Why is the market so nervous about the new round of US tariff policies?

This recent wave of tariff hikes has directly unsettled the investment community. Simply put, once tariffs are enacted, they don’t just impact a single industry—they reshape market expectations on multiple levels.

First is cost transmission. As import costs rise for businesses, they either have to squeeze their profit margins or pass the costs on to consumers—neither option is pleasant. Next comes the pressure of supply chain restructuring. Many companies with multinational operations need to recalculate everything, and this kind of uncertainty is exactly what capital markets dread.

Even more critical is the contagion of sentiment. Once trade barriers go up, global liquidity expectations tighten, with risk assets bearing the brunt. The crypto market, being highly volatile, is especially sensitive to these kinds of macro variables—when risk-off sentiment kicks in, selling pressure can come fast.

So, at its core, this wave of panic is the market pricing in policy uncertainty.