• Stock markets around the world suffer losses
• Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese imports blamed
• Possible US withdrawal from NATO also contributed

International stock markets suffered yesterday as the trade war between the United States and China became worse and reports surfaced that the US might withdraw from NATO.

On Tuesday, the US announced tariffs on a massive new list of Chinese imports. As justification, the country’s trade representative pointed to China’s retaliation against tariffs the US imposed earlier on Chinese products.

The intensifying trade conflict, which many are now describing as a full-blown trade war, has global investors deeply worried about the future of not only the international economy, but the current world order.

This pushed stock markets across the globe into losses yesterday.

It started with Asia, where Hong Kong and China’s stock indexes lost more than 1%. By late Wednesday, all major European stock markets were trading more than 1% lower.

In the United States, all three main indexes lost nearly 0.5% within the first few minutes after trading started and remained in the red throughout the rest of the day. Eventually, the Dow Jones lost 0.81%, the S&P 500 ended 0.64% lower, and Nasdaq dropped 0.51%.

London Capital Group Research Head Jasper Lawler said in an email: “The US upped the stakes in the trade war with China, sending equity markets tumbling, as risk off prevails.”

By 2:35PM BST, the German DAX was 1.43% lower. Other losses include France’s CAC 40 (-1.28%), Italy’s FTSE MIB (-1.35%), Spain’s IBEX 35 (-1.16%), and Britain’s FTSE 100 (-1.08%).

The situation is unlikely to improve soon. In fact, China will most likely retaliate again. The Chinese Commerce Minister has already expressed shock over Trump’s latest tariff announcement.

The NATO issue also weighs heavily on stock markets because a US withdrawal would likely cause more international upheaval.