Bitcoin slides below $100,000 as Trump tariffs rattle markets

LONDON: Cryptocurrency prices slid on Monday (February 3) with Bitcoin at a three-week low, as the spectre of a global trade war put investors on edge and pushed them out of risky assets.

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known crypto, fell to $94,476.18 on Monday morning in Asia, touching a three-week low of around $91,441.89.

Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Mexican and most Canadian imports, and 10 per cent on goods from China, starting on Tuesday (February 4).

Canada and Mexico, the top two US trading partners, immediately vowed retaliatory measures, and China said it would challenge Trump’s levies at the World Trade Organization.

Cryptocurrencies trade around the clock, including on weekends, and have lately been sensitive to markets’ broader sentiment. Investors worry that tariffs can hurt growth and company earnings as well as be inflationary.

BITCOIN AND TRUMP

Then-US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told an audience of cryptocurrency enthusiasts on July 27 that Bitcoin was going to the moon and he wanted the US to lead the way. “If crypto is going to define the future, I want to be mined, minted and made in the USA… It’s not going to be made anywhere else. And if Bitcoin is going to the moon, as we say, is going to the moon, I want America to be the nation that leads the way, and that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump had said.

He had also visited a cryptocurrency themed bar in Manhattan, where he was briefly shown how to transact bitcoin, and signed memorabilia for the patrons.

Then on December 16, President-elect Donald Trump reiterated that he plans to create a US bitcoin strategic reserve similar to its strategic oil reserve, stoking the enthusiasm of crypto bulls. That resulted in Bitcoin’s record rally topping $107,000.

“This is a new golden age for Bitcoin,” said Wedbush Securities, Global Head of Technology Research, Daniel Ives. “I think when you look at what’s happening in the Beltway under Trump, you’re going to have a deregulatory environment, which is a huge positive.”