Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on July 2, 2025.
NYSE
U.S. stock futures fell Sunday night after President Donald Trump confirmed that tariffs are set to go into effect Aug. 1, not July 9.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid by 146 points, or 0.32%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.39% and 0.42%, respectively.
In an interview with reporters Sunday, Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick were asked to clarify when tariffs are set to go into effect. In response, Lutnick said, “Tariffs go into effect Aug. 1. But the president is setting the rates, and the deals, right now.” Trump nodded in approval.
Earlier in the day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that tariffs will return to April 2 levels on Aug. 1 if there is no progress on signing a deal with the U.S.
Investors had been expecting tariff rates to go into effect this week. Trump’s initial 90-day reprieve on the April “reciprocal” tariffs for most U.S. trading partners was set to end Tuesday.
As of Sunday, Trump’s April 9 executive order which established the July 9 tariff implementation date did not appear to have been formally revised. While the president has broad tariff powers, the April 9 order would typically be replaced with a new order establishing the Aug. 1 date.
The White House did not immediately reply to a question from CNBC about whether the president planned to issue a new executive order before July 9.
Wall Street is coming off a winning week, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closing at all-time highs Friday in part because of confidence the Trump administration will not implement the most severe tariffs it announced back in April. In recent days, the White House had called the July trade deadlines “not critical.”
“Ultimately, trade negotiations usually take a long time to negotiate; free trade arrangements the US negotiated have taken an average of 3 years,” Rajeev Sibal, senior global economist at Morgan Stanley, wrote last week. “While the negotiations that are currently taking place are likely to be narrower than a full fledged free trade agreement, the historical precedent remains informative.”
Investors worry that an equity market at all-time highs could become more volatile as trade updates emerge from the White House, especially if the negotiations result in higher tariffs than expected. But others remain confident the stock market rally can continue, betting that companies in the upcoming earnings season will be able to clear low expectations if they demonstrate the ability to navigate tariffs.
“I agree with anybody who says that, ‘Look, we’ve reshaped some of the economic flows around tariffs,’ but that’s an upside story because if it plays out better, that’s an earnings surprise,” Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Thursday. He added: “This is the most hated V-shaped rally.”
— CNBC’s Erin Doherty contributed to this report.