World’s Richest Lose $208 Billion in One Day Due to New US Tariffs

What kind of shocks the new US tariff policy will cause to the global economy remains to be seen, but the initial reaction from the stock market suggests that the wealth of the world’s 500 richest people has been reduced by a combined $208 billion in a day due to President Trump’s actions.

Image Source: Mark Zuckerberg

According to Bloomberg, the wealth of the world’s largest billionaires has not seen such a decline since the Covid-19 pandemic, and it has become the fourth largest in the entire 13-year history of observation. On average, as the source notes, more than half of the world’s 500 largest billionaires have already felt the impact of the new tariffs in the United States, and the average decline in their wealth has reached 3.3%. Of the most famous rich people, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos have suffered the most.

There were also some lucky ones who got even richer. Mexico was not hit by the US retaliatory tariffs at this stage, and the country’s richest representative, Carlos Slim, was able to see his wealth increase by 4% to $85.5 billion. Representatives of the Middle East also saw their wealth increase slightly during the day.

At the same time, of those who lost the most from the introduction of tariffs in the US, Mark Zuckerberg lost $17.9 billion or 9%. At the same time, the company he heads, Meta✴ Platforms, consistently increased its capitalization from the beginning of the year until about mid-February, adding a total of $350 billion. After that moment, the company’s shares managed to lose up to 28% of their value.

Amazon shares also lost 9% yesterday, falling the most since April 2022 and wiping out $15.9 billion from the fortune of company founder Jeff Bezos. Amazon shares have fallen more than 25% since their local peak in February.

Trump’s closest ally Elon Musk has lost up to $110 billion since the start of the year, with a tenth of that potentially lost yesterday. Tesla’s disappointing quarterly earnings report exacerbated the stock market’s reaction, putting the tariff issue on an already unfavorable footing. Tesla shares fell 5.5% as a result, giving up the momentum they had gained amid rumors that Musk was about to leave his government post in DOGE, which he managed to deny.

Many lesser-known companies saw their market caps fall by tens of percent yesterday. For example, shares of used car retailer Carvana fell by 20%, with the wealth of the company’s CEO Ernest Garcia III ultimately decreasing by $1.4 billion. Tobi Lutke, co-founder of Canadian online retailer Shopify, conditionally lost $1.5 billion after the company’s stock price fell by 20%.

Thursday’s trend did not bypass European billionaires. Bernard Arnault, head of luxury goods and accessories conglomerate LVMH, lost $6 billion amid a 20% increase in tariffs on European goods in the United States. Trump’s tariffs also hit shoe manufacturers, including American ones, since their main production is concentrated in Southeast Asian countries.