Dow set to soar 1,000 points after Trump team dramatically lowers tariffs with China

US stock futures surged after President Donald Trump’s top trade officials brokered a surprisingly dramatic de-escalation in trade tensions with China over the weekend, dropping tariffs to much lower levels, which some economists say could stave off a US recession.

US stock futures surged after President Donald Trump’s top trade officials brokered a surprisingly dramatic de-escalation in trade tensions with China over the weekend, dropping tariffs to much lower levels, which some economists say could stave off a US recession. Dow futures rose 1,000 points, or 2.4%. S&P 500 futures were 3.1% higher, and Nasdaq futures gained 4%. US stocks were set to erase all their losses since Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” trade announcement, which placed a 10% tariff on practically all goods coming into the United States and set significantly higher tariffs on dozens of countries. Trump paused most of those tariffs just days after they went into effect but jacked up import taxes on China – eventually to 145% on most Chinese imports. In turn, China hiked tariffs on US goods to 125%. The tit-for-tat trade war had effectively stopped trade between the two countries, risking substantial price hikes and shortages. Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent both had said in recent weeks that tariffs on China had grown unsustainably high and a détente was necessary. But few believed that the result of the discussions between Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and their Chinese counterparts in Geneva this weekend was going to be quite so significant. Both sides agreed to axe tariffs by 115 percentage points, still leaving the levies considerably higher than where they were before Trump took office in January – but much, much lower than the historic level over the past month that deeply concerned American businesses, consumers, economists and investors.