US stocks fall after White House confirms tariffs from Feb 1

NEW YORK: US stocks erased early gains to close lower Friday (Jan 31), after the White House reaffirmed plans to introduce new tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China on Saturday.

There were hopes that President Donald Trump's tariff threats were a negotiating strategy, designed to force the three countries to take a tougher line on opioid smuggling into the United States. 

But in a briefing Friday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said tariffs against the three US trading partners would be imposed on Saturday, adding: "These are promises made and promises kept by the president." The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.8 per cent at 44,544.66, while the S&P 500 finished 0.5 per cent lower at 6,040.53.

The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3 per cent to 19,627.44. 

"The tariff talk in the afternoon injected a new wave of uncertainty," Briefing.com's Patrick O'Hare told AFP. 

"We think it just kind of proved to be a bit of a trigger for people to take some money off the table going into the weekend," he said. 

Among individual firms, footwear firm Deckers Outdoor Corporation fell more than 20 per cent after its quarterly financial results were published. 

And the investment management firm Franklin Resources closed up more than 10 per cent after reporting strong quarterly results.