April 6 (UPI) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 572 points Friday amid ongoing fears over a potential trade war between China and the United States.
The Dow closed at 23,932, down 2.34 percent, but at its lowest point Friday hit 23,759, down more than 700 points. Boeing and Caterpillar were among the biggest losses in the index.
The S&P and Nasdaq Composite also ended the day at a loss of more than 2 percent — at closing the S&P was 2,604, down 58.37 points, while the Nasdaq was 6,915, down 161 points.
For the week, the Dow was down 0.7 percent, the S&P 500 was down 1.4 percent and the Nasdaq was down 2.1 percent.
The market has struggled this week amid tit-for-tat tariffs lobbed between the United States and China. On Thursday, President Donald Trump said he was considering an additional $100 billion worth of tariffs against China after Beijing implemented its own tariffs on $50 billion worth of goods. China’s tariffs were in reaction to plans announced earlier in the week by the United States to institute 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of mostly Chinese electronics.
On March 22, Trump signed a presidential order to impose tariffs on $60 billion of imported Chinese products to stem “economic aggression” by Beijing. A Section 301 trade investigation launched last summer found Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property is costing the U.S. economy billions of dollars.
Those tariffs followed a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and 10 percent tariffs on foreign-made aluminum targeting multiple countries, including China.
China responded to those measures by imposing tariffs on $3 billion worth of U.S. goods, including a 15 percent tariff on items such as fresh fruit and wine and a 25 percent tariff on other goods, such as pork and aluminum.
