Tech analyst on tariffs: “Worse than the worst case scenario”

Megacap tech stocks tumbled in the after-hours session following the Trump administration’s announcement of across-the-board tariffs on US trading partners, as well as higher-than-expected trade levies on countries like China and Taiwan that run large trade surpluses with the US.

At last glance Apple was down nearly 6%, Nvidia more than 3%, and Meta nearly 4%. At roughly 6 p.m. ET, Nasdaq 100 futures are down enough to imply a 3% drop in the large-cap stock index when it opens on Thursday.

Quick-fingered tech analyst Dan Ives over at Wedbush has one of the first assessments of the impact of the tariff announcements on tech stocks, in a note published Wednesday. He wrote:

“President Trump just finished his tariff speech at the White House and we would characterize this slate of tariffs as ‘worse than the worst case scenario’ the Street was fearing. While there are many details to be worked out and investors will focus on the specifics over the coming 24 hours, the jaw dropper was the China reciprocal tariff of 34%. Taiwan at 32% is the other major one along with the EU at 20%...

Tech stocks will clearly be under major pressure on this announcement as the worries about demand destruction, supply chains, and especially the China/Taiwan piece of the tariffs. Apple produces basically all their iPhones in China and the question will be around exceptions/exemptions on this tariff policy if those companies are building more operations/factories/plants in the US like Apple announced in February.

For Nvidia and other chip players with significant exposure to China and Taiwan supply chains the worry will be around pricing and margin impacts along with what this means for the global supply chain looking forward.”

Ives may have been a little too quick on the trigger, however, when it comes to semiconductors: a fact sheet from the White House says that chips are exempt from the reciprocal tariff.