Prime Minister Donald Tusk has reacted to crashing global stock markets in reaction to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, telling the Poles that Poland will “persevere calmly.”
Global markets swan dived after Trump imposed new tariffs of at least 10 percent on a number of countries. Tariffs on goods from China will be 34 percent, from Switzerland 31 percent, from European Union member 20 percent, from Israel at 17 percent, and from the United Kingdom at 10 percent.
Investors have moved their attention to bonds, gold and the yen. Economists fear that the mutual tariffs introduced by the American leader will intensify the trade war, which threatens to plunge the world into recession.
China announced the introduction of additional tariffs of 34 percent on imports from the United States from April 10 and restrictions on rare earth metals, in what is seen as a sharp escalation directed at the U.S.
Nevertheless, European leaders are trying to project calm, including Tusk. Poland, along with other European stock exchanges, continues to hurtle downwards, and this morning saw drops of up to 5 to 6 percent.
“The reaction to the tariff war was predictable. The stock market earthquake from Japan through Europe to America must be survived without nervous decisions. The Polish stock exchange also took a hit, but political and economic stability are our assets in this difficult time. We will persevere calmly!” wrote Tusk on X.
In Poland, the Warsaw Stock Exchange saw a huge sell-off, with investors racing to remove their capital from nearly every company listed on the exchange. Asian markets also recorded sharp drops.
European stock exchanges, including Poland, recorded significant declines on Monday morning, reaching 5-6 percent. There was a massive sell-off of shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Investors are withdrawing capital from almost all companies, which is in line with the global downward trend. Asian markets also recorded sharp declines.
Trump, for his part, has signaled he is not particularly concerned with stock prices. While fielding questions from reporters on Air Force One, he said: “I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something — and we have been treated so badly by other countries.”
Trump said he is trying to persuade European leaders to reach a deal with him.
“They come to the table, they want to talk. But there will be no talks until they start paying us a lot of money every year,” he said.
