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Updated May 23, 2025, 12:48 p.m. Published May 23, 2025, 12:14 p.m.
- Risk assets — bitcoin among them — fell sharply during early morning U.S. hours after President Trump reignited what had been cooling trade tensions.
- Floating along at above $111,000, bitcoin quickly fell about 2.5% on the news.
- The president threatened a 50% tariff on all EU imports to begin June 1 as well as a 25% tariff on Apple iPhones not made in the U.S.
What was setting up to be a somewhat sleepy session ahead of the holiday weekend is no more as President Trump woke up and chose to reignite what had been cooling trade tensions.
“The European Union … has been very difficult to deal with,” said the president in a Truth Social posting. “Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% tariff on the EU, starting on June 1.”
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
The leader of the free world also took aim at Apple (AAPL) and its CEO Tim Cook. “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the U.S. will be manufactured and built in the U.S., not India or anyplace else. If that’s not the case, a tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple.”
U.S. stock index futures quickly moved from modest gains to nearly 2% declines, with Apple falling 3.6%. Above $111,000 prior to the news, the price of bitcoin
quickly pulled back to $108,600.
Stephen is CoinDesk’s managing editor for Markets. He previously served as managing editor at Seeking Alpha. A native of suburban Washington, D.C., Stephen went to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, majoring in finance. He holds BTC above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.
