US stocks registered a sharp fall today fearing impact of new steel and aluminium tariffs on global growth, a day after former Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn resigned as chief economic advisor to President Donald Trump.
While the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 134 points soon after it opened for trading this morning, the NASDAQ Composite shed 0.2 per cent and S&P declined by 0.4 per cent. However, the White House insisted that the US economy was in a good shape.
"As we've said many times before, we're very focused on long-term economic success. The economy is still infinitely stronger today than when the president first came in and we're going to continue building on that," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.
"We've done a lot of incredible things when it comes to building the economy and creating jobs...and we're going to keep focusing on that," she said to a question on the developments at Wall Street.
Trump is likely to sign an executive order later this week imposing a 25 per cent tariff on import of steel and another 10 per cent on aluminium.
Cohn, who served as Trump's chief economic advisor for over a year, resigned due to his differences on this issue.
Trump, in a tweet, said a replacement would be announced soon.
"Will be making a decision soon on the appointment of new Chief Economic Advisor. Many people wanting the job - will choose wisely!" Trump tweeted.
"The president's got a number of people that could potentially fill that role. What I can assure you obviously is he's going to make a good pick that can help him continue to further building a strong economy and continue creating jobs and continue focusing on long-term economic success," Sanders said.
According to the Wall Street Journal, some investors saw Cohn's resignation as a sign that Trump was pushing forward with the tariffs he announced last week and were worried that protectionist trade policies could spread.
"Global trade disruptions could lead to ripple effects for a wide range of commodities and products, some fear, leading to higher costs for companies and consumers and ultimately slower economic growth," the daily said.
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