UPDATED: President Trump’s threat to impose new U.S. tariffs on imports from China, Mexico and Canada drove down stocks multiple sectors Monday, with shares of several media companies falling as investors grappled with America’s new trade wars.
Stocks recovered a bit from earlier declines after Mexico reached an agreement Monday with the Trump administration that will pause the U.S. tariffs for one month while the countries negotiate trade deals. In return, Mexico will deploy 10,000 additional troops at the border.
In addition, after U.S. markets closed came news that Canada and the White House also had agreed to a 30-day moratorium on tariffs. After speaking with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday afternoon, Trump said in a post on Truth Social, the announced tariffs on Canadian goods “will be paused for a 30 day period to see whether or not a final Economic deal with Canada can be structured.” Trudeau wrote on X that Canada is implementing its $1.3 billion border plan, “reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology and personnel” and providing “increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl” including committing to the appointment of a “fentanyl czar”; Trudeau said he also signed a new intelligence directive “on organized crime and fentanyl and we will be backing it with $200 million.”
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Among major market indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 122.75 points Monday, a decline of 0.28% for the day, after falling as much as 309.09 points earlier. The S&P 500 closed down 0.76% and the tech-centric Nasdaq Composite fell 1.20%.
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On Saturday (Feb. 1), Trump signed executive orders subjecting goods imported from Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs (with the exception of Canadian energy products, which have a 10% tariff) as well as a 10% tariff on Chinese imports. The agreement with Mexico that was announced Monday delayed those tariffs for a one-month period. Still, Trump’s actions against Canada and China promise to drive up the price of goods for U.S. consumers and businesses in multiple industries.
Among media stocks that lost ground, Warner Bros. Discovery dropped -2.68%, Comcast fell -1.4% and Paramount Global was down -1.38% after the close of trading. Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates the Truth Social social media platform, fell 3.26% on the day.
But some media companies posted gains: After earlier declines, Netflix stock closed up 0.22% and Disney ended up 0.83% on Monday. Shares of Fox Corp., parent of Fox News, closed up 1.5%.
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Several tech stocks also were affected by the sell-off, including Apple (-3.4%), Amazon (-0.11%), Nvidia (-2.8%) and Alphabet, parent of Google (-1.4%). Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, was one exception with shares closing up 1.2%.
Stocks of U.S. automakers also were hit as a result of Trump’s tariff threats. Shares of GM closed down 3.15%, Ford Motor Co. slipped 1.7% and Tesla dropped 5.2%.
“The near-term consensus view is that tariffs will be inflationary,” John Brady, an interest rate strategist at R.J. O’Brien, told the New York Times.
