President Trump announced tariffs on Chinese imports Thursday, reigniting fears of a trade war and sending jitters through the the stock market.
“Even though this has been out there, the big worry is what’s the next shoe to drop,” said Daniel Ives, Chief Strategy Officer at GBH Insights.
The tariffs are aimed at curbing what Trump calls “a tremendous intellectual property theft problem.”
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer now has 15 days to identify $50 billion worth of imports to tax, with a focus on technology products.
Many experts and investors fear that China will retaliate, impacting companies like Boeing that have carved large markets in China.
This move comes shortly after Trump levied taxes on imported steel and aluminium, angering allies around the world, including Canada and the EU.
Lighthizer signaled on Thursday that most of those allies will now be exempt from the metals tariffs, seeming to send a clear signal that much of Trump’s protectionist policies are squarely crafted with China in mind.
Overall, Chinese companies may have more to lose from these recent IP tariffs than U.S. tech companies, said Ives. He pointed out that, other than Amazon, revenue from China is negligible for most companies.
In addition to the tariff news, the markets were still reacting to Facebook’s privacy scandal.
The social media giant “continues to be that dark cloud over tech stocks,” said Ives.
“[It’s] been a lot of angst amongst investors we’ve been talking to.”
Nestlé has dismissed its CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate. The company announced on Monday that the dismissal was effective immediately. An investigation found that Freixe violated Nestlé’s code of conduct. He had been CEO for a year. Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive, will replace him. Chairman Paul Bulcke stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the company’s values and governance. Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 and has held various roles, including CEO of Nestlé's Nespresso division since 2024.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
