Stocks plunged Thursday morning as U.S. trading opened for the first time after President Trump’s announcement of heavy tariffs on nearly every nation exporting products to the United States.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened with a loss of more than 1,200 points, falling 2.8 percent on the day. The S&P 500 index opened with a loss of 3.3 percent, and the Nasdaq composite opened with a loss of 4.4 percent.

Trump announced Wednesday he would impose a 10 percent tariff on all imports, which higher rates for key trading partners in response to what the White House considers unfair trade practices. Tariff rates ranged from 20 percent for European Union products to a total tariff of 54 percent on Chinese goods.

“Today’s announcement on reciprocal tariffs was more severe than we had anticipated,” wrote analysts at Nomura in a Wednesday research note.

“Headline rates for targeted countries rose … far beyond our baseline expectation,” they continued. “Details of the announcement included several mitigating factors, but the upside surprise to tariff rates outweighs any positives.”

Stock futures sunk in after hours trading throughout Trump’s Rose Garden event, which was held Wednesday after the stock market had closed. Asian and European stock........

© The Hill