Trump Tariff Shock Sends Bitcoin Lower With Global Risk Assets
Bitcoin fell to a three-week low near $91,442 as newly announced U.S. tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China triggered a broad global risk-off move. The episode provided unusually clear contemporaneous evidence of Bitcoin trading as a risk-sensitive macro asset during a sudden trade-policy shock.
President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China hit global markets before the U.S. trading week had fully opened. Bitcoin, which trades continuously, became one of the earliest liquid markets to register the shock. Reuters reported that it fell to a three-week low of about $91,441.89 as investors moved away from risky assets amid fears of a widening trade war.
The significance of the move was not simply the percentage decline. Bitcoin had entered 2025 with strong expectations that the new U.S. administration would be favorable toward digital assets. Yet when a large macroeconomic policy shock arrived, Bitcoin traded in the same direction as other risk-sensitive assets rather than behaving as an isolated monetary hedge. That made the episode useful evidence of how deeply Bitcoin price formation had become connected to global liquidity, policy expectations, and investor risk appetite.
The tariff story also became part of a broader February deterioration in Bitcoin markets. Later in the month, renewed tariff concerns again pressured risk assets and Bitcoin finished February with its worst monthly performance since June 2022. The February 3 decline therefore stands as a distinct cause-and-consequence episode within that larger monthly reversal rather than merely another volatile trading day.