Stocks open with losses as US, China step up tariff threats

U.S stocks opened with losses Friday following President Trump’s latest threat of more tariffs on China.

The Dow Jones industrial average opened more than 240 points lower, a 1 percent drop, as trading opened Friday. The Nasdaq fell 0.9 percent, while the S&P 500 index dropped 0.8 percent.

Some of those losses were gained back in minutes, with the Dow down 150 points 10 minutes after opening.

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Markets were expected to fall after Trump announced Thursday night that his administration would consider imposing $100 billion more in tariffs on Chinese goods.

Trump said in a Friday morning interview that tariffs targeting China could cause some “pain” in the U.S. economy, but promised that America would emerge stronger as a result.

“I’m not saying there’s not gonna be any pain,” Trump said in a radio interview with “Bernie & Sid in the Morning” on 77 WABC. “We’re gonna be much stronger for it.”

The Chinese government responded Friday, saying it would “dedicate itself to the end and at any cost and will definitely fight back firmly.”

The move came one day after China proposed $50 billion in tariffs on a variety of U.S. goods in response to Trump’s own tariff threat. 

Weak U.S. jobs numbers released Friday did not appear to move premarket trading. While the U.S. added 103,000 jobs in March, roughly 70,000 fewer than expected, the undershoot is due in part to rough winter weather suppressing construction. Jobs growth is expected to slow down somewhat as the labor market tightens.

Growing trade tensions have repeatedly rattled markets in 2018.

The Dow opened close to 500 points lower Wednesday morning, a roughly 2 percent drop, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each opened 1.4 percent lower. But markets rebounded by Wednesday afternoon, with all three indexes posting gains at the closing bell. The Dow ended the day roughly 1 percent higher, while the Nasdaq and S&P increased 1.45 percent and 1.16 percent, respectively.