TV Anchor: Trump's Tariff Announcement Is 'Worse Than Worst-Case Scenario'

A TV anchor was left gobsmacked by the higher-than-expected tariffs President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday, saying Americans should be prepared for serious impacts to the market.“The market reaction after hours ― I’ve never seen anything like it,” said CNBC’s “Closing Bell” co-anchor Jon Fortt. “This ― I think, fair to say ― is worse than the worst-case scenario of the tariffs that many in the market expected the president to impose.”Markets showed heavy after-hours trading, also called extended trading, following Trump’s Rose Garden announcement. So far, there have been drops of 4% at Nvidia, 5% at Tesla, 6% at Apple, 7% at Nike, 11% at Five Below and 12% at Gap, the finance news network reported.CNBC reacts right after Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement: "And the market reaction after hours -- I’ve never seen anything like it. This -- I think, fair to say -- is worse than the worst-case scenario of the tariffs that many in the market expected the president to impose."— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social)2025-04-02T21:12:51.042Z“I think while many were hoping this would eliminate uncertainty, there’s going to be more uncertainty in the market,” Fortt said.Trump’s announcement defied expectations that he may impose a universal 10% tariffs on trade partners. Instead, 10% was the baseline, with tariffs of 34% on China, 20% on the European Union, 46% on Vietnam and 32% on Taiwan. (See the full list of tariff percentages here.)Investors told Reuters that it’s clear traders were surprised by how hefty Trump’s tariffs were.“When the press conference first started, the president said tariffs would start with a 10% baseline across the board. That was better than expected, which was why we saw futures rallying,” Chris Zaccarelli, the chief investment officer of North Carolina’s Northlight Asset Management, told the outlet.“But once he got to specifics and started giving examples which were significantly higher than 10%, that’s when futures turned around and went negative because it was worse than expected.”At the Rose Garden announcement, Trump characterised the tariffs as retaliation on other countries.“Foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream,” he said.