US President Donald Trump’s tariff speech omits crypto, Bitcoin price drops

On Wednesday, April 2, President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs in what he termed his efforts to counter unfair trade practices. Trump’s latest announcement has impacted several of the US’s longstanding trading partners. Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and China faced the highest tariffs, while the European Union, the UK, and Japan also faced substantial tariffs. Trump has imposed a 27 per cent ‘discounted reciprocal tariff’ on imports from India.

Interestingly, with zero mentions of crypto, the crypto market panicked within minutes from the announcement. Initially, BTC dipped from $88,000 to $85,000; this is a whopping $3,000 drop in just around 10 minutes. BTC later stabilised a bit at $84,800; however, Ethereum (ETH) slid to $1,845 as the overall crypto market took a nosedive.

Zack Burks, the chief executive of NFT company Mintology, told Forbes that Trump’s ‘liberation day’ speech is going to be an atomic bomb on the current markets, and crypto is not safe in the immediate term. Burks told the news outlet that it was becoming clearer that bitcoin is the retail investor’s doomsday asset of choice, while gold is the institutional haven, specifically considering the soft power Trump holds on crypto assets. He was referring to the president’s promise to create a US bitcoin reserve and crypto stockpile as well as his growing crypto business interests.

In the last 24 hours, the price of BTC and the wider crypto market have been showing mixed signals. Trump’s address touched upon inflation, energy, and reviving American manufacturing on the lines with his pledge to boost the economy. While earlier there were murmurs that he may address digital assets, Trump’s omission of crypto comes at a time when his supporters and crypto advocates have been buoyed by his campaign promises to make the US a crypto capital. As of now, the crypto world is closely watching for more policy changes.