Sky News had to suddenly break into its regular programming with some serious news that’s affecting money and jobs all over the world. The reason? President Donald Trump is sticking to his tough new trade taxes, and it’s making stock markets everywhere take a nosedive.
The show’s host, Wilfred Frost, came on air looking very serious right before the London stock market was about to open. A big red warning flashed across TV screens saying that markets in Asia had already started crashing because of these new trade taxes.
Things look really bad in Asia – the Hong Kong stock market alone lost more than 10% of its value overnight. Everyone was nervously waiting to see how much European markets would drop when they opened, and early signs from America weren’t good either, with predictions of another 3% drop there.
Trump tried to explain his decision while flying on Air Force One. He said lots of world leaders have been calling him wanting to make deals, but he’s refusing to let America keep losing money in trade anymore. He admitted this might hurt the economy right now, comparing it to taking nasty medicine when you’re sick, but claims it’ll make America stronger later.
When Wilfred checked back later, the numbers were still scary. Britain’s main stock market was down 3%, France was down 2.4%, and Italy had lost 1.4%. But the worst was in Asia where Hong Kong’s market had crashed a shocking 12.5%. Germany – which sells lots of products overseas – saw its market plunge a huge 9% because of these new trade taxes.
All this means regular people’s savings and pensions are taking a hit, businesses are getting nervous, and no one’s really sure what’s going to happen next with all these trade fights between countries. It’s one of those days where money experts are watching the numbers every minute, waiting to see if things will get worse or start to recover.
