Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Brussels today for his first NATO meeting as secretary an hour behind schedule after attending the lengthy Trump tariff event yesterday — flying overnight to find Europe rattled by the higher-than-expected tariffs and already anxious over being cut out of the U.S.-Russia talks on Ukraine and suggestions the United States might draw down forces in Europe. 

Alongside Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Rubio restated U.S. commitment to NATO, blaming “hysteria and hyperbole” on global media (not repeated Trump criticism of NATO).

Rubio avoided tariff questions, but before he arrived, Norway and others complained about them. Rubio met with Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen and ducked a shouted question about Greenland. He was not slated to meet separately with Ukraine's foreign minister who was attending.

In a gaggle with NBC News and Danish press, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rasmussen said President Donald Trump was wrong to start a trade war and it is bad for the global economy. He said he will be attending a meeting of European trade ministers Monday and they will avoid escalating but will come up with a “proportional” response.

He also said the president’s calculations don’t take into account the services sector in which Denmark’s savings are heavily invested in the U.S.

Separately he excoriated Trump for telling NBC News' Kristen Welker on "Meet the Press" that he wouldn’t rule out military force against Denmark, a NATO ally, if necessary to get Greenland.

Shares of the low-cost retailer Dollar General have surged today, rising 4% as of 1:20 p.m. even as the broader S&P 500 has plunged. On the year, Dollar General’s price is up more than 20%, while the S&P 500 is down 7.1%.

The discount retailer’s outperformance suggests investors are betting on budget-conscious shopping as inflation and trade tensions potentially drive up consumer prices.

Digital currencies were not immune to Thursday's sell-off. Bitcoin prices fell as much as 6% on the day to about $81,000, its lowest level in nearly a month, according to CoinMarketCap.com, which tracks token prices. Ethereum, the next-most-valuable digital token, was off as much as 7% to about $1,700.

Trump's own meme coin was not immune, falling more than 14% to less than $9.

Companies that sell goods made overseas are getting hit hard by a broad market decline sparked by yesterday's tariff announcement.

RH (sometimes better known as Restoration Hardware) is off by some 40%, a massive decline due in part to reporting weak fourth-quarter earnings. Other retailers saw decline in excess of 20% including apparel maker VF, Wayfair and Five Below.

Gap, Urban Outfitters and Under Armour were each down more than 17%.

Trump’s tariffs announced yesterday will cost the average household around $2,100 a year with the lowest-income households facing an extra $980 in annual costs, according to an analysis by The Budget Lab at Yale University.

When factoring in all the tariffs Trump has announced since taking office, including those on Mexico, Canada and all steel and aluminum imports, that cost rises to $3,800 for the average household and $1,700 for the lowest-income households.

The analysis estimates that Trump’s various tariffs announced over the past two months will increase the price of all leather goods, including shoes, by 18%, clothing by 16%, electrical equipment by 10%, and fish and fresh produce by 4%.

Combined, Trump’s tariffs will increase prices around 2.3%, the report found. That amount would come on top of the roughly 3% inflation rate the U.S. has already been experiencing.

The sell-off appears to be pausing, for now. Just before 1 p.m., the S&P had cut its losses to -3.6% after falling as much as 4% earlier. Ditto the Dow, which is now off -2.8% compared with more than 3% earlier, and the Nasdaq, -4.8% versus more than -5% prior.

Trump held up a chart yesterday with a list of tariffs to be applied to nearly every U.S. trading partner. Some of those numbers appear to be in flux.

An archived version of a White House document tied to Trump's executive order showed some tariffs a percentage point higher than they were on the chart. Some examples:

• South Korea: yesterday 25%, White House document 26%
• Thailand: yesterday 36%, WH doc 37%
• Switzerland: yesterday 31%, WH doc 32%
• India: yesterday 26%, WH doc 27%

A White House official referred a request for comment to the Commerce Department, which did not immediately respond.

Later on Thursday, a new version of the White House document was uploaded that matched the numbers on Trump's chart.

The director-general of the World Trade Organization said new tariffs announced by the U.S. along with those introduced at the start of the year could lead to a contraction of around 1% in global merchandise trade volumes in 2025.

“I’m deeply concerned about this decline and the potential for escalation into a tariff war with a cycle of retaliatory measures that lead to further declines in trade,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement today.

She warned that the tariffs have the potential to create significant trade diversion effects.

The WTO administers 74% of global trade, down from around 80% at the beginning of the year due to recent tariffs, according to the organization.