Elon Musk has lost $11bn since Donald Trump unveiled his global tariffs, it’s been reported. Elsewhere, JP Morgan says the trade barriers will “likely push the US and possibly global economy into recession this year” if they continue. Listen to Trump 100 analysis as you scroll.
Friday 4 April 2025 10:01, UK
Live reporting by Bhvishya Patel
Yesterday, US markets suffered their biggest one-day percentage losses since 2020 after Donald Trump announced widespread global tariffs would be introduced on 9 April.
A tariff is effectively a tax on imported goods – the US has been on the wrong end of these for decades and Trump’s hope is that his policy will encourage companies to manufacture inside the US and thus “make America wealthy again”.
But the scale of Trump’s actions threatens to drive up prices in the US and has already caused chaos in the global economy.
European and Asian markets have suffered notable falls – but the US was worst hit with £2.4trn wiped off the value of its biggest companies.
Household names such as Dell, Apple and Ralph Lauren were among the big fallers.
Despite that, Trump said the markets are “going to boom”.
Governments around the world are broadly adopting two approaches – hitting back with counter tariffs, or waiting to see how this settles.
The UK, which was hit by a relatively low 10% tariff and is hoping to strike an economic deal with the Trump administration, is in the latter camp – but did publish a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs down the line.
Watch US correspondents Mark Stone and Martha Kelner discussing all these developments in our latest Trump 100 podcast…
Away from the US tariff aftermath, Donald Trump has offered his support to French far-right leader Marine Le Pen after a Paris court convicted her and two dozen figures from her National Rally (RN) party of embezzling European Union funds.
In a Truth Social post, Trump called the case against Le Pen a “witch hunt” while praising the far-right leader.
Here is what he had to say…
For context: This week a judge handed Le Pen an immediate five year ban on running for office that will bar her from the 2027 presidential election unless she can get the ruling overturned on appeal beforehand.
Le Pen, RN allies and her supporters accused the trial judges of interfering in democracy.
The French court’s ruling was a setback for Le Pen and she was a front-runner in polls for France’s 2027 contest until her conviction. However, those polls do not yet reflect the full picture – with Emmanuel Macron’s replacement as a candidate not yet known.
Rights advocates have drawn comparisons over the years between Le Pen and Trump over their anti-immigration views and rhetoric against minorities.
Elon Musk lost $11bn the day after Donald Trump’s tariffs came into force, according to Bloomberg.
The Tesla CEO and a friend of the US president was among the American billionaires taking the hardest hit as the Trump administration’s new taxes were implemented.
In fact, more than half of those tracked by Bloomberg’s wealth index took a hit to their wealth, with the world’s 500 richest people losing a combined $208bn after Trump’s tariffs announcement.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos also suffered major losses.
Here is what the data shows…
Elon Musk
On Thursday, the day after the tariffs were announced, Musk lost $11bn, according to Bloomberg.
In total, the Tesla CEO has lost $110bn so far this year.
Shares in Tesla also fell 5.5% on Thursday.
Jeff Bezos
Amazon shares plunged 9% on Thursday, costing the tech giant’s founder $15.9bn in personal wealth.
Mark Zuckerberg
The Meta founder has lost $17.9bn of his wealth since the tariffs were revealed – which is around 9% of his wealth.
Since mid-February, Meta shares have also fallen by about 28%.
More on growing recession fears now, as experts share their views on what’s next for Japan’s economy after a tumultuous week and those Nikkei falls (see 8.09 post).
Fred Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC, thinks “the world has changed” after Trump’s tariffs announcement this week.
He says: “Few economies reverberate these changes as strongly as in Japan. A weaker dollar, and threats of a global trade recession, put a real dent into Japan’s reflation prospects.”
Michael Makdad, senior equity analyst at Morningstar Singapore, adds that it all depends on whether the notoriously changeable Trump sticks to his new trade barriers.
If he does, Japan faces a real risk of recession, he believes.
He says: “There is a bit of a binary scenario – either US tariffs stay as announced, or the reality turns out to be not so extreme.
“In the former scenario, Japanese bank shares are not currently undervalued, as we could easily have an economic recession in Japan in that case.”
By Ed Clowes, business reporter
The UK’s most important stock index started the day negatively on Friday, falling more than 0.6% in response to Donald Trump’s sweeping trade tariffs.
Over the first 30 minutes of trading, investors in the FTSE 100 continued to sell as they processed the largest economic disorder since the pandemic.
It is now sitting at its lowest level since mid-January.
The index, which includes the likes of Vodafone, NatWest, and Shell, dropped nearly 2% yesterday, along with most stock markets around the world.
Despite the UK being less hard hit by Trump’s tariffs than many of its counterparts in Europe and Asia, economists are now warning that the risk of a global recession has risen sharply.
On Wall Street, nearly $2.5trn was wiped from the S&P 500 in the US, which lost around 5% on its worst day since 2020, while the Nasdaq sank 6%.
Household names such as Dell, Apple and Ralph Lauren were among the big fallers.
Despite that, Trump promised that the markets were “going to boom”.
Donald Trump recently suggested “there are methods” for serving a third term as president – despite the fact it’s forbidden in the US constitution as it stands.
In the latest episode of The World podcast, NBC’s Richard Engel and Sky News’ Yalda Hakim discuss whether this is a reality or a pipe dream.
Remember to follow The World here wherever you get your podcasts – that way, you’ll never miss an episode.
London’s FTSE 100 index of companies has declined further after the city’s financial markets opened this morning.
The index slipped by 0.53%, or around 45 points, to 8,429.98 points immediately after the start of trading.
The fall follows further declines in the Asian markets after Donald Trump’s tariff policies came into force.
Yesterday, the FTSE 100 dropped sharply on opening, falling 122.4 points, or 1.4%, in the first few minutes of trading.
Donald Trump’s tariffs are continuing to wreak havoc on the markets in Asia.
The Nikkei index in Tokyo has lost 2.75% in early trading on Friday, leading the decline in the region.
It closed at 33,780.58, down 20% from its recent peak in July.
Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 2.44% to close at 7,667.8.
And South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.86% to close at 2,465.42.
After unleashing his tariffs, Donald Trump said yesterday that he would be open to negotiating with other countries.
But it would depend on whether they had something “phenomenal” to offer in return.
Speaking with reporters on Air Force One, Trump also maintained his stance that other countries had been taking advantage of the US for a long time and he wants it to stop.
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate,” Trump said, adding that “every country has called us”.
Asked what it would take to consider relenting, Trump added: “If somebody said that we’re going to give you something that’s so phenomenal, as long as they’re giving us something that’s good.”
TikTok could open up deal for China, Trump suggests
One of those negotiations could involve China, which Trump hit with 34% tariffs yesterday.
The US president said he would consider a deal where Beijing approves the sale of TikTok in exchange for tariff relief.
TikTok faces a 5 April deadline to reach a deal to find a non-Chinese buyer under threat of being banned from the US.
Donald Trump insists the markets are going to “boom” – but the Wall Street banking giant JP Morgan disagrees.
America’s biggest bank says there’s now a 60% chance of a global recession thanks to the US president’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Analysts at the financial firm said the policies implemented by the Trump administration, if sustained, would “likely push the US and possibly global economy into recession this year”.
‘There will be blood’ after ‘tax hike’
In a note to clients yesterday, which according to Bloomberg was titled “There will be blood”, Bruce Kasman, chief economist at the bank, said the odds of a recession were up by 20% – from 40% to 60%.
He also called the tariffs the largest tax hike on US households and businesses since 1968.
“The effect of this tax hike is likely to be magnified – through retaliation, a slide in US business sentiment, and supply chain disruptions,” Kasman wrote.
The economist noted that the tariffs were a “substantial macroeconomic shock”.
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