Tesla, Elon Musk Get Good News After 90-Day Tariffs Announcement
The newly-imposed United States tariffs that were implemented shortly after midnight on April 9 are being paused for more than 75 U.S. trading partners who did not retaliate against the tariffs when they went into effect. That's a big change from the White House's stance on tariffs just a few days ago, and the markets are reacting to it.
It's worth noting that the 90-day pause does not apply to China, since they had imposed retaliatory tariffs. In fact, U.S. tariffs on China will now climb to a total of 125%, effective immediately.
Shortly after the U.S. tariffs were implemented on China, they boosted taxes on American imports to 84% and said they would "fight to the end" in this trade war between the world's two biggest economies. Looking at the numbers, the United States sent $199 billion in exports to China last year, and China exported $463 billion in goods and services to the United States, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
There's no word on what exactly caused the change of heart inside the Oval Office for the 90-day pause, but one guy who is likely happy about it is Elon Musk. A post on X from the Spectator Index, which was sent out about 25 minutes following the tariff turnaround, shows that Tesla's stock went up a massive 15% following the news.
Stocks, today.
— The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) April 9, 2025
Tesla: +15%
NVIDIA: +13%
Apple: +11%
Meta: +9%
Amazon: +8%
Microsoft: +7.6%
Google: +6.5%
Looking beyond Tesla, the rest of the market shot up upon the news, as well, with the S&P 500 rising more than 7%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq going up around 9% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average jetting up around 7%. So, markets are responding in a very positive way.
However, the tariffs aren't totally gone, as a 10% duty will still be in place for these countries. According to the White House, that includes a 10% duty on Canada and Mexico.
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