Liberation Day tariffs chaos could cause permanent damage to US economy, amid global tensions

The US stock market has been falling ever since Trump's inauguration in January 2025, but it reached recession levels the week following "Liberation Day", April 2, when Trump announced Draconian tariffs on 185 nations, including its closest allies, Canada and the European Union.

- KUMAR DE SILVA

The US stock market lost 20%, or over $6 trillion, of its value, by the following weekend, taking the US economy perilously close to recession levels.

While the market was crashing over the weekend, the White House issued the following statement on Saturday evening: "The President won his second-round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today (Saturday) in Jupiter, Florida, and advances to the Championship Round tomorrow".

Trump spoke to the press on Air Force One on his return flight from Florida, where he had participated in, and won the aforementioned seniors' golf tournament. Which of course explained the reasons behind the collapse of the stock markets after the announcement of increased tariffs, and allayed the fears of the nation of a possible economic recession.

He ranted, while downplaying a weekend of pummeling losses, "What's going to happen to the market? I can't tell you, but I can tell you, our country has gotten a lot stronger, and eventually it will be a country like no other". He's wrong on both counts. The US has got a lot weaker, both economically and internationally, in the past two months. And eventually, it will become a kleptocracy exactly like Russia, which has been his ambition all along.

He continued, "I don't want anything to go down". (Oops, too late). "But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something". I know the perfect medicine that will fix everything, but Trump won't take it.

There was a slight upturn in the markets last Monday, April 7, when reports on social media from Kevin Hassett, a top White House economic adviser, indicated that "the President was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs", a potential reprieve before Trump's Draconian tariffs took effect on April 9. The White House immediately shot this rumor down, calling the report "fake news". The markets continued on their downturn.