Financial markets brace for Trump's April 2 Liberation Day

Financial markets are bracing for the Trump administration's upcoming tariffs, including those affecting the crypto industry.

On April 2, the Trump administration will announce additional tariffs that have been announced for the past two months, called "reciprocal tariffs." These are additional tariffs that will be added to imports from countries with trade imbalances with the United States, in order to help the world's largest economy regain its international advantage after decades of trade-offs to build diplomacy.

Trump even called April 2 America's "Liberation Day" in many posts on the Truth Social social network and at an official press conference at the White House.

NEW: TRUMP ON TARIFFS - "I MAY GIVE A LOT OF COUNTRIES BREAKS, BUT IT'S RECIPROCAL, BUT WE MIGHT BE EVEN NICER THAN THAT. YOU KNOW WE'VE BEEN VERY NICE TO A LOT OF COUNTRIES FOR A LONG TIME. BUT I CALL IT LIBERATION DAY. APRIL 2ND IS LIBERATION DAY”

pic.twitter.com/8e1TrtSS3P

— DEGEN NEWS (@DegenerateNews) March 24, 2025

He wrote:

“April 2nd is America's Liberation Day!!! For DECADES we have been exploited and ripped off by other countries all over the world, both friends and foes. Now it's time for America to reclaim the money and respect we have lost. God bless America!!!”

Two months after starting a new “trade war” with its neighbors, the US is imposing the following tariffs:

- 25% on all steel and aluminum imports into the US;

- 25% on goods imported from Canada, 10% on energy from Canada;

- 25% on goods imported from Mexico;

- 20% on goods imported from China;

- 25% on cars imported into the US and 25% import tax on countries buying oil from Venezuela (will take effect from this week).

In response, Canada has imposed tariffs on $21 billion worth of imported goods from the US, while China has also announced measures to impose tariffs of 10-15% on agricultural products from the land of the stars and stripes. The European Union, a longtime ally of the United States, has also been upset by the surprise tariffs and said it was ready to retaliate after the Trump administration announced new reciprocal tariffs this week.

However, many countries are ready to reach agreements with the Trump administration to ease tariffs. For example, Vietnam has announced a reduction in tariffs on liquefied natural gas, ethanol and imported cars from the United States, according to Reuters.

According to some statistics, US consumer sentiment has fallen to its lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis, as most worry that new tariffs could push the US economy into recession.

As a result of this volatility, US consumer sentiment has fallen to 2008 levels.

Consumer sentiment has fallen ~20 points over the last month, to 57.

US consumers have never been this pessimistic outside of a crisis or a recession.

An economic slowdown has clearly begun. pic.twitter.com/eM3CD3Gl6X

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) March 30, 2025

The prospect of a trade war is more present than ever, and this is also the reason why global financial markets have collapsed in the past 2 months. Major US stock indexes have dropped by 5-10%, while the stocks of leading corporations have lost 10-20% of their value after just 1 quarter.

2025 Performance:

S&P 500: -5.11%

Nasdaq: -10.29% pic.twitter.com/pQqNEoS2Lg

— Brew Markets (@brewmarkets) March 30, 2025

Meanwhile, safe-haven assets like gold continue to hit new highs, with the world gold price this morning rising above the $3,100/ounce mark.

The cryptocurrency market, as usual, continues to move in sync with the global stock market. Bitcoin's price in the last 72 hours has dropped nearly 7%, from $87,500 to $81,300 on the morning of March 31.

Meanwhile, Ethereum has lost nearly 15% of its value as the world's second-largest cryptocurrency has been hit by both bearish sentiment in the market and the threat of large liquidation thresholds in on-chain transactions.

The 125,603 $ETH ($229M) held by these two whales on #Maker is at risk of liquidation!

The liquidation price is $1,787.75 and $1,701.54.https://t.co/OsRc23ptV8https://t.co/nbAL9cAnkv pic.twitter.com/xUn6iOW19B

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 31, 2025

Red is now spreading across the crypto market, but there are still some coins that are “going against the storm”.