On Wednesday, April, 2, President Donald Trump announced a 10 percent “baseline” tariff for all United States trading partners, with “individualized” higher tariffs for “countries with which the [U.S.] has the largest trade deficits.” (Some countries could face taxes as high as 54 percent based on the White House’s calculations.) Trump said the move would make the global system fairer and incentivize U.S. companies to boost domestic production.
“April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again,” Trump said in a speech delivered from the White House Rose Garden. “Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” But it is not going to happen anymore.”
The announcement caused the global markets to tumble over the last 24 hours. According to CNN, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed 2.8 percent down; South Korea’s Kospi index fell 2.7 percent; Germany’s DAX index dropped 1.3 percent; and London’s FTSE 100 fell 1 percent by at 4.24 a.m. ET.
By Thursday afternoon, the S&P 500 was down 4.2 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.3 percent, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.3 percent. Trump’s tariff plan, which will go into effect on April 5, and the subsequent market drops stoked fears of a global trade war, which could result in higher consumer costs during and a potential recession.
“With the recently announced reciprocal tariffs the U.S. effective tariff rate is estimated to increase to nearly 25 percent. This rate is higher than the peak tariff rate imposed under Smoot-Hawley in the 1930s, which contributed to the Great Depression,” Moody’s Analytics chief economist wrote on X Thursday. “If the 25 percent tariff is fully implemented quickly and largely maintained, and U.S. trading partners retaliate approximately tit-for-tat, the U.S. and global economies will not suffer a depression, but they will suffer serious recessions. The recession will hit imminently and extend until next year.”
So, how are social media users dealing with the economic uncertainty? By laughing in its face, of course. By Thursday afternoon, people began flooding X with “Great Depression” and "Girl, the tariffs..." memes, proving why humor will always be a go-to coping mechanism. Check out some of the posts below.