Wall Street stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday, dragged down by losses in Nvidia and Tesla, as investors awaited information about long-promised U.S. tariffs on automotive imports. Canadian stocks also closed lower, including declines for technology and metal mining shares, as expected U.S. auto tariffs threatened to widen a global trade war.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans for car-industry tariffs at a press conference after markets closed Wednesday, widening the global trade war he kicked off this year. Trump said he would impose 25% tariffs on “all cars that are not made in the United States.”
Auto industry experts expect the move to drive up prices and stymie production. For weeks, Trump has promised to announce a swath of reciprocal tariffs on April 2.
In regular trading, shares of Tesla dropped 5.6% and General Motors lost 3.1%, with investors uncertain about the scale of tariffs, retaliatory measures from trading partners and potential ripple effects on the global economy and businesses. After Trump’s announcement, shares in Tesla were flat in the post market while GM was down a further 5%.
“Markets hate the tariff uncertainty, especially when it pertains to autos. Autos are ground zero for the negative economic impacts of tariffs,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group.
Heavyweight chipmakers Nvidia slid almost 6% and Broadcom fell almost 5%, pushing the PHLX chip index down 3.3%.
In U.S. economic data Wednesday, businesses wary of tariff-related price hikes scrambled to build up inventories, resulting in an unexpected increase last month in orders for durable manufactured goods.
The S&P 500 declined 1.12% to end the session at 5,712.20 points. The Nasdaq declined 2.04% to 17,899.02 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.31% to 42,454.79 points.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 178.45 points, or 0.7%, at 25,161.06, after notching its highest closing level in nearly one month on Tuesday.
The TSX technology sector fell 3.2%, with electronic equipment company Celestica tumbling 9.9%. The materials group, which includes fertilizer and metal mining shares, was down 1.5%.
U.S. copper futures hit a record high amid rising bets on the level of U.S. import tariffs that may be imposed on the metal.
The most active May copper futures on the U.S. Comex exchange climbed 0.5% to US$5.239 a pound, after hitting a record high of US$5.374.
The premium on Comex copper over the LME price, a global benchmark, widened to a record of $1,624 per ton or 16%.
The market is pricing in the probability of a U.S. 25% import tariff on copper, said Dan Smith, head of research at Amalgamated Metal Trading. “It’s not 100% baked in but the probability is getting higher.”
A month ago, Trump ordered an investigation into potential new tariffs on copper imports with the aim to rebuild U.S. production of the metal.
Technically, the probe can take up to nine months, but Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the U.S. copper tariffs could be coming within several weeks.
U.S. 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum products took effect earlier in March.
With the United States importing about 40% of its needs in copper, mainly from Chile and Canada, the focus is on supplies to the U.S. ahead of the possible decision and worries that attempts to divert the metal from other consuming regions would tighten the market.
Available LME copper inventories have fallen sharply since mid-February to 111,000 tons, but the spread between the cash LME and the three-month contract remains at a discount, indicating no acute shortage for nearby supply.
In TSX trading Wednesday, shares of First Quantum Minerals dropped 5.7% after Panama said it has not authorized visits to the company’s shuttered Cobre Panama mine. On Monday, First Quantum announced a program of visits to the mine.
Energy was one of just two major sectors to notch gains, rising 0.6%. The price of oil settled 0.9% higher at US$69.65 a barrel after a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories.
Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, six declined, led lower by information technology, down 2.46%, followed by a 2.04% loss in communication services.
Barclays revised its S&P 500 target downward to 5,900 points from 6,600. The S&P 500 has lost 3% so far in 2025, while the Nasdaq is down over 7%.
The main focus later this week will be the personal consumption expenditures price index - the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge - due on Friday.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari on Wednesday said he was uncertain about the effect of Trump’s tariffs, with the possibility they could push up prices, arguing for higher interest rates.
Among individual U.S. stocks, Dollar Tree rose 3.1% after the discount-retail chain said it was nearing a sale of its Family Dollar business to a consortium of private equity investors for about $1 billion.
GameStop jumped nearly 12% following its board’s unanimous approval to incorporate bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset.
Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.1-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted 16 new highs and 6 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and 197 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with 15.5 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 16.2 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.
Reuters, Globe staff