US stock markets were up triple digits on Monday. This increase came just weeks after the Trump administration’s announcement that tariffs on Chinese-made smartphones like the iPhone and other electronic devices would be cancelled. Moving markets On Saturday morning, this unexpected decision was met with a wave of exuberance by investors. As a result, the company’s stock surged around the world.
Now, the exemption was especially notable and widely popular because it applies to products widely used by technology’s big dogs, especially Apple. With approximately 80% of Apple’s iPhones intended for sale in the US being manufactured in China, the company’s share price surged by 5.2%. The laggard today was the technology sector, which scored the worst performance of all sectors. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index jumped as much as 2.2% within minutes of the market opening!
On the other side of the Atlantic, investor optimism reverberated through key European stock indexes. Britain’s FTSE 100 jumped by 2%, with similar-sized advances seen in key indexes in France and Germany. That said, investors largely rejoiced about the exemptions, be they temporary or possibly permanent. As President Trump himself warned, these products are just moving into another tariff “bucket.”
Although rolling back tariffs could strengthen market confidence even in the short term, it’s said to be on shaky ground, according to analysts. Among the most erratic components of the Trump administration’s trade policy, one high-profile and controversial effort has been consistently wrongheaded. This new exemption is not expected to last. So many aspects of this backdrop have changed as we enter a world of intensified US-China competition. Beijing has responded by raising its own tariffs on American goods, raising tariffs on American products entering China to 125%.
As the world watched US stock markets took off like a rocket on Monday. The S&P 500 soared 1.6%, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average advancing 1.1%. As for the domestic and foreign investors, they all feel relieved by the temporary tariff exemptions. This has somewhat calmed fears around growing costs for consumer electronics and increased optimism around a possible thaw in US-China trade relations.