Equity-index futures fell and the dollar dipped after President Trump said his administration may start sending out letters imposing unilateral tariffs on trading partners as early as Friday. Ahead of his July 9 deadline for trade negotiations,

The greenback weakened 10.7% in the first six months of the year compared to a basket of currencies from major trading partners – the worst drop since 1973 when President Nixon stopped tying the dollar to the price of gold.

The United States will place a lower-than-promised 20% tariff on many Vietnamese exports, Donald Trump said on Wednesday (July 2), cooling tensions with its tenth-biggest trading partner days before the U.