Wall St opens sharply lower on trade war fears

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Friday as investors fretted President Donald Trump had launched a global trade war with his promise to impose import tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 278.93 points, or 1.13 percent, to 24,330.05. The S&P 500 lost 21.96 points, or 0.820116 percent, to 2,655.71. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 78.61 points, or 1.09 percent, to 7,101.95.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)