US stocks fall from records as tariff angst returns

“No one really wants to overreact negatively right now, which is why we’re seeing a bit of a sell-off, but not a major sell-off,” he said.

Trump’s unresolved trade policy has received less attention in recent weeks as Congress weighed the president’s fiscal package, which included controversial cuts to federal health care and other social service programs.

The clash between Iran and Israel had also overshadowed trade. But trade was always going to come back into focus after the White House set a Jul 9 deadline to reach agreements. The administration now says it will hike tariffs on Aug 1 on trading partners that don’t strike a deal.

Among individual companies, Tesla tumbled 6.3 per cent after Trump blasted CEO Elon Musk’s plan to launch a new political party in opposition to the president’s hallmark legislation, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill.

The back-and-forth escalated a conflict between the president and the world’s richest man at a time when investors had hoped Musk would refocus on Tesla and his other ventures and shift attention from politics.