Europe midday: Shares dive on latest Trump tariff threat
By Frank Prenesti
Date: Monday 31 Mar 2025
(Sharecast News) - European shares slumped on Monday as US President Donald Trump said he would target all countries with tariffs ahead of a raft of new levies due to take effect on Wednesday.
The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was 1.70% lower at 532, extending morning losses. Germany's DAX was off by 1.85% and the UK's FTSE just under 1.18%.
Trump has pushed his team to devise plans that would apply higher rates of tariffs on a broader set of countries, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The president reinforced the narrative on Sunday night, saying he would target "essentially all" of US trading partners with tariffs of some kind, the newspaper added. He has pledged a "Liberation Day" on April 2, when he is set to unveil reciprocal levies.
"You'd start with all countries, so let's see what happens," Trump told reporters, effectively dismissing suggestions he would tone down some of the threatened levies.
Tariffs have already been imposed on steel and aluminium imports along with extra levies on Chinese goods. Automakers are still reeling from plans to slap a 25% tariff on vehicles and parts.
"Another day, another sell-off on the markets, marking 2025 as one of the most gruelling starts to a calendar year for investors in quite a while," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
"Donald Trump continues to be the key reason why markets are having a bad day. He has now threatened to target all countries importing goods into the US with tariffs, further clouding economic prospects around the world. Investors raced for protection by buying gold and defensive stocks including tobacco manufacturers and utilities."
In economic news, German retail sales rose by 0.8% in February 2025 compared to the previous month, the federal statistics office said on Monday.
Sales increased by 0.7% in real terms, revised upwards from a flash estimate of 0.2%, compared to December 2024, following revisions of the preliminary figures. Compared to February 2024 sales grew by 4.9% in real terms.
On the equities front, shares in Fortnox soared by 35% after the Swedish accounting software firm said its largest owner First Kraft and private equity group EQT had made a joint cash offer for it, valuing the company at around 55 billion crowns.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com
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