- US President Donald Trump’s confirmation of imposing tariffs on the European Union, China, etc, has had a toll on the crypto market with Bitcoin falling to $82k.
- Two upcoming events in the US this week could further put the resilience of Bitcoin to test as analysts anticipate a further decline to $74k.
On April 2, US President Donald Trump unveiled the much anticipated sweeping reciprocal tariffs, with the European Union facing 20% tariffs. According to a chart displayed by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, China faces 34% tariffs, Vietnam faces 46%, and Thailand faces 36%, among others.
Some of the notable missing names were Mexico and Canada, which the Whitehouse disclosed that they would remain under the punitive tariffs. In a statement, Trump disclosed that these percentages were obtained by considering what these countries have been charging the US for its exports.
We will charge them approximately half of what they are — and have — been charging us. So, the tariffs will not be fully reciprocal. I could have done that, I guess, but it would’ve been tough for a lot of countries. We didn’t want to do that.
Impact on Stocks and Bitcoin
Soon after this announcement, the US stock market witnessed a whopping $1.3 trillion liquidation within 24 hours. Similarly, the crypto market lost around $500 million, with Bitcoin declining by 7% to trade at $82k. At press time, the asset had impressively held above this position to move to $83k while reducing the 24-hour losses to negative 1.14%.
As outlined in our recent blog post, Bitcoin could continue this downward trend to $74k. However, this would largely depend on two key events that are expected to unfold this week. The first is the Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) which will be released on April 4. This report will provide data on the number of jobs added within the period, wage growth, as well as the unemployment rate.
In the previous reading, 151,000 jobs were captured. However, experts have estimated the March NFP to be around 80,000. As we reported a few days ago, a median forecast below 140k could ignite recession fear and force a significant demand for assets like Bitcoin. However, a reading above this level would reduce crypto gains and strengthen the US Dollar.
The second US event that could impact the market is the April 4 speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the economic outlook. It is important to note that the CME Fed Watch Tool has indicated that there is a 78% chance of the interest rate remaining the same at 4.25% to 4.50%. For June 2025, it is 61.3% probable that 25 basis points could cut the rate.
On the next possible direction of Bitcoin, an analyst identified as RektProof has predicted that the asset could fall within the range of $81K and $76K. According to him, failure to fall within this level could see the asset staying within the $82K and $91K range.
Meanwhile, BitMex CEO Arthur Hayes believes that Bitcoin could respond to a Fed rate cut. As mentioned in our previous news brief, Hayes suspects that the asset may have set a bottom at $77k.
