Global financial markets were shaken by renewed fears of a cascading trade war after U.S. President Donald Trump escalated tensions by threatening punitive tariffs on Chinese imports. The threat centered on China’s dominant position in the export of rare earth minerals—metals critical to U.S. high-tech manufacturing and defense industries.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump accused China of using its near-total “monopoly” over rare earth minerals to hold the world “captive.” He vowed to “financially counter” the move and noted that while the response may be painful, “it will be a very good thing in the end for the U.S.A.”

The announcement sent shockwaves through equity markets, with the S&P 500 reportedly shedding an estimated $1.2 trillion in market capitalization. Gold, which had reached a milestone earlier in the week, briefly slipped below the $4,000 mark.

The cryptocurrency market was similarly affected. Bitcoin plunged from an intraday high of approximately $122,500 to a low of $116,000—its lowest level since early October, according to Bitstamp data. Ethereum fell below $4,000, while XRP, SOL, and DOGE dropped by 3%, 5.7% and 4.5%, respectively. Among major altcoins, Binance Coin was the only exception, declining just 1%.

As expected, the sharp downturn triggered a wave of liquidations. More than $549 million in long positions were wiped out within four hours. Ethereum led the liquidation volume with $130 million in longs and $12.3 million in shorts. Bitcoin followed with $264.3 million in liquidations, over 90% in long positions.

Notable liquidations were also recorded in several other tokens: Solana ( SOL) lost $20 million, XRP lost $21 million, WLFI saw $18.71 million wiped out, and XPL had $15.78 million liquidated. By 3 p.m. EST, a staggering total of $1.3 billion in leveraged contracts had been liquidated in 24 hours, affecting more than 250,000 traders.

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