US stocks dropped Tuesday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that trade talks with China haven’t started — and President Trump later said the US doesn’t “have to sign” any trade deals.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 389 points, or 1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively.
Bessent’s remarks appeared to contradict repeated claims over the past few weeks from Trump, who has said China negotiations have been ongoing and that Chinese President Xi Jinping had called him.
Major stock indexes got a midday boost on Tuesday after Bessent signaled the US has received several “good offers” from other nations on trade deals.
Bessent, during his testimony before a House subcommittee on financial services, said he “would be surprised” if the US doesn’t have 80% or 90% of deals with its largest trading partners wrapped up by the end of the year.
“And that may be much sooner, I would think that perhaps as early as this week, we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners,” he continued.
But Trump sent stocks on another slide during a high-stakes meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, when he told reporters that the US doesn’t “have to sign” any deals.
“We don’t have to sign deals. They [foreign nations] have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market, we don’t want a piece of their market,” Trump said.
It’s the latest indication that Trump isn’t in a hurry to ease tariffs, telling Time just a couple weeks ago that if the US still has high taxes on foreign imports a year from now, he would consider it a “total victory.”
Trump called the meeting with Carney “friendly,” unlike other meetings, including a “little blow up,” an apparent dig at his explosive meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February.
Canada’s newly-elected prime minister struck back at Trump’s desire to annex the country and make it a 51st state, saying, “It’s not for sale. It won’t be for sale, ever.”
Trump replied, “Never say never.”
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“The markets continue to have daily schizophrenia based upon the day’s events of tariffs, leadership clashes and potential military conflicts,” Ted Jenkin, president of Exit Stage Left Advisors, told The Post.
As long as this widespread uncertainty continues, so will market swings, Jenkin said.
Market jitters continued throughout the day as drastic new trade data and suspended guidance from several major companies did little to quell investors’ fears.
Data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Tuesday showed the US trade deficit soared to a record $140.5 billion in March — a 92.6% jump so far this year as companies rushed to import goods ahead of Trump’s tariffs.
The US took in $17.8 billion more imports in March than the month before, while exports from the US increased by just $500 million – worsening investors’ fears of a recession.
Meanwhile, Ford and Mattel joined the growing list of companies suspending their annual forecasts amid heightened economic uncertainty.
Ford said it estimated Trump’s tariffs will cost the automaker $1.5 billion, while Mattel warned of a $270 million hit – saying it could raise toy prices in the US to counter the additional costs.
“When many companies have a hard time giving future guidance on their earnings, it’s going to make people suspect as to whether the broad stock market is the best place for their money and [that’s] why you’ve seen gold go up as of late,” Jenkin told The Post.
