Before President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, shares had enjoyed a fantastic couple of years, with the US stock market in particular spurred on by falling interest rates and an artificial intelligence boom.

Trump’s sweeping tariff measures have shaken the global economy, though, leaving many investors nursing losses.

According to AJ Bell, seven major stock market indices remain below their levels on so-called ‘Liberation Day’ – 2 April – when Trump announced ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on dozens of countries.

Below we reveal how major global stock markets have fared since Liberation Day, along with their performance since the start of the year and over the past 12 months.

Stock market performance 

Since 2 April, the S&P 500, the world’s biggest stock market, is down 5.2 per cent, while France’s CAC 40 has shrunk 5.1 per cent.

London’s FTSE 100 – aka the Footsie – has done comparatively better but has still contracted by 2.5 per cent in the past three weeks, as has the CSI 300 of Chinese companies.

Meanwhile, Shanghai’s SSE Composite, Germany’s DAX and Japan’s Nikkei have fallen by 1.6 per cent, 2.2 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively.

AJ Bell notes that the S&P 500 has sunk by 8.6 per cent since January, while the Nikkei has plummeted by 12.6 per cent, and the Footsie is 2.6 per cent lower.

But over the past 12 months, the S&P 500 and Footsie have risen by 6 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively.

The DAX has also climbed by 21 per cent, despite Germany’s economy flatlining due to higher energy costs, low public investment and stronger competition from Chinese manufacturers. 

In contrast, the CAC 40 has declined by 7.8 per cent, and the Nikkei has registered a 9.3 per cent drop.

Big UK companies at risk from tariffs

Some of Britain’s biggest companies are heavily exposed to the US market, such as pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, which derived around 40 per cent of its revenues from the US last year.

Rival drugmaker GSK is even more reliant on the US, where it made more than half its annual sales in 2025.

Other prominent UK-listed firms significantly dependent on America include British American Tobacco and Guinness producer Diageo, which warned of a $200million earnings hit from Trump’s tariffs back in February.

Risers and fallers: Check how UK shares have performed 

Counting cards: Donald Trump revealing his tariffs on the day he dubbed ‘Liberation Day’

What’s happening with tariffs? 

Trump’s initial announcement involved different tariff levels for a long list of countries, both big and small. 

The combination of this and an escalating tit-for-tat tariff level battle between the US and China rocked stock markets and bond markets, and eventually led to Trump announcing a 90-day tariff pause from 9 April. 

But China was exempted from the pause and a colossal 145 per cent levy has been imposed on Chinese goods coming to the US. China has retaliated with a 125 per cent tax on goods from the US. 

As it stands, a baseline universal tariff of 10 per cent currently exists on imported US goods, alongside a 25 per cent duty on steel and aluminium products and the threat of 

Canada has applied 25 per cent tariffs on products such as computers, orange juice, and sporting equipment. 

However, Trump told a press conference on Tuesday that tariffs on Chinese-made goods will ‘come down substantially.’ The White House soon confirmed that it was looking at exempting some auto parts from tariffs.

Combined with Trump saying he had ‘no intention’ of firing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warning the tariffs on China were ‘unsustainable,’ these remarks have spurred a market rally in recent days.

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