Original Title: "Trump Remains Tough: Tariffs Are the Only Savior for the US, Urgent Negotiations with Over 50 Countries Initiated, Lai Ching-te: Taiwan Will Not Retaliate, Reveals 5 Major Response Measures"

Original Author: Natalia Wu, BlockTempo

Due to the tariff policy causing turmoil in the US stock market and global markets, a nationwide anti-Trump wave erupted last week with 500,000 people taking to the streets to protest. However, Trump still stuck to his stance on tariffs. Trump responded on Monday: "I did not intend to crash the stock market, but sometimes you have to take medicine to cure the illness."

US President Trump announced last week that he would implement "reciprocal tariffs" on multiple countries, including Taiwan, leading to severe turbulence in the global financial markets. US stock futures opened this morning with a sharp drop, with the Dow futures plummeting 1822 points at one point, a 4.7% decline. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also plunged more than 5% simultaneously, with the VIX panic index soaring above 45, the third highest level since the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Taiwan's stock market, which escaped a downturn last week due to the holiday, also opened with a sharp drop today, falling 2085 points at one point to a low of 19212 points (or 9.8%), marking the largest intraday drop in history. Other Asian stock markets including the Nikkei, A-shares, and KOSPI also plummeted in early trading, triggering circuit breakers.

台股当前走势

In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin plunged to $77,000 this morning, with the total liquidation volume in the cryptocurrency market in the past 24 hours exceeding $890 million, resulting in over 299,000 people being liquidated. At the same time, gold, as a safe-haven asset, was not spared as spot gold briefly fell below $3000 this morning.

Investors' risk-off sentiment drove the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc, two major safe-haven currencies, higher. The yen surged 2.27% in the past 5 days to 146.584 yen per US dollar, while the Swiss franc rose over 3% during the same period.

Trump: I Did Not Intend to Crash the Stock Market...

Due to the tariff policy causing turmoil in the US stock market and global markets, a nationwide anti-Trump wave has erupted in the US with over 500,000 people participating in 1200 protest rallies last week, chanting to have Trump Hands Off.

However, Trump still stuck to his stance on tariffs. This morning, he posted on his own social media platform, Truth Social, emphasizing that "tariffs are a very beautiful thing," stating that they are bringing in billions of dollars in revenue for the US, aiming to address the huge trade deficits with China, the EU, and many other countries. He firmly claimed that tariffs are the only solution to the trade imbalance.

According to Bloomberg on Monday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Monday:

"I didn't intend to crash the stock market, but sometimes you have to take medicine to cure the illness."

Trump also said he had spoken with several unnamed national leaders. He reiterated that the purpose of imposing tariffs is to completely eliminate the U.S. trade deficit.

"They want very much to make a deal, and I said, 'We won't have a trade deficit.' We won't do it because to me, a trade deficit is a loss. We will have a surplus, or at least we'll have a balanced budget in the worst case. "

"We have to deal with our trade deficit, especially with China's trade deficit. I won't make a deal unless we reduce the trade deficit with China. I hope this issue can be resolved. "He said, "China is suffering a huge blow now because everyone knows we are right."

Trump also turned his attention to Europe, even stating that he not only wants trade balance but also compensation:

"We imposed high tariffs on Europe. They come to the negotiating table, they want to negotiate, but the negotiations won't take place unless they pay us a large sum of money every year."

When asked about the public's concerns that tariffs would lead to a rebound in inflation, Trump simply responded, "I don't think inflation will be a big problem."

Trump Vows to Reverse Trade Deficit with Tariffs

A White House economic official revealed that more than 50 countries have called the White House seeking negotiations to ease the impact. However, Commerce Secretary Lutnick emphasized on the CBS program "Face the Nation" that Trump is "not kidding," and Trump's tariff strategy will take effect on April 9 and will not be postponed, "will definitely be implemented for days or even weeks."

Lutnick is optimistic that tariffs will stimulate the reshoring of manufacturing. He revealed in an interview with CNBC on the 3rd that semiconductors are not currently included in the tariff, but Trump plans to move their manufacturing from Taiwan back to the U.S. and may impose targeted tariffs in the future.

More than 50 countries worldwide are racing against time, trying to persuade Trump to "spare the knife," but Trump is firm, saying, "No deal unless the trade deficit disappears." Experts warn that this tariff war may trigger a chain reaction, dragging down global growth, with no immediate relief in sight.

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