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Tech, bank stocks bear the brunt as China retaliates to Trump tariffs
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 4, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 4, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
China's 34% tariffs on US goods hit tech and bank stocks hard, with Tesla and Apple shares dropping over 6%. Recession fears rise amid trade tensions.
(Reuters) - U.S. tech heavyweights, banks and oil majors extended losses on Friday after Beijing retaliated with additional duties of 34% on U.S. goods, amplifying investor concerns over an escalating global trade war that has stoked fears of a recession.
Beijing's tariffs are set to go into effect April 10. The country also announced controls on exports of medium and heavy rare-earths, and added 11 U.S. entities to the "unreliable entity" list.
Shares of Tesla and Apple - among companies with the biggest revenue exposure to China - both slumped more than 6%. Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta also fell sharply.
Banks' shares extended their declines following the countermeasures. The industry has been clouded by fears that a trade dispute could temper consumer confidence, reduce spending, weaken loan demand and pressure fees from advising on deals.
JPMorgan Chase, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, sank 7.3%. Wall Street titans Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley dropped 7% and 6%, respectively.
Crude prices, which were already feeling the brunt of an expected OPEC+oil output hike in May, added to the losses.[O/R]
Oil majors Exxon fell 4.8%, while Chevron declined 4%. Top oilfield service company SLB dropped 5.8%, and the biggest U.S. refiner by volume, Marathon Petroleum, fell 4.6%.
Tariffs from China, a major oil importer, could add to worries over slowing fuel demand.
"The trade war escalated, recession fears rise and consequently oil demand growth is to take a sizeable hit," said Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM.
GE Healthcare's stock slid 6.9% premarket, leading the losses in shares of medical equipment makers, after China also announced export controls on a rare-earth metal that is used in MRI scans.
Shares of Detroit automakers Ford and General Motors were down about 3% and 3.6%, respectively.
Automakers depend on a complex global supply chain for parts, while GM and Ford also count on China as a key growth market for their electric vehicles.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru, Seher Dareen, Niket Nishant, Nathan Gomes, Manas Mishra; editing by Arpan Varghese and Sriraj Kalluvila)
The article discusses the impact of China's tariffs on US tech and bank stocks amid escalating trade tensions.
Tech stocks like Tesla and Apple dropped over 6% due to their significant revenue exposure to China.
Oil prices fell as China, a major importer, imposed tariffs, raising concerns over slowing fuel demand.
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