European Stocks Close Sharply Lower On Escalating Trade Tensions

(RTTNews) - European stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday, turning weak once again after having snapped a four-session losing streak on Tuesday. The mood turned bearish U.S. President Donald Trump pushed ahead with higher duties on roughly 60 trading partners that he dubbed the "worst offenders."

The latest set of U.S. tariffs, including a massive 104% levy on Chinese imports, and a 20% levy on European Union imports took effect today. China's finance ministry said it will impose 84% tariffs on U.S. goods from Thursday, up from the 34% previously announced.

Trump also proposed the imposition of a "major" tariff on drug imports in a bid to stimulate domestic drug production and tripled the previously announced tariff rates on low-value packages exported to the U.S. from mainland China and Hong Kong.

The European Commission is reportedly contemplating imposing tariffs of up to 25% on over 22 billion euros worth of American agricultural and industrial exports.

The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 4.31%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed down 3.54%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 lost 4.06% and 4.04%, respectively, while Switzerland's SMI settled lower by 4.15%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye all ended with sharp losses.

In the UK market, AstraZeneca Pharma, BP, GlaxoSmithKline, Melrose Industries, Vistry Group, Smith & Nephew, Persimmon, British Land Company, Anglo American Plc, Barclays, Schroders, M&G, Shell, Segro and Intertek lost 4 to 7%.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Natwest Group, Haleon, Frasers Group, Prudential and Reckitt Benckiser were among the several other major losers.

JD Sports Fashion soared 11%. B&M European Value Retail, Fresnillo, Endeavour Mining, 3i Group and Airtel Africa gained 1.3 to 2.7%.

In the German market, Fresenius, MTU Aero Engines, Bayer, Deutsche Bank, Fresenius Medical Care, Merck, Vonovia, SAP, Qiagen, Henkel, Infineon, Sartorius, Deutsche Post, Sartorius, Brenntag, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Siemens Healthineers and Allianz lost 3 to 4.5%.

In the French market, Sanofi lost more than 6%. Unibail Rodamco, Safran, Airbus Group, Saint-Gobain, Stellantis, Kering, TotalEnergies, LVMH, BNP Paribas, Michelin, ArcelorMittal, Essilor and Teleperformance closed down 3 to 5.3%.

Publicis Groupe, Capgemini, Dassault Systemes, Vivendi, L'Oreal, Societe Generale, Thales, Carrefour and Credit Agricole also ended notably lower.