'Markets Will Boom': Trump Reacts to Worst Stock Crash in Years Amid Tariff War

After his broad tariff announcement, US President Donald Trump put a rosy face on the economic horizon, even though there was a sharp fall in the stock market.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by more than 1,600 points, prompting a worldwide market selloff. Stock investors did not like the new tariffs from Trump, representing one of the largest stock falls since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Trump was optimistic, brushing aside fears about the market slump. "The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom," he said to reporters, according to the Associated Press, before leaving the White House for one of his Florida golf clubs.

Revealed on Wednesday, the new tariff policy has a minimum 10 percent tax on imports, with much higher rates put on some countries, including China and the European Union. The move sent shockwaves around the world's financial markets, although Trump said such a response was expected.

Describing the US economy in terms of a patient receiving an operation, he stood by his approach when asked to explain the market meltdown. "I think it's going very well.". We have a procedure, such as a patient being operated on, and it is a big deal. I said this would be just the way it is," he explained, dismissing fears. He also pointed out that trillions of dollars in investment were projected to enter the US as firms wanted to produce domestically to sidestep tariffs.

Addressing journalists on Air Force One later that evening, Trump hinted that tariffs might be used as bargaining chips with other countries, depending on what they had to offer in return. He again repeated his long-standing assertion that other nations have been taking advantage of the US for decades and promised to end it—a line he repeated in the official declaration of the tariffs in the White House's Rose Garden.

Under the new regulations, tariffs will be between 10 percent and as much as 49 percent. Certain countries are subjected to different rates, with India bearing a 26 percent tariff, China 34 percent, Vietnam 46 percent, and the UK 10 percent. The European Union will bear a 20 percent charge, while Cambodia has been subjected to the highest tariff of 49 percent. The import of goods from South Korea will attract a 25 percent charge.

Proclaiming April 2 as 'Liberation Day,' Trump claimed American taxpayers had been taken for a ride for more than 50 years but assured that the situation would not continue. "Taxpayers have been robbed for over 50 years. But it is not going to happen any longer," he claimed. He also added that the tariff revenue would be utilized to pay off the national debt.

Although Trump's optimistic outlook, global trading partners and financial markets are unsettled, observing closely to know how the new policies will unfold in the subsequent months.