Global Economic Shock + Other Headlines

Tuesday Digest (04.08.25)

Global Instability: Is This How it Starts?

Regardless of what you think about the White House tariff strategy, it’s safe to say that President Trump’s economic announcements last week have sent the global economic system into a tailspin. Market downturns have been reported all over the globe and fears of a global recession are intensifying, even though stocks rebounded some this morning.

On April 2, President Trump announced a series of aggressive tariffs aimed at addressing trade imbalances and promoting U.S. manufacturing. Many of those nations said they would implement countermeasures, including tariffs on U.S. goods. The markets reacted immediately by plunging on Thursday, falling again on Friday, and then again on Monday.

Thursday marked the worst day in the stock market since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the three-day losses in the S&P 500 were its worst since “Black Monday” in October 1987. It wasn’t just in the United States, either. Markets in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere tumbled. Oil prices dropped. The U.S. dollar weakened. Even gold and Bitcoin—thought by some to be safe havens from stock market volatility—declined significantly.

I’m not an economist and I tend to trust Trump’s business mind. Speaker Mike Johnson said the President’s “strategy is playing out” and we all know implementing these kinds of tariffs were central to his campaign promises. But I’ve been asked by some whether there may be an end-times story to this moment of cratering investments and trade wars.