United States stock futures traded lower on Sunday evening after President Donald Trump confirmed that tariffs will now go into effect on 1 August, pushing back the previously expected 9 July implementation date.
By 9:20 am AEST (11:20 pm GMT), futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 were each down 0.3%.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick clarified that while tariff rates and terms are still being finalised, the effective date has been set for 1 August.
Earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN’s State of the Union that if no progress is made in trade talks, tariffs will revert to the higher levels set on 2 April.
Markets had previously braced for new tariffs to begin this week. The 90-day reprieve from the reciprocal tariff increases, announced in April, was scheduled to expire on Tuesday.
A separate deadline for a deal with the European Union, which would avoid duties of up to 50% on EU goods, was expected on Wednesday.
The clarification follows a strong week on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both closing at record highs.
Optimism had been supported by White House signals suggesting the administration might hold back from implementing the steep tariff increases initially outlined in April.
So far, the U.S. has secured new tariff arrangements with only a handful of trading partners. In May, a deal with the United Kingdom maintained a 10% rate.
More recently, a pact with Vietnam was reached that reduced tariffs on many exports from 46% to 20%.
