U.K., labeling the British government’s plan to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands — one of which is the site of a U.K.-U.S. military base — to Mauritius as an “act of great stupidity.” He said the move was “another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”
The Trump administration previously backed the U.K.’s deal with Mauritius.
European leaders have described Trump’s fresh tariff threats as “unacceptable,” and are reportedly considering countermeasures — with France said to be pushing for the European Union to use its strongest economic counter-threat, known as the “Anti-Coercion Instrument.” Shares of European carmakers and luxury goods companies dropped on Monday, while some of the continent’s defense stocks rallied.
Trump, who is due to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, said he had agreed to speak with European leaders at the conference to discuss his Greenland ambitions.
Back in the U.S., Monday night marked the first time investors were able to fully react to the trade escalation, as markets were closed for the Martin Luther King holiday.
Comments