Timeline of the 2025 stock market crash

This article documents events of the 2025 stock market crash and 2025 trade war. Some developments shall become known and/or understood only in retrospect (via reportage, memoirs, academic analysis, etc.); the timeline is not exhaustive.

Background

See also: 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico and Tariffs in the second Trump administration

These paragraphs are an excerpt from Liberation Day tariffs.[ edit ]

On April 2, 2025, United States president Donald Trump held a White House Rose Garden ceremony where he announced what he called a "reciprocal tariff" strategy, which he had previously promised and described as necessary to correct what he characterized as decades of unfair trading relationships that disadvantaged American manufacturers and workers. He called April 2 "Liberation Day" and described it as "one of the most important days in American history." The newly planned tariffs have sometimes been referred to as "Liberation Day tariffs". ^[1]

During the event, Trump signed Executive Order 14257, ^[2] which outlined extensive global tariff policies which he described as the United States' "declaration of economic independence".

The announcement of the order marked the beginning of a global trade war and triggered a global stock market crash.

Timeline

Main article: 2025 stock market crash

April

• April 2: President Trump announces "Liberation Day": An omnibus 10% tariff on all imports (plus further, more specific, ^[3] tariffs on "dozens of countries", plus the European Union), ^[4] whereupon The People's Republic of China imposes a further 34% tariff (on top of its standard tariffs) set to take effect April 10, as per its Tariff Commission. ^{[5] [4]}

• April 4: The US tariffs take effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT. An addition tariff hike of 84% is imposed on China, taking its rate to 104%. Trump announces a sudden pause on the additional rates for many countries of 90 days on several hours after they were enacted. ^[4] The EU suspends its own tariffs. ^{[6] [7]} Furthermore, Trump announces a tariff of 125% on China "effective immediately". ^[4] The S&P 500 in two days has lost 10.5% of its value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the last four over 10%, down 4,580 points. ^[8]

• April 5: The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls for the third straight day. ^[9]

• April 6: The S&P 500 has since Inauguration Day lost 15% of its value. ^[10] The markets have had their worst week since the 2020 stock market crash of the COVID-19 lockdown era. ^[11]

• April 7: Nasdaq Composite down 19% from year-to-date, and the S&P 500 14%. Markets fall globally, ^{[12] [13]} and a 15-minute trading curb is automatically triggered when Japan's Nikkei falls 7%. ^[14]

• April 9: Dow down more than 900 points, NASDAQ 3%, ^[15] in the week since Liberation Day. ^[16]

• April 10: The White House announces a China tariff of 145%; ^[15] China raises its to 84%. ^[17] Canada's 25% tariffs on certain automobiles come into force. ^[6] After the brief resurgence the previous day, the market day ends with S&P 500 down 3.6%, Dow Jones 2.5%, Nasdaq 4.31%, Warner Bros Discovery 14%, and both Amazon and Apple 7%. Additionally 26 members of the EU (Hungary being the sole exception) voted to impose retaliatory tariffs on April 16. That said, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen left space for negotiations. ^{[18] [19] [20]}

• April 11: The VIX index ends a week breaking 45 for the 21st time since 1990, 35 years ago. ^[8] The DXY Dollar Index falls to a three-year low, with a three-year low vis-à-vis the euro and a decade low against the Swiss franc. ^[21]

• April 12: The S&P 500 has undergone intraday moves, either up or down, of at least 4.9% in each of the past six trading sessions, the longest such stretch since March 2020. ^[22]

• April 15: ICE U.S. Dollar Index reaches 8%, "its worst start to a year since 1995". ^[23]

• April 23: The S&P 500 has gained or lost at least 1 per cent in seven of its past ten sessions. ^[24]

References

1. Swanson, Ana; Rappeport, Alan; Romm, Tony (2025-04-02). "Trump Announces Sweeping Tariffs on All Imports: Live Updates". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2025-04-02.
2. Full text of Executive Order 14257: Donald Trump (April 2, 2025). "Regulating Imports With a Reciprocal Tariff To Rectify Trade Practices That Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits" (PDF).
3. "Regulating Imports With a Reciprocal Tariff To Rectify Trade Practices That Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits". Federal Register. 2025-04-07. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
4. "Which Tariffs Are Still in Place? Where Do Tariffs Stand After Trump's 90-Day Pause?". WSJ.
5. "China Retaliates With 34% Tariff on U.S. Goods". WSJ.
6. Bown, Chad P. (February 25, 2025). "Trump's trade war timeline 2.0: An up-to-date guide | PIIE". www.piie.com.
7. "EU to Pause Retaliatory Tariffs". WSJ.
8. Williams, Sean (April 12, 2025). "Wall Street's Volatility Index (VIX) Has Done This 21 Times in the Last 35 Years -- and It Has a Perfect Track Record of Forecasting Future Stock Moves". The Motley Fool.
9. Macheel, John Melloy,Hakyung Kim,Tanaya (April 6, 2025). "Dow slides more than 300 points as Trump tariffs rattle stocks for a third day: Live updates". CNBC.
10. {{cite web}}: Empty citation (help)
11. Ziegler, Megan (April 7, 2025). "Worst stock market days in history". FOX TV Stations.
12. Treisman, Rachel (7 April 2025). "U.S. Stocks are volatile as selloffs sweep through global markets". NPR.
13. "Global markets in freefall as Trump digs in on tariff 'medicine'". Al Jazeera.
14. "Japan's Nikkei Falls 7%". The Wall Street Journal . April 7, 2025. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
15. "The Wall Street Journal - Breaking News, Business, Financial & Economic News, World News and Video". WSJ.
16. "The Stock Market Is Still Down Since 'Liberation Day'". WSJ.
17. "China takes firm countermeasures against U.S. tariff bullying - People's Daily Online". en.people.cn.
18. "Trump recognises tariff 'transition difficulty' as US markets fall again". www.bbc.com. April 10, 2025.
19. "Von der Leyen welcomes Trump's tariff U-turn". POLITICO. April 10, 2025.
20. "Statement by President von der Leyen on the announcement of universal tariffs by the US". European Commission.
21. Kerr, Adrian. "Dollar Slides to Multiyear Lows as U.S.-China Tariff War Escalates". WSJ.
22. Pitcher, Gunjan Banerji and Jack. "Market Rout Shatters Long-Held Beliefs on Investing". WSJ.
23. Dulaney, Chelsey; MacDonald, Alistair. "What the Weak Dollar Means for the Global Economy". WSJ.
24. Banerji, Gunjan. "Huge Stock Swings Are the New Normal for Frazzled Investors". WSJ.