Donald Trump Faces Weakest Election-Year Market Start Since Bush in 2001
Washington, D.C., April 6, 2025 – President Donald Trump’s second term has stumbled out of the gate with the U.S. stock market posting its worst election-year start since George W. Bush took office in 2001, a period marred by the dot-com crash. Just 10 weeks into his presidency, sworn in on January 20, the S&P 500 has shed nearly 10%—a $3 trillion wipeout—driven by Trump’s aggressive tariff rollout on April 2, per Bloomberg. The Nasdaq’s 10% plunge this week alone, its steepest since the 2020 COVID crash, signals a rocky road ahead as Silicon Valley reels and global markets shudder.
A Tariff-Triggered Tumble
Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs—10% on all imports, with 20% on the EU, 24% on Japan, and 54% on China—hit markets like a sledgehammer. The S&P 500’s 4.8% Thursday drop capped a week of chaos, echoing Bush’s early 2001 slide when the S&P fell 18% amid the tech bubble’s burst, per Bloomberg. Apple’s 14% dive erased $420 billion in market cap, Tesla shed 9.2%, and Nigeria’s naira crashed to N1,600/$1, per Nairametrics. “This is the worst 10-week start since Bush,” Bloomberg noted Friday, a stark contrast to Trump’s first-term boasts of market highs.
Posts on X reflect the whiplash: “Trump’s tariffs are tanking everything—weakest start since 2001,” one user wrote Saturday, linking Bloomberg’s report. Another jabbed, “From ‘stock market genius’ to Bush-level bust.” The Dow’s 2.7% Monday fall—the year’s biggest daily drop—deepened a first-quarter slump unseen since 2022, per Reuters, as investors ditch post-election optimism for tariff-fueled dread.
Bush’s Shadow Looms
Bush inherited a tech wreck in 2001—Nasdaq down 60% from its 2000 peak—and saw GDP shrink 2.1% that year, per CNN’s 2020 charts. Trump’s 2025 echoes that pain but swaps dot-com fallout for self-inflicted trade war wounds. His inherited economy was robust—4.1% unemployment, 28.8% stock growth in 2024, per epi.org—yet tariffs have sparked stagflation fears. “Growth slowing, inflation rising,” an X post warned March 23, mirroring Bloomberg’s stagflation nod. Consumer confidence, at a post-pandemic low, per posts on X, recalls Bush’s early struggles post-9/11.
Silicon Valley’s bet on Trump—$119 million from VCs like Andreessen Horowitz, per Splinter—sours as CoreWeave’s IPO flounders and Tesla’s 40% 2025 skid stings Elon Musk, Trump’s DOGE chief. “Worst start since Bush and it’s only April,” Fortune quipped April 3, tying the 10% drop to tariff uncertainty.
A Different Beast
Unlike Bush’s external shocks, Trump’s woes are policy-driven. His budget bill, up for a House vote next week per Mike Johnson, promises $4.5 trillion in tax cuts but slashes $2 trillion in spending—riling markets further. Reuters pegged $4 trillion in S&P losses by March 10, a sentiment shift from November’s election euphoria. “Investors were slow to see tariffs as real,” State Street’s Altaf Kassam told Reuters March 31, predicting inflation spikes over recession—for now.
As floods swamp the Midwest and Pope Francis blesses St. Peter’s, Trump’s market start—weakest since Bush’s 2001—casts a long shadow. With House votes looming and Musk pushing a U.S.-EU trade zone, the question lingers: can he pivot, or will this be his economic albatross?
If you’d like me to dig deeper—like comparing Bush’s 2001 policies or Trump’s first-term markets—let me know! What’s your take?
