US stock futures slip up to 2% as China hits back with 84% tariffs on US goods

US stock index futures recorded a sharp cut on Wednesday amid a fresh round of ongoing tariff war between the United States and China. Last checked, Dow Jones Futures plunged 2.28 per cent in pre-market trade setup while S&P 500 Futures and Nasdaq 100 Futures were down 2.22 per cent and 1.46 per cent, respectively.

US President Donald Trump signed off on a last-minute amendment hiking duties on imports from China. And, Beijing responded in style by imposing an additional 84 per cent tariff on US goods, effective April 10, 2025.

China will impose 84 per cent tariffs on US goods from Thursday, up from the 34 per cent previously announced, its finance ministry said. Beijing has also blacklisted 12 US companies for export control reasons and added six US companies to its "unreliable entity" list, meaning they face restrictions and potential penalties in China.

This announcement comes just a day after Trump implemented a 104 per cent tariff on China. The White House press secretary stated that the additional tariff would be effective from April 9.

Trump's "Liberation Day" (April 2) announcement introduced tariffs on imports from a number of countries. This aggressive trade policy shift by the US sent shockwaves through global markets.

Nuvama Institutional Equities said Trump's approach and solutions have been unilateral, aggressive and disruptive, adding that a recession in the US is inevitable without the US Federal Reserve's proactive offset.

"Given how policies are stacking up in terms of sequencing, we think the path to expansionary deleveraging could be through a US downturn/recession. This shall be painful in the near term but would pave the way for a more balanced global rebound, including in EMs (India too). Such a setup of low/negative real rates and leveraging in creditor countries could be akin to the 2002–07 global upswing. While risk assets would benefit in such a regime, gold may still outshine all others," the domestic brokerage stated.