After Congress gave Trump a big win last week with his fiscal package, the Republican's aggressive trade posture has returned with a vengeance this week. On Tuesday, he added threatened levies on copper and pharmaceuticals to a laundry list of countries warned of higher tariffs.
But stocks pushed higher nonetheless, with Nvidia jumping 2.5 percent to top $4 trillion in market capitalization on investor bullishness over Artificial Intelligence (AI) growth.
About 30 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 percent at 44,477.06. The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.7 percent to 6,266.23, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.1 percent to 20,586.42.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said investors are not "overly concerned" about Trump's latest tariff threats.
"The assumption, it seems, is that better terms with trading partners of economic consequence will get worked out and that the tariffs won't be as onerous as advertised from a growth or inflation standpoint," O'Hare wrote in a note.
Among individual companies, Merck rose 2.5 percent after announcing it reached a deal to acquire Verona Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company focused on respiratory diseases, for about $10 billion. Verona jumped 20.7 percent.
Later Wednesday, markets will digest minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting, at which central bankers kept interest rates unchanged.
© Agence France-Presse
