US stock futures fell on Monday as President Trump made a fresh tariff threat and confirmed that country-specific duties will kick in on Aug. 1, ramping up trade uncertainty as the end to his tariff pause looms.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) slipped 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures (ES=F) backed off 0.2%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) dropped 0.4% as Tesla (TSLA) stock sank amid worries about CEO Elon Musk’s plan to launch a political party.
Stocks are pulling back after a strong jobs report helped boost the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) to all-time closing highs on Thursday, before the early trading shutdown for the long Independence Day weekend.
With equities at record levels, investors are wary that any sharp turn in trade negotiations could trigger volatility.
Trump said late Sunday that any country aligning itself with the “Anti-American policies of BRICS” will face an additional 10% tariff. “There will be no exceptions to this policy,” he said in a post to social media. The warning came after BRICS — a group of countries including key US trading partners China and India — criticized Trump’s tariff policy at its summit at the weekend.
It ramped up already-high trade tensions as nations race to clinch tariff deals ahead of Trump’s self-imposed deadline of July 9, when his “pause” on steep April tariffs would go back into effect. Global markets have been bracing for that potential shock, with the US only having reached deals with the UK and Vietnam, as well as a framework toward an agreement with China.
On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trump confirmed that while letters will be sent out this week informing countries of their tariff rates, those duties would not go into effect until Aug. 1.
Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs.
“President Trump’s going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners saying that if you don’t move things along, then on Aug. 1 you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level. So I think we’re going to see a lot of deals very quickly,” Bessent told CNN’s “State of Union.”
Bessent hinted at several possible deals in the coming days, suggesting the focus this week is clarity with 18 major trading partners before setting duties for the 100-plus other countries that the administration has in its sights for trade taxation. Wall Street is waiting to see how trade talks between the European Union and Canada go, in addition to other key partners.
